-Key injuries are making an impact. That’s not an excuse, it’s football and injuries happen, it’s just fact. Yes the team is deep with talent but overall it’s pretty inexperienced. Some of that inexperience would be lessened with more liberal substitution throughout the season, which we’ve talked about before, but it’s just not Saban’s m.o.
-This team lacks leadership more than any recent UA team. With the way Saban demands accountability throughout the program (on and off the field), strong leadership is almost a must for a championship team. We have seen in the past that a loss can be what resets the team in a way… brings back the focus and gives the overall attitude a needed readjustment that Saban wasn’t able to make with his words. Will this team respond well to the loss? I honestly don’t know. I think Saban’s tone this week would be a hint. But I do think it was going to take a loss at some point for this team to at least reach their potential. It was becoming obvious that Saban was fighting an uphill battle most every week, which was made tougher when there are so few leaders. This loss should help in terms of getting their attention, but will it?
-Yes, Bama lost a lot from last year’s team but for the lost part Saban has adjusted to that and has recruited to absorb the losses. He plans on most of these guys being 3 and out now… but those were some kings we lost. Still, it was mostly impactful on the offensive side, and the offense has played well overall. Just some horribly timed mistakes and some less than stellar play calling at times, especially in goal to go.
-More importantly, in my opinion, is UA downgraded when they lost Sark and Flood. Now, that’s not a knock on O’Brien and Marrone… it’s just I believe that Sark is the best play caller/play designer in all of CFB. And while Marrone is really good, Flood was a tad better, likely because of his more extensive college coaching experience (which is different from NFL). Same goes for Golding, even though he’s been there a while now. You can have your opinion about whether he should be the DC or not, but the real question is, who is better? As I mentioned two weeks ago, we had 2 ultra elite DC’s previously in Kirby and Pruitt. Unless bringing Pruitt back works out (and it well may), then I’m not real sure Saban can get anyone significantly better than Golding. He might could, but it’s no sure thing like I think many believe. It’s probably worth a separate thread on another day, but there is a ton that goes into being the defensive coordinator under Saban and someone who isn’t very familiar with the system would have, well, difficulties.
-Another thing that has hurt this year is the loss of some of the analysts. Those guys are heavily involved in scouting and game planning (obviously), and while they can be replaced, it’s difficult to always upgrade with such a shallow pool of candidates (can’t just throw money at them like an assistant). We’ve lost some really good ones in the last couple years.
-And subject changing here a bit but worth mentioning… the pressure just shifted to UGA. Carrying that #1 by the name can get heavy. Are they built for it? They have a really good team, but we will find out now…
-Also, this is Get off my Lawn!!! territory here but I’m going to say it anyway. It’s past time to to start hammering programs when their fans rush the field. The $250,000 to them is doing nothing. In fact you see the schools openly mocking the fine, like A&M did last night. The fines should start at $1 million at least and also carry with it revenue sharing penalties from the conference. Sooner or later a player or coach is going to get injured, or a pissed off coach or player is going to injure some fans. Not to mention all the other issues like equipment getting stolen (I doubt A&M students did that, but it happens all the time).
-Lastly, If a player is hurt and can’t get off the field and causes an official’s timeout, he should miss the reminder of his team’s offensive or defensive series (or his team can use a timeout if they have one to keep him in). I don’t know what the best solution is, but something must be done… and I think it will soon. Teams like Ole Miss who blatantly abuse the spirit of the game are going to cause everyone to have to follow a more strict set of rules for it. Even A&M last night, they were not as blatant, but in most of these cases, players can get their asses off the field if they wanted. You rarely see UA players laying on the turf like a 5 year old unless it’s something that’s sending them into the M*A*S*H* tent for a few plays. Saban abhors players laying on the turf when they don’t need to be and I agree 100%.
-This team lacks leadership more than any recent UA team. With the way Saban demands accountability throughout the program (on and off the field), strong leadership is almost a must for a championship team. We have seen in the past that a loss can be what resets the team in a way… brings back the focus and gives the overall attitude a needed readjustment that Saban wasn’t able to make with his words. Will this team respond well to the loss? I honestly don’t know. I think Saban’s tone this week would be a hint. But I do think it was going to take a loss at some point for this team to at least reach their potential. It was becoming obvious that Saban was fighting an uphill battle most every week, which was made tougher when there are so few leaders. This loss should help in terms of getting their attention, but will it?
-Yes, Bama lost a lot from last year’s team but for the lost part Saban has adjusted to that and has recruited to absorb the losses. He plans on most of these guys being 3 and out now… but those were some kings we lost. Still, it was mostly impactful on the offensive side, and the offense has played well overall. Just some horribly timed mistakes and some less than stellar play calling at times, especially in goal to go.
-More importantly, in my opinion, is UA downgraded when they lost Sark and Flood. Now, that’s not a knock on O’Brien and Marrone… it’s just I believe that Sark is the best play caller/play designer in all of CFB. And while Marrone is really good, Flood was a tad better, likely because of his more extensive college coaching experience (which is different from NFL). Same goes for Golding, even though he’s been there a while now. You can have your opinion about whether he should be the DC or not, but the real question is, who is better? As I mentioned two weeks ago, we had 2 ultra elite DC’s previously in Kirby and Pruitt. Unless bringing Pruitt back works out (and it well may), then I’m not real sure Saban can get anyone significantly better than Golding. He might could, but it’s no sure thing like I think many believe. It’s probably worth a separate thread on another day, but there is a ton that goes into being the defensive coordinator under Saban and someone who isn’t very familiar with the system would have, well, difficulties.
-Another thing that has hurt this year is the loss of some of the analysts. Those guys are heavily involved in scouting and game planning (obviously), and while they can be replaced, it’s difficult to always upgrade with such a shallow pool of candidates (can’t just throw money at them like an assistant). We’ve lost some really good ones in the last couple years.
-And subject changing here a bit but worth mentioning… the pressure just shifted to UGA. Carrying that #1 by the name can get heavy. Are they built for it? They have a really good team, but we will find out now…
-Also, this is Get off my Lawn!!! territory here but I’m going to say it anyway. It’s past time to to start hammering programs when their fans rush the field. The $250,000 to them is doing nothing. In fact you see the schools openly mocking the fine, like A&M did last night. The fines should start at $1 million at least and also carry with it revenue sharing penalties from the conference. Sooner or later a player or coach is going to get injured, or a pissed off coach or player is going to injure some fans. Not to mention all the other issues like equipment getting stolen (I doubt A&M students did that, but it happens all the time).
-Lastly, If a player is hurt and can’t get off the field and causes an official’s timeout, he should miss the reminder of his team’s offensive or defensive series (or his team can use a timeout if they have one to keep him in). I don’t know what the best solution is, but something must be done… and I think it will soon. Teams like Ole Miss who blatantly abuse the spirit of the game are going to cause everyone to have to follow a more strict set of rules for it. Even A&M last night, they were not as blatant, but in most of these cases, players can get their asses off the field if they wanted. You rarely see UA players laying on the turf like a 5 year old unless it’s something that’s sending them into the M*A*S*H* tent for a few plays. Saban abhors players laying on the turf when they don’t need to be and I agree 100%.