Alabama – A Shameful Schedule 2013

 

Alabama won the 2011 National Championship, is in the 2012 NC game against Notre Dame and has a good chance of being in the 2013 NC hunt as well.  Why?  Good coaching, sure.  Great talent, absolutely.  Both key ingredients that all teams need to possess to win a title.  However the Crimson Tide has something else going for it, an obscenely easy schedule.  This is not new to Alabama, playing cupcakes and carefully scheduling games to their advantage is an art form in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama does not like to leave the Confederacy.  In 2013 they venture out one time, to play Kentucky, a civil war border state.  This year they really went out on a limb and played Michigan, however that game was in Arlington Texas, a friendly Confederate State.  Very nicely crafted indeed.  In 2013 The Tide opens against Virginia Tech, however the game is at Atlanta Georgia.  Bama did not even want to venture up North to Blackburg Virginia.

Here is the shameful schedule:

Notice that only 11 games are listed, Alabama needs to find one more cupcake to complete the 12 FBS NCAA game schedule.  Pretty late in the hunt to find a team with an open date equaling The Tide’s.  Rest assured the will pay some chump team to travel to Bryant-Denny Stadium to get mauled.  This year it was Florida Atlantic (40-7), Western Kentucky (35-0) and Western Carolina (49-0).

Virginia Tech*              (6-6)

@Texas A&M             (10-2)

Ole Miss                       (6-6)

Georgia State              (1-10)              

@Kentucky                  (2-10)

Arkansas                      (4-8)

Tennessee                    (5-7)

LSU                             (10-2)

@Mississippi State        (8-4)    

Chattanooga                (6-5)

@Auburn                      (3-9)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

* @Atlanta Georgia

4 SEC teams away

1 game at a “close neutral site”

6 home games, 4 SEC and 2 embarrassing cupcakes.

1 obvious home game to be scheduled Sept 7, Sept 21or possibly but not likely (LSU the following week) Nov. 2.

The SEC West is kind of weak compared to the East, that sure doesn’t hurt Alabama’s chances either.

The cupcakes:

Crimson Tide Cupcake

Georgia State will move up in 2013 to the FBS Division 1-A, they had been in the FCS Division 1-AA CAA Conference.  Chattanooga is a lowly FCS in the mighty Southern Conference.

No doubt if Notre Dame was not undefeated, Alabama would be ranked #1, even with this years schedule.  So much for the myth of strenth of scedule.

Go IRISH beat the shameful Tide