Project CFB Top Ten: #1 Alabama Crimson Tide

In 2012 the Alabama Crimson Tide went 11-1 in the regular season, with the only blemish on the record coming at home to the upstart Texas A&M Aggies (the #5 team in our ranks) and the eventual Heisman winner Johnny Manziel before defeating the Georgia Bulldogs (#3 in our ranks) in the SEC Championship game and then destroyed the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (our 10th ranked team) in the BCS National Championship game, the Tide's second straight title and their 3rd in 4 years. Just going off that 2012 resume could you realistically see any other team taking the top spot in our preseason top 10 rankings?

The Tide does not lack in talent on offense. Led by senior quarterback AJ McCarron, Heisman hopeful tailback TJ Yeldon and Amari Cooper at wide receiver, the Tide has plenty of fire power on offense. McCarron threw 30 touchdowns in 2012, 11 of which were hauled in by "Baby Julio" as some fans refer to Cooper, a tribute to former Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones, and Yeldon scored 13 touchdowns in 2012 despite splitting carries with Eddie Lacy.

With the level of success Alabama has had over the last few seasons, and all of this playing in the South Eastern Conference, known for it's great defensive football and head coach Nick Saban's defensive roots the Tide also field one of the finer defensive units in the country. CJ Mosley and Trey DePriest are the returning leaders of the Crimson Tide defensive unit and look to improve on very solid 2012 seasons from the linebacker position.

The Tide will kick off the quest for a 3rd straight championship in the Chick Fil-A Kickoff game against Virginia Tech, and then after that they get the chance to potentially avenge a late season loss to Johnny Manziel and the Texas A&M Aggies in College Station in their 2013 SEC opener. The Tide then host Ole Miss in the home opener and then host Georgia State and then head to Lexington to take on Kentucky and new head coach Mark Stoops before taking on Tennessee and Arkansas, two teams many feel will be much improved in 2013.

The home stretch for Alabama will be very telling for them, they face LSU in a game that has historically become one of, if not the best rivalries in college football and every year the Les Miles and Nick Saban coaching match up ends up being one of the more entertaining games of the season. Then after taking on Chattanooga and Mississippi State they end the season with in state rival Auburn in the Iron Bowl.

I feel the Tide was blessed by the schedule makers. They avoid perennial SEC powers Georgia, South Carolina and Florida before a potential SEC championship, which has become a must win in college football in order to play for a BCS Championship. Which sets them up for a very solid 2013 campaign on paper. I see at the worst a 10 win season, with an undefeated regular season very possible. But Texas A&M, LSU and Virginia Tech have more than enough talent to knock them off. Only time will tell.

- Josh Gamez
@itsjoshgamez
josh.projectcfb@gmail.com

Project Rivalry: Iron Bowl; Alabama vs Auburn

The Iron Bowl.

Alabama Crimson Tide vs Auburn Tigers.

Roll Tide vs War Eagle.

The Iron Bowl is one of the most storied rivalries not only in the SEC, but in all of college football. The first game of the rivalry was played on February 22, 1893. Auburn won 32-22. The game was played in front of a crowd of roughly 5,000 people at Lakeview Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

After the 1907 game, which ended in a 6-6 tie, the schools could not agree on the amount of expenses to be paid to players, as well as where they would obtain the officials for the game. Therefore they put the feud on hold.  The Alabama congress threatened to withhold funding from both schools unless the rivalry resumed. Fortunately for Alabama and Auburn fans, the rivalry resumed in 1948. It was agreed that the games would be played in Bimingham because it had the largest stadium in the state, Legion Field which held 44,000 seats.

In 1980 the series had come to be called The Iron Bowl due to Birmingham's prominence as a center of iron and steel production. Auburn's coach at the time, Shug Jordan coined the term "Iron Bowl". Alabama's coach Bear Bryant wanted to call the game the "Brag Bowl" due to the fact that after you win in the game, you have a whole year to brag about the victory.

In 1989 the Iron Bowl began being a "home-and-home" series. On December 2, 1989 Alabama came to Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time in the history of the rivalry. A sold out crowd witnessed Auburn win it's first true "home" game of the series, 30-21. Alabama came into that game unbeaten and ranked #2 in the country.

Alabama held their "home" games at Legion Field, but in 1998 they expanded Bryant-Denny Stadium to a capacity of 83,818, exceeding Legion Field by a few hundred. In the year 2000 Alabama moved their home games to Bryant-Denny Stadium where their home games are still played to this day.

The winner of the game is presented with the Foy-ODK Sportsmanship Award, which is named after James E. Foy, who is an Alabama graduate, and also a former Auburn dean of students and Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society.

One of the most shocking things to come out of this rivalry was on January 11, 2011 a man going by the name of "Al" called into the Paul Finebaum sports radio talk show and admitted to poisoning two trees (known as "Toomer's Trees), which were the center of a long tradition that Auburn fans would take part in called "rolling the corner" (the trees were located on the corner of Magnolia Avenue and College street across from Toomer's Drugs). After soil samples were taken, it was determined that the trees were poisoned. Sadly the trees are scheduled to be taken down in April of this year.

The rivalry has seen many oustanding players such as Bo Jackson, Cam Newton, Johnny Musso and Pat Sullivan. It also has seen many great coaches, such as arguably the greatest coach ever Paul "Bear" Bryant.

This rivalry is a long bitter rivalry which is one of the most heated rivalries in college football. Both teams have been among the nation's elite teams for decades. They have also accounted for 30 SEC titles and are two of the most winningest college football teams in college football history.

- Matt Lytle

@mattlytle