Alabama Football: Latest BCS Championship Game News and Updates

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) Even though there hasn't been any public news or press conferences coming from either school concerning the 2012 BCS National Championship Game, there is still a lot of news to report on the game and the preparation for it.

And as always, you can get it right here.

Though both schools have had a lot going on, little of it has had much to do with the upcoming bowl game.

Each team has had players darting around, attending award banquets and bringing home awards, but all to soon the familiar grind of practice will start again.

Both Teams Will Soon Get Down To Practicing

As of now, neither team has finalized their practice schedules, but if history is any indication it will go something like what we've seen in the past.

Players from both teams are scattered about receiving awards and neither is practicing now.

Once the award dog and pony shows are over, the teams will settle down and begin practice in earnest at their home facilities.

Nick Saban and Les Miles both have a closed practice policy, so we won't learn much of what goes on there as the weeks go by except which players may get nicked up. Even that information is kept quiet many times.

They'll break for Christmas Holidays on or near December 22nd and return to campus on the 26th for their final week at home. They'll depart for New Orleans around Monday, Jan. 2nd.  where they'll have a few walk-throughs and their final practices.

Injured Player Updates: Player No. 1, Barrett Jones

No one outside William Vlachos is so important to the offensive line as Barrett Jones, who was hampered with a leg injury in his final few games.

Time-off was certainly the biggest part of that cure. Jones is back up to 100 percent and ready for the war which is certainly going to be taking place at his position.

This week at Disney World, Jones won the Outland Trophy as the nation's most outstanding interior lineman. He is the third Alabama player to win the Outland Trophy along with Chris Samuels in 1999 and Andre Smith in 2008.

The league’s coaches also selected Jones as the league’s scholar-athlete of the year and winner of the Jacobs Blocking Trophy

He has proven his worth by being able to play any position on the offensive line at a championship level.

Jones' great play is a must for the Tide in this upcoming game.

-David Molk of Michigan, beat out Vlachos for the Rimington Trophy, which is presented to nation’s most outstanding center.

Cyrus Kouandijo: Ready for an Amazing Return?

When Cyrus Kouandijo went down in the Tennessee game, it looked like an ACL in the knee and a season-ending injury for the freshman who was seeing significant playing time backing up Jones at left tackle.

But he was seen at the Alabama/Auburn game without crutches and appeared fine. Oddly enough, Cyrus' brother Arie Kouandijo also suffered a season ending injury earlier in the year.

Word is leaking that perhaps Cyrus had a MCL injury and not an ACL injury.

Without going into a long drawn out medical explanation, stretching or tearing of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) or the medial collateral ligament (MCL), are  frequent knee injuries.

But the good news is, an MCL is less damaging and much quicker to recover from.

Whether the staff thinks he's good to go or not has been leaked, but it's something that could happen.

Will Lowery: Out for the Rest of the Year with ACL Injury

Will Lowery was the team's dime back, backup strong safety and a special team nightmare for opponents. H

His injury against Ga. Southern proved to be an ACL that will sideline him until spring practice.

Vinnie Sunseri has stepped in as a true freshman to fill that void and has done a good job so far.

Lowery had played in every game this season.

Richardson May Not Have a Heisman, but He Won the Doak Walker Award

Trent Richardson may not have won the Heisman Trophy, but what he did do was become the first winner in Alabama history to win the Doak Walker Award, given to the nation's best running back.

Will the Heisman snub be incentive for Richardson to show the voters they picked the wrong person?

No.

Richardson goes all out every play of every game and has nothing else to prove.

McCarron: Watching Film and Getting Ready

While his teammates are running around at award banquets and gathering trophies, A.J. McCarron is watching video and studying for a different kind of final examination, the BCS Championship.

"A.J. has gotten better all year long in recognizing defenses and checking into the right plays," Alabama receiver Marquis Maze told me. "He almost always checks into just the right play and we are so confident with him back there because we know nothing will rattle him."

"Greg (McElroy) taught me that there's no substitution for watching film and preparation." McCarron told me. "I thought I was good at recognition before, but now, with all the experience I've had, it's even clearer."

