An era came to an end on Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium, and it’s hard to say the next era is an improvement.
Hard, but not impossible.
Alabama football handled important business at home in beating LSU 20-9 as coach Kalen DeBoer ran his two-year home record to 12-0. Outside the stadium, it felt very much like the fiery rivalry it’s become; well-captured for posterity by intrepid beat reporter Colin Gay. Inside the stadium, only LSU’s broken season − the Tigers entered with three losses and an interim coach after Brian Kelly’s firing − made it seem anything less.
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It was still the passion-filled, hard-hitting affair that it’s always been.
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But it also marked the last year of the SEC’s commitment to pit these two programs annually. They’ll play only twice over the next four years, then the league will re-evaluate its new scheduling format that increased league games to nine per team. It’s just not going to be the same going forward, and no, it’s not really a rivalry anymore, because it can’t be circled on every calendar.
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So it’s with a lump in the throat that this goodbye must be said, but the alternative would’ve been more like a lump on the head. The SEC assigned Auburn, Tennessee and Mississippi State to Alabama as its three annual opponents over the four-year schedule cycle from 2026-2029, and of course, Auburn and Tennessee were the right two rivalries to keep. They just mean more to the fan base, and for the SEC, they mean more for television ratings. As for the decision to include Mississippi State, that comports with the league’s effort to maintain some balance in the difficulty of each school’s three annual foes, as well as a parallel goal of geographical proximity.
Of course, the 2025 season by itself makes a poor argument that Tennessee, Auburn and LSU would’ve been too tough an annual trio to saddle Alabama or anyone else with. Tennessee’s not bad, Auburn’s not good, and LSU’s not anything special. But across time, those are three programs that have proven they’ll invest the resources necessary to be a dangerous foe in any given year, and that’s not something that can be said about Mississippi State.
Speaking of programs with resources, Alabama will catch Texas twice in the same four-year cycle, not coincidentally in the two years that it won’t face LSU. In other words, the TV monster will be well-fed regardless, and navigating an SEC schedule won’t be a picnic for anyone. That’s to be expected when the deepest league in the sport adds two helmets like Texas and Oklahoma.
The Alabama-LSU breakup was the right thing to do, but it be strange absence from the schedule. The 2027 season will mark the first year it won’t be played in my lifetime, and I’m 54. The last time it wasn’t played (1963), BeatleMania swept the UK and a gallon of gas set people back 30 cents.
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And boy have there been some big ones.
LSU’s 9-6 overtime win in 2011 was truly epic. A defensive struggle for the ages with future NFL players all over the field. Rightly billed as the Game of the Century, it might’ve been the last truly great defensive game, at least played by a pair of national powers at the time, before RPO offenses changed everything. Celebrities from LeBron James to Shaq to dignitaries like Condoleezza Rice lined the sideline. The whole scene belongs in a museum.
There have been some marvelous finishes, too.
Just a year after the 9-6 game, AJ McCarron hit T.J. Yeldon with a screen pass for a 28-yard touchdown in the final minute for a 21-17 win.
Former Alabama LB Marvin Constant stuffed Josh Booty at the goal line on the final play of the 1999 game to preserve a 23-17 Alabama win, and it all but cost him his career. Constant blew out multiple knee ligaments on the play, and was never quite the same player again.
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It’s been a long and memorable marriage.
But with the advent of the nine-game schedule, it’s a marriage that’s run its course.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
The Alabama teen charged in a heinous knife attack on his parents in their sleepy private community hissed that he was “gonna kill” his dad as he allegedly stabbed him — as new photos show the blood-soaked front porch where his butchered mom died.
The grisly scene unfolded on home surveillance footage Sunday night along Augustine Drive in the handsome Belforest complex — which captured the 17-year-old threatening his father, while allegedly knifing him.
“You can hear both of them coming out of the house, and there’s like one scream from the mom,” neighbor Shawn Scurry, 51, told The Post Wednesday.
“Then the dad is arguing with the [son] — and when I say arguing, I mean like, ‘Why are you doing this?’
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“He’s basically saying, ‘I don’t want to die. Please stop. No.’ And then he’s repeating, ‘Somebody help me, please, help me’ very loudly,” Scurry said of the clip.
Samantha Baker (left) was allegedly stabbed to death by her 17-year-old son — as her husband, Lance Baker (right), begged the boy to stop the sickening attack. Facebook/Lance Samantha Baker
At one point, the audio captures the son “telling [the dad] he was gonna kill him.”
“Those words are in the video,” she said.
Meanwhile, a large pool of blood stained the front entrance of a neighbor’s home where cops say 37-year-old Samantha Baker was butchered around 9 p.m. Sunday.
Another haunting image exclusively obtained by The Post shows blood splattered and smeared across a glass window overlooking the spot where Samantha was found dead.
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The bloodbath began after Samantha and her 46-year-old husband Lance Baker got into a heated argument with their 17-year-old son over a disciplinary issue inside their family home, Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Captain Justin Correa told The Post Wednesday.
That’s when the boy — whose name is being withheld by police — turned a kitchen knife on his parents, allegedly stabbing them both “multiple times,” according to Correa.
