Somehow, Someway, 'Bama Survives
by outsidethesidelines on Nov 28, 2009 11:38 AM CST
in Football
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PrintFor about three hours yesterday afternoon, all of the stars aligned for Auburn to pull off the biggest upset in Iron Bowl history. Alabama played very poorly, posting probably it's worst performance since the 2007 Louisiana-Monroe debacle. Auburn, on the other, easily played their best game of the season. And all of the little breaks that they needed to fall their way were doing just that.
For Alabama, it was effectively a trainwreck by the entire team. Heisman contender Mark Ingram was completely stuffed in the running game, missed an easy touchdown pass to Julio Jones on a trick play, and ultimately went out with an injury. The only thing he fared better than was the Thanksgiving turkey. Likewise, our offensive line was completely manhandled in the trenches by an inferior defensive line that they should have dominated. The passing game to receivers not named Julio Jones was completely non-existent. Greg McElroy passed up an easy first down on a scramble to throw an incomplete pass to a completely blanketed receiver in the red zone (a drive where we ultimately came away with no points). James Carpenter was whipped off the edge for a key sack late in the fourth quarter. The offense continued to fall apart in the red zone. They could not take advantage of great field position all day. There was no vertical element whatsoever in the passing game, once again, and the offense was almost wholly incapable of creating big plays. The Alabama defense was confused as hell all afternoon against Gus Malzahn's mad scientist offensive scheme. Eryk Anders made some terrible plays in run support leading to big Auburn plays. Nico Johnson dropped an easy interception at a crucial time. Mark Barron bought into a double move route by Darvin Adams like a dumb investor buying into the Bernie Madoff scheme. Justin Woodall played poorly, yet again, committing a costly unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that cost us at least four points, and then capped it off by giving up a touchdown pass after biting on the playaction fake. We missed an easy, crucial sack in the fourth quarter that ultimately cost us about 40 yards in field position. P.J. Fitzgerald had one of his usual 55-yard punts that sailed out of the back of the end zone. We were completely unprepared for an Auburn onside kick, even though it was clear they had something up their sleeve with their unusual grouping. Leigh Tiffin missed a field goal, and had another kick-off sail out of bounds.
And then all of those little breaks that Auburn needed kept falling their way. They were able to recover two muffed punts deep in their own territory. They had a critical interception erased by their own incompetence, i.e. a display of the Human False Start Machine himself, Lee Ziemba. The umpire found himself in the way of no less than three dump-off passes over the middle, effectively ending our chances on all three occasions. Clinton Durst's punt took the perfect bounce to pin us up deep against our own goal line in the fourth quarter. Julio Jones seemingly good catch on the opening drive was called incomplete and was not reviewed by the booth.
Somehow, someway, though, 'Bama survived it all and lived to tell about it. We did just enough -- barely -- to hang on in the first 52 minutes to give ourselves a chance to win it in the end and that is what we did. The final drive was just about as ugly as it got. It had all of the aesthetic value of a 1978 Datsun. We had to convert several third downs, gave up a crucial sack, and were unable to generate any explosive plays. It was the epitome of an ugly, dink and dunk drive, but fortunately we got it all done in the end. It wasn't pretty, but it was nevertheless ultimately a 15-play, 79-yard touchdown drive that will forever be cemented in Iron Bowl lore. Sometimes it is about functionality, not aesthetics.
For the most part, though, it was an ugly effort by the Tide. Plain and simple, Auburn wanted this game more than we did. They showed up with more emotion and more intensity, and they sustained at a higher level throughout the game than we did. Maybe it was just the short week, with Thanksgiving being one of the days for preparation. Admittedly, that hurt our effort, especially against Malzahn's highly complicated offensive scheme. Maybe it was something else altogether, but either way Auburn showed up with a vengeance and we showed up with the indifference of Jerry Seinfeld. That's a damning deficiency, and one that there can be no legitimate excuse whatsoever for.
