BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
His voice cracked, but Ryan Kelly didn't cry.
Standing at his locker early Friday morning, the emotion was thick. The Alabama center was still processing the 42-35 upset loss to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. It was raw in the cramped room ― like a sauna from the steamy shower next door.
But the final note in an avant-garde season won't taint Kelly's memory.
"I couldn't be more proud of this team," he said. "You look at all the speed bumps this team's been through. This is probably been the most fun team I've been on since I've been here."
That's a sentiment coach Nick Saban's shared a number of times through a wildly memorable 2014. On several occasions, he spoke about the character of this team being different. Thursday night, he said they did their job keeping "Alabama in the forefront of college football everywhere in the country."
"I just wish," Saban said, "especially for this team that had great team chemistry all year, worked so hard, had great senior leadership ― you know, very little divisiveness and selfishness on this team ― and this was a really fun team to coach and really wanted to see them do well."
This was, after all, the season he hit restart on the Alabama program when its recent success took the mental edge from the 2013 version.
It returned with a few narrow wins in rough environments as the emotion returned to the sometimes robotic program. Alabama fans were introduced C-Murder and his rap beats that became a quasi-fight song for the Tide sidelines.
It won differently.
The defense wasn't dominant, but clamped down when it mattered. Opposing rushers found the end zone just five times and touchdowns came on only 17 of 44 red-zone trips (39 percent).
Alabama's offense found its groove by speeding things up and riding Heisman finalist Amari Cooper.
And after falling 23-17 at Ole Miss on Oct. 4, Alabama completed three fourth-quarter comebacks to climb back to No. 1. Players said they stopped playing with the fear of losing after going down in Oxford. Even in the two losses, Alabama was never truly out of the games. Both times quarterback Blake Sims threw passes into the end zone to win or tie the game in the closing seconds. Each was intercepted.
But when questions were raised about leadership after the Ole Miss loss, Sims said he stepped into a more vocal role.
In the process, the fifth-year senior became the story of Alabama's year. Throwing for a school-record 3,487 yards, he won and kept the starting job to defy nearly every expectation. Three second-half interceptions in the Sugar Bowl didn't touch Sims' legacy to fellow-senior Christion Jones.
"Nobody should look down on what he did tonight," Jones said. "He had (three) interceptions, but he also came back and scored a touchdown and threw a touchdown. He kept us in this game, no matter what happened."
Sims took full responsibility for the loss, but reflected on the full body of work at his locker early Friday morning. The final moments won't be his memory of 2014.
"The laughs, the smiles that we all had together ― the memories we built together," Sims said. "The history people will talk about for years and years that we did together as a team, that when people doubted us and didn't think we would make it this far. And just let everybody knows whoever comes through Alabama, just try to give them my story."
That script includes a 12-2 record, an SEC championship and throwing to arguably the best receiver in Alabama history.
Alabama took out then-No. 1 Mississippi State in November and got Iron Bowl revenge two weeks later. There was the LSU comeback and Lane Kiffin's career resurrection.
But it ended short of suburban Dallas and the inaugural College Football Playoff title. Instead, it was Ohio State celebrating in confetti Thursday night as Alabama starts on the next chapter.
"I think there's a lot of winners on this team," Saban said. "And I don't think you necessarily have to get a trophy to be a winner."
Continue reading...
Standing at his locker early Friday morning, the emotion was thick. The Alabama center was still processing the 42-35 upset loss to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. It was raw in the cramped room ― like a sauna from the steamy shower next door.
But the final note in an avant-garde season won't taint Kelly's memory.
"I couldn't be more proud of this team," he said. "You look at all the speed bumps this team's been through. This is probably been the most fun team I've been on since I've been here."
That's a sentiment coach Nick Saban's shared a number of times through a wildly memorable 2014. On several occasions, he spoke about the character of this team being different. Thursday night, he said they did their job keeping "Alabama in the forefront of college football everywhere in the country."
"I just wish," Saban said, "especially for this team that had great team chemistry all year, worked so hard, had great senior leadership ― you know, very little divisiveness and selfishness on this team ― and this was a really fun team to coach and really wanted to see them do well."
This was, after all, the season he hit restart on the Alabama program when its recent success took the mental edge from the 2013 version.
It returned with a few narrow wins in rough environments as the emotion returned to the sometimes robotic program. Alabama fans were introduced C-Murder and his rap beats that became a quasi-fight song for the Tide sidelines.
It won differently.
The defense wasn't dominant, but clamped down when it mattered. Opposing rushers found the end zone just five times and touchdowns came on only 17 of 44 red-zone trips (39 percent).
Alabama's offense found its groove by speeding things up and riding Heisman finalist Amari Cooper.
And after falling 23-17 at Ole Miss on Oct. 4, Alabama completed three fourth-quarter comebacks to climb back to No. 1. Players said they stopped playing with the fear of losing after going down in Oxford. Even in the two losses, Alabama was never truly out of the games. Both times quarterback Blake Sims threw passes into the end zone to win or tie the game in the closing seconds. Each was intercepted.
But when questions were raised about leadership after the Ole Miss loss, Sims said he stepped into a more vocal role.
In the process, the fifth-year senior became the story of Alabama's year. Throwing for a school-record 3,487 yards, he won and kept the starting job to defy nearly every expectation. Three second-half interceptions in the Sugar Bowl didn't touch Sims' legacy to fellow-senior Christion Jones.
"Nobody should look down on what he did tonight," Jones said. "He had (three) interceptions, but he also came back and scored a touchdown and threw a touchdown. He kept us in this game, no matter what happened."
Sims took full responsibility for the loss, but reflected on the full body of work at his locker early Friday morning. The final moments won't be his memory of 2014.
"The laughs, the smiles that we all had together ― the memories we built together," Sims said. "The history people will talk about for years and years that we did together as a team, that when people doubted us and didn't think we would make it this far. And just let everybody knows whoever comes through Alabama, just try to give them my story."
That script includes a 12-2 record, an SEC championship and throwing to arguably the best receiver in Alabama history.
Alabama took out then-No. 1 Mississippi State in November and got Iron Bowl revenge two weeks later. There was the LSU comeback and Lane Kiffin's career resurrection.
But it ended short of suburban Dallas and the inaugural College Football Playoff title. Instead, it was Ohio State celebrating in confetti Thursday night as Alabama starts on the next chapter.
"I think there's a lot of winners on this team," Saban said. "And I don't think you necessarily have to get a trophy to be a winner."
Continue reading...
