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Brandon Van de Graaff

A defensive deity, inventor of the Concussion.
Staff
-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%.
 
-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%.
And the rushing field is dangerous....
The 2 body guards almost had to carry nick off field....

The rest....you know....a dropped pass on that last possession....by Billingly...really can change a narrative....and cant blame just him...

Catch it...and bama rolling toward a W....

But regardless....bama was exposed.... and D is in shambles...and its not hard to see...

ACBABD43-0737-4C12-A4EE-DD4B9DD10E00.png
 
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But regardless....bama was exposed.... and D is in shambles...and its not hard to see...

The defense was very slow to adjust to A&M's run game last night. When they did, as a whole, they played much better. Obviously losing Moore at the start of the game caused some issues too... but I had no issues with the call itself. But it caused a negative domino effect for sure.
 
@Brandon Van de Graaff

The known injuries are taking a toll but its the game & CNS has weathered them before. It does seem clear that a lot of players issues of being banged up is running its course. Will Anderson case in point.

I think it is as simple as you put it about youth & inexperience/arrogance. CNS knows better than any of us what this team has been like. Mental mistakes & lack of full game intensity reflects on that youth. What's making this even more apparent is the teams we are playing have more seniors & Super Seniors than we have ever experienced. So this just exposes us more. Simple as that.

-I think O'Brien & Marrone have been decent. Last night reminded them that they are still dealing w/ kids, not the Pro's they've been coaching. O'Brien just out thought himself in the red zone. I will say that Marrone has shown some improvement in the OL. If we didn't have the UF game as a coaching point, this game would have been far, far worse. However, we need to get back the Impose Our Will on the OL. We do not have that mental toughness. Can these two coaches implant that into our offense?

-I've been on Golding for a while now. Most here know that. And yes we did strike gold with Kirby & Pruitt. But this defense just isn't Pissed any more. Not even mean. Its all the attitude that comes with being an suffocating defense. 'Bama does not have it & not for a while. Yes we have glimpses of it from time to time but that has more to do with wondrously talented players. See Will Anderson or Quinnen Williams as exhibit A. Where's our stick like glue sure tackling DB's? What I would do for Minkah Fitzpatrick... you don't wanna know. Non-Offensive touchdowns? Forget about it. If we can get Pruitt back, we should pull the trigger. Golding does NOT have the attitude of a good DC. He might get good guys but he doesn't know how to develop them. But I see the problem you're posing about who can we get. Well, I ask what do we have to lose? Except.. you know.

At the end of it, this team is young & got humbled last night. They should take some solace that they lost at the end even though they played sloppy ball. Any number of corrected mistakes & we'd win. But to the main point, their goal should be in to fix the numbskull mistakes because wining a NCG requires a minimum of sound fundamentals to have a chance & we are not close to that at this point.
 
This loss had the same recipe as most of the Bama losses from the past, lots of mistakes by bama (turnovers, penalties etc...), issues on 3rd down on both sides of the ball and the other teams QB having an out of body experience. Think about it, this is what it takes to beat an inexperienced Bama team. Take one of the issues off the table and Bama wins.
 
-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%.
Great post! Thanks for sharing.

I agree with the top half of that especially. I see the lack of leadership, but it's kind of to be expected after losing some of the best leaders you'll ever see in college football. You can't just plug a transfer in to "call the defense" and expect chemistry to not miss a beat.... There's a reason team dinners, bonding trips, time spent is so valuable.

The injuries have certainly taken a toll, but I also don't see that as a legitimate excuse when you have the most talented roster from top to bottom. I don't care if there are 10 injuries at OLB... To have 0 sacks and even worse, 0 QB hurries, is insanely underwhelming. Still not sure why no Braswell, but even so there are young 4 star talents on the field with plenty of physical ability to get the job done. TAMU was starting freshman on the OL, and had tons of injuries throughout the game. It's literally the staff's job to get these young talented dudes ready in case of injury, so that needs to improve.

I 10000% agree with the Sark/Flood stuff. Sark was so special. I hadn't had any issues with OB's play calling until yesterday, but in general it's jus the truth that good is a downgrade from great. And Sark was better than great, he was elite.

All in all, the loss could absolutely propel this team to reaching it's potential. We all knew the ceiling was not as high as last year, so some bumps were expected. I think it's mostly important for all of these new coaches to feel the burn a little bit, and hopefully it leads to some significant adjustments (maybe OL & LB) and schematics moving forward. The argument could be made that losing the FLA game may worked out for the best in terms of adjusting earlier in the season, but here we are. It's quite obvious we've seen Bryce looking much less comfortable in those 2 big road games, so it's up to the staff to adjust & manipulate the game plan for the better. I think Bryce is doing fine and will continue to improve, he's down the list on serious issues, which is a great sign for a 1st year starter... Even in 2021.
 
