Jumbo Package: SEC 9 game schedule with annual opponents drops next week

First, however, we have to tie up some loose ends. We get another week to figure out which of a large group of hyped-but-struggling quarterbacks -- Texas’ Arch Manning, Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, Florida’s DJ Lagway, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier -- will steer out of a current skid. We get a huge Illinois-Indiana game (just an amazing combination of words there). We get a matchup of two of the Big 12’s best and meanest teams to date (Texas Tech at Utah). We get former Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold and Auburn heading to Norman in a battle of SEC unbeatens. And we get another massive week in the Group of 5, with American Conference unbeatens Memphis and Tulane getting shots at SEC upsets and ambitious teams such as UNLV, North Texas and Boise State facing big road tests.

“Coming into this game, they was talking about best O-line in the country,” Desir said. “I felt like it was another high school game. It didn’t feel hard for me. It just felt like I could dominate, and that’s what I went out there and did.”

Desir in his debut tallied four tackles and tallied three pressures, per Pro Football Focus. No. 7 Florida State beat the No. 14 Crimson Tide 31-17 in the season opener.

Since then, the Crimson Tide has defeated Louisiana-Monroe and Wisconsin. The Seminoles beat East Texas A&M before an open week. This weekend, Florida State will play Kent State while Alabama is on an open week.

The Crimson Tide’s utilized seven different offensive lineman in critical moments through three games this year and featured multiple combinations up front as the offense searches for its best combination up front.

“We’ve just got to find the right five and the right physicality through all of them, and it’s not up to me,” Alabama left tackle Kadyn Proctor said. “I love everybody who I play next to and I know Coach Cap, Coach Grubb and Coach DeBoer are going to do their best to put the best five out there.”

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Proctor was asked what lessons from his first season he has tried to pass along to Carroll.

“Not letting the bad play hinder your future plays,” Proctor said. “That’s really the biggest thing. If your mind goes to that one bad play and we’ve got 30 more plays to go– I’m saying in a practice or in a game– you can’t, that’s not something that you can think about or it’ll ruin the rest of the game for you.”

Carroll, a Pennsylvania native, joined the Crimson Tide out of IMG Academy in Florida in the 2025 recruiting class. The 6-foot-6, 321-pound freshman was a five-star prospect.

According to the 247Sports composite ratings, Carroll was the top-ranked interior offensive lineman in the class. He’s mostly played tackle for the Crimson Tide, a position he certainly has the size for.

The Alabama football offensive tackle sees it from how Dewberry “attacks” the football field, how the Texas A&M transfer is early or on time to every class he takes. But there’s no place that Dewberry’s “attacking” mindset is more evident than when he and Proctor do their nightly routine: a 15-minute exercise bike session in a 130-degree sauna.

“Just sweat it out, man,” Proctor said. “Sweat it out.”

Even though Alabama has played the Bulldogs the most, it hasn’t been much of a rivalry.

Alabama is 88-17-3 all-time against Mississippi State. That’s compared to 57-27-5 all-time against LSU.

Also, the Tigers have proved to be more of a rival in recent history. They beat Alabama in Baton Rouge in 2022. They defeated the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa in 2019. There’s also the 2011 season, in which Alabama and LSU split the series, with the Crimson Tide winning the national championship.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs haven’t defeated the Crimson Tide since 2007. Alabama has won 21 of the past 23 matchups.

If the SEC values good, compelling games, Alabama-LSU has the advantage over Alabama-Mississippi State. And it’s not close.

Conyers has transitioned to an off-field role, overseeing the scheduling for the practice officials and mentoring them from the sidelines.

He helped pioneer the role of Bama practice ref after being recruited by Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant in 1962.

Conyers says Bryant’s theory was to work all the penalties out at practice in hopes of fewer game infractions.

“I can’t tell you how terrified and intimidated I was,” recalls Conyers, who had been working as an official at high school football games at the time.

He left his day job at a local hardware store a few hours early, ducked into a service station restroom to change into zebra stripes, and reported for duty, asking Bryant what he was supposed to do.

“Coach Bryant talked low and he mumbled,” Conyers says. “I didn’t have a clue what he said. And I just said ‘ok.’”

“This comes from two assistant athletic directors I spoke with, one last week and one over the weekend, and the comment was the same: ‘We have no money.’ So when you start seeing the excess revenue that materialized probably 15 years ago in college sports, where did it go? Coaches’ salaries and facilities.”

He added, “I’m wondering if you’re going to see the buyouts disappear, or if schools just won’t fire guys. And I think the day of the $37 million locker room is over.”

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