Perhaps we thought it was going to be a cakewalk like last year's 36-0 route. Maybe that was it, but if so I hope our players saw enough yesterday to remove their collective heads from their rectums. I don't care how lopsided things are in this series, this is still probably the most physical game in the country and a game probably played with more emotion than any other in the country to boot. Iron Bowl victories rarely come easy, regardless of the circumstances, and if our players legitimately thought otherwise, they were fooling themselves. Repeat after me: Iron. Bowl. Victories. Do. Not. Come. Easy.
Of course, stepping back from the ledge a bit, it should be noted that in many ways this game was a lopsided affair in both directions. Auburn absolutely dominated early, gaining a 14-0 lead after the first four possessions and out-gaining the TIde in total yards a whopping 138 to 5. But we survived the shitstorm, as Saban would later call it, and from there we effectively dominated the game, out-scoring Auburn 26-7 and out-gaining them somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 to 180.
It wasn't so much that we played poorly all day as much as it was that we got off to the worst start we've had in many, many years, and then despite generally controlling the game from that point moving forward, we shot ourselves in the foot just enough -- Barron's big play allowed, Leigh Tiffin's blocked kick, Mark Ingram's missed touchdown pass, and another failure to convert in the red zone -- to keep this one going right down to the wire. If we stop shooting ourselves in the foot after the terrible start, we win this one easily somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-14, but obviously it didn't happen that way.
For Auburn, their players played a fine game and their coaches did a fine job to boot. They should all be proud of their collective effort. And frankly if their fan base wants to bask in the comfort of such a supposedly great moral victory, let 'em. As our Tennessee friend so accurately pointed out in his meltdown last month, "There are no f*cking moral victories." We look to hold the advantage in this rivalry for years to come, and if they want to get all cheery and jolly over a close loss at home, that's their problem, not mine.
In any event, though, it was an ugly day and we should all feel very fortunate to be headed back to Tuscaloosa as winners. Being brutally honest, most of the time you go out and play in the SEC like we did today, a loss is almost an inevitability. We played with fire and somehow avoided getting burnt. Doing so is a rarity in the SEC.
From here, we just have to regroup and play better. Florida would kill us given the way we played yesterday, and that's the harsh truth. We're a team that clearly has some legitimate problems right now, but we're going to have to find a way to fix those things in the next seven days. Fortunately, I've said for the past several weeks that all we really needed to do down the stretch was to (1) win, regardless of the circumstances, and (2) stay healthy doing so. And as heart-attack-inducing as yesterday's Iron Bowl was, we did both of those things and we lived to fight another week. For now, we're 12-0 yet again, and we can put all of our sights on Florida. No one ever said it would be easy to beat the Gators, and nothing we saw yesterday changed that harsh reality, but then again we knew all along that we would practically need the perfect game in Atlanta to stamp our ticket to Pasadena. Anyone who ever legitimately thought otherwise was fooling themselves.
For now, though, today is an off day for the Crimson Tide. We got back to Tuscaloosa late last night and today is an easy, leisurely day in the Druid City. Tomorrow, all focus and efforts will turn towards Florida. Our Iron Bowl performance was ugly as hell, but we survived and I'm sure it will be celebrated as such. I say we do the same thing. Enjoy another great day of football, savor yet another Iron Bowl victory, and then all eyes can turn to the rematch we've been waiting on for twelve months.
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one possible upshot of this performance...
…is it will give the coaching staff plenty of fodder to light a fire under the team this week (not to mention the extra day of preparation).
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
I've said that after almost every win since the beginning of last year.
It’s worked 24 out of 26 times.
Maybe
we’re due for some good luck this next game since it’s clear we didn’t have much in the Iron Bowl. I couldn’t believe how every roll of the dice landed in their favor. Here’s hoping Karma levels out.
"A man's character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation." - Mark Twain
by Stu from Tuscaloosa on Nov 28, 2009 11:51 AM CST reply actions
Maybe it's how we look at it individually...
But the “thoughts” seem to spell out gloom-and-doom. Yes, yesterday was an ugly game, and I do agree that after the 14-0 hole was established, we had – in a way – dominated them. I think there’s a lot to be taken from this team, who had never ever faced that sort of adversity all season (especially on the road at the home of your biggest rival) and responded. By halftime, it was 14-14 and their NASCAR offense was generally non-existent. We knew that with this offense, they are going to move the ball from time to time.
