The Goat Pen

We Need to Remember Why the Playoff Was Created
It was created to stop Alabama. (Sec post 2011)
The rest of the teams wanted Alabama to have to win two big games to win the championship. They also didn't want hot teams at the end of the season to miss a chance to neutralize Alabama with the awesome play late. It has worked two of the first three years of the playoff.

Here's the Real Problem With This Team This Season
Ain't enough 'Dogs out there.....Ain't enough Mean out there....Ain't enough blowing snot bubbles out there.......

way too many really "smart" players..... Really "good guys"......really "coaches" on the field.... kinda players for Bama this year!

Football is a mean, dirty, nasty, I want to hit someone really hard.....sport!

what happened to "you gotta dominate your opponent 365 days a year" mentality? what happened to "You don't REALLY want Bama" ?
Which top team in the country would be afraid to play this Bama team now?

Saban and this staff has got to take a really hard look in the mirror and ask themselves what happened to us being 'Dogs and dominating opponents?
Continuing to play this cupcake city schedule and not having the kind of toughness and physicality it takes to dominate is now a problem for Bama!

The Unbiased Truth About Jalen
-Jalen is a RB/Slot Receiver trying to play QB without the ability to properly manage a passing game. While he can physically throw the ball, he lacks consistent accuracy and struggles to put the ball in position for a receiver to make a play.

-Jalen cannot read pass coverages or check to 2nd or 3rd route receivers. If his primary route receiver is not open, he automatically tucks the ball and runs. When a team like Auburn plays proper zone or spies the QB, these scrambles either result in loss of yardage or a ball thrown out of bounds. I would estimate that 65% of these plays involve the 2nd and 3rd receivers being wide open, as I witnessed in person last night.

-Jalen's pocket presence and awareness are not up to standard. Again, I realize our pass protection has sucked all year, but he doesn't know how to move around the rush and step up into the pocket to hit a check-down route or 2nd receiver. Again, once he feels the slightest pressure, the play gets tossed in the garbage and it becomes backyard football with Jalen running.

-I really believe a critical moment for our program occurred last year during the USC game, when Jalen replaced Blake Barnett. I realize Barnett struggled for the first series or two, but when he came back in during the 3rd quarter, his passes were impressive and his pocket presence improved. I realize Jalen got that win for us, but in retrospect, I believe Barnett would have thrived under Kiffin's supervision if he was given time to develop. Instead, we have completely dumbed-down our offense over the last two years to adapt to Jalen's extremely limited skill set. As a result, we have become a completely one-dimensional offense with no identity. Sure we can put big points up against patsies, but when a real defense like Auburn comes around, we slog around the field and struggle to score points.

-This golden era of Bama football has been fantastic. We have become quite spoiled. The thing is, I don't believe it has to be over. We still have superior talent all over the field as well as one of the best head coaches of all time. I am just afraid that if we aren't maximizing our talent (see our stable of RB's and WR's being wasted), the best days of this dynasty will soon be in our rear-view mirrors.

Bama should have won if it wanted to be in playoffs.

Whose fault is it that the team wasn’t prepared....

The answer is Nick Saban.

I blame Saban for the loss last night and for the bad decision to fire Kiffin that cost us a national championship last year.

We need a new coach in three years.