A few Alabama football players sat out UTC game ahead of Iron Bowl, and so did I | Goodbread

THE COUCH − Deontae Lawson and I were held out of action Saturday.

We'll both be back for the Iron Bowl, of course. The Alabama football linebacker has a lot on his plate, coming off a twisted ankle with a road trip to rival Auburn on tap, followed by some championship-chasing in Atlanta a week later. And like any number of banged-up Alabama starters who sit out Cupcake Saturday to rest up for the Iron Bowl − it's happened with some regularity over the years − I too sat this one out following foot surgery on Thursday.

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I'm now favored to beat plantar fasciitis by 17 points, although the final score on that won't be in for 8-12 weeks. Alabama, for its part, was such a heavy favorite over Tennessee-Chattanooga that oddsmakers didn't even post a spread on the game. That tells you Las Vegas expected Lawson's absence to have about as much impact on the final score as mine did.

So greetings, instead, from the Goodbread house, where I was armed with a couple tools I don't normally have on a Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium: namely, a remote control for replays on demand, and of course a pair of crutches, handy for tossing across the room at the slightest work-from-home technical hurdle. I need to charge the intrepid Nick Kelly some rent for all the elbow room I provided him in the BDS press box. Meanwhile, my flat-coated retriever, Nigel, didn't appreciate his sudden lack of elbow room. He and my wife, Michelle, are used to having the whole couch to themselves on Saturdays.

This year, we witnessed Cupcake Saturday carnage together: Alabama 66, UTC 10.

Jermaine Burton had 100 yards receiving before I could even get my foot propped up. The way Jalen Milroe completed his first 10 pass attempts, you'd have thought it was the UTC secondary on crutches.

I really skipped a pain pill for this?

Just 48 hours ago, the doc put 40 microincisions in my left heel for something called a Topaz procedure, and somehow, it wasn't as painful as watching the Mocs try to make a game of it. My binoculars are normally in constant use in a press box, but there was nothing about this game anyone needed a closer look at.

As I wrote earlier this week, I'm of the belief that the SEC would be doing itself a favor by slotting all non-conference weekends at the top of the schedule, as other major conferences do, and playing a conference game on Week 12. With no help from either Lawson, or safety Jaylen Key, or wide receiver Ja'Corey Brooks, or anyone else who needed the rest, Alabama planted its orthopedic boot squarely in UTC's hind parts.

At 52, I can't play hurt nearly as well. I handle surgery about as well as Nick Saban handles hypothetical questions.

But at least I know the right weekend to schedule it.

Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23 and the Talkin' Tide podcast. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Like a few Alabama players, I sat out UTC game ahead of Iron Bowl, too