Like the Gators, Alabama gets everyone's best shot. The difference is that Bama knocks out their opponent and UF goes 12 rounds and leaves in the judges' hands.--Alligator Army
about 2 years ago
Todd
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not sure I agree with that. The only game UF has had that I thought was close was Arky. Meanwhile Bama barely escaped UT and was behind LSU in the 4th qt.
This years’ Florida team is not steam rolling people like last year, but neither is Bama. We needed a super human effort by Ingram to put away an average SC team at home, the same team UF needed a big play to put away on the road. And, the Bama at MSU game was a lot closer than the score indicated while UF at MSU was not as close as the score indicated. UF at LSU was never in any doubt and neither was their game against UT.
Florida has lacked style points, what they have not lacked is a great defense. Sounds like Alabama to me.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
I agree, part of Florida's problem is that the expectations were so high
in the preseason that if they aren’t killing everyone by 30 points it is being held against them. We are winning the “Alabama” way and so are they but it is expected from us so it isn’t held against us. I also think these polls can reflect a snapshot of what happened the previous week, so out win against MSU looked a lot better than theirs against USC. If we continue to play like we played Saturday and McElroy continues to improve as he has the last two weeks then we are going to get a lot more love as a team that is “peaking” at the right time.
disagree on the comparison of the MSU games..
I watched both and MSU gave UF more than they could handle. If it weren’t for a blown TD call late in the game, MSU nearly pulls the upset. On the other hand, outside of the 1st quarter, the MSU/ Bama game was never really close. Sure the guy stepped out of bounds on a would be KO TD…but he did..and they missed a FG. We also went super vanilla in the 2nd half on offense and still ended up scoring 2 TD’s…that game was anything than close.
Auburna delenda est!
I don't understand this analysis of the MSU game
Because we had a handful of big plays, it does not necessarily follow that the game was closer than the score. When it comes to offensive production, it does not matter whether that production comes through long drives or big plays. The job of the offense is to produce, and Bama’s offense did it to near perfection on Saturday. It is illogical to criticize the offense for not producing big plays in the middle of the season and then criticize them for having only big plays in the MSU game. It has to do with what an SEC defense wants to risk. Even with the big plays, we still won the possession battle. That is damn impressive.
If at any time, you felt that MSU’s offense was capable of scoring enough points to win that game, you weren’t watching the game I was watching. I don’t think there is any measure by which you could say that the MSU game was closer than the score. They ran 4 plays in our territory in the first half and they were repeatedly denied the end zone in the second half by Messrs. Johnson and Barron. MSU made mistakes and so did Bama, but when crunch time came the defense kept them out of the end zone with their execution.
The reference above to the “knock out” is not so much about the score as it is the way that Bama beats teams, by pounding them into submission. I think it is an apt analogy.
by M. Johnson Defender on Nov 18, 2009 10:00 AM CST up reply actions
Big Play
I do not want to call it a complaint, but the grousing over the big play was a mystery to me as well. It was literally three weeks ago that everyone was complaing about the lack of big plays. Any good offense needs to be able to make big plays, as methodically driving down the field on a continual basis is extremely difficult.
After the second quarter, the game was never in doubt. I thought Mississippi State had a good initial game plan, but the Alabama responded really well.
Also, it is worth noting that Alabama averaged 7.66 yards a play against Mississippi State and Florida averaged 5.45 yards a play against Mississippi State. I watched both games, and the only thing that felt the same was how well both defenses dominated Mississippi State, nothing else did.
Here is the deal.
In the 3rd qt. MSU was clearly the better team FOR THAT QUARTER. We hand one drive, which itself was mainly a Maze run after a catch, for a FG. Other than that our O did very little. MSU had a long return which resulted in missed FG, which should have been made. They then held the ball much of the qt. driving to a 1st and goal. We just could not get off the field on defense. From 1st and goal they got a penalty (I think) and then a sack so they settled for a FG. But we had some luck in this quater and we played pretty bad. If they make the FG they missed, which their guy is good but he just missed, and then they make a TD from 1st and goal- which the way they had driven the ball would be seem likely we are in a 17-10 game early in the 4th qt. I’m telling you it could have been that close.
And although we did have 2 big plays, busted assignments, in the 4th to put it out of reach we did not really steam roll MSU as the stats and final score may suggest. I’m just saying it was not a blow out game. A blow out game is when the other team scores a FG on your 2nd unit late in the 4th after you have hung up 31. MSU moved it down the field on our 1st unit when the game was still very much in doubt.
And if you think we could no way have lost that game in the 4th qt, I would just like to remind you of UT. We had that game won, they couldn’t do a thing to us, right? If not for one hand getting up high enough we would not even have a shot at the NC.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
To further emphasize
my point. With 11:05 in the 3rd Bama was up 17-0. From their until 10:35 in the 4th, Bama had a grand total of 8 offensive plays and gained 17 yards. During the same time period MSU had 25 plays and gained 83 yards, plus they attempted 2 FG’s and made one.
