let me say first and foremost that I am an average fan, and by no means a football or X-O expert. So take this for what its worth:

Defense: Our last 2 games (losses) have been against two teams who run the spread very effectively. Both programs have had their coaches and systems in place long enough to recruit the proper personnel. Alabama on the other hand, I do not believe has the personnel to run the defense that Saban has built his repuation on. I’m sorry but I just do not think we have the quality in the defensive backfield to match up man to man/bump ‘n run with teams who are good passing teams. The reason we ’got away with’ this is simple: there aren’t many good offensive teams in the SEC right now. UGA has a good tandum of WR’s but we jumped on them so early it changed the game entirely in what we could do on defense. We match up well with teams who like to run, we can stop the run, but when we play against a good pass team (and don’t have the luxury of being up by 2-3 scores) we don’t match up well. I think the last two games are a culmination of that. We also seem to lack guys who can consistantly rush the passer. I’d like to hear people’s thoughts.

“Ears” Tuberville is gone and I can live and work in the State of Alabama in peace for a change. Fulmer is gone too and Richt and Miles don’t look like geniuses anymore. Okay, I drank the cool-aid just like everybody else and badly wanted another NC but, let’s face facts, we just aren’t that good, yet. Our star is still rising. It has been one hell of a season, all things considered, and I can hardly wait for September.

RFT Mega!

I thought I was the only one who used “cognitive dissonance” on a regular basis and didn’t forget about it after that last exam!

Also I agree with you. I think it lies in the fact that we came up so quickly relative to our standings the last few years that the fan base recovered and expectations jumped up because this is where Bama is suppose to be year in and year out. Thus two losses hurt. If you had asked ANY of us if we would take an undefeated regular season and lose the last two games in post season play back in August, we would have been ecstatic. We were used to mediocrity, now we are use to excellence. Why? Cause we piss excellence.

If we had gone 10-2 in the regular season, made the SECCG, lost, and gone to a lesser bowl and won, I don’t think any of us would feel nearly as bad about things as we do now. The team accomplished so much more than that, but it still feels like it didn’t turn out as good as it did.

But there is a VERY bright side that we all can see. If Saban can take a crew of mostly inexperienced players and do what he did this year, I can’t wait for him to get his whole system in place.

Good posts everyone.

Maybe this is too simplistic of an explaination, but it seems that CNS & Co. taught this very young group of guys how to WIN, WIN, WIN, but just didn’t teach them how to lose. Unfortunately, all of our loses—SECCG, players, coaches, personal etc—-came within a few weeks of each other and it was simply overwhelming.

There’s probably a curve we could draw for both Utah and ’Bama fans showing the rise in expectations each week and the increase in fan input from constant and inconsistent fans (call them fairweather fans or bandwagoneers if you prefer) weekly. This increase in background noise regarding said team from the aggregate rise of numbers and elocution is amplified by any national commentary, further fueling the rise in expectations (this rise might well be exponential). The rise is therefore unrealistic and physically consequential due to the number of hatching larvae in our intestines which blossom into full fledged Lepidoptera as we rush to the bright screens to see our beloved team take the field in the next proof of capability.

For examples we might plot lines from the opening games for each team, or for you guys post Georgia game or us post Oregon State.

The problem is, these expectations are subjective and emotional, the objective measure, a loss, is antithetical to the feelings we have in a manner we cannot plot or quantify.

I mean, for god’s sake don’t these people know how seriously we take this?

So, we’re screwed when our team fails to produce the expected result. I know Ute fans will go into next year’s season with huge heads and expectations—but we are losing waaaaaaay too many guys to fill those expectations in and needing like 4-5 new coaches.

Pre-season we were expected to be good, but not great. So we definitely should be able to empathize if we could objectively examine, call into crisis if you will, our own unreasonable expectations and feelings about our team.

Worse yet? Eight months till we can see how our butterflies for next season pan out. Perhaps our chart should be a butterfly-o-meter?

Best of luck in 2009 gents and gals of the Crimson clan. If any of you are traveling through Tallahassee and need a place to crash, drop a line.

Mean Bob Mean

I feel better about our team,“the process”,and next year. Coach Bryant won a NC in year 4, Coach Stallings in won a NC in year 3. Heck even Dubose & Curry won the SEC in year 3. It takes time to build a team. Our real time has not yet come. I truly beliewe will be a better team in 2009.

WE NEED EVERYBODY AT THE DOME ON Sept. 5.

there is just something psychologically satisfying about coming away from the season with some hardware (and not the kind earned by individuals). Last season even after the colossal stumble to end the season we still walked away from Shreveport with a trophy in our hands.

This year, we had two opportunities to garner said hardware and came up just short in the first and the second…..well, you know.

Plus, hard as it is to admit, we’ve just been unable to win the really big games since the SECCG in ’99 (after which we lost the Orange Bowl and began the current drought).

in the result from the sugar bowl. i just cant believe that Utah was that much, or even at all, better than us. it seemed to me like a lack of focus and effort on our part. and for that i am still fuming.

overall though, it was indeed a fantastic season and even I with my perinially high expectations did not think we’d go 12-0. (i had us going 11-1, losing at georgia, then again in the SECCG to either georgia or florida, then winning the capital one bowl….it’s all writtin down on my phil steele guide, i get bored at work.)

we’re in fantastic shape overall, and i hope this bed sh*tting that we did last friday night stays on all the returning players’ minds all off season. if we come out focused and prepared, we can and will make VT our b*tch on opening day, and we dont really play anyone that tough after them. LSU at home and @ ol miss will be the only other games that should/could be in dispute.

we should win the west next season, hands down. i hope we’re prepared and execute when we get our rematch with the gators. winning the overall SEC should be the goal and it is very attainable.