According to a story printed in the Charleston Daily Mail (West Va.) West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, who is also a West Virginia graduate, said he and Saban had spoken and "were working toward" snagging that invitation for the Mountaineers before the league settled on the Tigers. Both Saban and his wife Terry are West Virginia natives, and Saban spent two seasons in the late '70s as a defensive assistant for WVU.

But even Saban’s influence wasn’t enough to get the Mountaineers in as the Missouri Tigers would become the 14th team in the SEC.

A lot of commentators thought WVU would be more of a perfect fit for the SEC then Missouri, but those same experts thought the reason why the Tigers were picked over the Mountaineers is because of the larger television markets which would included the Kansas City and St. Louis markets.

Who do you guys think would have made the better fit; Missouri or West Virginia?

Including quarterback Jordan Jefferson who had the worst game of his college career which I don’t know if that means anything cause he has had a lot of those.

Jordan made these comments on an Atlanta radio station:

"I definitely didn't expect for (the title game) to play like that," Jefferson told WCNN. "Alabama was a little bit more prepared than us. There was a lot of things that we should've did different to catch a rhythm on offense. To win a type of game like that, you've got to win all three phases -- offense, defense and special teams -- and we just didn't get over that hump to winning those phases. We kind of fell short in that game."

Kind of? was he watching the same game we were?

Jefferson continues

"When we came in at halftime we discussed what we needed to do different as far as moving the ball and getting in a rhythm," he told the radio station. "... You have to have certain plays for these certain types of defenses they were running. We talked about making the adjustment and the adjustment that we made wasn't the adjustment that we needed to make to get the momentum and rhythm going.”

At no point does Jefferson blame himself for having a lousy game, he just basically continues to blame the coaches.

"We have great guys in those areas and sometimes we just wonder why we don't use those guys," he said. "But we're not the one calling the plays. We still have to go out and execute what the coaches and coordinators are calling. We can't complain as players, but sometimes we do question that.

It’s a month later and LSU players are STILL wondering what the hell happen. How about giving Alabama credit and saying we just got beaten by a better football team, but I guess that’s too much to ask.

But so do several other teams and some NFL experts think Richardson may even drop in the draft because a lot of running backs (one of them being Mark Ingram last year) aren’t taken early in the first round these days, but as we all know Richardson is special and any team that drafts him will get the best running back in the draft.

The Alabama softball team has been picked to win the West this season. No surprise since the ladies have dominated the West and the SEC over the past few years.

The Alabama gymnast have a 3-0 record and are ranked 6th in the country, but they are No. 1 in the vault. Leading the way is junior Ashley Sledge who is the No. 1 gymnast in the country on the vault. Senior Geralen Stack-Eaton is second in the country behind Sledge.

Homecoming on the Capstone is October 27th against Mississippi State.

“They really came hard after him the last 48 hours,” said Stanley Pritchett, Taylor’s high school coach. “

“Kentucky really put the full court press on him. He can play early there because they need running backs. Kentucky runs a pro-style offense and he feels very comfortable there with those coaches, especially Tee Martin.”

Taylor and his family were reportedly were not happy that he would be gray shirted because he thought he’d be part of this year’s class, so it’s not that surprising that he changed his commitment, but according to a story on ESPN.com, he thought long and hard before he changed his mind.

But first the coach had these opening remarks: "We started out w/ a goal of explosive players on offense and felt good about the guys we were able to attract."

Then Saban went off for a few minutes about the new SEC over signing rule.

“We took away some opportunities from players who wanted to come here because of the 25 limit.”

“It was more difficult to manage, to hit the exact number, said Saban." "We couldn't send out too many scholarships on a maybe because of the new rule.”

The coach also said he resents people thinking that coaches don’t have the best interest of the player and he basically ended his press conference speaking briefly on the Ladon Collins signing saying he hopes everyone around him will support his decision.