As for next week’s game, I believe that the biggest match-up will be between our O and the Gators D. I have confidence in our D to limit the Gators O enough to give us a chance to win. They do not have a big play element (they did last year), their O-line is not as strong, and the coaching staff has been preparing for the spread offense not only in the last two weeks, but since spring ball after last season ended.
We have lost over 100 pounds on the O-line compared to last year’s O-line – we cannot blow people off the line like we did last year. This means that we have to pass to set up the run – when we do this, our offense is clicking very very well. It helps McElroy get into a rhythm and it helps the other pass-catchers step up. We can still beat the Gators w/o “the perfect game”, but we still have to play a great game.
by CaliforniaTide on Nov 28, 2009 12:24 PM CST reply actions
You're exactly right, CT...
Pass to set up the run is the right way to go. The Gators will stuff our run early on if we try it, but once we’ve spread them out and tired them a bit, we should be able to open up some holes. I also think it’s important to spread the ball around to all our receivers to get them all into a rhythm along with McElroy. And finally, it’s important to throw deep a few times. Do these things and the defense takes care of the rest. Oh, and cover Riley Cooper.
by crimsontsunami on Nov 28, 2009 5:02 PM CST up reply actions
It wasn’t so much that we played poorly all day as much as it was that we got off to the worst start we’ve had in many, many years…
Not to nitpick, but the Utah game was easily the crappier start between the two. They scored on their first three possessions and we were down 21-0 in the blink of an eye. Through their first three drives, they had about five minutes of possession and 165 yards of offense. We managed 9 yards of offense on our first three drives and lost a fumble and threw an interception.
As shell shocked as I was yesterday, I felt like we could get back in it after the first quarter. After the first quarter against the Utes, it was obvious we were screwed.
I think what makes yesterdays start worse was the context, those first few minutes we were getting completely embarrassed by our fiercest in-state rival during their rebuilding year, in retrospect Utah was an undefeated top 10 BCS team. I agree that in game terms the whole Utah first quarter was worse, it was pure Roland Emmerich disaster, but those first few minutes of that Auburn game, good lord, it was like my TV turned into a gorilla and crapped on me.
by Alabama ManDance on Nov 28, 2009 1:30 PM CST up reply actions
wow, lots of negativity…
1. You say this is the worst game since the one v. La Monroe… but I say the nearest competitor is the Sugar Bowl v. Utah. This was a virtual rerun of that game. I would be interested in comparing the first quarter of the Sugar Bowl v. the first quarter of this year’s Iron Bowl… I think they would look disturbingly similar. For whatever reason Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide can start flat sometimes on a big stage… that doesn’t reflect well on the coaching staff.
2. That being said I think you’re being way too harsh on that final drive. You’ve always been down on this year’s Tide for its lack of vertical passing but in this instance, isn’t that kind of long, slow, inexorable drive exactly what was called for in that circumstance? We didn’t need to leave much time on the clock, and so any sort of long pass (assuming we go on to score) would have put the ball back in Auburn’s hands sooner. And, it’s apparent from the playcalling that McElwain felt Julio would be open on those shallow crossing/pick routes… if your best receiver (you know, the one who can’t be taken down on first contact, who gets more YAC yards than seems possible for a receiver) can get open with enough space to get a first down, aren’t you obligated to run that route? And wouldn’t McElroy be bound to throw it to him?
Further, I disagree wholeheartedly that this was not an aesthetically pleasing drive. I have to believe, if you call yourself a football fan, you have to find joy in watching us grind their defense like that. We had a running game, we had a brilliant screen, we had our best receiver catching multiple passes and we had a well-timed play action call for a touchdown that they never saw coming – more importantly, we had an air of inevitability, we had confidence and poise, we ate the clock, in the fourth quarter of our most heated rivalry, on the road, and behind. What else could you possibly ask for in terms of aesthetics? I don’t know, maybe it’s just me.. I like us beating Tennessee 6-3 in 2005, I like watching the Wishbone and the Triple-Option, I like watching the 1985 Chicago Bears, I like seeing games played in mud and snow… and I like 79 yard drives with 15 plays where our players have to fight for every inch, where we have to rely on YAC yards to keep it alive. That, to me, is the aesthetic epitome of football. If a person uninitiated in football walked up to me and asked me to explain football, I’d show them that drive. Maybe it’s too soon to look at it with a level head but… there’s nothing but pretty going on in the last 8 1/2 minutes of that game.
by cjbama on Nov 28, 2009 12:39 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
For whatever reason Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide can start flat sometimes on a big stage… that doesn’t reflect well on the coaching staff.
