what are bama fans feeling today. I think Deboer is a good coach but he may have taken on to big of a challenge following saban. That team is not making the playoffs this year.
I didn’t know Miami 1983 was the answer to the question - who’s the last team to lose their opener and win the national championship? That’s what Alabama faces (and the loser tonight). Miami 83, Southern Cal 74 and Alabama 65 are the last 3 to do this. And it’s much harder now to do it.
Tide is looking at 11 games and then winning 4 games in the playoffs assuming no SEC title this year. Elite’s probably right. They’re not it. Can’t believe 83 UM is the last to do this though. 2014 Ohio State was closest. Beat Navy week one then lost to a bad VT week 2 before winning out and beating out TCU and Baylor for the 4th playoff spot in the 1st year of the 4 team playoff.
Bama’s task is large. Bigger than Clemson who at least should roll in the ACC the rest of the way.
Right now, Kalen Deboer is about as popular in the State of Alabama as Derek Chauvin is in the State of Minnesota. Already, the call for his head is rampant, but that will not happen, nor should it happen. First, it would cost the university $70 million to part ways with Deboer. As good as Nick Saban was, probably the best there ever was, when he dropped an occasional game, some maniacal fans were calling for his firing. Deboer deserves a few years to turn things around.
Indeed Alabama played a miserable game. With arguably the best pundit-judged talent in the college game, Alabama laid an egg. IMO, on offense Deboer was simply too pass happy, and almost all yards gained rushing occurred during the Tide’s first drive in the game in which it looked like they were going to take care of business and destroy the Seminoles. But, Deboer went pass happy after the first drive, and for the remainder of the game had a feckless offense, and worse, they were physically dominated by an intense FSU defense. Who would have thought the Crimson Tide would be manhandled by a team that only won two games last year, but the Seminoles mauled them.
On defense, Deboer did not prepare properly for a Malzahn-guided offense. Bringing Castellanos to Tallahassee was a masterstroke of recruiting, for it gave Malzahn the right guy to guide his run-centric offense. FSU put on a blocking clinic in this game, knocking down Tidesman as if they were bowling pins. Castellanos brashly declared that Alabama without Saban could not stop him. Most people, including myself, scoffed. Today, I join the vast majority of other eating tasty crow; Castellanos sublimely backed up his bluster.
FSU and Georgia Tech as well are dangerous teams this year, departing from the rest of the throw happy college teams. Facing these teams requires an extra measure of preparation. Their offenses thrive on deception, lots of backfield motion, pulling lineman, double team blocking, and counter plays against the flow. Canes need to take notice of these two teams, especially FSU whose desire to defeat the Hurricanes is like vampiric bloodlust.
Arch Manning certainly didn’t live up to expectations, but I think he’ll improve during the season. Will he be great? Perhaps, but he’s not a shoe-in. If I were Sarkisian, I’d certainly make Wingo a RB just like Lashlee did with Brashard Smith.
John Mateer looked damn good yesterday against hapless competition. Mateer puts Oklahoma well in the race for an SEC crown.
I think arch will be fine. The throws he made yesterday that were missed will be completions soon. I am not a sark fan. I think he tries to outsmart everyone. Kick the ball inside the red-zone. Analytics dont matter in big games. Where is the TE in texas offense. Where are the screens. No easy throws for arch to get into a rhythm. Ewers regressed under sark. If He was Norm Chow, Arch would have looked more prepared. Texas is also a soft program- always has been. I thought baxter was had a nice run early and they stopped running him. Very disappointing how texas plays.
As for fsu - what you saw is what was expected out of gus. He likes to run the ball and so does mike. They have two issues fsu…cant really throw and their pass rush was not very good. This is not a team built to come from behind.
I watched the second half and FSU to me showed a lot more energy and enthusiasm. I know less than zero about the Alabama QB but he looked overmatched in the moment. I was surprised at how little Alabama ran the ball, particularly when it was still a possession or two game. Would want to watch FSU a few more times before reaching a verdict. Judge longevity of FSU toughness and playing smart (i.e., not dumb).
Forgot, watched some of first half and then 3rd quarter of LSU-Clemson. Clemson did not look very good and esp. Klubnik. Maybe LSU made him look bad. But end of 3rd quarter knew LSU would win and just went to bed.
Bama just isn’t the dominant team they were when Saban was the HC. Whoever succeeded Saban was doomed to fail like virtually every other coach who has followed an extremely successful HC. It’s a very long list. Nick Saban was a once in a lifetime kind of coach. He saw the NIL writing on the wall and bailed out at the right time.
Bama is going to be a middling-SEC team for years to come. Their fans got spoiled winning the SEC and being in the NC hunt year in and year out. Those days are over. FSU is improved over last season, it would he hard not to be. But, Bama was vastly overrated at #8. Bama is not a Top 10 team this year, they may not even finish in the Top 20.
One hopes ND is just as overrated as Bama was. I expect Miami to lose tonight (as usual) but I hope they pull the upset, that Beck is really all that, the new FG kicker doesn’t suck and the defense is much improved over last season’s shyt show. I fear the refs will make the difference and hand the win to ND. If it is a close game, I don’t see how Miami can win. I hope I am wrong.
Classic
I agree…This yank loses another 1-2 they are going to run him right out of town.
Miami looked good. Their OL is legit. They are also good on the Dl. Beck managed the game. He made plays on the final drive when he had to. Thought miami should have gotten one more first down.
1 Like