No. 1 Alabama breaks in youngsters in rout

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09/06/2010 -

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -Alabama took advantage of an opening rout to get plenty of youngsters on the field.

The top-ranked Crimson Tide's top tackler in Saturday night's 48-3 route of San Jose State was freshman linebacker C.J. Mosley. The leading rusher was redshirt freshman Eddie Lacy. Both the kicker and punter were freshmen.

And coach Nick Saban said he had other freshmen ready to go, including No. 3 quarterback Phillip Sims.

Besides the kickers, 13 players made their first college starts for the Tide: seven defenders, two offensive linemen, tailback Trent Richardson and their long snapper.

It was enough to make Saban consider giving his players a refresher course on little things like what to wear on the road.

``It's the first time since we've been here that I have felt the need to talk about things that you take for granted, like the dress code for a trip,'' Saban said. ``We had guys who had been here for two or three years that know what's going on. Now we have a significant number of guys that don't know what's going on, haven't played before and haven't traveled before, that I find myself saying I need to spend some time explaining this stuff that we explained three years ago.''

The road dress code can wait another week. The Tide (1-0) is preparing to host No. 19 Penn State, coming off a 44-14 win over Youngstown State, in what will surely be a more telling game for the youngsters.

Saban has had freshmen play key roles in each of his three seasons with Alabama, ranging from Rolando McClain to Julio Jones, Mark Ingram and Richardson. Two opened as starters in both 2007 and 2008, only the second and third time that's happened at Alabama.

Make that four. Punter Cody Mandell and kicker Cade Foster both started in their first college games. Both had nice debuts and answered a couple of the team's biggest question marks.

Mandell's first two punts each went for 52 yards. Foster made field goals of 41 and 24 yards.

The Tide also started junior college cornerback DeQuan Menzie, six sophomores and a redshirt freshman.

Mosley led Alabama with seven tackles. Starting linebacker Courtney Upshaw sprained his ankle, but Saban said he should be available against Penn State. Redshirt freshman quarterback A.J. McCarron completed 9 of 15 passes for 116 yards and one touchdown.

Richardson got his first start in place of Heisman Trophy winner Ingram, who is out because of a knee injury. Fellow sophomore Damion Square started for defensive end Marcell Dareus, serving a two-game NCAA suspension pending the results of Alabama's appeal.

The defense gave up a 49-yard pass and a 32-yard run, but only 94 yards on the other 46 plays. San Jose State converted only 1 of 13 third downs. Mosley's seven tackles led the team.

``We have a lot of young guys, but they have shown a lot of improvement,'' said sophomore safety Robert Lester, who had an interception and a sack in his first start. ``They have been able to learn the system quickly and go out there and show that. You don't see many freshmen like C.J. Mosley come in and lead the team in tackles like he did and make that many big plays.''

Other freshmen who played included cornerback John Fulton and linebacker Jalston Fowler.

Saban said even more freshmen were ready to go, including Sims in case there's an emergency situation later.

``One of the toughest decisions that you have to make as a coach is if I play a guy in a game like this, he loses a whole year,'' he said. ``So unless he's going to play a significant amount ... then you don't play the guy.

``Phillip is really ready to play and I'd love to play him. You don't have a crystal ball. I'm telling you all in advance that. You can second-guess me for all this if it happens.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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