Thursday Hodge Podge

A few links from around the Web to help tide you over until the Bama game ("tide" you over....get it??):

* Saturday's coaching matchup, of course, features two of the most widely hated men in their profession: Shark Eyes Petrino vs "I have no interest in the Alabama job" Saban. Arkansas Sports 360 takes a closer look.

* One of the key battles of Saturday's game figures to be Alabama's massive nosetackle Terrance Cody vs our own All-American, Jonathan Luigs. The Birmingham News breaks it down.

* When the Bama Sports Report asked us for Fayetteville travel tips, we turned to the former all-star blogger and our occasional correspondent, the Hog Blogger. You can read his report here...it appears that he gave legit advice rather than setting Alabama fans up for embarrassment, disaster or worse (he's a class act that way).

* Alabama has the country's #1 run defense, but De'Anthony Curtis isn't fazed.

* The Slophouse breaks down how Willy Robinson and company plan on stopping the Bama offense and their floppy-haired QB, John Parker Wilson.

* If you're in the predicting mood, the Slophouse and the Razorbloggers are each giving you a forum to share your insights with the world (our comments section always works, too).

* Finally, we don't really like recycling old content (other than linking to that shark eyes image every chance we get), but our "Five Reasons to Hate Alabama" from last September still ring pretty true. Check 'em out...