NOTES: Alabama & Atlanta have been good to one another
There was some gentle ribbing from both sides as the University of Alabama formally accepted its invitation to the Peach Bowl on Monday. Peach Bowl president Gary Stokan joked that Alabama might soon be charged income tax in Georgia for all the time it spends in the state. UA Director of Athletics Bill Battle quipped back that a better arrangement might be for Alabama to receive a commission on sales from the Peach Bowl.
Both Alabama and Atlanta have grown comfortable with one another in recent years. The Crimson Tide has played in Atlanta 10 times since Nick Saban became head coach, winning nine of those. But this postseason berth still qualifies as a first in the relationship with Alabama and Atlanta.
“Kind of ironic, we’ve never had Alabama in those 49 years playing our Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl,” Stokan said.
The arrangement has worked well for both sides. Alabama’s success in Atlanta has helped propel the program. The Chick-fil-A Kickoff game, operated by the same organization as the Peach Bowl, has grown in part due to Alabama’s participation in four of its games so far.
But Stokan called this year’s Peach Bowl “the most significant college football game to ever be played in the city of Atlanta.” That is probably true, at least until Atlanta hosts college football’s national championship game next season.
Alabama’s history in Atlanta is significant even without factoring in its appearances in the SEC championship games in the Georgia Dome.
"We were a relatively unknown program when we played Clemson, I guess it was 2008,” Saban said. “…We had a pretty dominant performance in that game and I actually think that game probably did as much to launch this program forward as any game or anything that we ever did. We took a little bit of a risk in playing in a game like that against a very, very good team and a good program that was highly ranked.”
That game set Alabama on a run toward an undefeated regular season. Its 2009 appearance in the kickoff game was the season opener for Saban’s first national championship season with the Crimson Tide.
Alabama’s participation in the kickoff game has been a boon all around. Stokan and the Peach Bowl organizational group built the annual kickoff game after they missed out on being part of the BCS. Alabama’s participation helped give it a headliner for top-10 matchups.
“We had been working with the National Football Foundation also to move the College Football Hall of Fame to Atlanta,” Stokan said. “So our vision was similar to what the NFL has done with their Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremonies. It was to move the Hall of Fame to Atlanta, have a big game to start the season with a bowl-type atmosphere and integrate those two.
“So I called Nick and I said, ‘Nick, we’ve got Clemson and they’re going to be very good. We’d love to have you come over and play.’ Nick looked at it and said ‘Gary, we’ve got to win Alabama in recruiting. Finish No. 1 in Alabama and if we can finish second in recruiting in Georgia, we’ll play for national championships.’”
That was before kickoff games at neutral sites had returned to vogue in college football. Other games have since cropped up and Alabama has played in many locations, but it still maintains close ties in Atlanta. UA will open the 2017 season against Florida State in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium and will play Duke there in 2019.
The kickoff game, boosted partly by Alabama, was probably a factor that helped make the Peach Bowl a strong candidate as a location for the College Football Playoff.
“I really believe that what we did with the kickoff game, what we did moving the College Football Hall of Fame to Atlanta, having seven or eight straight sellouts, having a great staff and great volunteers, I think all of those things the commissioners looked at and were willing to give us the opportunity when we made the bid the next time around for the College Football Playoff,” Stokan said.
The relationship has been good to both sides, and it still is. Alabama sold out of its allotment for tickets to the Peach Bowl in one day, Stokan said. Its strong base of local alumni and short driving distance from Alabama make it a prime location for the Crimson Tide.
He’s looking forward to continuing the relationship the parties started with the Clemson game in 2008. Alabama will play in the final college football game at the Georgia Dome on New Year’s Eve. Then it will open a new era of college football in Atlanta in September.
“We’ll open Mercedes Benz Stadium in style and we’ll close the Georgia Dome in style,” Stokan said. “… For us to close with a national semifinal in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl and have Alabama No. 1, then to have Alabama for the first time ever in our bowl game? That’s pretty special. You can’t write that script.”
Injury update
Saban didn’t have any specific injury updates at his availability on Monday. He expects to have a better idea on Friday, when the team returns to practice. Sophomore cornerback Marlon Humphrey did not start the SEC Championship Game after sustaining an unspecified injury against Auburn in the regular-season finale.
“With the type of injury he has, I'm not sure that we'll know for sure what his status will be until we start practicing again,” Saban said. “But we're hopeful that this is the type of injury that just rest will be very beneficial to him and he will able to participate fully when we get back to practice."
Linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton (knee), safety Eddie Jackson (broken leg) and offensive lineman Alphonse Taylor (concussions) are all expected to miss the remainder of the season.
Another possible award
Saban was named Monday as a finalist for the George Munger Coach of the Year Award, the Maxwell Football Club announced. P.J. Fleck of Western Michigan and Mike MacIntyre of Colorado are the other two finalists.
Long way home
The struggles of a long road trip to the Pacific Northwest didn't end when the buzzer sounded after Oregon's 65-56 victory over the Crimson Tide on Sunday.
Alabama remained overnight in Eugene, then spent all day Monday traveling to Tuscaloosa, a nine-hour trip that had the UA team scheduled to arrive home around 11 p.m. on Monday night. As a result of the long travel day, UA will take Tuesday as an off day, then resume practice on Wednesday in preparation for a home game against South Carolina-Upstate on Thursday. The sole bright spot in the trek was that UA is currently on Christmas break, so no classes were missed.
Sophomore guard Lawson Schaffer, who missed the trip to Oregon due to illness, is expected to rejoin the team on Wednesday. There is still no update on the condition of junior forward Nick King, who is undergoing testing after sudden unexplained weight loss earlier this month.
Recruit making waves
While most of the attention lavished on Alabama's 2017 recruiting class has been understandably centered on five-star signees Collin Sexton and John Petty, Pelham forward Alex Reese has been quietly putting together a strong season as well. The 6-foot-9 Reese, a four-star power forward, had 29 of his team's 54 points and added 17 rebounds as the Panthers defeated county rival Thompson 54-33 on Friday night.
Defense leads UA women
The Alabama women’s basketball team is off to a 7-1 start, sustaining its first defeat at Georgetown last Sunday. The Crimson Tide will host Georgia State on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. at Coleman Coliseum and host Georgia Tech on Saturday at 2 p.m.
UA’s defense has stood out so far. Alabama leads the SEC in scoring defense (48.9 ppg), scoring margin (plus-31), field goal percentage defense (.317) rebounding (50.2), rebounding margin (plus-14.1) and defensive rebounds (33.6).
Junior Meoshonti Knight leads the team and ranks 25th in the SEC in scoring at 12.9 points per game. Junior Hannah Cook ranks No. 2 in the SEC in 3-point field-goal percentage (.375) and 3-point field goals per game (2.6).
Alabama has held its opponent to 15 or fewer points in 25 of 33 periods played this season. Even more impressive is that in 12 of those 33 quarters, the Crimson Tide opposition has put up 10 points or fewer and in four quarters five points or fewer.
Alabama has outscored its opponents 338-150 in points in the paint. That averages out to 23.5 more points in the paint (42.3-18.8) than the opposition.
Cecil Hurt and Tommy Deas contributed to this report.