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College football 2015 | THE TUSCALOOSA NEWS
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cover story
dollars and ense
By Aaron Suttles Sports Writer
Everything it does is closely scrutinized, picked apart and criticized, oftentimes unfairly. There’s a price to pay, it seems, to be the nation’s preeminent program, the crown jewel of a league that considers itself the crown jewel of college football. ESPN broadcasts live from University of Alabama facilities, everything head coach Nick Saban says makes news, aggregation blogs and headlines. People care about Alabama football, so people pay attention to the happenings in and around the program. It’s become trendy for national voices and writers to pick apart every little decision. That especially applies to the schedule. Schedule neutral-site games against Florida State and Southern California, as UA has for 2016 and ’17, respectively, and the nitpickers’ sound and fury begins. Instead of getting credit for scheduling two of the most recognizable names and powerful programs in college football, Alabama is the subject of derision and mockery. “Alabama hasn’t played a road out-of-conference game since 2011,” the critics say. That’s a true statement. Alabama hasn’t gone on the road for an out-of-conference contest since it traveled to State College, Pa., to face Penn State. No, Alabama’s current scheduling philosophy isn’t to schedule home-andhome series with out-of-conference teams all over the country. The fans would love it, a chance to travel to the biggest and best venues around the college football landscape and host big-name teams at BryantDenny Stadium. Television would love it, broadcasting the pageantry of the game translates so much better to the visual medium on campus than it does in a stuffy neutral-site venue, usually an indoors one. See Sense | 5D
Alabama taking advantage of the big bucks that come with scheduling neutral-site games with marquee opponents