Jude 2

Well, its the third Saturday in October so that must mean Alabama squares off versus the Volunteers of the University of Tennessee.

It is a rivalry so deeply rooted in this state that even Auburn fans are impacted by it because they are so jealous that UA could have an actual rival other than those never-was-es in Opelika. In my view, the UT game is THE game of the season, every season, the one that if we had to lose a game in every season, I'd swap a win in this one for a loss in any other -- including Auburn. Auburn fans detest the Alabama fans who prefer to beat Tennessee over beating Auburn; such is the level of preoccupation with Alabama that those who wear orange and blue in our state suffer. There simply is no medicine for it.

But, having said all that, it is time to 'git it on'. UT had requested that they be allowed to wear their home oranges in Bryant-Denny on Saturday, with some pretextual reference to the old days when the teams faced each other in their home colors every year. Thankfully, AD Mal Moore denied that request, knowing full well that Lane Kiffin would have something to say about it --- he just cannot help himself. And, that he did, although it was restrained; Kiffin mentioned the request and the denial to the press yesterday. Our position now must be that we cannot yield anything to Tennessee for this game. Nothing.

I hope that our players approach the game with the focus and intensity it deserves. As usual, Tennessee took the week off before playing Alabama. They will use the juice from their most recent game, a thrashing of Georgia, to jack up their confidence against Alabama. I hope they ALL (both teams) eat a good breakfast on Saturday and I hope we see some of the hardest hitting we've seen or administered this year. I hope we don't see the dirty chop-blocking we saw from Arkansas and from South Carolina. But, with this rivalry and the bad blood undercurrent from last year's recruiting smack started by Kiffin and Lance "I-could've-stayed-with-Nick-forever" Thompson (who writes his lines, Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow?), I hope our guys pummel the Vols into the ground.

Can you tell that I ready for this game??

Tennessee is capable of winning this game, though. They excelled against Georgia. Either Crumpton has found a groove, or he stepped into a tar pit and struck oil against Georgia --- I dunno which. We'll see.

Roll Tide.

Let the smack talk begin.

Although I can't say that I blame the decision, I think that the denial to allow TN the opportunity to wear orange only serves to fire them up more.

Here is a quote from one player after the denial. “We could wear pink and I’d still go down there ready to go,’’ said senior Wes Brown, an Alabama native.

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Kiffin's just trying to find any edge he can. I wouldn't let LSU wear their visiting colors at home, but everyone does for some reason. They should ask Georgia how that whole color of the jerseys gimmick worked for them last year. They're just shirts. The player is right --- whatever color they're in, they have to play the game. Suit 'em up, let 'em smash each other around for about 3 1/2 hours and lets count up the points.

I'd said it was the 3rd Sat. in Oct. because it is the Bama-UT game; it's the 4th Saturday. I hope that's the only thing I'm wrong about come Saturday. Betting sites have Bama as a 13.5 to 16.5 favorite in this game. The way our offense has played, I can't figure that out. I'd take UT and the points if I was a gambler. Since I'm not, and since I think I know this team well enough to size up how they'll do on Saturday, my pick:


Alabama 27
Tennessee 17