Alabama's first test of its Southeastern Conference title defense was quite demanding, and the Crimson Tide's second step is shaping up the same way.

No matter the final numbers posted on the scoreboards at Tennessee's Neyland Stadium and Kentucky's Kroger Field on Saturday afternoon, the football teams at Tennessee Tech and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga were perceived as big winners within their athletic departments.

Here's your Friday mailbag before the weekend.

Sometimes, the best ideas are the most clear ideas. And the most obvious.

Who doesn't want to see Saturday afternoon's clash between Alabama and Florida in the Swamp?

Just as sure as the sun came up this morning, you need a good .22 rifle. Now, friends and neighbors, you should know I feel this is a statement of fact and not really open to debate.

The Braves played. The Braves lost. It happens.

With apologies to Doug Flutie and Boston College in 1984, Jacksonville State's last-second bomb to shock Florida State last week may go down in history as the Hail Mary to end all Hail Marys.

I watched every minute of a Monday night Ravens-Raiders game that went to overtime and way past my bedtime. I can't recall the last non-Super Bowl football game at any level I watched every minute of on TV.

It was 8:20 Central Time on Monday morning when Bryan Robinson received the text from his son Taja during Bryan's shift at the Lodge Manufacturing factory.

Oregon. Now that was a nice win.

The official Twitter account of Arkansas football held nothing back after Saturday night's 40-21 victory over longtime rival Texas in Fayetteville.

To watch the Tennessee Volunteers and the Pittsburgh Panthers play football on television on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks was to feel their Johnny Majors Classic was mere background noise, and soft noise at that, as perhaps it well should have been.

Remembering really is the very least we can do. We should find ways to honor our great country.

As difficult as it might seem to believe, we are closing in on the halfway point of high school football's regular season in Tennessee.

In honor of one of the sneakiest best movies ever made — "Almost Famous" — let's kick off the NFL season with 10 storylines that are directly applicable to great movie quotes.

At least Vanderbilt has company. The Commodores were one of six Football Bowl Subdivision programs to get spanked last weekend by a Football Championship Subdivision member.

I've been a squirrel hunter for most of my life. In some parts of the country, hunters think that is an odd statement because they didn't grow up hunting squirrels and it's not part of their hunting culture.

Look around and you can find a lot of betting options for the upcoming NFL season. Trust me on this.

According to ESPN's statistical probabilities regarding which Major League Baseball teams will reach the postseason and which won't, the Atlanta Braves — who entered Tuesday night with a 1.5-game lead over Philadelphia — have a 69.7 percent chance of making the playoffs to the Phillies' 39.2 percent chance.

The NFL season kind of sneaked up on us because, at least in part, we do not have a fantasy team this year. That prep work always made the run-up to the NFL kickoff feel more detailed.

No disrespect to the stunning first-weekend performances of Alabama over Miami and Georgia over Clemson, but my favorite moment from the Labor Day weekend slate of college football games had nothing to do with the Crimson Tide or the Dawgs.

We normally cut this song and dance short on holidays and vacations and leave a mini-version. Hey, it's tradition. But not on Labor Day. Simply too much happening and, yes, this will be exceedingly college football heavy.