AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2007 > July > 25
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Top storylines at SEC meetings
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Birmingham — The SEC Football Media Days kicked off today. Yes, there will be a lot of talk about Xs and Os, starting quarterbacks and all the other usual stuff. But here are the five things I really want to learn in the next three days:
1. How many Alabama state troopers will it take to get Nick Saban into the Wynfrey Hotel?
The Crimson Tide’s coach is always greeted like a rock star by the adoring faithful at this event. After 92,138 showed up at the spring game, we are expecting a pretty serious mob Thursday morning when Saban arrives here and addresses the media. I’m guessing a minimum of five members of Alabama’s finest will be clearing the way.
2. Will Arkansas coach Houston Nutt bring his cell phone?
Since an overzealous Razorback fan used the Freedom of Information Act to get and widely distribute Nutt’s phone records, I figure he had gone back to just using pay phones and carrier pigeons. I do know this: For a guy who won 10 football games last season, there are an awful lot of people in this league wondering about his future in Fayetteville.
3. Will Les Miles, that wild and crazy guy, go off on the Pac-10 again?
Miles had the audacity to suggest earlier this month that a team that had to play in a conference championship game, like LSU from the SEC, had a tougher road to the BCS championship game than a Pac-10 team that didn’t, like Southern Cal. Some things are pretty self-evident. I thought it was a rare moment of clarity from a coach who gets rapped for being deathly dull. Oh by the way. Miles is getting a little tired of hearing that he’s won 22 games in two years with Nick Saban’s players.
4. How many times will Urban Meyer be asked if Florida can defend its national championship?
And how many times will Meyer say that this is a brand new team that’s not defending anything? When Meyer enters the Wynfrey Hotel, Nick Saban will be leaving. Will the building be able to hold all that energy?
5. Is anybody flying below the radar more than Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville?
Here is a guy who has gone 21-3 in the SEC the past three seasons but nobody is talking about his football program. My sense is that is exactly the way he likes it. But I do have this question: Saban is making $4 million a year. Tuberville, who has beaten Alabama five straight times, makes about half that. Come November, if Tuberville beats Alabama for the sixth straight time, will he deserve a raise? Does it help that Tuberville and Saban have the same agent, Jimmy Sexton?
