BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
Alabama is boring, Cole Cubelic told the Gulf Coast Athletic Club on Monday night, and that wasn't a putdown coming from a former Auburn center. Now, a football color analyst and sports-talk radio host, Cubelic meant it as a compliment. "A lot of people struggle with my respect for Alabama," Cubelic said, "and it's mainly Auburn fans.
I'll admit that I don't like it. But you can respect something and not like it."
Undefeated Alabama is seeking its fourth BCS national championship in the past five seasons. The Crimson Tide is on top of the BCS ratings. Florida State is No. 2. But don't compare the exciting Seminoles to boring Alabama, Cubelic said. Boring is better.
"To me, you want to talk about a team and not a group of great players -- a team," Cubelic said, "when you watch a team and they begin to get boring, mainly on offense, and they're still very successful, that's when you know it is good.
"Florida State to me - a lot of jump balls, a lot of deep balls, a lot of quarterback scrambles, a lot of blitzes - that's not boring to watch. That's fun. Take your 6-6 quarterback, let three guys try to sack him, run around until he throws it to a 6-5 receiver and he catches it over a guy's head for a touchdown. That's cool to watch. I don't think you can bank on that week in and week out, game in and game out against high-level competition, though.
"When people want to make a correlation with Florida State and begin that discussion: 'Alabama, Florida State, this that, this that.' I'll give you Florida State is a more talented football team than Alabama. Every player they have could be drafted, but I don't think they're as good a team as Alabama is right now."
Cubelic said he didn't think the 2013 Crimson Tide has the same level of talent as Bama's recent championship teams. Alabama's ability to win without missing a beat in the face of that is worthy of respect, Cubelic said.
"You look at the last three or four teams," Cubelic said. "They had Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson, Julio Jones, even a Rolando McClain, Terrence Cody on defense, Courtney Upshaw, Dre Kirkpatrick, Mark Barron, whoever - you don't seemingly have that guy on this team. Even kind of last year with (Chance) Warmack and (D.J.) Fluker, you kind of knew short yardage, they're probably going to run behind that guy. And sure enough, nobody could really stop them. You see what Eddie Lacy is doing with the Packers. I was watching that game Sunday and was thinking to myself, 'This is why nobody tackled this guy in college last year.' He just looks like a dude I don't want to get in his way. He looks like he would hurt if you try to tackle him.
"This Alabama team, to me, seemingly doesn't have the one or two players that, when it counts, they know they're going to have to rely on. It's different guys at different times."
Of course, Cubelic, who played his last season on the Plains in 2000, would just as soon see Alabama end its regular season with a loss. The Crimson Tide visits Auburn on Nov. 30 for what Cubelic called "the biggest Iron Bowl in the history of the series."
I'll admit that I don't like it. But you can respect something and not like it."
Undefeated Alabama is seeking its fourth BCS national championship in the past five seasons. The Crimson Tide is on top of the BCS ratings. Florida State is No. 2. But don't compare the exciting Seminoles to boring Alabama, Cubelic said. Boring is better.
"To me, you want to talk about a team and not a group of great players -- a team," Cubelic said, "when you watch a team and they begin to get boring, mainly on offense, and they're still very successful, that's when you know it is good.
"Florida State to me - a lot of jump balls, a lot of deep balls, a lot of quarterback scrambles, a lot of blitzes - that's not boring to watch. That's fun. Take your 6-6 quarterback, let three guys try to sack him, run around until he throws it to a 6-5 receiver and he catches it over a guy's head for a touchdown. That's cool to watch. I don't think you can bank on that week in and week out, game in and game out against high-level competition, though.
"When people want to make a correlation with Florida State and begin that discussion: 'Alabama, Florida State, this that, this that.' I'll give you Florida State is a more talented football team than Alabama. Every player they have could be drafted, but I don't think they're as good a team as Alabama is right now."
Cubelic said he didn't think the 2013 Crimson Tide has the same level of talent as Bama's recent championship teams. Alabama's ability to win without missing a beat in the face of that is worthy of respect, Cubelic said.
"You look at the last three or four teams," Cubelic said. "They had Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson, Julio Jones, even a Rolando McClain, Terrence Cody on defense, Courtney Upshaw, Dre Kirkpatrick, Mark Barron, whoever - you don't seemingly have that guy on this team. Even kind of last year with (Chance) Warmack and (D.J.) Fluker, you kind of knew short yardage, they're probably going to run behind that guy. And sure enough, nobody could really stop them. You see what Eddie Lacy is doing with the Packers. I was watching that game Sunday and was thinking to myself, 'This is why nobody tackled this guy in college last year.' He just looks like a dude I don't want to get in his way. He looks like he would hurt if you try to tackle him.
"This Alabama team, to me, seemingly doesn't have the one or two players that, when it counts, they know they're going to have to rely on. It's different guys at different times."
Of course, Cubelic, who played his last season on the Plains in 2000, would just as soon see Alabama end its regular season with a loss. The Crimson Tide visits Auburn on Nov. 30 for what Cubelic called "the biggest Iron Bowl in the history of the series."