A large pool of blood stained the front entrance of the Belforest community home in Baldwin County, where cops say Samantha Baker was found dead from multiple stab wounds Sunday night. Obtained by NY PostAnother haunting video clip exclusively obtained by The Post shows blood splattered and smeared across a glass window overlooking the spot where Samantha was found dead. Obtained by NY Post
The parents fled outside in a desperate bid to escape — but the attack continued.
Lance’s spine-chilling screams could be heard as he ran door to door down the block, leaving bloodied handprints on neighbors’ front doors while seeking help — with his son right on his tail, according to the traumatized neighbor.
“It was like fighting off a bee that keeps stinging you,” Scurry said, and claimed that another neighbor’s surveillance camera captured the teen repeatedly stabbing his father outside another nearby home.
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Correa confirmed that doorbell camera footage of the assault had been handed over to police, and said at least “a few” of the neighbors were not home when Lance was looking for help.
Lance only “went to doors where people were on vacation — that’s why they didn’t answer, and that’s why he was becoming helpless,” Scurry claimed.
Scurry, who was home at the time, only became slightly aware of the horror unfolding when she spotted the Bakers’ dog wandering around her front door.
“I walked with the dog back to their house, rang their doorbell. Nobody answered, and I went around to the garage,” she recalled.
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That’s when she heard cries in the distance.
“I heard … ‘Help me.’ I couldn’t find where it was coming from,” Scurry said, adding that she went back into her home after that.
The bloodbath began after Samantha and Lance got into a heated argument with the knife-wielding son over a disciplinary issue, according to authorities. Facebook/Lance Samantha Baker
The teen eventually retreated to his family’s home and called 911, said authorities, who described the attack as an isolated domestic matter.
Cops arrested him at the home without incident, according to Correa, who pushed back on reports that the alleged killer barricaded himself inside the house.
As emergency crews flooded their typically quiet street, Scurry said she stepped outside again and saw Samantha’s body before the coroner arrived.
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“I saw her face down with stab wounds all over her back,” the shaken neighbor said.
Samantha, a realtor, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Lance, a US Army Reserve Battalion Commander with the 1184th Deployment and Distribution Support Battalion in Mobile, was flown to a local hospital in critical condition, according to cops.
Nest camera footage from a neighboring home allegedly captured chilling audio of Samantha’s final moments — along with Lance’s frantic pleas for the teen to drop the knife. Obtained by NY Post
As of Wednesday, the father of two was still in the hospital, where his condition had become stable, Correa said.
The teen, who will be tried as an adult, is facing charges of murder and attempted murder. He is being held in jail on a $1 million bond after his arraignment on Monday.
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The family’s younger teen son was not at the home at the time of the attack, police said.
Jan 8, 2018; Atlanta, GA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Tony Brown (2) against the Georgia Bulldogs in the 2018 CFP national championship college football game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Mac Jones joined “Bussin With The Boys” and was asked who his craziest teammate ever was, and he went back to his Alabama days to highlight Tony Brown.
Brown is a former Alabama cornerback.
“There’s this guy, Tony Brown,” Jones said. “I don’t know if you guys know him. Look him up on there. His name’s Crazy Tony, but he was a stud at Alabama. He played on that defense with like Daron Payne, like all those guys, Minka (Fitzpatrick), everybody. He played in the league for a little bit. He was the man, like scout team, me and him. Every day, like going at it, like pretty much fighting. He was just crazy, dude. I’d throw a dig route over the middle, and he would just crush our scout team receiver. Like, Mac Hereford… he would go over the middle and Crazy Tony would just crush him. Saban would just look the other way. I’m like, dude, he just got smoked. Like, what are we doing? It’s like same thing, fighting at practice and stuff. But he was a great teammate. He just had his thing on the field where it was like he just blacked out. It wasn’t because he was a bad guy or anything. That’s what he does. He goes and knocks people out.”
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Brown played for Alabama from 2014 to 2017, and he was a part of two National Championship teams. He finished his career at Alabama with 89 total tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and three interceptions before moving on to the NFL.
Justin Smith is the Managing Editor and Lead Writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine with over 10 years of writing experience & expertise. Smith has consistently delivered high quality, extensively researched information on the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide football team that fans can trust. Smith is official credentialed media with the University of Alabama under Touchdown Alabama Magazine. He is also the Director of Recruiting for Touchdown Enterprises, specializing in scouting and analyzing high school recruits around the nation, specifically focusing on recruits within the state of Alabama.
The Alabama Crimson Tide have landed a commitment from Ryquan Butler, he announced Tuesday on social media.
An in-state prospect, Butler is Alabama’s fourth commitment of the 2028 cycle.
At the moment, Butler is currently unranked as a recruit, per the 247Sports Composite rankings, but that is likely to change in the near future ahead of his upcoming junior season at Alabama’s Loachapoka High School. There, Butler plays a number of different roles, but likely projects as a linebacker at the next level.
Following the commitment of Butler, Alabama’s 2028 class now ranks No. 2 nationally, per 247Sports. Butler is also now Alabama’s second 2028 linebacker commitment where he joins Dustin Henry out of St. Frances Academy in Maryland, as well as the Crimson Tide’s first from in-state.
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