🏈 Will Anderson Jr.

[64Tide]

12/4 vs Ga is the last thing we need to worry about. Given our history vs the boogs in their sand box, I'd have to say they are in the catbird's seat for the West and will play Ga twice this season. If this team has shown anything consistently, it's poor play on the road. Yes the last road game was 49-9 but how many first downs did we give up on 3rd and long? How many times did we give up 6-8 yards on a simple right at you running play? How many sacks allowed? There a pattern and it does not favor us.

 

[Secondand26]

12/4 vs Ga is the last thing we need to worry about. Given our history vs the boogs in their sand box, I'd have to say they are in the catbird's seat for the West and will play Ga twice this season. If this team has shown anything consistently, it's poor play on the road. Yes the last road game was 49-9 but how many first downs did we give up on 3rd and long? How many times did we give up 6-8 yards on a simple right at you running play? How many sacks allowed? There a pattern and it does not favor us.

So, you think the Barn is going undefeated the rest of the regular season? Did I understand that correctly?
If so, pile up your money & let’s make a bet…..

 

[Davestwin]

There were rumors from another board (I didn't see the actual post, or who made it), that Damien George and JC Latham were pushing Owens at RT, but Owens held them off for Miss St.

I haven't seen Latham play RT in a game lately - all his PT has been RG. That could be a function of him helping our 2nd team OL that way, but it just doesn't appear he's a factor at RT somehow. George may be, but it's hard for me to see Owens getting benched at this point. The coaches have been risk averse this year in playing true frosh - this may be the fewest I can recall seeing meaningful PT.

The ESPN announcers for the MS game said that about George and Latham pushing Owens for the start. They also said Owens had his best game to date. Of course, it didn’t take much for that to be true.

 

[BamaFan334]

Was this Rattler or the ridiculous media? I say the media.

Hard to say with the ego he has shown and the negativity seething from him at the Texas game.

 

[Davestwin]

12/4 vs Ga is the last thing we need to worry about. Given our history vs the boogs in their sand box, I'd have to say they are in the catbird's seat for the West and will play Ga twice this season. If this team has shown anything consistently, it's poor play on the road. Yes the last road game was 49-9 but how many first downs did we give up on 3rd and long? How many times did we give up 6-8 yards on a simple right at you running play? How many sacks allowed? There a pattern and it does not favor us.

I assume this was directed at my comments. To be clear, my point was simply about how the Bama we’ve seen to date can and should look totally different by the time 12/04 rolls around. Meaning that I agree if UGA and Bama had already met early in the season, I would have given them the edge … but by the time Bama could face them ie in the SEC CG, Bama should look like a different team. Of course, that includes how they’ll look on November 27th vs the barn.

As for your contention that the tiggers will win the West, well … we’ll just have to agree to disagree. Now, J-H stadium does give me a bit of pause but I truly can’t imagine Saban losing to a first year SEC coach with much less talent to work with on both sides of the ball.

 

[BamaFisher]

I honestly don’t see Auburn getting past Ole Miss or A&M.

 

[64Tide]

I assume this was directed at my comments. To be clear, my point was simply about how the Bama we’ve seen to date can and should look totally different by the time 12/04 rolls around. Meaning that I agree if UGA and Bama had already met early in the season, I would have given them the edge … but by the time Bama could face them ie in the SEC CG, Bama should look like a different team. Of course, that includes how they’ll look on November 27th vs the barn.

As for your contention that the tiggers will win the West, well … we’ll just have to agree to disagree. Now, J-H stadium does give me a bit of pause but I truly can’t imagine Saban losing to a first year SEC coach with much less talent to work with on both sides of the ball.

No, not necessarily directed to you but just thought it needed to be said. We don't do well playing there and it looks like again we may be rated a good bit higher than the boogs which always works against as the visitors in this game. Just saying they will be super motivated to keep us out of Atlanta whether they have a shot or not.

 

[TerryP]

Bahahahaha! Come on man, you are so much better than this that your 30-3 comment is almost shameful. You dang well know the offense is behind most of those wins. Last year alone the offense had to beat Ole Miss and Florida. They have killed the will of so many teams it is unreal the last few years, so the defense was on easy street and is still giving up yards and points. Against truly formidable teams we are lacking. I use formidable with a little salt because we should be above 99.9% of teams on our schedule with the roster we have. Giving Golding credit for 30-3 is a slap in the face to Kiffin, Sarkesian, and now O'Brien. Golding gets some credit for this Ole Miss victory, but very other times did I see the defense dominate another team where the offense hadn't already given it a 14-21 point head start.

I "know the offenise is behind most of those wins" but yet I look and see where Alabama led the SEC is scoring defense last season. Damn, that "team" thing coming into play here, isn't it?