I don’t blame the coach for being a little upset, the media has seem to have made him the poster child for over siging players, but despite that, it hasn’t hurt him at all which tells you what kind of coach he is and the type of program he runs.

RTR!

In the Izzy Gould article, we find out that the "job" that was alleged was actually a hostess position.

"There's accusations saying (Annette's) going to hand feed Landon to Saban and that basically my son is following her daughter, which is a lie," Justin said. "Since his junior year, when we first visited, we fell in love with the (Alabama) campus.

"Furthermore, there was an accusation saying she has a job for an internship. It's not a job. It's an intern in his office."

Annette is Annette Jackson-Lowery which is Collins' girlfriend momma who use to work at LSU.

It sounds like there is a power struggle between Collins' mom and his girlfriend. Momma wants him at LSU for some reason which we'll never know and he wants to attend Bama with his girlfriend.

Landon Collins has said he has been interested in Bama for the last two years way before his girlfriend or her mother became involved in this process. It's his mother who has been pushing LSU down his throat.

But isn't it interesting how Collins' mother all of sudden has a change of heart and will support her son tomorrow. Wonder if she got a call from someone in Baton Rouge telling her to let this situation go before she screws it up for herself and her son.

I know fans are excited as you should be, I am because a top recruiting class equals success. Nick Saban’s 2008 class included Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, Courtney Upshaw just to name a few and I’m not mistaken, the 2008 class was No. 1 in the country too.

That class won 45 games, two national championships and one SEC championship. To say that was one of the best recruiting classes ever, would be an understatement.

But the thing that worries me is sometimes the fans reaction when they don’t get the player they wanted and the young men themselves who take their recruitment too seriously.

Fans that “stalk” and harass kids on social networks are the worst. I remember last year when Brent Calloway decided to switch back to Alabama after he had chosen Auburn. The nasty comments he received from AU fans were pitiful; this was an 18-year old who just changed his mind.

I also remember the controversy surrounding his recruitment and how an AU blogger tried to say Alabama had cheated to get him which was never proven and the blogger never apologized either.

Then there are the kids themselves who at times get over exposed. No wonder some of these kids get the big head when ESPN puts pressure on them to sign on national TV so they make a show out of it and in some cases, so do their parents.

This is a big day and should be a big day, but at times it seems like we lose prospective on what it’s really all about; schools taking chances on a bunch of 17 and 18-year olds.

What do you think? Comment below!

ESPN, Rivals, Maxpreps had the Tide No. 1 and Scout had the Tide at No. 2. While Bama lost out on running back Justin Taylor who decided not to grey shirt and go to Kentucky, they did land names like Cyrus Jones, Geno Smith, and as expected Landon Collins who also signed his letter of intent.

Unlike when he made his announcement to attend Bama a few months ago, his mother sat next to him and actually hug him after he signed the papers.

Other SEC teams that finished in the top 10 behind Bama were Georgia, Florida and LSU.

Auburn finished somewhere near the middle or bottom of their the top 25 if you believe most experts.

Here is a list of Tide commitments:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/alabama/football/recruiting/commitments/2012

This weekend, HBO presented their new documentary "Namath" about the life of former Tide quarterback and NFL icon Joe Namath.

The story follows Namath as he gets ready for a celebration his hometown of Beaver Falls, PA. is having in his honor.

The documentary examines Namath's humble beginnings back in Beaver Falls and how athletics became his life. Namath started out as a great baseball player, but of course as we all know, he would turn to football later in his high school career.

Namath was going to play football at Maryland, but because he didn't score high enough on his college examines, the Maryland coaching staff called Coach Bryant and told him about Namath and that's how he ended up in Tuscaloosa.

Later of course, he would be drafted by the New York Jets and lead them to the 1969 Super Bowl. The documentary also looks at Namath's personal life including his father leaving his family when he was young, the break up of his marriage and his drinking problems over the years.

It's a touching and at times sad portrait of the man we still all know and love as Broadway Joe. Check your local listings for show times.