Roll Tide Nation

Two of the best quarterbacks in college football also happen to be pretty good friends.

Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa and Ohio State QB Dwayne Haskins are the leaders of their respective teams and likely to be Heisman Trophy finalists. They have their teams undefeated and potentially headed for the College Football Playoff. And according to Buckeyes site Eleven Warriors, Tua and Haskins communicate with each other weekly.

“We sent each other scriptures before the game on Saturday, just send out blessings to each other,” Haskins said on Tuesday, via Eleven Warriors.

The two met at various prospect camps and became good friends at the Elite 11 camp for the top quarterback prospects in the nation. As of a year ago, the two were relatively unknown on a national level, but that all changed when both stepped into the second half of huge games. Haskins helped Ohio State beat rival Michigan in relief of JT Barrett, while Tagovailoa came in for the second half of the national championship game and beat Georgia.

From the Elite 11 camp to the Heisman and potentially the NFL, we’re guessing the two will end up seeing each other many more times throughout their careers.

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A weekly journey through the vast landscape of college football, along with a few brief asides.

Cliched Storyline of the Week

Argh, fine. Let’s just go over this Alabama thing again, because it appears the Crimson Tide, after last Saturday’s thrashing of Arkansas, have truly achieved such a level of eff-you success that their only legitimate threat is emanating from within. Nick Saban has slowly morphed from perfectionist into aging busybody; his postgame chats now often sound "like an old man trying to send back soup at a deli."

It’s nothing new to pose the crucial question of college football’s midseason like so: Is there anyone capable of defeating Alabama? The only good news about last weekend’s results is that Texas’ defeat of Oklahoma cracked open the firmament just enough to allow us to foment "The Argument" that tends to define every college football season at roughly its midway point. Like: Maybe someone new can come along and defeat Alabama?

At this point, most of the arguments against Alabama — like the notion that its historic offensive numbers are being achieved against the equivalent of upper-tier high school talent — are, even if vaguely true, informed by patently idiotic talk radio chatter. Alabama’s offense is putting up numbers so historic that just reading about them makes me feel like I’ve been slipped peyote. Given the overarching uncertainty of the SEC beyond its top two, and given the sudden malaise that’s settled like a haze of Charmin over Toomer’s Corner, the remainder of the Tide's regular-season schedule feels more like a foregone conclusion than perhaps for any college football team I’ve ever witnessed.

Nick Saban was asked a very silly question on Monday during his press conference, and his response to it was about as Saban as it gets.

The Alabama head coach was at the podium when a reporter pointed to three scoring drives that occurred in under a minute (like this one).

Then the reporter asked, “How hard is it to manage the offense when it does score so quickly, especially from a defensive standpoint? And how do you try to manage that throughout the game?”

Grinning, Saban said, “I don’t think anyone wants to apologize for scoring. So, we’re not going to do that.”

What a ridiculous question.

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

We may be just three games into the season, but this year’s Alabama team already looks like it has the potential to be the best of the Nick Saban era. The Tide have absolutely demolished every opponent they’ve faced this year, most recently an Ole Miss team that had given them problems in the past. You know what that means?

Beware of that rat poison.

After Alabama came away with a tough road win over Texas A&M last year, Saban was asked how he manages the high expectations constantly surrounding his team. He responded by ripping the media for feeding his players “rat poison.”

“I’m trying to get our players to listen to me instead of you guys,” the six-time national champion said. “All that stuff you write about how good we are? All that stuff they hear on ESPN? It’s like poison. Like rat poison.”

Alabama football fans, get some inside scoop with Texas A&M Aggies intel for you, from behind enemy lines in College Station. Alabama football fans want to learn as much as possible about the new and apparently improved Aggies from TAMU. Bama Hammer reached out to our counterparts at Gig’Em Gazette and they provided some valuable inside information. […]Alabama Football: Going behind enemy lines to evaluate the Aggies - Bama Hammer - Bama Hammer - An Alabama Crimson Tide Community - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.Original link

Alabama football (3-0,1-0) takes on No. 22 Texas A&M Aggies (3-0) at Bryant Denny Stadium Saturday afternoon. The Crimson TIde faces its first ranked opponent this season. Texas A&M enters the contest against Alabama football as a 27 point underdog. The line is staggering knowing that the Aggies lost to highly ranked Clemson 28-26. New head […]Alabama Football: Three Keys to a Crimson Tide victory over Aggies - Bama Hammer - Bama Hammer - An Alabama Crimson Tide Community - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.Original link

9:41 AM ETEmailprint

Michigan landed a huge piece to its 2019 recruiting class Tuesday when ESPN 300 athlete Daxton Hill announced his commitment to the Wolverines.

