By Jay Skurski
Inspired by a comment from South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, a popular question has once again come up.
Could the nation's best college team, in this case Alabama, compete with the NFL's cellar dwellers, teams like the 1-6 Jaguars or Chiefs?
"Alabama, gosh, they look like they could beat a couple of those NFL teams that I've watched on Sundays," Spurrier said on Wednesday's Dan Patrick Show. "I think a lot of the oddsmakers out there, that usually know what's going on, I'd guess Alabama would be favored by a little bit."
The Bills have two former Crimson Tide players on their roster in defensive end Mark Anderson and defensive tackle Marcell Dareus, who was part of Alabama's 2009 national championship team.
Here's what Dareus had to say when asked if he thought his alma mater could hang with an NFL squad:
"I don't know if they could compete with an NFL team, but they're more disciplined than most NFL football teams. They’d stick in a game with a few teams. They're just coached real well.
"The Tide is rolling on all cylinders, man. Tuscaloosa's going crazy."
Doug Farrar, author of the Shutdown Corner blog on Yahoo! Sports, has more on the topic in this blog post.
Update: According to RJ Bell of pregame.com, after a survey of Las Vegas bookmakers, If Alabama played the worst NFL team (currently the Jacksonville Jaguars) on a neutral field, the Crimson Tide would be a 24-point underdog.
