College Football

[hedge]

Esp. b/c that one loss generally only fires up the SEC team (esp. Bama) to prove they're the better team even if they do have one loss...

Gotta be a good feeling to be an Alabama fan right now. A couple of glitches notwithstanding (this season being one of them), I've been feeling pretty good about being a Carolina hoops fan since Roy returned. Two NC's, another FF and multiple deep tourny runs is about all you can ask for as a fan. But that pales in comparison to what Saban has put together in Alabama. And it doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon...

[AlabamAlum]

Thanks, Crash.

[Bklyn]

OSU would've given it a better shot.

listening to Urban Meyer, I don't think he wanted any part of this Bama team.

1 Loss SEC team > undefeated team in any other conference

Yeah, I think Bama would crush them...but I kinda cheated on that one. When you get shut out a half and lose 42 - 14...saying a Top 5 team (other than ND) would give them a better shot isn't quite going out far on the limb.

[AlabamAlum]

2012 is one of my favorite teams. This team was not supposed to be that good. We weren't picked to win our division, let alone the SEC or the NC. Lost too much talent from last year, and only have 9 seniors.

2013 was supposed to be the year...and barring injuries, I think we'll be back in the game next year, too.

[Cletus]

They were ranked #2 in the preseason poll and then were #1 in the first poll after the games started. It's not like they came out of nowhere.

[eCat]

[hedge]

"This team was not supposed to be that good."

By Alabama's standards, maybe...

"When you get shut out a half and lose 42 - 14"

I felt like the refs gave the ND receiver that catch on 3rd and 16 (or whatever it was) for a 30 yard gainer, and then on the next play a bogus helmet to helmet roughing the passer for another 15 yards, which led to ND's first TD. Not sure why Saban didn't ask for a review of the "catch", but at any rate, if that had been reviewed and overturned, I doubt ND would've scored at all...

[AlabamAlum]

They were ranked #2 in the preseason poll and then were #1 in the first poll after the games started. It's not like they came out of nowhere.

I'm not talking about polls, or some general national perception. I was more talking about the people who really know Alabama football. With polls, Alabama has a huge advantage, in that any team with a pulse will start out highly rated. People get blinded by the crimson shirts or something. There are other teams that get the same treatment (Michigan, USC, ND, Texas, etc), and it helps greatly in getting the chance to win it all at the end of the year. The same thing happens in basketball. UNC or Kentucky can have a so-so team and still get a 4 or 5-seed. Change the jerseys to a less historic team and it's a 9 or 10-seed.

Anyway, most of the Alabama insiders believed this team was a full step behind LSU and on running lockstep with at least a half dozen teams nationally. Last year, we lost 8 players last year who were drafted by the NFL and 4 of those in the first round. This year we only had 9 scholarshipped seniors.

Alabama had holes that we disguised on defense (one good corner and no premier passrusher) and we had a ton of season-ending injuries to players on offense who got (or were projected to get) a lot of PT (Fowler, Hart, White, Bell). We also had our back-up QB xfer to Virginia leaving us with no one who had experience. A tandem of shaky FG kickers and a punt/KO coverage so bad that we had to keep putting in defensive starters to plug the holes made this championship less likely to me.

[crashcourse]

bama easily could have lost to LSU and Georgia and did lose to TA&M

this was more of a statement about notredame football then Alabama dominance.

Not saying that bama wouldnt have beaten every team in the country last night they probably would have

but there were at least 10 teams in the country (probably 4-5 in the SEC) that would have stayed in the game at least til the 4th

would it have been better for notred dame to lose one instead of getting in the national title by the skin of their teeth just to be annihilated and humiliated in the national BCS

Hopefully when the playoffs start we will be spared of a pretender making it to the final

cletus--crashcoursed@yahoo.com

[hedge]

"bama easily could have lost to LSU and Georgia"

I don't know about easily, but you're right, those teams were more on par with Bama than ND was. You could probably make the case that either Ga or LSU (and maybe even aTm) would win 5 times out of 10 vs. Bama, but that's not how we determine who is "best" in any given year. Bama won when they needed to, they are the NC's and I don't think too many folks are uncomfortable with the idea that they were the best team in CFB this year...

[eCat]

you know who gained more from last night?

Johnny Football.

[Saint]

I didn't know until last night that Nick Saban isn't related to former Bills coach/GM Lou Saban. I used to think he was his son. damn, talk about a misconception.

Saban was pissed off when that gatorade hit him last night. it took about 2 secs to remember he was on camera and force a smile. he wanted to make them all do up-downs though.

[Saint]

who does Oregon lose? Bama only has 9 seniors but you know they'll have several jrs going in the draft.

[AlabamAlum]

Juniors who have a potential to leave:


Dee Milliner
Eddie Lacy
DJ Fluker
Kevin Norwood

I kinda expect Milliner and Lacy to leave and do well. I think Fluker is 50/50, but he needs to stay. His footwork is bad. Norwood will stay unless he gets a great scout eval.

[aTm]

I expect Alabama to be #1 and Texas A&M #2, particularly to hype up the game in the third week for TV.

[aTm]

[innocentbystander]

They were ranked #2 in the preseason poll and then were #1 in the first poll after the games started. It's not like they came out of nowhere.

I'm not talking about polls, or some general national perception. I was more talking about the people who really know Alabama football. With polls, Alabama has a huge advantage, in that any team with a pulse will start out highly rated. People get blinded by the crimson shirts or something.

Gotta disagree.

Its not being blinded by the crimson shirts the way other ballclubs were blinded by the Yankee pinstripes in 1960s (Catch me if You Can Style). It is instead that your playes are just.... better.

The SEC (more specifically, Alabama, LSU, Florida, Georgia, and to a slightly lesser extent, Auburn) just recruits BETTER than everyone else. Alabama was sitting down last night to play a game of $30-$60 Hold'em while Notre Dame was still playing $3-$6 and just their own two cards. It was a night and say difference. Your team of 5-stars completely ass-raped the team of 3-star Valedictorians that the Irish fielded, simple as that. There was absolutely nothing that Brian Kelly or Diaco could have done to beat your team, nothing. No amount of preparation would have made any difference. But I would go as far as to say that LSU, Georgia, and Florida (game against Louisville notwithstnding) would have equally assraped the Irish 19 times out of 20.

We should just annoint the SEC Champion the official national champion until this 4-team playoff gets rolling. And if that future 4-team playoff doesn't include at least TWO SEC teams in it, then it isn't right because the SEC is just that much better than the rest of college football. I'm convinced of it.

[Saint]

insightful

[hedge]

Western civilization didn't begin until the creation of the SEC...

[crashcourse]

I don't think the SEC will be the national champ every year once the playoffs start.

Certainly their will be a lot of years its SEC vs SEC for the national title but I think the Big 10/ACC or big 12 will have their day sometime this decade

but for right now I think we can at least expect an sec team in the final game for years to come