Hill is the No. 14-ranked prospect overall in the class and is the highest-ranked commitment for Michigan since the 2016 class, when Rashan Gary, ranked No. 1 overall, signed with the Wolverines.

Hill, a 6-foot-1, 187-pound athlete out of Booker T. Washington High in Tulsa, Oklahoma, chose Michigan over in-state Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, among others, but the primary thought was that Hill had been down to Michigan and Alabama. Hill took official visits to only those two schools, and he felt as though he had enough information to make a decision after taking an official visit to Michigan for its game against SMU this past weekend.

Michigan landed its highest commitment of the 2019 class with the addition of No. 14 overall Daxton Hill.

From rivalry games to the battles that will decide the College Football Playoff, these are the biggest contests for the nation's top teams.

Sep 18, 2018Emailprint

First-year Connecticut coach Dan Hurley scored an important verbal commitment Tuesday, with four-star guard James Bouknight pledging to the Huskies on his 18th birthday.

The commitment comes less than three days after he completed his official visit to UConn after having previously visited Virginia Tech and Miami officially in recent weeks.

Bouknight, ranked 87th in the ESPN 100, was sidelined by injury last spring but was nonetheless an immediate priority for Hurley and his staff when they arrived in Storrs.

The 6-foot-4 guard rejoined his PSA Cardinals AAU program in time for the EYBL Finals in July and continued to emerge through the remainder of the recruiting period with strong performances in Pennsylvania and Las Vegas.

"I had already built a relationship with [assistant] Coach Kimani [Young] when he was at Minnesota and that continued when he came to UConn with Coach Hurley," Bouknight told ESPN. "He stayed in touch with me throughout my injury process and that meant a lot to me and my family. We trusted him.

Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

Every year, more than 100 FBS college teams take the field, but most of them will never sniff the national championship. Eastern Michigan, for example, is just dreaming of a bowl game, not of making the playoffs. Even bigger teams, like, say, USC, aren’t going to truly contend this year. There are only a handful of college teams that could plausibly win the title this year, and here they are. If you think we missed a team, you are going to have to try awfully hard to convince us of their title chances. We’re looking at you, Wolverine fans. This isn’t your year. Additionally, this doesn't seem like the season for a Group of Five team to crack the playoff — not with Houston and Boise State having already lost. Try to prove us wrong, Central Florida.

Alabama Crimson Tide

We have to start with Nick Saban and his Alabama team. The Crimson Tide are the defending champions, and it feels like they are defending every year, even when they aren’t. Tua Tagovailoa has given Alabama a whole new look under center. The Tide have won titles with game managers. Now they have an actual dynamic playmaker who could win a Heisman. It’s going to be immensely difficult for anybody to take down the Tide this year, and even if they lose a game, the benefit of the doubt could easily get them into the playoffs.

Clemson Tigers

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Week 3 means no more cupcake non-conference matchups. Now we find out who really can stand up to the pressure of high-stakes games where division and conference titles can be won and lost.

The new sheriff of Oklahoma's offense is still thriving, but we have four new players who have made this watch list with performances that lit college football on fire this past weekend. Whether they flame out or continue to burn is left to be seen, but here are five players who improved their Heisman cases the most in Week 3.

Kyler Murray, Oklahoma

For the second straight week, Murray showed off his cannon arm and ability to run the ball. Not only did he pass for 348 yards and three touchdowns, but he scampered his way to 77 rushing yards against Iowa State. Murray’s dynamic skill set allowed the Sooners to avenge a heartbreaking loss to the Cyclones last year. The junior quarterback has 10 total touchdowns and looks like he’ll only improve on that Heisman resume as the season continues.

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Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports  |  By Larry Brown  |  Last updated 9/16/18

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Ole Miss fans won’t soon forget Josh Jacobs’ taunt during Saturday’s game, and neither will Nick Saban.

