I said this 2 weeks ago...
Indiana was every bit of all that and then some... Cignetti is a weirdo, but sometimes those types of dudes make great coaches (like Harbaugh). He has turned IU into a an absolute machine in just 2 years..... obviously the new age rules of the portal and NIL helped, but he's still pushed all the right buttons including nailing the evaluations like Rain Man at the blackjack table. It's borderline unbelievable.
Re: the game, I'm not at all surprised IU won... Bama was going to have to play clean to even have a chance. I am surprised Bama didn't have a better showing. I think things snowballed in the defense and it just got away from them. But the main issues, again, were on the offensive side of the ball. And we all saw what a team with a threatening run game can do vs. a team without one. That MUST be fixed going forward.
As for Bama... that was an ugly, ugly end to the season... and it's unfortunate on several levels... but a landing like that, bookended with the FSU disaster to start the season off, will cancel out a lot of good that occured in-between. DeBoer is 2 years in at UA and in the SEC now... we saw Bama take some steps in the right direction this season (defense and discipline/penalties for example) but also little to no improvement in other key areas (run game, OL consistency, special teams issues, etc). The margin for error is getting slimmer going forward for DeBoer, who like Cignetti, needs to really hit on the portal evals. He's also got some equally (arguably more important) tough decisions to make regarding his staff. IMO, the decisions me makes over the next 2-3 weeks will likely set the course for his tenure ahead... does he find the path to long term success or not? Maybe that's a bit much with the hyperbole, but it's how I feel as I sit here right now.