I’m not sure I agree with that entirely. Yes, we started poorly yesterday and we started poorly against Utah, but those were two very different animals. Yesterday was baffling, the flatness against Utah is somewhat understandable at least. My counterargument to that was how solid we came out against Florida last year. We scored on our second possession (a 2 play, 82 yard “drive”) and we took a 10-7 lead into the 2nd quarter. That stage was much bigger than either of these other two.
eh, Nico I clearly wrote “sometimes” but your point is well taken, we played well against Florida last year in the SEC Championship. But this is twice now we’ve sleepwalked through the first quarter of a big game. It would seem to me to be no coincidence that both offenses had a lot of time to gameplan, and that the first few series seemed well scripted, and that both offenses used tempo to catch us out of position.
I hear you...
…but I still say the Auburn and Utah games are totally different and don’t fall in the same category.
Chamionship teams..........
They find a way to win.
Perhaps the most talked about team since 1979, the 1992 team had several victories like Saturday. I really draw no comparison between the two teams because I think that defense was better and we are 10 times better on offense than that team was. I won’t even draw the comparison between the quarterback position because I believe McElroy is light years ahead of Jay Barker as a first year starter.
Our two biggest rivals have given us our two biggest scares. That’s the way it is supposed to be. They both had off weeks to hear the “hatred” for us and also to prepare. They should’ve been ugly games.
This game was comparable to Auburn’s trip into Bryant-Denny undefeated in 2004. The only difference being that Auburn scored TD’s yesterday when we kicked field goals in 2004.
That 2004 team from Auburn was a champion no matter what the pundits, polls, computers decided. That gives me a good feeling about next week.
Finding a way to win is what this team does best.
The last drive...
Personally, I was tickled. Was it pretty? Not at all. However, I believe that the short pass is more of a key for us than the long pass. I heard yesterday on one of ESPN’s terrible radio shows that the top 10 or so short pass QBs in the league are also the top QB rated. Makes one wonder if the short pass is the key?
Bama has started slow all year.
At some point we’re going to have to score on our opening possesion. We looked like we were waiting for Auburn to show us how they were going to play the game instead of forcing our will.
-
The Florida pass rush is amazing. They are capable of tremendous pressure and doing it with four down linemen no blitz. Aubbie pressured us all day. 3-sacks and tons of hurries. The Auburn D-line on paper is nothing compaired to Fla’s. We must scheme a way to get the ball out of GMacs hands quick or it will be a long day on offense.
Your temper brings dishonor to my happy mooshu palace.
It's a great game to win
You gain confidence, you wake up some guys, they concentrate on your next foe, it provides fodder for Saban ot further motivate his guys.
Great game to win, great game to watch.
Cheers.
The bottom line is...
that the barn played arguably the best game they have played this year and it just wasn’t good enough.
the funny thing is, that i never saw worry or anxiety in the faces of the coaches and players, and to me thats the mark of a championship team…just a clam sense of confidence that we would somehow get the W and we DID!
ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!!
Screw the Barn. Their best effort with every trick in the book, dirty play (even by Afghan standards) and every intangible falling to their advantage still wasn’t enough to beat Bama’s worst performance of the year.
The most laughable thing is the moral victory attitude swirling around the State.
And how, HOW IN THE HELL DID WE LOSE IN THE TRENCHES? I literally can’t understand why their weak DL dominated our front? Something much better DL’s weren’t capable of?
