ESPN: Alabama and Louisville will Open 2018 Season in Orlando

That's cool. Maybe I could go to Disney and catch the Bama game!


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Sort of a ho-hum opener based on what we will be playing the next three years, but still not bad.

Alabama does not play a road non-conference game this year, yet has the most difficult schedule in college football by everyone's measure. Only idiots or people with an agenda would ignore the schedule as a whole in order to point out a single weakness.

If Bama played at Louisville, the sports media meme would be, "Alabama still hasn't played a non-conference road game North/West/East of Louisville, KY."

Last year the media tried to criticize Alabama's schedule. You know, the one that ended up being #2 in SoS? Yeah that one.

Now, the new let's make up something to complain about trend is, not actually a road game, just neutral. Umm ok, and? That's somehow easier than alternating between road and home? Of course it's not.

I do think playing Louisville is kinda meh compared to others, but it's still a neutral site game against a major conference opponent. Last I checked those are not usually considered easy games.

The media bias is one reason I'm sometimes unhappy when Alabama fans, often unintentionally, or just making the mistake of believing the media's spin on something, share the media's viewpoint. There are a lot of members of the media that will put a spin on things, there are a lot of members of a media that will reliably take a negative tone when it comes to Alabama and Nick Saban. I just hope the next time the media pushes some misleading statistic, or takes great liberties in interpreting a quote that we consider the source.

Seriously though, Alabama schedules USC, FSU, etc... away from home, and all some of these guys have to say is that Alabama isn't playing out of conference road games?

Those are 3 of the biggest dorks in sports media today.

Seriously if this is such a "bad thing" why do other teams (especially teams like UM, FSU, USC) agree to play BAMA at a neutral site?

B1GTide said:

Alabama does not play a road non-conference game this year, yet has the most difficult schedule in college football by everyone's measure. Only idiots or people with an agenda would ignore the schedule as a whole in order to point out a single weakness.

Click to expand...

I agree and wonder why they are making such a big deal about that. It's like they were instructed to say negative things about Alabama in order to gain attention...oh, wait.

would they be placated were we to play UVA in Charlottesville and beat them by 50?

Oh, I will say that I do like this match up. We owe Louisville big time for the Fiesta Bowl after the 1990 season.

As for the whole "true" road game nonsense, I would like to see us play some home and home games with some of these teams instead of the neutral site game. It would be a lot more fun. But the neutral site games are no less tough, and they are done for the money and recruiting exposure, not to lessen the difficulty of the schedule.

Again I say, the media quoted above are some of the biggest dorks going at it today.

What does it matter if when you play a highly ranked team on the road, whether or not that game is a conference or non-conference game? That's a really dumb argument to make..


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Not trying to start anything, but could this potentially be our first game without Saban?

It would be his 12th season with us. Man, that's hard to imagine.

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This year we only play 7 of the preseason top 25 teams; five which are in the SECW and then Georgia and Wisconsin.

I'd ignore anybody who complains about our scheduling because it's murderers' row each year just in the SECW.

The haters whine every cotton picking year!!!

In 2011, they complained that we didn't face South Carolina and/or Georgia. But we faced Penn State and what did they say? "Well, Penn State wasn't any good." Like it's OUR FAULT the Sandusky scandal broke? Penn State had only lost to us prior to that - they were 8-1.

In 2010 NOBODY came to our defense when we played SEVEN OPPONENTS with an extra week to prepare.

In 2012, they complained that we didn't have to face South Carolina and/or Florida OR Georgia until the divisional playoff.

In 2013, they whined that we didn't play ANY of the Big 3. But guess what? Florida and Georgia were a combined 12-13, so guess what they would have said if we DID beat them - "well, they weren't any good!"


Last year, MSU beat LSU, ATM, and Auburn in three straight games. What did the media do? Say, "well, those teams aren't as good as they were before." Of course, you didn't see one member of the media picking MSU to go through that gauntlet BEFORE the season, did you?



It's the same thing with Florida. Every single year some pea brain comes out with the old "Florida hasn't played an out of conference game outside of the state of Florida since they lost to Syracuse in 1991," suggesting, of course, the Gators are SKEERED. Never mind that during that same time frame they have played Florida State EVERY SINGLE YEAR!!!! This during a time frame the Seminoles have won three national championships.


Btw - and I chose Ohio State ONLY because they're defending champions - what QUALITY teams have they played OOC on the road? I'm sure Cal was a good team back when that game was scheduled but so what? They were a 1-11 joke when the game was in California in 2013. In 2011 they played Miami - a 6-6 Miami that wasn't any good. Oh, they played USC in 2009.

Oh that's right, they LOST that one!!!

I'm in NO way impugning Ohio State - but this same argument can be used for any team you wish. After all, who did tOSU play OOC ON THE ROAD last year? I'll save you looking - NOBODY!!! They played Navy at a neutral site and then had home games with Va Tech, Cincy, and Kent State.

What about Auburn in 2013? Nope!! Wazzu, Arky St, W Carolina, and Florida A/M.

2013 Florida State? No, if Florida doesn't get to count playing FSU as a tough opponent then the Seminoles don't, either. Sure, it was on the road but the Gators were 4-8 for Pete's sake. And "on the road?" Same state!!

2011 LSU? Well Oregon was "practically" a home game (Dallas) even though it's called neutral.

The only team one can argue that was a recent contender who had multiple tough OOC road games is Notre Dame. And that doesn't count anyway because the Irish weren't even IN a conference.

B1GTide said:

Alabama does not play a road non-conference game this year, yet has the most difficult schedule in college football by everyone's measure. Only idiots or people with an agenda would ignore the schedule as a whole in order to point out a single weakness.

Click to expand...

Amen, B1G...

That Bryan Fischer guy also led the charge against Coach Saban following Coach's comments about moving back the date when draft grades are handed out...

Clearly, an unabashed hater...

Sports writers/talkers jump the shark with stuff like this all too often -- just to make some noise and try to get noticed, I guess. Tomorrow the drivel will be something like "Bama coaches have not coached games blindfolded in, like, forever!!!" and 50 gomers will agree in the comments.

these boneheads will not be happy until Alabama plays Boise State in Idaho. and Bama will have to lose that game before they are completely satisfied.