So does having played this LSU defense before help?

You bet it does.

So while other people have been enjoying their time away from campus, McCarron has been busy studying film and learning tendencies.

He knows that no matter how good Richardson does in the game, for the Tide to win, it will be McCarron who has to roll them into that win. And he's taking that responsibility seriously.

"We all felt that was a game we should have won," McCarron said referring to the first meeting with LSU. "The offense didn't take advantage of too many opportunities and we aren't going to let that happen this next time."

Somehow, you just have to believe him.

Game Planning: It's Never Far from the Coaches' Minds

This is a week where Nick Saban will travel a lot, where he'll check on a lot of recruits and attend the Heisman Trophy Award with running back Trent Richardson.

But his mind will never be far from game planning.

Right now Saban is making notes on a yellow legal pad for everything he wants to accomplish from now until kickoff of the BCS game.

Some accuse Saban of micromanaging, but no one will ever accuse him of not planning and being prepared.

He'll be back with the team next week and they'll begin preparation for the biggest game in many of these young men's lives.

Though Saban will allow the staff a day or two off for Christmas, this is going to be a season-ending flurry of late nights and 80-hour weeks leading up to the game.

It there's a crack in LSU's armor, Saban and his staff will find it.

Who Is Going To Be the Home Team in the BCS Game?

As No. 1, LSU will be the home team and have choice of uniforms. They will decide which uniforms they'll wear as soon as this week.

Sometimes it comes down to a team's superstitions or desires when it comes to picking a uniform.

Sometimes it comes down to simply putting your opposing team in a uniform they don't like.

But aside from uniform choices and who calls the coin toss, tickets will be evenly split between the two teams and there's not much a home-field advantage for LSU despite the proximity to their campus and the state of Louisiana.

Ticket Allotments Make This a Hot Ticket Indeed!

Each team will get 17,000 tickets, the rest belong to the bowl to sell and there are none left in case you were wondering.

Of the 17,000 tickets allotted, the breakdown is:

Sixty-seven percent or 9,690 tickets to donors

Sixteen percent or 2,600 tickets to internal use (players families, coaches families, board members and their families and university president and his family).

Twelve percent or 2,040 tickets to the students, including the marching band.

Ten percent or 1,700 tickets to lettermen of the University of Alabama.

Five percent or 850 tickets to faculty, staff and their families.

Student were very upset at the limited number afforded them.

Of the 2,400 tickets allotted to students, 400 of them went to the band and 408 of them went to graduate students, leaving only 1,200 to the student population.

And those were given to students who were mostly all seniors. Only students with 100 hours were allowed to be among those in the hunt for tickets.

The Payout: What a Haul for Alabama This Year!

The cash payout for the BCS Championship Game is $18 million for each team. That's $36 million rolling into the SEC from just this one game and what goes into the SEC is important for each team because of the equal distribution rule in the SEC after initial payouts.

How is the money divided?

It's not what you think—Alabama and LSU won't get to keep their $18 million.

The SEC breaks down the 10 potential bowl games it affiliates itself with and participates in into four categories. Each category provides the participant with a set lump sum before it divides the rest 13 ways—one for each of the 12 SEC teams and one to the league office.

So for the BCS game, for example, Alabama and LSU may get about $2 million each, and then one-thirteenth of the total bowl take for all bowls after each team has taken its allotted cut out of the total.

So let's just use some round numbers and say that SEC bowl teams bring in $44 million. Let's also say that after the participants take out $8 million, that leaves $36 million to be split 13 ways (or about another $2.75 million per team, whether they made a bowl or not).

So for all their work, Alabama and LSU should pull in almost $5 million in bowl money, by far the most in either school's history.

And in a slow news week, that's all the news there is to report at this time. Check back and keep updated on all the weekly news leading up to the big game.

(Larry Burton is a syndicated writer whose work appears online and in print. If you'd like to keep up with all his articles, follow him on Twitter and sign up as a fan on his profile page.)