A loaded slate of games Saturday led to the first big eruption of upsets around the nation, and college football Week 3 provided thrills in bunches.

Nebraska was stunned by Troy, Syracuse blew Florida State out of the water with a blowout win at home, Akron took down Northwestern, and BYU shocked the world beating Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium.

In addition to the big upsets, Week 3 was flush with crazy plays, including the craziest punt return for touchdown I’ve ever witnessed and a comedy of errors that proved to be the difference in the Vanderbilt-Notre Dame game.

With all that in mind, let’s take a look back to see what we learned in college football Week 3.

Darrell Henderson is one of the best running backs in the nation

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Originally posted on Sportsnaut  |  By Matt Johnson  |  Last updated 9/15/18

Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

In order to compete with the Alabama Crimson Tide, you have to strike early with big plays. Ole Miss wide receiver D.K. Metcalf provided the Rebels with just that on Saturday.

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Women Basketball Recruiting

Sep 14, 2018espnW.com

Malu Tshitenge-Mutombo, niece of former NBA star Dikembe Mutombo and one of the top women's basketball recruits in the 2019 class, on Friday committed to North Carolina.

The 6-foot-3 senior post player at St. John's College High School (Washington, D.C.) and the No. 56 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Top 100 chose the Tar Heels over Notre Dame.

Sep 14, 2018

When Texas plays host to USC at 8 p.m. ET Saturday, the Longhorns won't just be competing against the Trojans. They'll also be competing with Ohio State, which takes on TCU in Arlington, Texas, at the same time only 200 miles north of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

They'll be competing for the attention of in-state recruits with the Buckeyes and other programs who have seen success recruiting Texas in the 2019 class.

The momentum the Longhorns and coach Tom Herman seemed to be gaining from a top-three 2018 class has dwindled in a short period of time. From the excitement of Jimbo Fisher joining Texas A&M to the lingering questions about the Longhorns, recruiting is seeing another shift within the state.

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Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports

Disgraced former Mississippi head football coach Hugh Freeze is taking to the public as a way to defend himself after a scandal surrounding escorts cost him his job with the Rebels.

In speaking at the Little Rock Touchdown Club recently, Freeze noted that today’s current climate in America has prevented him from getting another gig since Mississippi parted ways with him.

This is not a drill.

“I think the climate in America the last year probably affects a lot of administrator’s decision making,” Freeze said. “If they don’t take the time to really hear what our story is, they probably can come quick to make some type of judgement. Maybe that happened. Maybe it didn’t.”

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Originally posted on Sportsnaut  |  By David Kenyon  |  Last updated 9/12/18

© Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Clemson and Alabama both have high-profile quarterback dilemmas, but Dabo Swinney has taken a different approach to how he handles questions compared to Nick Saban.

By Walter Villa | Sep 13, 2018Special to espnW

Courtesy Jayla James

Mir McLean averaged 18.6 points and 13.5 rebounds as a sophomore at Baltimore's Roland Park Country Day.

Every time Mir McLean hears a referee's whistle, she thinks of her dad, who officiated and coached basketball games.

Every time she sees someone wearing blue and orange -- her father's colors when he played wide receiver for Morgan State -- she thinks of her dad.

Two games into the Alabama football, 2018 season, let’s review the strengths, the weaknesses and what to expect next for Crimson Tide. Alabama football is assured of going into week three of the 2018 season ranked No. 1 in all the top polls. After two games and two lopsided wins, the most obvious signs point […]Alabama Football: Crimson Tide two-game report card - Bama Hammer - Bama Hammer - An Alabama Crimson Tide Community - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.Original link

Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (13) drops back looking for a receiver against the Arkansas State Red Wolves during the first quarter at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Sept. 8, 2018. It was another solid showing for one of the Heisman front-runners.  John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

College football Week 2 was defined by some incredible streaks being broken by teams that have been on the losing side of things for years.

The longest road losing streak in history was snapped, and the nation’s longest losing streak to a single team also is now a thing of the past.

In addition to those incredible achievements, this weekend was a prime opportunity for some of the nation’s top playmakers to put up gaudy stats. And they did just that.

We’re diving into those topics and more as we look at the biggest takeaways from college football Week 2.