This loss had the same recipe as most of the Bama losses from the past, lots of mistakes by bama (turnovers, penalties etc...), issues on 3rd down on both sides of the ball and the other teams QB having an out of body experience. Think about it, this is what it takes to beat an inexperienced Bama team. Take one of the issues off the table and Bama wins.

Yeah, and our fans seem to forget how hard it is to go undefeated (even especially when you're supposed to do so). Bama should have won that game, and likely would 9 out of 10 times, but it's a gauntlet with very little margin for error. Goods news is, the sun came up and all of Bama's goals are still right there on the table.
 
I think Bryce is doing fine and will continue to improve
Agree that Bryce is doing great for a QB with just 6 starts. OL has to play better which would help but Bryce needs to improve the accuracy on his throws. Make it easier to catch when the ball is placed where the WR does not have to make adjustments to catch it. WR's at this level should catch it anyway but it does not help when the placement is high/low or behind them.
 
The injuries have certainly taken a toll, but I also don't see that as a legitimate excuse when you have the most talented roster from top to bottom. I don't care if there are 10 injuries at OLB... To have 0 sacks and even worse, 0 QB hurries, is insanely underwhelming. Still not sure why no Braswell, but even so there are young 4 star talents on the field with plenty of physical ability to get the job done. TAMU was starting freshman on the OL, and had tons of injuries throughout the game. It's literally the staff's job to get these young talented dudes ready in case of injury, so that needs to improve.

The lack of pressure last night was really, really disappointing. Zero sacks, zero QB hurries. Ungood. Would have never, ever thought that would have happened.
 
Question: How do you reload 5 unanimous AA’s and another consensus AA who all became 1st Round draft picks … 3 of whom were in the top 5 for the Heisman with 1 winning it along with the Maxwell, Walter Camp, Belitnikoff and the Paul Hornung awards … while the other AA’s were named winners of the Johnny Unitas, Davey O’Brien, Doak Walker, Rimington, Outland and the Joe Moore awards?

Answer: You don’t … even if the team’s coach is without a doubt the GOAT. That’s especially true when the GOAT also loses his Frank Broyles award winning OC and the OL coach who’s players won the Joe Moore award from his staff.
 
I have yet to see a single player on the defense that you would consider "elite," To'o To'o may be the biggest disappointment I think I've ever seen. So much hype about this guy - even from the coaches - and he has done nothing but miss tackles, be out of position, etc. I keep seeing people say that Anderson is still "banged up" so IDK if thats it but he disappears completely for loooooong stretches of the game. Armour-Davis seems to be the only decent DB, the rest just let guys run past them and start grabbing because pass interference is there only defense against a pass. That is when they dont just play zone when everyone else is in man (or vice versa). I personally think it's a combination of things, that being a severe lack of development with a lot of these guys (which may be the most maddening thing), lack of execution from players, unbelievably poor game planning/scheming and pathetic play calling. Saban has proven (IMO) he will not fire Golding for whatever reason, so we're going to have to suffer through this until someone is dumb enough to hire him elsewhere.

And I haven't even touched on the horrible o-line or Bill O'Brien's braindead play calling, especially in short yardage/goal line situations. I agree we were spoiled by Sark and Kiffin but I think even Locksley dwarfs BOB's ability as a play caller.
 
The lack of pressure last night was really, really disappointing. Zero sacks, zero QB hurries. Ungood. Would have never, ever thought that would have happened.

One of the commentators - Gary maybe - referred to Mathis as the best pass rusher on the defense last night and that's pretty telling because he is non-existent for 99% of the game. The defensive line gets absolutely bullied at times, the Florida game was one thing but even A&M was pushing those guys around.
 
The players on D are elite. It’s coaching. Bama has better players than TAM but Elko is a far better DC than Golding.

This was maybe the worst performance by a Bama DC in the Saban era.

Derrick Ansley was discussed in a different offseason as potential DC replacement. Glen Schumann is a LB coach at UGA - think he wouldn’t want the promotion to DC?

Bryce Young is playing incredibly. BRob too. Metchie is a disappointment. He won’t go after contested balls. You can’t win titles in football without a WR to win 50/50 balls.

Latu dropped a TD. Billingsley did nothing . OL busts.
 
The players on D are elite. It’s coaching. Bama has better players than TAM but Elko is a far better DC than Golding.

This was maybe the worst performance by a Bama DC in the Saban era.

Derrick Ansley was discussed in a different offseason as potential DC replacement. Glen Schumann is a LB coach at UGA - think he wouldn’t want the promotion to DC?

Bryce Young is playing incredibly. BRob too. Metchie is a disappointment. He won’t go after contested balls. You can’t win titles in football without a WR to win 50/50 balls.

Latu dropped a TD. Billingsley did nothing . OL busts.

Pretty much my sentiments exactly and what I said on the Good, Bad, and Ugly. I spare Latu though. He's playing well for a guy we recruited as a defensive end. Everything else I really agree with.
 
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