Good- The opening drive was a thing of beauty. 15 balanced plays. Leaned on the run game and let Simpson settle in, overcame a 3rd down penalty, and ran some nifty and effective red zone plays. At the time, I was feelin' good...
The RB's ran hard and for a young group, I thought they played well... was really impressed with Kevin Riley (a player I honestly wasn't too high on when he signed). They never really got the ground game going consistently again after that opening drive, but when they did run it, those guys made the most of what yardage was available. And, they held onto the football.
Germie Bernard had a great game... thank goodness for him. He's as steady and consistent as they come.
Talty hit a FG, yeah! And was on target for the 53 yarder at least...
Bad- Ryan Williams has got to catch the football better.
Lawson looks like he's at 80% speed at best and that is hurting the defense, a defense which doesn't need any help when it comes to self-inflicting wounds.
Felt like Grubb & Co. maybe got away from what was working well early, but the FSU defense certainly had a lot to do with that.
The OL showed too many cracks, too many breakdowns, especially when the run game evaporated and FSU could tee off. That led to Simpson getting very uncomfortable in the pocket, bringing his eyes down too soon at times. Other times, he held the ball too long, which led to rushed and off target throws. He just looked like he was in a blender back there... hindsight being what it is, that was a tough game and tough environment to make a 1st career start. He will learn from it though. And he did show some toughness.
Ugly- As nice as the opening drive was for the offense, the defense was equally as disappointing on FSU's first possession (and most thereafter). Really thought they'd come out and set the tone. Instead, the DL got eaten alive which led to the DB's getting burned up. Later, the ILB's were out of position and getting gashed by QB runs.
Just like last year, the defense can't get off the field clean after the Bama offense puts it in for 6. Overall, a really bad day for them in pretty much every possible way.
[whistle blows] Alabama is flagged for an undisciplined penalty
DeBoer is now 4-4 in games where Bama was at least a 14 point favorite.
Random Thoughts- I'm thankful Lee Roy Jordan didn't have to witness that.
I can't stand Gus, but I'll give him credit. When Bama is the opposing team, he brings his best gameplans. I saw enough of his auburn (and UCF on their midweek) games to know that he isn't normally that good. But for whatever reason, he has Bama's number... and I hate it. On a related note, I don't know how they'll finish things out, but FSU is definitely a better team than they were last year. Bama should have handled them, but they are closer to 2023 FSU than 2024 FSU. That team was night and day different from last season.
That game had a 2000 at UCLA feel to it. We score quick, feel good about ourselves, and then the shit gets real and eventually hits the fan. I was at that game in 2000... I'm glad I wasn't at this one today.
There is no doubt in my mind at this point that in spring and fall camp, the Bama OL going up against the Bama DL, does no favors for the OL. I believe it provides a false sense of success... not just for the players, but for the staff, and casual observers. I say this, because for the second year in a row, the reports, some of which I've even gotten first hand, don't match the results on the field when the season begins.
I think it was
@Krimson who tried to warn us that Wommack was fool's gold when he was hired. I pushed back on that idea at that time. I'm not ready to fold and cash out on him
yet, but I need to see a better product considering some of the athletes he's got to work with. Time and patience is starting to run real short.
Nothing stings as bad as the truth and at the time, most of us thought it was a dumb comment to make, but Castellanos was indeed right. The fear of Alabama is officially gone. History would emphatically tell us that one day, the fear will return. But who knows when. I'm greedy and I enjoy it, so hopefully sooner, than later.
Lastly, I feel like an absolute loser for how I built up this team in recent weeks. Yes there were lingering questions, but I was sure things had been fixed. I had them pegged as a 1 or 2 loss regular season team, and they got big boy'd by FSU right out of the gate. On the flipside, I'm not sure anyone had this pegged whole thing pegged more than @mando (in terms of serious posters), with his cautious, somewhat skeptical, wait and see approach.. I'd add @Kirk Van de Graaff to that very short list of Bama prophets as well, but those are from conversations off the board.
