🏈 Bama drops to #3 in latest AP Poll

[rick4bama]

I think we can hang with anyone right now too. With or without the glasses on. I think that we have a coaching staff that will have them ready to play against anyone.

 

[c5vetman]

I know Oregon is good, but you can't judge anyone by a B1O team right now. Sure Mich St has a great defense, playing against other B1O teams, but that's not saying much... USC won by what, 13-10? That isn't dominating, and we don't really know what Stanford has, anyway.

 

[PhillyGirl]

I think we can hang with anyone right now too. With or without the glasses on. I think that we have a coaching staff that will have them ready to play against anyone.

Agreed, I think that is what separates us from a lot of teams. I think we can only improve each week, and that gives us time to gel before the "big" games.

We still have a good shot at the playoffs, despite the ghastly SEC West.

 

[BamaFan334]

Come on now, 334. I hate to be all, "you aint a coach" but Saban knows better than anybody who our best corners are. To even suggest that he is purposely not playing the best players at each position is asinine.

Oregon looked good. Defense gave up 27 points and 466 yards of offense. USC did not once look good. Only had 291 yards of offense Gave up 413 yards. Also allowed Stanford to drive inside their 30 yard line on EVERY drive. Stanford should have won easily, choked everytime they were in position to score.

If we're going to point at other teams and wish we looked like them, USC isn't a team I'd point out.

I didn't say he purposely isn't playing folks and I don't second guess him. All I said is that Evans and Brown would be no more confused than the others. I have never second guessed our coaches, because they have more than proven theirselves well belong anyone else in the country.

As far as USC goes, they allowed 10 points. I'd say that's pretty dang good. Yardage isn't everything and can obviously be deceiving. In the end, the score is everything. Look back at the Alabama-LSU 9-6 game. We were up and down the field, yet couldn't get six, but that doesn't mean we weren't as good. I'm just making the point that Stanford is a tough team and USC has come back from a mediocre season with a new head coach and is 2-0 with a win against a Rose Bowl team.

 

[planomateo]

I'll jump on the Stanford bandwagon once they start scheduling the SEC. To date, they've played an SEC school three times in seventy years...Arkansas and Texas A&M don't count due to the dates.

They've played Alabama (1935 and 1927), Arkansas (1970), Georgia (1978), and Texas A&M (1992).

 

[Argo]

I didn't say he purposely isn't playing folks and I don't second guess him. All I said is that Evans and Brown would be no more confused than the others. I have never second guessed our coaches, because they have more than proven theirselves well belong anyone else in the country.

As far as USC goes, they allowed 10 points. I'd say that's pretty dang good. Yardage isn't everything and can obviously be deceiving. In the end, the score is everything. Look back at the Alabama-LSU 9-6 game. We were up and down the field, yet couldn't get six, but that doesn't mean we weren't as good. I'm just making the point that Stanford is a tough team and USC has come back from a mediocre season with a new head coach and is 2-0 with a win against a Rose Bowl team.

Maybe you didnt mean to suggest such, but you did, and maintained it. If Saban thought playing Brown at cornerback put the best corner on the field, he would do it. The fact that he hasn't tells me he hasn't beat Cyrus or Eddie Jackson at the two corner spots.

Going back the LSU game we lost, that is a fantastic analysis. I said after that game we played our worst game, and if we played them again we'd win by 3 touchdowns. We played them again. We won by 3 touchdowns. Stanford had a bad game.

And again I say.....if we are pointing at teams we wished we looked like, USC wouldn't be in the top 10 teams I'd point out.

 

[bama4life]

We don;t deserve to be in the Top 10. After watching yesterday I see Oregon and Michigan State dominating us, Oklahoma kicking us again, USC giving beating us. We're not a Top 5 team in my eyes. Our defense is just lacking. Yeah Yeah Yeah, we shutout Florida Atlantic, woopty doo. Any team with any kind of athletes will shred our ass right now. We just don't have a killer instinct or that IT factor on defense in my eyes. I think we just have a lot of guys running around with a lot of talent. Rashaan Evans needs to be on the field, as does Tony Brown. Those two will give us a chance to win. Our pass rush is awful as well. Sorry, not sounding all doom and gloom, but watching some other good programs pay yesterday opened my eyes to all the holes we actually have.

Jackson and Jones look physical at DB. When Jackson entered the game, he made an immediate impact. Our D will continue to improve as the season goes on.

I believe we are still making adjustments on both sides of the ball. Not looking past this weekend, but I can not wait until Florida.

