By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

Nice exposure if you can get it.

CSS carried Alabama’s spring finale and I’m sure by Wednesday, the writers in Birmingham will have crowd estimates up around 100,000. I’m convinced after reading the Sunday paper that Alabama is the front runner for the national championship.  

Those at the spring game say this team is entirely different from the one that lost to Louisiana-Monroe five months ago. I’m telling you, this Saban guy is a miracle worker.

P.T. Barnum has nothing on those clowns in Tuscaloosa.

ESPN U. carried a special edition, College Football Live show where Mark May and the others drooled all over Georgia and Florida. Who is their dark horse in the SEC this year? You got it – the Crimson Tide. Where do they come up with this crap? This is a team that will start the year 0-1 out of the gate.

What did the ESPN guys say about Auburn? Absolutely nothing. Not a mention. I don’t know about you, but I’m ok with it. Before losing Will Muschamp, I really felt like this team could contend for a conference championship and maybe more.

Paul Rhoades showed me in the spring that he can coach defense. If Kodi Burns steps up at quarterback, I still believe Auburn has a better than average chance of playing in Atlanta in December.

After reading J.D. Hogan’s and Jay Gibson’s articles on Auburn baseball last week, I decided to head to Plainsman Park Saturday and watch Tom Slater’s team take on South Carolina. Despite being swept, this is a solid Auburn team that’s much improved from earlier in the year.

Slater will probably be under fire if he doesn’t earn a trip to Birmingham and the SEC Tournament. And maybe he should be. But this group is extremely young and talented. If the coaching staff and team stay intact another year, there’s no reason why the Tigers can’t compete for the SEC title in 2009.

Kudos to athletic director Jay Jacobs who handed my wife four tickets behind the plate for Saturday’s game. He catches hell here from time-to-time, but it was a class act.

Thanks Jay.