Pretty much every year, some joker will tweet out, "Could Alabama beat _______?" — with the blank being the awful NFL team du jour.
Some of the takes are sarcastic, but given how dominant 'Bama is on the college scene, I think some folks truly believe the Tide could give the worst NFL team a run for its money.
Well, hypothesize about the fantastical matchup no more, as Jeff Sherman of the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook has set a fictional line for a neutral-field 'Bama vs. Buffalo showdown.
let the fun begin! … regarding a hypothetical Alabama vs Bills line on a neutral … @SuperBookUSA we’d go with:
Alabama
Bills -28.5— Jeff Sherman (@golfodds) November 8, 2018
Yikes! Say it ain't so, Jeff. How could Nathan Peterman and that Bills offense be more than a four-touchdown favorite against Heisman frontrunner Tua Tagovailoa, coaching legend Nick Saban and the freight train that is the Crimson Tide?
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Well, there are a number of reasons. I'm just a young fella who sits at his computer and writes blogs and has never played a snap of actual football in his life, but Geoff Schwartz — former NFL lineman and Oregon alum — knows what he's talking about.
So we asked him to chime in on the difference between the college and pro games:
"This is No. 1 question I asked, and I give the same answer every time. In college I played against two defensive ends who played in the NFL. And some of them didn’t even play long in the NFL. The rest of the schedule was filled with good, average, or below-average college players. You could play less than 100% and still win those battles. But when you’re in the NFL, everyone is a pro. You don’t give 100% for a rep, or use good technique, you’re getting beat. So the idea that any college team could beat the worst pro team is asinine."
All right, so what about 'Bama vs. Buffalo?
"The Bills might cover the 28.5 by halftime. My words can't do justice to the difference in speed, violence and physicality between the levels of football. Think about two people pedaling their bikes into each other, compared to two semi trucks barreling into each other at 55 mph. So the Bills would have the advantage in the trenches and tackling. They would have the advantage in speed and size. And yes, they would cover the spread."
You're telling me Tua, the Heisman front-runner, would have no advantage vs. bottom-barrel QBs like Josh Allen, Derek Anderson and Peterman?
"Even at quarterback… Remember, Allen, Anderson and Peterman were drafted to play in the NFL. Allen was the seventh pick in the draft. When these guys struggle, they struggle with anticipation. Well, that wasn’t an issue in college. And guess what, they’d be playing college kids in this game. So yeah, it’s a bloodbath."
Sounds like Geoff is laying all those points without a second thought on the matter.
Darn shame it's all for naught, because we'll never see it actually happen…
