Wake of destruction

TUSCALOOSA | One by one, the University of Alabama football team knocked them down.

The preseason No. 9 team at a neutral site. The preseason No. 1 team on its home field. Every rival, including the defending national champion, fell to Alabama’s might.

Although the No. 1 Crimson Tide (12-0, 8-0 SEC) is concentrating on what lays ahead, especially Saturday’s SEC Championship Game against Florida, it’s hard not to notice what’s left in its wake.

Basically, a mess. A bunch of bruised and battered programs that were never quite the same.

“Took out the stool from underneath them,” junior linebacker Cory Reamer said. “It might have shut down part of their season. I guess it is a compliment to us of how we came out and really took the wind out of their sails.

“To see teams that have had troubles as the season’s gone on, which were supposed to be top 10 teams at the beginning of the year, that just shows how crazy college football is. All it takes is one week.”

One statistic drives home the point. Alabama’s 12 opponents were a combined 23-17 (.600) before facing the Tide. After losing, those same teams went 31-39 (.442).

Three head coaches no longer have their jobs (Clemson’s Tommy Bowden, Tennessee’s Phillip Fulmer and Mississippi State’s Sylvester Croom), with scores of assistants updating their resumes. That’s despite Fulmer having a national championship under his belt and reaching the SEC Championship Game last year, while Croom was the 2007 SEC Coach of the Year.

Only two opponents are still ranked, neither in the top 15. The last time LSU, Tennessee and Auburn all finished unranked was 1981. Of those three, only LSU is bowl eligible, and like many other SEC teams, they stumbled badly down the stretch.

“I’m not thinking about that, I’m thinking about us,” junior cornerback Marquis Johnson said. “I wish every team good luck whether we beat them, kill them, it’s a close game or not. We’re just focused on us.”

Some of the collapses have been impressive, though: particularly LSU, which lost to Alabama 27-21 in overtime less than a month ago.

Since then, only a major comeback prevented an embarrassing home loss to Troy, and the Tigers subsequently lost to both Ole Miss and Arkansas. With 398 offensive yards, the Razorbacks narrowly missed becoming the fourth SEC team to accumulate 400-plus against the talented Tigers.

“We started flat,” Les Miles said during SEC coaches’ conference call following the Troy game. “Certainly you understood that was a possibility. I did not know that Troy was going to be on fire. ... It’s difficult to describe that to a team that played such an emotional game the week before.”

Nevertheless, the Tigers became the first national champion to have a losing conference record the following season since Southern California in 1975. The five SEC losses was also LSU’s most since Gerry DiNardo’s last season in Baton Rouge, 1999.

Arkansas had a four-game losing streak. Injured-riddled Kentucky lost four of its last five games. Auburn? Well, the preseason Western Division favorite just finished its worst season in 10 years.

“Tommy is a good friend and I have tremendous amount of professional respect for him, he’s done a fantastic job wherever he’s coached as a head coach,” Coach Nick Saban said. “I had a lot of respect for him as an assistant coach and when he was a defensive coordinator, so we want the best for his future.”

Only two SEC teams avoided the post-Alabama dive, Georgia and Ole Miss, although rival Georgia Tech upset the disappointing Bulldogs Saturday. After Alabama put up 31 points in the first half on Sept. 27, Georgia game up 38 or more points in four of its last five games. Only twice during Vince Dooley’s 25 years did the Bulldogs yield 38 or more points.

The one thing Ole Miss and Georgia have in common is they played a good second half against the Tide.

“Most of the times during the last eight years we’ve been able to do that,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “Even Alabama this year, we started poorly, but we turned around and fought like heck and you don’t feel as bad about a game like that as the year before when we played Tennessee and really didn’t have much fight after a poor start.”

The 31-30 victory at No. 4 Florida on Sept. 27 sparked Ole Miss’s season, but the Rebels lost the following week to South Carolina.

Since losing 24-20 at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Oct. 18, the Rebels have won five straight.

“Our problem is that we’re the best at charitable gifts: giving the ball away, untimely penalty, turnovers at the exact wrong time to lose a ball game,” Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said. “When you play a team like Alabama and you’re down 21-3, 24-3 whatever it was at half, and then you come back and execute, when you do focus, when you don’t have penalties and you don’t have turnovers, you see what happens.”

Reach Christopher Walsh at christopher.walsh@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0196.

BIRMINGHAM | The Southeastern Conference sent out an alert Monday reminding fans to be cautious when purchasing SEC Football Championship Game tickets on the secondary market.

Tickets for Saturday’s game between Alabama and Florida are sold out. With many fans obtaining tickets through various channels on the secondary market, the University of Alabama, the University of Florida and the SEC have advised buyers to beware of possible counterfeit or stolen tickets.

The SEC and the Georgia Dome will be offering a “Ticket Validation Window” at the main box office of the Georgia Dome beginning at 9 a.m. ET on Saturday. The authenticity of the ticket can be confirmed by a box-office representative on site.

Buyers of counterfeit tickets risk being denied admission to the Georgia Dome for the game.