 

[BamaFan334]

Maybe you didnt mean to suggest such, but you did, and maintained it. If Saban thought playing Brown at cornerback put the best corner on the field, he would do it. The fact that he hasn't tells me he hasn't beat Cyrus or Eddie Jackson at the two corner spots.

Going back the LSU game we lost, that is a fantastic analysis. I said after that game we played our worst game, and if we played them again we'd win by 3 touchdowns. We played them again. We won by 3 touchdowns. Stanford had a bad game.

And again I say.....if we are pointing at teams we wished we looked like, USC wouldn't be in the top 10 teams I'd point out.

I'm not saying Blake Sims hasn't earned his starting role, but word from within is that loyalty is part of it, as is team chemistry, and athleticism. So to say Saban isn't loyal to guys that have been in the program is very short sided. He is known for not necessarily playing True Freshmen, look it up. That doesn't mean they don't belong on the field. Eddie Jackson played very well and I still can't believe his recovery time table, miraculous.

USC has a staple win, so yes they are a Top 10 team. Please tell me ten others that are ahead of them. Your prospective lacks so much logic it's basically not worth a response, but I got suckered into it. And to me, kicking field goals to equal a touchdown is not the same as scoring an actual touchdown. Looks the same, but we all know it isn't the same. I'll take a win any way we can get it, but just stating that.

 

[Argo]

I'm not saying Blake Sims hasn't earned his starting role, but word from within is that loyalty is part of it, as is team chemistry, and athleticism. So to say Saban isn't loyal to guys that have been in the program is very short sided. He is known for not necessarily playing True Freshmen, look it up. That doesn't mean they don't belong on the field. Eddie Jackson played very well and I still can't believe his recovery time table, miraculous.

USC has a staple win, so yes they are a Top 10 team. Please tell me ten others that are ahead of them. Your prospective lacks so much logic it's basically not worth a response, but I got suckered into it. And to me, kicking field goals to equal a touchdown is not the same as scoring an actual touchdown. Looks the same, but we all know it isn't the same. I'll take a win any way we can get it, but just stating that.

So you aren't saying that Saban isn't playing the best players, but you are saying he doesn't play the best players if the best players are freshmen. Because he doesn't play freshmen.

I'm not going to go back and list all the freshmen who have started under Saban because it's pointless, and it's also a blanket statement that can be said about almost any successful head coach. If a true frosh can come in and immediately start in most years, our coaching staff failed at previous recruiting years. But for the record, Saban has started frosh where they were the best at their position. Julio, Amari, Eddie Jackson, Cryus Kouandjio, Cam Robinson. And that's just off the top of my head with doing 0 research.

And your argument that USC is a top 10 team isn't the same as saying they are one of the top 10 teams I'd want Bama to look like, which is what you initially said. So with that said, if Bama played 14th ranked Ole Miss this Saturday, and only won 13-10 while getting out gained by 120 yards, and needing Ole Miss to turn the ball over 3 times inside our 30 and also missing two fieldgoals that would have given them the win, I'd be pissed. Because unlike USC, we would still have to play A&M, Auburn, and LSU. So to answer your question, there are very few teams that I wished Alabama was playing like right now. If I was pressed to pick a few, I probably couldn't name 5. But since you asked....

1. A&M
2. Oklahoma
3. Oregon
4. Auburn
5. Georgia

Thats it, and I see problems with those teams as well. But they would all beat USC by 3 touchdowns.

 

[UAgrad93]

This is why there shouldn't be polls until around week 5 or 6. Everyone is trying to work out their kinks in trying to get the best on the field. Some games look extremely sloppy! I used to get so annoyed when the HS rankings came out to start the season. When I arrived at Sylacauga, the football team had just had 11-1, 13-1, and 12-1 seasons. We are ranked top 5 going into the season that fall. The problem was, we had graduated 29 seniors!!! The schools all time rushing leader, 3 yr starter at QB, the ENTIRE OL, and 5 starters off of defense!! What I'm saying is rankings should be based on a body of work for the current season and not what happened last year! With what we have lost each year since Saban arrived, I never thought we were deserving of Top 10 to start a season!

 

[psychojoe]

As I said last week, let's wait and see how it looks after the Florida game.

 

[Argo]

This is why there shouldn't be polls until around week 5 or 6. Everyone is trying to work out their kinks in trying to get the best on the field. Some games look extremely sloppy! I used to get so annoyed when the HS rankings came out to start the season. When I arrived at Sylacauga, the football team had just had 11-1, 13-1, and 12-1 seasons. We are ranked top 5 going into the season that fall. The problem was, we had graduated 29 seniors!!! The schools all time rushing leader, 3 yr starter at QB, the ENTIRE OL, and 5 starters off of defense!! What I'm saying is rankings should be based on a body of work for the current season and not what happened last year! With what we have lost each year since Saban arrived, I never thought we were deserving of Top 10 to start a season!

