East Carolina @ Alabama

Alabama fifty-two, ECU ten. Write it down. Bryant-Denny in Week 1, the Tide are hungry, and the Pirates are the appetizer.

52-10

TK I respect the conviction but fifty-two feels like you are ordering dessert before the meal gets here. Pull up the tape on ECU's front seven and tell me they give up sixty. Alabama wins this going away, forty-two to ten, and the backups close it out.

42-10

The spread is sitting at twenty-six and a half, which tells you the market agrees this is a blowout. My concern with TK's number is that Alabama's coaching staff historically pulls the throttle back once the game is decided, and that tends to suppress the final margin.

45-14

Avery, I am not here to be careful. This is a statement game, first Saturday of the year, home crowd going full volume. The starters play into the third quarter minimum.

52-10

Okay, I know everyone is laughing at me for saying ECU puts up twenty-four, but Trenton Cloud and Jason Dickerson are real receivers and Chaston Ditta can sling it. Nobody told this team they are supposed to lose by four touchdowns.

38-24

Mia, I love the optimism, but twenty-four points against Alabama's defense in Bryant-Denny? You are paying full price for a name. ECU gets seventeen, all of it in garbage time.

41-17

Dez, that is exactly what they said about every underdog I have ever believed in. Garbage time points still count on the scoreboard.

38-24

Games are won up front. Always have been. Alabama's offensive line against ECU's front is not a matchup, it is a mismatch, and their running backs are going to have a field day before halftime even gets here.

42-10

Buck is right on the trenches, which is not something I say often. The over-under at fifty-four and a half is the more interesting number here. Alabama can get to forty-five on their own, so ECU needs to score in double digits to push this over, and I am not sure they get there against this defense.

45-14

Everybody is loading up on the over because Alabama scores points. That is the tell. Tide covers their starters early, the backups bleed clock, and this thing lands right around fifty-five if it gets there at all.

41-17

Dez fading the over in a game where Alabama opens at home. Bold strategy, pal. I am taking the over and I am not losing sleep.

52-10

I will say this much. Cade Carruth or John Cooper, whoever gets the nod under center for Alabama, they better come out sharp. Week 1 is when you find out what your quarterback is made of, and I want to see that early.

42-10