To me that game with 10:35 to go is still up in the air and if anyone had any momentum it would be MSU.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
One more thing
with 9 minutes to go in the 4th Qt. of the UF- MSU game Florida is up 9, and with 10 minutes to go against MSU we are up 14. I don’t see that big a difference. (MSU’s last score was very late int TD after UF had a safe 16pt. lead that cut it to 10 and made it look very close.)
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
I couldn't disagree more
Your analysis moves very quickly from what happened in the 3rd quarter to what COULD HAVE happened in the game. A good analysis of a game will include what happened in all 4 quarters. Looking back at that game and what actually happened, MSU would have needed a full 15 minutes of the sort of breaks that UT got in 3 minutes to have even had a shot at making it a close game. It didn’t happen nor was it very likely to happen. And the reason it did not is because both the offense and the defense executed the plays needed to beat MSU 31 to 3, a game that was dominated in the stat book and on the scoreboard.
It is an illegitimate analysis of a game to take a slice of time in which Bama played its worse and extrapolate that to an entire game. It doesn’t do justice to the issues involved in playing a full 4 quarters. MSU is a decent SEC team. They play hard and have talent at several positions. They played very well at times and shot themselves a few times, but so did Bama. But take the game as a whole piece of work and Bama beat them soundly.
By the time the 3rd quarter began, MSU had very little chance of winning that game. We would have had to hand it to them with fumbles and pick 6’s, which we DID NOT DO.
by M. Johnson Defender on Nov 18, 2009 3:43 PM CST up reply actions
Do you really think that
by the time the 3rd qt. began MSU had no chance of winning? So if we are up 2 TD’s on someone at half time the game is over?
All I’m saving is that they way we beat MSU and the way UF beat MSU is not enough difference to say Bama is way better the UF. Of the 19 pts. State put on UF, 13 were pick 6’s. They basically did the same against UF on offense as they did against us on offense. And yet people say we blew them out and UF was lucky to win.
I’ll admit the score in the MSU game looks like a blowout but it was far from it. If you are struggling in the 3rd qt. and the first 5 minutes of the 4th and you go into the final 10 min. of game with only a two score lead you are not blowing someone out.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
Yards per Play
I still say an over 2 yard per play advantage is pretty significant, and a +3 turnover margin is pretty significant.
3rd Quarter
Alabama 64 yards
Mississippi State 65 yards
I know it is possible to break the games up and fret over things, especially as a fan but you need to have context of the entire game. Even when Mississippi State kicked the field goal in the 4th quarter the game was still only 17-3. Also, if you remember after our field goal in the 3rd quarter we pretty much shut down the down field passing game for the rest of the quarter. I think the only passes we threw were screen passes, if memory serves me correct.
That is true.
But after we got the FG in the 3rd we had 2 possessions where we did nothing, Meanwhile, State was moving the ball and gaining new life. We could have finished them earlier, but we could not until Julio was wide open.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
And
I’ve got nothing against big plays. It is the 3 and out drives that bother me, and we have plenty of those. We are not likely to get these big plays against UF and if we can not systematically drive the ball down the field we are in trouble. We had 11 possession against MSU, not counting the end of the half and game. Of those 4 were 3 and out and another was 5 and out. 5 of 11 times we could not move the ball. Only once did we hold the ball for more than 10 plays. Sorry, but that does not say domination to me.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
5026, your analysis is faulty . . .
. . . because you argue that certain things could have happened and therefore we did not dominate. But those things did not happen and what did happen ended up being a dominant performance in the stats and on the scoreboard.
You have taken a handful of stats and situations and completely speculated away what actually happened in the game. Look at the whole picture: Julio WAS wide open. Ingram DID break a big run. Your speculation requires State to do something that they didn’t and couldn’t do for an entire game. As a result, they got dominated in the stats and on the Scoreboard.
by M. Johnson Defender on Nov 18, 2009 4:34 PM CST up reply actions
Hey Defender, Do you really think
as your post suggest that the game was over at the half?
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
I believe my exact words were . .
“By the time the 3rd quarter began, MSU had very little chance of winning that game.” I stand by that assessment. They gave it their best shot and the best they could do is get the lead back to 14 by the start of the 4th quarter. But yes, I don’t mind saying, if we have a 14 point lead at the beginning of the 3rd quarter it is going to be extremely difficult for any team in the country to beat us. For MSU, next to impossible.
by M. Johnson Defender on Nov 18, 2009 10:51 PM CST up reply actions
Ok, just
wanted to see if that was what you meant because in my opinon the game was not over at the half.
In modern FB 2 TD’s is not that much…I mean MSU’s return guy doesn’t step out of bounds and Johnson slips just once on his coverage and bam they have 14. Don’t say that could never happen, it could. And it would not be a near impossible 1000000 to 1 miracle.
By the way did you feel the UT game was over when we lead by 9 with 3 minutes to go and Ingram was toting the mail? Because if you did you were almost proved wrong.
Just saying 30 minutes as plenty of time for even MSU to rack up 2 TD’s.