Two Points on Your Comments
1. Being a military officer, I’m in the business of motivating teams of young people in meeting a common goal…against an enemy that is trying to do same thing against us. And despite all you do, no matter how good your training or the skills of your “troops,” these kids will never be perfect. It is a leader’s job to set them up for success, to put them in the best position possible to perform their best. CNS did that yesterday, and our Bama kids responded with confidence and poise under enormous pressure. As we, who were not on the field, look at the game from the sidelines, with the benefit of time and a marked lack of that same pressure, it’s always good to remember Teddy Roosevelt’s words in a speech he gave in Paris in 1910:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
2. On the subject of Bama football and our future. This game could not have unfolded better for the Tide. We gained a confidence under fire that could very well be the key to victory as we face our toughest challenges of the year. We learned that even under the direst circumstances, our players can trust in each other to put the team above themselves. This was the worst possible scenario for the Gators.
I cannot be more proud of our team, and the Gators had better be ready to absorb the force of the best Bama team performance of the year. We will be ready, we have been tested and we have passed that test. But no matter what the future holds, I am damn proud of this team, and we all should be.
D.C. Crimson
by D.C.Crimson on Nov 28, 2009 2:03 PM CST reply actions 7 recs
hahaha...still smiling...
and doing my excited scratch…
great post and great speech by Teddy, although I’m sure you could write one just as good…damn, better…
Roll Tide, Dad…
enjoy...
by SpockJenkins on Nov 28, 2009 2:25 PM CST up reply actions
Being an officer in D.C.
tells me that the only things you’re motivating groups of young people to fight against are complacency and bureaucracy.
With all due respect, sir. : )
Lee Corso: How would you describe tailgating at Alabama?
Kirk Herbstreit: Barbecue and Ralph Lauren
by animalcracker on Nov 28, 2009 7:28 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
OTS I totally agree
with your assement even if others do not. I’ve been saying all along that our offense is not as dominating as some scores, such as MSU, would lead you to believe. If you look back over our SEC schedule you will see that 1- Arky stopped our ground game but we found some big plays to blow them out, 2- UK- we were in trouble late in the first half, 3- Ole Miss a great D overshadows poor red zone calls, 4- SC- we stunk until Ingram went wild, 5- UT- Again the red zone killed us, 6-LSU – A big play late by Julio and again we were bad in the red zone, 7- MSU- Close game until 4th qt. big plays. And Auburn was the most frustrating game of the season because I just don’t think they are as good as we made them apprear.
In the end we have won every game sure enough. But, it has been far, far from easy. And, people are going to hate to hear this, but we are just a few plays from being 9-3 and pulling for Arky to beat LSU so we can go to ATL.
Saban has said we have yet to play our best game, yet to play a complete game. Well we will not SOMEHOW – SOMEWAY manage to beat UF & Tebow. To beat them we are going to need to be more physical (we were not against Auburn) than UF and not make the silly mistakes, such as Barron just falling asleep on a play.
I honestly can not think of one game we have had this year that our effort, IF DUPLICATED would beat UF. I think last year our game against Auburn was very complete and gave us hope of playing the perfect game against UF- which we almost did. This year I just don’t know.
And sorry, playing poorly against an average team and then putting it together for 1 drive does not give me confidence.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
OTS I totally agree with your assement even if others do not
of course you do. you have been full of gloom and doom all year.
we are 12-0 AGAIN and the glass REALLY IS half full!
"You have to create 6 seconds of hell each play..."
Coach Nick Saban
I agree...you are my friend...
enjoy...
by SpockJenkins on Nov 28, 2009 3:15 PM CST up reply actions
Yeah, but only HALF full...
We have real problems (and whether y’all like it or not, lack of a vertical passing game is going to bite us at some point), and while it’s great to be undefeated plopping your head in the sand and plugging your ears and chanting “12-0! 12-0! 12-0!” doesn’t make them go away. We’ve come out flat and struggled to get going early too many times this year (hell, we went three and out on our first possession against CHATTANOOGA), we’ve shot ourselves in the foot with penalties and mistakes that helped the opponent, we’ve gone to sleep on special teams, and, again, we struggle getting anything going with the long ball. And that’s not a knock on the play calling either; it’s a knock on the fact that we don’t protect as well as we need to at times, when we do protect receivers aren’t getting open or McElroy gets antsy and dumps the ball off too quickly instead of letting a play develop downfield. OTS isn’t expressing a preference in style of offense here with his harping on the lack of a downfield threat, he’s expressing a very real frustration in a lack of execution on the part of our offense, and y’all might love McElroy for dinking and dunking, but just remember that all that dinking and dunking netted us 12 points against UT and the need for TWO blocked FGs to win that game. If you really think 12 points is all we’re gonna need against Florida, then you’ve lost your damn minds.
