Amari Cooper spent much of Saturday morning at the BCS title game media day hearing comparisons to former
Center of attention: Tide talented freshmen duo in the spotlight at BCS Media Day-Dothan Eagle AlabamaAlabama freshmen T.J. Yeldon and Amari Cooper seemed a bit uneasy with all of the attention focused on them.
Editor's note: Every day from now until kickoff in Miami, TideNation will break down the match-ups position-by-position. Today we'll look at the battle of the coaches.
SEC Football by the Numbers: BCS championship game -- Alabama vs. Notre Dame-al.comAlabama is playing for its third BCS national championship in the past four seasons when it takes on Notre Dame on Monday night.
Sometimes Alabama's D.J. Fluker and Damion Square don't talk for days at a time. They share a locker room, coaches, a common goal and the same personal space. Actually, that's where the problem begins. When Alabama's first team units go against each other in practice, it can be one of the epic sights in college sports. That is, if any outsiders were allowed to watch the drills of the defending national champs. We'll just have to take the word of the participants who line up inches from each other, pounding away daily. "They have," defensive coordinator Kirby Smart said, "good wars." "We get to the point where we just don't like each other after practice, or the whole week," said Fluker, Bama's massive 335-pound junior offensive right tackle. "We don't talk to each other -- or we talk noise again."
Alabama's Nico Johnson is all too familiar with tragedy. The star linebacker carries a heavy heart into the BCS national championship as he is mourning the death of his uncle and mentor only two years after also losing his mother.
D.J. Fluker and the rest of the Alabama offensive line are ready for the challenge of opening holes against the Notre Dame front seven.
Jamoris Slaughter hasn't let an injury keep him from helping his team get to the national championship game.
Robert Lester is making a habit of playing on the biggest stage for the national championship.
Darren Lake on the role of the nose guard position in Alabama's dominant run defense (video)-al.comAlabama reserve nose guard Darren Lake knows that the position he plays may not pile up statistics but may be the most important spot on the Alabama defense when it comes to stopping the run.
Scarbinsky: When it comes to football tradition, Notre Dame tops Alabama again-al.comFighting Irish have an edge on the Crimson Tide in victories, Heismans, myths and legends.
Eddie Lacy on why the Tide rushing attack will not be denied (video)-al.comAlabama running back Eddie Lacy is coming off one of the greatest performances by a running back in SEC Championship Game history and could be a key to a Crimson Tide victory in the BCS National Championship Game.
"I think they're coming after Golson, if I'm Alabama," Kirk Herbstreit, who will call the game alongside Brent Musberger for ESPN. "I think one thing they probably learned from playing against Johnny Manziel is that you have to come after an athletic quarterback. A lot of times that brought three or four and had players stay back. I would guess they're going to be pretty aggressive."