Chip Shots: Give the Devil His Due: Bama Almost Launches Perfect Storm Against Florida

Chip Shots
A Sports Blog

Meet the Staff

I'm Chip Ramsey a career broadcaster who has been a sports radio program director in Milwaukee and Nashville. I've covered everything from high school and college sports (including the SEC, Big Ten, MVC and OVC) to Major League Baseball, The NFL and the NHL. I have a few things to say, and when I want to say them, I say them here.

I mostly talk about my teams, which would be the White Sox, Bears, and Blackhawks, but I do talk about other things as well. Thanks for dropping by. I hope you will bookmark this site and visit often!

Chip's broadcast career

Chip Shots: Give the Devil His Due: Bama Almost Launches Perfect Storm Against Florida

Give the Devil His Due: Bama Almost Launches Perfect Storm Against Florida

Go ahead, admit it. You root against Nick Saban. Maybe it's the smugness, the intensity, the moving around from place to place every three years, whatever. You root against the guy to lose every game, don't you?

Well, even you had to be impressed with the coaching job Saban did against Florida Saturday afternoon. True, Alabama lost 31-20, but what may be lost is how close this game was and how Alabama almost pulled off what would have been a mighty upset.

Alabama came out after halftime and ran 24 offensive plays in the third quarter and the tempo of the ball game. Only the power of Florida Quarterback Tim Tebow would bring Alabama down in the fourth quarter.

Nobody figured Alabama would last very long with Florida in this game. Most thought Florida would come out, use its' quick strike capability and put Alabama in a deep hole to which their grind it out offense couldn't dig their way out of. But there was a different story. Bama played three solid quarters offensively and defensively. The only mistakes

they made were two poor decisions on special teams in the second quarter that gave Florida good field position.

The bottom line is while Florida clearly is the better of these two teams, Alabama is a lot closer to being a national power than anyone thought. Don't kid yourself. The 12-0 record was a bit of a mirage due to a soft schedule and games against several teams down on their luck. It's not to say that this Alabama team doesn't have talent, but I wouldn't put them in the same boat with Oklahoma, Texas and Florida just yet. I think they are probably as good as Oklahoma State.

But in two short years, Nick Saban has put the bloom back on Bama's rose and will continue to recruit outstanding players to Tuscaloosa. Bama fans have no reason to hang their heads, their team played a terrific game against a tough, talented opponent. It won't be long before Alabama may be the favorite in those games instead of the little red engine that could.

Sometimes, as Bama fans have found out, making a deal with the devil can work out.