As a result, Alabama's first four practices for the BCS title game have been noticeably more physical, according to players. Saban instructs players not to tackle to the ground in practice, thus avoiding injuries, but he is now toying with the idea of holding a full-scale "scrimmage" today to aide in game preparation.
Gentry Estes: Alabama vows not to have another bowl letdown in title game
I find this one very interesting. With Saban toying around the idea of having a full contact scrimmage -- we practically never have those in the season -- it's becoming easy to see that he's not just popping off with rhetoric when it comes to getting ready for this game. He is trying to do everything within his power to avoid a lackluster effort like we saw against Utah last year. It seems like the players have gotten the message, based on their comments, so let's hope that indeed is the case.
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I agree totally...
complacency will get you beat every time.
Let’s all hope everyone stays healthy and hungry.
Got that winning feelin'
on the other hand...
coach bryant was notorious for putting the team through grueling pre-bowl game practices and that wasn’t always a recipe for success.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
Its been really hard for me
to keep my confidence in check. Nick will have us ready to play on January 7, 2010.
Yeah, I think that CNS has had some hard lessons learned...
(i.e. ULM, Utah) but the good thing is that those “tragedies” are behind us; and I get the feeling Saban is not one to have to learn the same mistake twice. If nothing else, HE will be ready to suit up come the 7th.
"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant
Probably not, but...
do you want to be the one to tell him that he can’t play?
"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant
or possibly by Christmas-gram. just a thought.
"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant
As
long as it doesn’t have a return address.
"A demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots." -H. L. Mencken
Good thinkin...
Way to think outside the box there.
"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant
Who would you get to
put it in his mailbox? I get the feeling a Christmas-gram itself would make him mad, much less the news. He’d probably burn the poor mailman to death with his laser eyes.
"Let's go be champions, boys!" - Greg McElroy
Bowls are so much different
from every other game that some coaches/teams do not know how to prepare. Coach Bryant went through an 8 year period (1967-1974) when he couldn’t win a bowl game. But in his last 8 bowls (1975-1982) he was 7-1. Obviously he had learned something.
His one loss in that 8 years— TEXAS.
To this point, Saban is only 4-6 in bowls so I’d say he is still learning how to prepare.
Making this week more physical is probably good considering the distractions that have been going on. Nothing to get your attention like a good pop.
By the way Coach Stallings was master at getting teams ready for bowls. While at A&M he got an underdog team ready and beat Bama. While at Bama he lost his 1st bowl and then won the rest (5 bowls) His all time bowl record was 6-1. He obviously knew something.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
Saban's bowl record
I’m taking that 4-6 record as fact (I don’t doubt you, and I’m lazy).
I believe his participation in this game in 2003—along with the players participation in last year’s BCS game—will help in our preparation this time around. Obviously, Mack Brown and the Horns have some experience, too.
I do get nervous thinking about the long layoff and reading about the offense shaking off the “rust” accumulated during the two-week break. I have to trust that the players are doing what they know they have to do to get ready. Unbelievably, they want it more than we do.
Lee Corso: How would you describe tailgating at Alabama?
Kirk Herbstreit: Barbecue and Ralph Lauren
by animalcracker on Dec 23, 2009 9:01 PM CST up reply actions
i've told this story before on here but i'ma tell it again
i think i was 7 or 8 when i met coach stallings, we went to the SCC (scottsdale community college) practice fields to watch the team practice before the fiesta bowl. dad asked him how the game was going to go and i he said “if we play like been practicin then NO DAMN WAY!”
me and my brother were a little put off and kinda scared, dad said it was good he was pissed off. we wound up getting our asses kicked by LOUISVILLE! so coach was right. mean gene knew what the fuck he was doing.
for the next five days there is nothing in my heart but hate. pure, untempered, ice-cold hate. fond memories are for saturday. - Kleph
by tempebamafan on Dec 24, 2009 5:26 AM CST up reply actions
I watched that press conference...
at bamaonline.com (sorry, I’m not sure on how to make this a link straight to the conference) It is a pretty funny press conference. CNS went off on more than one person.
This is a great article but, what this article didn’t say is that there probably won’t be a full fledged scrimmage. CNS said when you do that, you increase the chances of getting someone hurt & this is not the time to risk that. However, he did say that they might do something like a scrimmage today, to resemble gamelike situations, but it probably won’t involve full tackling.
Either way, I have full confidence in CNS! He will have the players ready! I give NO chance of seeing a performance like we did last year in the Suger Bowl! ROLL TIDE!!!
RESPECT! WALK!
holy crap batman, i’m gonna shit my pants. i cant wait.
for the next five days there is nothing in my heart but hate. pure, untempered, ice-cold hate. fond memories are for saturday. - Kleph
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