The University of Alabama football team concluded its Tuscaloosa practices on Tuesday before heading to New Orleans on Wednesday. Bama is checked in to the New Orleans Marriott and the media onslaught will begin on Thursday. There has likely never been a more anticipated BCS Championship Game.

Here's what you need to know:

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This will likely be it for the practice reports prior to Christmas. Bama is expected to practice again on Friday before the players will be allowed to head home to see their families. The Tide has switched to full pads as it continues to prepare for its rematch with LSU in the BCS Championship Game. Because of cold weather, rain, and the fact that the game will be played inside, Bama has practiced in the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility.

Here's what you need to know:

The University of Alabama football team began its on-field preparations Monday for the rematch against LSU in the BCS Championship Game on January 9. The practice, held inside the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility, saw players practice in shells. It was the Tide's first practice in three weeks.

Here's what you need to know:

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Obviously, it's not something we're generally that pumped up about. But this time, it means rematch. As you no doubt know by now, on January 9, Alabama will play LSU in New Orleans for a dainty crystal football.

As an unabashed lover of all things New Orleans, I couldn't be more excited. In the coming days, we'll have breakdowns of the game (including a re-viewing of the last matchup), travel advice, and likely a discussion of nxojkt's newfound hate of purple.

I'll leave you with this quote about the 2011 Tide from Matt Hinton's Dr. Saturday at Yahoo.com:

Alabama bludgeoned its opponents by the widest margin of victory in the nation. Its seven SEC wins came by an average of 30 points apiece. Its closest win all season was 16 points, at Penn State, and it wasn't that close. 'Bama leads the nation in total defense, scoring defense, rushing defense, passing defense, pass efficiency defense and third down defense. At 8.8 points per game, the Tide are the least scored-upon team in Division I in more than a decade.

Roll Tide!

The SEC Storied Doucmentary The Play that Changed College Football - airing tonight on at 10 pm ESPNU* - takes the stance that the most important play of the past 25 years was Antonio Langham intercepting Shane Matthews in Birmingham, Alabama in 1992. On its face, that's a bit of a head scratcher.

*it's an interesting scheduling decision, considering it'll start during the conclusion of the Georgetown-Alabama basketball matchup on the Deuce. That game tips at 8:30 pm, and if you're in Tuscaloosa and don't have a compelling reason not to, get thee to Coleman! Your DVR can catch this documentary to watch tomorrow.

Sure, it was cool to see my beloved Alabama Crimson Tide win in the inaugural SEC Championship Game. It was my freshman year at the Capstone, and to subsequently sit in the Superdome a month later and watch the Tide dismantle an overmatched Miami team was even more fun.

But I had no inkling at the time that Langham's fourth quarter interception of Mathews would become "the play that changed college football". Turns out it likely was.

The penultimate BCS standings are in, and Alabama has a decent lead over third place Oklahoma State. It's not in the bank, but it seems solid that Alabama will have a chance to play LSU in New Orleans for the BCS Championship.

But that scenario is not without objections. Let's run them down.

Objection One: Because LSU won the head-to-head, they're "punished" by having to play Georgia while Alabama rests - it's not fair
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The University of Alabama football team worked inside the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility on Tuesday, escaping some pretty terrible weather. The Tide practiced in full pads as it continued its preparation for the Auburn Tigers.

Here's what you need to know:

The Alabama basketball team has concluded its preseason and begins its 2011-2012 season Friday night against North Florida. The Tide is a pre-season top 20 team, and is expected by pretty much everyone to finally make an appearance in the NCAA Tournament this season. I've only seen the team play once, during its exhibition win over UAH on Monday, but here are my thoughts:

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The disappointment from the LSU certainly isn't gone, but we have to start putting that behind us. There are still important games on the schedule, and if Bama wants to have any chance at another shot against LSU, the Tide must win, and win impressively. Up first is Mississippi State. Bama has, according to Coach Saban, had a solid week of practice.

Here's what you need to know:

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This weekend’s matchup between Alabama and LSU has been the focus of nearly every sports broadcast this week. It’s attracted as much attention as any regular season football game I can recall (and I’ve seen lots and lots of weeks of football).

Much to the chagrin of some, though, there have been very few mentions of “oversigning”. Some have latched on to every single chance to hassle the national media into covering this “crisis”. As the internet’s self appointed defender of oversigning, let’s tackle this once more.

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