CHorn427

Down 7 points with the ball in your hands on the 50 yard line (or 15 for Clemson) with 1- 2 minutes. That is a chance. That is the other team not putting the game away and not dominating

Unlike A&M, we did not get beat by two scores and had the ability to tie the game on the last drive. Ohio State and LSU did not put the game away- they gave their opponents a chance on their last drive. TAMU had no real chance

Now you’re just burying your head in the sand if you think LSU’s performance against Clemson amounted to the same level of domination as our game vs TAMU. If we had just over 100 yds rushing vs Clemson and a quick 3 and out on our final drive to give them an opportunity to tie, there would be PLENTY said about Sark’s imperfections. We had over 150 rushing yds vs Ohio State, yet the common talking point is not that that was a really good showing, but that RBs left yds on the field. True double standard at play

This is exactly what I’m talking about, the fact that you think the two games were similar enough to compare. Our game vs TAMU was a 2 score game from midway through the 2nd quarter to the end of the game. They NEVER had even a chance to tie the game from there. We had ~250 yds running down their throats. TAMU forced one three and out the whole game (first series). Our last series, we did not go quick 3 and out and give them hope. We gained a first down, bled clock and made them burn their TOs. You have to put blinders on to say the games were similar. We truly dominated that game. LSU did not.

What do you think we’d be saying about Sark if he had the ball with 3 minutes left, and instead of getting one first down he went 3 and out only gaining 3 yards, then had to rely on his defense to keep the team out of the endzone from the 15 yard line. I don’t think people around here would be overly pleased with that ending. LSU had 108 rushing yards. It wasn’t a dominant performance. And it’s not a slight by Dabo to say LSU didn’t play as good as they could of- that is actually a compliment to suggest the opposing team could have played better but still came away with the win. If Brian Kelly wasn’t a man child he could have understood that

I just highly disagree. Do you think anyone on this site, with how highly invested and critical as we are, would be saying that we dominated a team in the second half of the team had the opportunity to tie the game from the 15 yard line win a minute left? I know I would not feel that way- I would feel that we got a good win and were lucky to get out of there. Also disagree with the “missed call”- ball was moving and got pinned. Again, “dominance” would be receivers streaking wide open and having no doubter TDs (again, see 2023 Bama game).

The word “domination” has been heavily abused these days. Most recent instance: LSU vs Clemson. People (including Gerry and Bobby) claimed LSU “dominated” Clemson in the second half. LSU outgained Clemson by 50 yards and outscored them by 14 points (Clemson outscored them by 7 in the first half). Clemson was 15 yards away from tying the game with a minute left. That is NOT domination! LSU just won a hard fought game. Why can’t we just leave it at that? Swinney’s comments about 63 for LSU and 58 for Clemson was accurate. Both of them played Sloppy games and LSU came out a little ahead. Boasting about dominating a team when you won like that is just bad sportsmanship and I think breeds bd culture. What Would Saban Do? He would be on his team like they lost if they won by 35 points. Other examples of non-domination being called domination: our loss to Ohio State this year and last year (close games in position to tie late), loss to UGA in the SEC championship game, Big10 winning two natties in a row. People can’t help but exaggerate these days. True example of domination for reference: winning a game by double digits in their house and running the last 6 minutes of game clock like we did vs Bama in 2023. A one score game is just NOT domination.

SEC injury report: deceased

On the surface, it’s easy to argue that Bama didn’t need a program builder. Their program was built, just needed a competent winner. Which DeBoer had proved himself to be in his prior stops. But to be a Devil’s advocate along the same lines as your argument, I recently watched a clip of Saban making his Bama team run wind sprints and he said something that is very pertinent and supportive of your position. He said: “only two things can happen- either we’re gonna get better or we’re gonna get worse. We’re not gonna remain the same” And maybe that was the flaw in the case of the Saban to DeBoer transition, and all transitions of a great to his successor. It seems like the general thought/goal is to “maintain” the greatness. Which, if you believe Saban’s line, is impossible. It’s either better or worse.

UW was 4-8 the year before he got there. What he did with UW was impressive. The UW job was very different than the Bama job. The Bama job is very different than any job DeBoer’s had. The only two coaches that have ever had sustained success at Bama were two of the most hardass coaches of all time. I just can’t see a HC that is California cool having real success coaching Bama. He’d be better off at a premiere Big10 program. Just doesn’t fit imo

A very hard fought 10-2 to make the CFP this year is not completely out of the question and would be very impressive. But I’d give it a 1-5% chance given their schedule.

Germie Bernard is pretty good. I think he is of the caliber that he would have been at least a top 4 receiver on that UW team.