Roll Bama Roll - The Champagne of Bama Blogs.
^^^^^^ debbie downer...
it’s not a discussion of being too optimistic or being a homer…it’s just that you and OTS seem to worry more than the coaching staff does…have trust in your team…CNS is in his position for a reason and problems will get addressed…
enjoy...
by SpockJenkins on Nov 28, 2009 6:09 PM CST up reply actions
Because...
…we’re worried about losing. Believe me, I trust this team and staff to find ways to get it done (especially this year’s since they’ve faced real adversity in a game and overcame it, unlike last year’s team), but our toughest opponents are the last two we are going to face and if we haven’t played our best game yet, then we’re really running out of time to figure out how. I’m afraid we’ll have to play our best game next weekend if we really want to see this season end the way we all hoped it would all year long.
Roll Bama Roll - The Champagne of Bama Blogs.
true...
the margin of error for Bama in the SECCG is hovering near ZERO…but like I’ve said before, I think that Bama has the uncanny ability to cause their opponents to make mistakes and throw them off their game that allows the Tide to win…so I’m looking for that to happen against FL…that and Bama playing a near-perfect game…hahaha…
enjoy...
by SpockJenkins on Nov 28, 2009 6:41 PM CST up reply actions
You are right Todd
In order to beat UF we have to play our best game of the year – in fact, we need to do better than that…….and that is exactly what we are going to do
Hey, I'm not doom and gloom.
I just think we can be so blinded to who we really are that we lose perspective and in way it can even permeate from the fans to the team.
Alabama is a good team. But, I find it hard to call a team that struggles as much as we have in the red zone great.
The rest of the SEC, except UF, is just average this year. In fact they are so average no one can even say who is the #3 team in the conference. Our only other ranked team, Ole Miss just got killed today. So, we have beat a bunch of average teams and struggled with most of them.
In fact I’ll even go this far—who is the best SEC team we have played to date? Ask that to 7 fans and you’d get 7 answers from UK, to Ole Miss, to LSU, to Arky, to UT, to SC, to Auburn. And if you asked the same question as to who is the worst conference team we have played you’d get the same answers with MSU thrown in there.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
LSU is ranked #15 and looking pretty good right now...
enjoy...
by SpockJenkins on Nov 28, 2009 7:00 PM CST up reply actions
My bad
I actually forgot LSU was ranked. So maybe they are the #3 team in the SEC and if they win and end up 9-3 I guess you could say they had a good season.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
Ask the ACC how average the SEC is.
The two so called best teams in the ACC just got beat by our middle pack teams of the year. We have beaten all of our SEC opponents and that in and of itself is impressive. Of course, we have to play a great game to beat Florida. That can’t be an argument, but don’t underappreciate what this team has done to date. Roll Tide!
florida...
is a couple of plays from having one or two losses themselves….they are also far from perfect.
Tigers Hide and rooooll that TIDE!
true, but have you seen the brutal proctology they have delivered to FSU today?
You can't win. You can't break even. You can't get out of the game.
by StablerRaider on Nov 28, 2009 5:17 PM CST up reply actions
FSU couldn't tackle their way out of a wet paper sack.
What you're seeing is team spirit. It's like the Holy Spirit, but more powerful.
-Hank Hill
did you see the brutal proctology...
other teams put on fsu this season? its not exactly rocket science.
Tigers Hide and rooooll that TIDE!
Hopefully
we won’t offer our asses up as readily as FSU
The thing is
it’s easy to start slow when you have a coach like Nick Saban.