But hey as a Bama fan I respect your opinon of Alabama’s invencibility. I guess I just tend to remember football games gone by when we blew a healthy lead. Like the 2001 SC game where we outgained them by 200 yards and held a 13 pt. lead with about 6 munutes to go in the 4th qt. and then lost. I’m sure a lot of Bama fans flet that lead was safe too.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
I took umbrage . . .
at the idea that Bama didn’t dominate the game. All kinds of things were possible but that’s true of any game, even games against Chattanooga or LA-Monroe. But I felt like it was an unfair analysis to suggest that taken as a whole Bama did not dominate that game. I don’t mean to suggest that they dominated every single play or even every drive, but when it was over, it seems that you have to admit that it was a dominant performance. However, you are correct if you are suggesting that it was possible for them not to.
by M. Johnson Defender on Nov 18, 2009 11:53 PM CST up reply actions
I always enjoy reading the other blogs comments on the Power Poll
This one is particularly good with the change in the Ole Miss icon to truly reflect their team.
I liked this one.
As a head coach of Mississippi State you do a lot of praying. Most of the time the answer is “no.”—Orange and Blue Hue
Wow
Some of you act very childish. Bottom line. Scoreboard read 31-3 as time expired. Every blowout has lulls in it, okay? The third quarter was JUST that. The only reason they outgained us anyway was because we hardly even touched the ball in the third. A missed FG is a missed FG. That’s like saying “well if we completed EVERY pass maybe we wouldn’t have lost so badly” but the fact IS that’s not what happened. No ones saying Florida is atrocious and that we’re perfect. I think we’re quite equal, but we have had that knockout effect. Most of the games we’ve kept it close, but in the 4th we pull away and deliver “the knockout”. Florida tends more to play so-so all 4 qtrs. The reason Florida beat us last year was because of their conditioning. We got tired in the 4th and they took control of the reigns from there. This year I believe the roles have reversed and we’re the better conditioned football team. Mark my words. SEC championship game comes down to the 4th quarter…and I believe that’s where we hold the advantage “the KO”. That’s where games are won and ever since saban came to bama that’s what he’s preached. Anyway who gives a rats ass if it was a blow out or not. We won in good form. Looking forward…
It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.
-Paul "Bear" Bryant
by bamalover on Nov 19, 2009 12:50 AM CST via mobile reply actions
The whole conversation
is about the quote on the UF website where they (UF people) were saying that they (UF) are just barely getting by while Bama is destroying people.
I just think that is a wrong evaluation and that Bama and Florida have won in very similar ways and are very similar teams.
Last year going into the SECCG Florida was truly destroying people. I think the Florida folks are more concerned this time around and I think they are trying to hype Bama to cast themselves in the underdog roll. But the hype doesn’t stick as UF is an early, but slight, favorite.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
I appreciate that the Florida game . . .
is likely to be a very close and hard fought battle between two of the best teams in college football. But right now I think that the quote has some legitimacy. Florida had the largest SEC margin of victory over an SEC opponent back in September, beating UK by 34. Other SEC margins for UF were 10, 10, 3, 10, 24, 24 10, for an average of 15.6. Bama, on the other hand, has SEC margins of 28, 18, 19, 14, 2, 9, 28 for an average of 16.9. Not a huge difference but notice that Bama won only 2 games by less than 2 TD’s (UT and LSU) while UF won five of their 8 SEC games by less than 2 TD’s. I think this contributes to the feeling that Bama has more consistently knocked out SEC teams than has UF. Based on this comparison and numerous other factors, I think Bama should be a 1 or 2 point favorite for the SECCG.
by M. Johnson Defender on Nov 19, 2009 10:52 AM CST reply actions
UF wants to be the underdog here.
Tebow relishes that roll. However UF is and will be the favorite barring something cray in the next two weeks.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
?
How does tebow relish that role? When has Florida ever been an underdog since he’s been in charge? They lost to ole miss, but never were underdogs after that. He can come from behind, but I’d say his role is being ahead and staying ahead. Idc I just wanna see us send him out of college football with a big fat loss in the sec championship game and a failed attempt at a national championship.
It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.
-Paul "Bear" Bryant
by bamalover on Nov 19, 2009 12:22 PM CST via mobile reply actions
Tebow
loves to get his team fired up when they are behind and things are tough, etc. Ok maybe he hasn’t been the actual underdog that much, but he likes the "us against the world " approach. If he thought the Gators were underdogs that would just give him that much reason to go crazy and try to hype up his team.
You watch, if UF beats Bama Tebow will be saying stuff like “No one gave us a chance but we believed in each other.”
I think his talk, his jumping around, his getting in his team mates face etc. is all a part of the act which we now know as the legend of Tebow. And to beat him and take the Heisman at the same time would be great. Maybe he would shed one for us as he promises the Gators are going to take out Cincy in the Sugar Bowl.
So yeah, I think he would love to be underdgo in this game. That way in his mind he can be that much more a legend, more a hero, etc.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
Oh! And mark ingram carrying the heisman trophy off the stage RIGHT in front of tebows face WHILE marky mark gives him the John cena hand wave in front of his face.
It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.
-Paul "Bear" Bryant
by bamalover on Nov 19, 2009 12:24 PM CST via mobile reply actions
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