The only teams Bama had any business losing to last season were UGA, LSU and Tennessee (not even really Tennessee given their struggles). Realistic expectations for DeBoer would have been lose 2 of those 3 and make the CFP, or even all 3 and miss the CFP (they probably would have made the CFP if those were the 3 they lost). But to lose to Vandy and OU just shows an immense change in culture for the worse. 4 losses to unranked teams, matching the total number Saban had his whole time there. And again, Bama has never been less penalized than their opponent under DeBoer yet. That is wild. It goes beyond the record. If DeBoer pulls it out and goes 8-4 or better, props to him because that will be a hard earned 8-4. But I really do think he could go 6-6 or worse this year.

Also, DeBoer left a team that made the natty to take over for a guy that just made the semis and won 6 titles for the program. I think not losing to OU or Vanderbilt was an ok expectation to have of him.

Sark has improved in every season and took over from a rotten culture situation. DeBoer could fall HARD this season, and took over one of the best and most talented programs/cultures of all time. Monumental difference there.

I disagree with your win expectations for Bama this season, but agree with many of your points. People assumed they were gonna get great, improved QB play and heavily de-emphasized how much of a cheat code Jalen Milroe’s running ability was. They play a very tough schedule this season. UGA in Athens, LSU and @ SC were gonna be tough no matter what. So 9-3 would have been an ok season in my book. But now, they are looking like they could lose 6 or 7 games this season with the schedule they have. In addition to UGA, LSU and SC (which they are likely betting underdogs now), they could lose vs Tennessee, OU or Auburn playing the way they did. Vandy and Mizzou aren’t even gimmes playing the way they did.

It’s not just the defense. It’s discipline. Kalen DeBoer is used to coaching Midwest and west coast players. IMO, Southeastern players are more talented, but play with more attitude and “swag”. I think Kalen DeBoer got away with lackadaisical discipline coaching players that naturally had more even keel attitudes. Now he’s at Bama (lot of alpha types). They have just been unyoked from one of the biggest disciplinarian coaches in history to be coached by a much easier going coach, and I think the players are responding by being much more loose and undisciplined than they were under Saban. Under DeBoer, Bama has never had fewer penalties than an opponent to date. Completely wild stat that illustrates the lack of discipline.

https://www.si.com/fannation/college/cfb-hq/aj-mccarron-sounds-alarm-alabama-nil-reality-after-florida-state-loss Bama is the #2 team in talent composite with 14 former 5* and 50 former 4* on roster. FSU is 19th with 1 former 5* and 36 former 4* on roster. It ain't NIL or recruiting. He's just sad that it would cost $20 million just to have the RB depth Bama used to have. That's a Bama education at work, folks.

Arch’s worst plays were very bad (Uncle Rico esque). Smith’s worst plays were just bad. Smith is a true sophomore and Littleton is (maybe) the best freshman DB in the country. Not that crazy. Littleton very clearly made a great play. The pass was also put in a spot that made it difficult to catch.

That’s a big if about them coming into our game undefeated. They have the hardest schedule in the country until then. It’s not certain that they will come out of next weekend undefeated, much less be undefeated in October. And if they are undefeated when we play them, they will probably have used up a lot of energy and possibly depth in hard fought games and be due for a loss.

I think Florida would have been better off this year if they didn’t get all those upsets towards the end of the year. That just gave those teams more reason to want to beat them 😂

I think you’re gonna have a pretty hard time convincing anyone that Smith’s drops were as ugly or detrimental as Arch’s off passes in the early part of the game. If Smith would have dropped a long bomb for sure TD, a la Johntay Cook vs MState, that would have made waves. The drops he did have I’m sure annoyed Ohio State fans and I’m sure they think they would have blown us out if he would have just caught those, but they were fairly ho hum. Arch looked like a real amateur out there on his worst plays. There’s a difference

This would be a pretty good time for them to try to make a run at Dabo, with Klubnik done after this season. But Bama probably doesn’t want a guy that has had defensive struggles in the very recent past.

It’s not worse than Arch’s Uncle Rico throws, skipping balls off the turf. We did a good job defending Smith. Many of Arch’s misses were pretty unforced.

We had two drives with red zone snaps. One drive saw one RB run on 6 red zone plays (gain of 2 yards with 3 yards to gain). The other drive saw one RB run on 5 red zone plays (gain of 3 yards with 6 yards to gain). Those are successful runs. Also, every time we ran a RB on 3rd and short (non goal line), we gained a first down. There’s been a lot of talk about Ohio State keeping things in front of them, but there is no way Ohio State wasn’t trying to stop the run on 3rd and short or was content to allow successful runs inside of the redzone. If that was part of the gameplan, that’s problematic. We had a lot of failed conversions on 3rd and short due to inaccurate passes, and a lot of drives stall from getting into 3rd and long because of inaccurate passes (thus not having the opportunity to run on 3rd and short). The lack of attempts for our RBs in the RZ and opting to pass on 3rd and short rather than run it until they prove they can stop it on 3rd and short is what I would call abandonment. But other than one failed, poorly conceived, half assed 4th down conversion attempt on the first drive, we pretty much ran the ball at will with our RBs.