I say this because, as John Parker Wilson said, every play and every day is 4th and 1 with Saban. He coaches like Roger Clemens used to pitch. He requires such a high level of discipline and intensity AT ALL TIMES that even his toughest players can tire mentally. I prefer Saban’s style as opposed to Pete Carroll’s lax style, but there is a price with Saban’s style.
When we come ready to play, we’re a dynamic team. When we go through the motions we look like crap. We don’t have an explosive offense like Florida’s that can go through the motions and still score 30 points, but we have a group of guys who can play to Saban’s expectations when it counts.
We haven’t always played well, but going 12-0, in any conference, let alone the SEC, is impressive. We probably were looking past Auburn because we didn’t play them as hard as we played Virginia Tech, Arkansas, and LSU. I expect us to play as hard as we can against Florida. Whether or not that will be good enough, we’ll all find out.
Let’s beat Florida.
MATRIX: Bennett, I thought you were--
BENNETT: Dead? You thought wrong. Ever since you had me thrown out of the unit, I've been waiting to pay you back. Do you know what today is, Matrix? Payday.
New member
A big ROLL TIDE ROLL to the board!! I love how we bitch about winning…..
BAMA IS BACK 12-0×2= ??
Welcome...
…and please add two to your equation….
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Nov 28, 2009 9:04 PM CST up reply actions
Just a quick question.....
How would all you Al Davis’, vertical passers suggest we get the ball down the field?
I have a few thoughts on that:
Can we protect for the 3+ seconds that are needed in order to get the ball down the field?
If not, have we seen a lot of press coverage that would allow us to take a three step drop and lay the ball up?
Do we have a deep threat? I believe Maze is our best deep threat and he is all of 5’10. Julio is still not at 100 percent if you ask me and he took another hit on his knee last night.
We will get a few one safety looks this week and we need to return the favor to the Gators from last year. In my mind, they won the game by completing the balls over the top.
So many points to disagree with...
Bama was not totally poor in offense. We outscored Auburn by 19 points after the first 7 minutes of the game. Worst game since Monroe? Utah was easily worse than that and against Tennesse this year we scored 0 TDs. At least we got in the end zone 3x in the Iron Bowl.
There is never an easy pass from a running back in the red zone while running to his right. And 2 defenders closing quickly. If that floater Ingram threw had to make Julio stop, there could have been a pick. And LB Johnson had an easy pick? LBs drop quick balls all the time. Could those played have been made? Yes, and they should of, but a running back throwing in the red zone and a LB with an INT on a quick route is never easy. At worst it’s a pass breakup. A stat that is recorded.
The refs have to be in that position. The ref is watching his assignments to make a penalty call if needed. The ref is always in that position. The players should do their best to avoid the refs. If the ball hits the ref the play is dead and there is no do over. So stay away from the refs.
The final drive was a ’78 Datsun? 15 palys, 79 yards, 7 minutes = ’78 Datsun?
Are you f#$%^ng serious.? By the time Auburn got the ball back the lack of time on the clock was a huge advantage for us. 3rd down conversions, hard running, Julio and Mac stepping up, and ending in a TD to make a FG for Auburn a non -factor.
You mention all the plays we missed and they made. Plays will happen for both teams at times during a game. Those things happen, it’s football. That is why coaches preach to have a short memory, even coaches understand the other teams will make plays. They had 2 weeks to practice, this was their biggest game. Other teams do practice their plays during the week you know, and usually play to their strenghts in the game – just a thought.
Could more plays have been made? Did we leave points of the board? Did we have a very slow start to our biggest rival? Yes, yes, and yes. But it’s football and things happen in games that just are going to happen. You will not stop every play a team attempts.
There are things that need to be worked out, but after that start to see us regroup and play hard outscoring 26 to 7 after that start. The final drive to me was great in many ways.
Your post was just too negative after a great victory.
Some of the things you say as “easy” plays, the refs need to get out of the way, final drive not “aestheticly” pleasing tells me you never really played organized football. And that is not a shot at you. Most fans have not. And if you did play, you missed some lessons during your playing days.
by TidePride92 on Nov 29, 2009 9:10 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
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