Today on Offseason Theather...

This morning, I was listening to The First Team on Sirius/XM driving into work. I know some of you listen, so I'm curious as to what your take is on Alabama's ranking at #7 in their poll, and why they're 7th.  And, if you didn't, feel free to chime in, because I know there is no shortage on opinions when it comes to Alabama.

Taylor Zarzour is from Mobile, and Greg McElroy, as we know, won himself a national championship under Saban at Alabama.  So, objectivity is immediately in doubt.  Plus, they're not on 11W staff, so really, they're part of the them crowd anyways.

Curiously enough, they had the Tide ranked outside of the CFP, as they also did LSU and Florida State.  But, unlike LSU and FSU fans who understand their teams have glaring deficiencies to overcome, Alabama must be great, because they have recruited the #1 recruiting class in America the universe for like each of the past 74 years. Zarzour ranked the Tide 10th on his card, and McElroy had the Tide 3rd.  Averaged out, they had the Tide ranked 7th.

McElroy's logic was very scientific (his word, not mine), as he stated that trends rule college football, (I agree) and that if the CFP existed for the past 7 seasons, Alabama would have been in the playoff 6 times (I guess I agree).  But, he went on to say that Alabama making the CFP is, at this point, "a scientific certainty, or as near a thing as you can have", because that is the trend.  Where Greg and I don't see eye to eye is on tense usage here.  I don't think it is the trend as much as it was the trend.

They went on to say that Alabama's schedule in "the best division is college football" is grueling, emphasizing games at Auburn and at Georgia, yet curiously leaving out their premium OOC game versus Wisconsin, who last we checked smacked Auburn upside the head.  So, the 2-5 bowl record did not soften the tone on that whole SEC West mess.

Zarzour seemed to have a fairly objective take on them addressing their concerns, specifically mentioning:

• Are they tall enough in the secondary to deal with the elite wide receivers who gave them trouble? - made me think of Kevin White, Laquon Treadwell, and Michael Thomas, specifically.
• Can they get off the field on 3rd down? An absolute thorn in their side last season, just look at what we did to them.
• Can their linebackers step up? Calling into question what was hyped as the best unit in the country before Ezekiel Elliott turned them into a punch line in New Orleans. McElroy actually said that Trey DePriest was the most overrated player in the country (I think) and he was out of shape, slow, and that is why he subsequently went undrafted.  Also, remember that Reggie Ragland was last seen in the Super Dome with cotton stuffed in his nose, concussed, and wearing a hoodie, after he got trucked by a quarterback.
• Do they have any depth at running back? At this point, I'm wondering where the 914 five-star recruits are that they have seeming hauled in recently...
• Are they the most talented team in America? They said their D line was the "best unit at America by position group, including Ohio State's quarterbacks".  I'm not making that up.  They said that Ohio State was the most talented team in the playoff looking back at it, relatively speaking.  Relative to what, they didn't say.  But, they said that Alabama has to return to being the most talented team in America.  My thoughts? If you're not the most talented team in America, when 100% of your players were part of the "number one ranked recruiting class in America", then I think you have problems.

On of their most curious takes was on the quarterback position.  McElroy obviously took point on this portion of the conversation, but he sounded a lot like Joey Lauren Adams in Chasing Amy, playing the pronoun game.  McElroy was talking about how "he will be more than ok" and "they will improve at that position" and "the guy is going to step up and be a better fit for Lane Kiffin's offense", finally getting around to his point that he thinks David Cornwell will beat out Jacob Coker.  Of course, this set him up to swoon over "the best offensive coordinator in America, because Tom Herman is no longer an offensive coordinator" and "if it weren't for Tom Herman last year, Kiffin would have won the Broyles Award".  He sounded genuinely glad that MENSA Tom is in Houston - as he should be. 

By now, you're probably asking yourselves, good God 3M, what is your point???
Well, I'm working with a guy nicknamed "puzzle book", so there won't be much conversation at work today.  And, if there was, he'd want to talk about Texas Tech, if we talk football, and he doesn't even know who Mike Mitchell is, so I thought I'd kick off a conversation with my 11W brethren.  Besides, hating on Alabama seems to be kind of en vogue these days...

EDIT: Georgia was 8th, Alabama was 7th.  Sorry...

And, don't forget to sign up for the 11W golf outing: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/forum/anything-else/2015/05/53639/eleven-warriors-grassroots-golf-outing-invitation