I agree. Pre-anything rankings are useless. This early in the season, it's more about how a team executes. A big thing the average football doesn't understand is that we don't know what each assignment is. Just because Sims hit a swing pass to Drake on the sideline for a touch down doesn't mean the play was a success in the coaches' eyes. Maybe they were in the wrong formation. Maybe they ran the wrong play. Maybe the left tackle was run blocking when he should have been pass blocking. What I know for certain though, is that Saban is the best in the game. To suggest that he doesn't know who is the best player for each position is incredible to me.

 

[AFF]

As I said last week, let's wait and see how it looks after the Florida game.

This.

 

[BamaFan334]

So you aren't saying that Saban isn't playing the best players, but you are saying he doesn't play the best players if the best players are freshmen. Because he doesn't play freshmen.

I'm not going to go back and list all the freshmen who have started under Saban because it's pointless, and it's also a blanket statement that can be said about almost any successful head coach. If a true frosh can come in and immediately start in most years, our coaching staff failed at previous recruiting years. But for the record, Saban has started frosh where they were the best at their position. Julio, Amari, Eddie Jackson, Cryus Kouandjio, Cam Robinson. And that's just off the top of my head with doing 0 research.

And your argument that USC is a top 10 team isn't the same as saying they are one of the top 10 teams I'd want Bama to look like, which is what you initially said. So with that said, if Bama played 14th ranked Ole Miss this Saturday, and only won 13-10 while getting out gained by 120 yards, and needing Ole Miss to turn the ball over 3 times inside our 30 and also missing two fieldgoals that would have given them the win, I'd be pissed. Because unlike USC, we would still have to play A&M, Auburn, and LSU. So to answer your question, there are very few teams that I wished Alabama was playing like right now. If I was pressed to pick a few, I probably couldn't name 5. But since you asked....

1. A&M
2. Oklahoma
3. Oregon
4. Auburn
5. Georgia

Thats it, and I see problems with those teams as well. But they would all beat USC by 3 touchdowns.

I said he rarely plays them. You named about five out of hundreds of kids he's brought in.

USC caused those turnovers. Stanford didn't just give them the ball and say "there you go". Bend but don't break, ever heard of that? And I never said I wanted us to "look" like USC. I simply said I think they would beat us right now.

Continue to try and prove a point, but you're insinuating a lot and taking even more out of context as you attempt to force your opinion. But that's just it, opinion, not fact, on both our ends.

 

[jlabit]

Does Michigan State, that was beaten by Oregon on Saturday, have a great team this year? Maybe. They supposedly had a great team the year they played us in January 2011 in Orlando. That was a down year for us with three losses in 2010. I went to that game where we beat them unmercifully, remembering the score as 42-0, though my memory is getting worse as I get older. I believe we can compete with any team in the nation, today. However, until I see some changes and improvements in the secondary, I will be sweating the TA&M game.

 

[jdpas29]

ARgo pretty much just listed my top 5... not necessarily in that order. I also agree that right now all 5 of those teams likely beat Alabama.

 

[bamafan4ever]

It sure is early to be worrying about some of this crap. Nothing about a 41-0 game against FAU has changed my mind either. It's still early and there is a ton of talent on this team. If we struggle with Florida, I will begin to worry.

 

[ElephantStomp]

ARgo pretty much just listed my top 5... not necessarily in that order. I also agree that right now all 5 of those teams likely beat Alabama.

All those teams except for Oklahoma and Georgia have terrible defenses. We at least have a better defense than those teams, so they'd have to stop our offense which they can't do I don't believe. We would least have a good lead against them and I think our defense can stop them.

 

[88rocco]

Why would UF be a barometer of success? Didn't they lose to some Georgia team last year? Gosh, WVU sucks so bad and they moved the ball at will on us. Catch those passes and they would have beat us.

 

[Argo]

Why would UF be a barometer of success? Didn't they lose to some Georgia team last year? Gosh, WVU sucks so bad and they moved the ball at will on us. Catch those passes and they would have beat us.

WVU is a 3rd rate team. Which explains all the dropped passes. And their defense you were worried about is terrible. That game was closer than it should gave been, but make no mistake, WV would have never out scored Alabama. Lane could have scored another 21 points if he needed to.