You damn right I'm standing on 30-3 because, as you suggested, I'm looking at the entire product.

Am I slapping O'Brien, Sark, or Kiffin in the face when I look at defensive efficiency and see the Tide ranked #6 in the nation? Is that the whole product you're referring to here?

"Last year alone the offense had to beat Ole Miss and Florida." But, we're looking at the whole product here, are we not? I've pointed out that people are focusing on two games last season to define a defense. Now, this season, you're looking at two halves to define a defense. Two halves of football: less than 10% of the time these guys have played.

It's funny saying a lot of these things coming off the heels of facing a Mike Leach offense which hasn't scored a touchdown against the Tide.

 

[TerryP]

Golding called a good game against MSU... But forgive me for saying this @TerryP ... But he is at 'Bama, he is supposed to call good games. Minimum. And I think he has called many good games. But giving him the mulligan due to players messing up, etc, THAT STILL FALLS ON THE DC!!! Why is that so hard to acknowledge? Which something I haven't seen you own.

If a player is coached to maintain his gap and he doesn't execute the way he's supposed to that falls on the guy who's been telling him "this is how we do things, this is why we do it that way?" These aren't my words, these are words coming from the head coach.

This is so backwards to me. If a running back misses his block it's on the running back coach? If a receiver drops the ball that's on the wide receivers coach? But, if a guy misses an assignment on defense it's on the coach, not the player?

All of those bulleted items is about attitude & demanding a killer attitude on defense. We don't have those things.

Going back to a point I made in the previous post: two halves of football. You're pointing to things like "can't stop the run" and yet the team just did that against Ole Miss (averaging over 260 per game and the defense held them to 78. What am I missing here except a failure to look at the whole picture, just a small slice?

I see a circular argument in "the offense is winning these games" but not seeing "the offense lost the A&M game." A quarter of those dropped ball...if caught? It's very likely a W.

I'm not disagreeing that we've been disappointed in the defense on occasion this season. Am I disagreeing with where all the blame is being lain.

 

[TerryP]

Was this Rattler or the ridiculous media? I say the media.

I'll agree with you here though he did put up some solid numbers as a freshman. The attention Rattler has received from the media is going to pale in comparison to what they are going to shower on Caleb. I caught Herbie talking about how he (Caleb) was going to "be the face of college football the next two seasons."

If you're in the media and say "he's going to be the face of college football" it's because you, as a member of the media, just put him in that place. He's a fun kid to watch but I'd rather avoid hearing how good he is in the same vein as we have been told how much OU's defense has improved under Alex Grinch.

 

[BamaFan334]

I "know the offenise is behind most of those wins" but yet I look and see where Alabama led the SEC is scoring defense last season. Damn, that "team" thing coming into play here, isn't it?

You damn right I'm standing on 30-3 because, as you suggested, I'm looking at the entire product.

Am I slapping O'Brien, Sark, or Kiffin in the face when I look at defensive efficiency and see the Tide ranked #6 in the nation? Is that the whole product you're referring to here?

"Last year alone the offense had to beat Ole Miss and Florida." But, we're looking at the whole product here, are we not? I've pointed out that people are focusing on two games last season to define a defense. Now, this season, you're looking at two halves to define a defense. Two halves of football: less than 10% of the time these guys have played.

It's funny saying a lot of these things coming off the heels of facing a Mike Leach offense which hasn't scored a touchdown against the Tide.

Say what you want, but this defense is not to the standard set before them. Less with more will continue to be my comment. Saban gave them an out, but even he ain't happy. If you're happy with their performance, that's your opinion, but simply using 'unrealistic expectations ' as a crux isn't a good argument. Creating more efficiency against inferior teams like Vanderbilt, Arkansas years before, Mississippi State, Missouri, and others is not as charming as you want to make it. The Ole Miss, Florida, A&M, and a few others is where the cream rises and we haven't fared well. I don't care about '3rd and Kirby', I care about fixing and getting better. Which is not happening.

Leach doesn't have a quarterback and outside of a few bad throws the marched up and down the field on us before our talent finally wore them down. If and when he does get a good signal caller, watch out. Stetson Bennett would light us up right now.

 

[mando]

Leach doesn't have a quarterback and outside of a few bad throws the marched up and down the field on us before our talent finally wore them down. If and when he does get a good signal caller, watch out. Stetson Bennett would light us up right now.

I was tracking with you for the most part until you got here. The State QB has been pretty. I contend he is better than Bennett but w/o the supporting cast. I see Bennett the same as I saw him last year when he was pretty bad against Bama. Could he have improved sure but what happens against a really good team? UGA is winning because they are winning the line of scrimmage not because Bennett is some great QB.

 

[BamaFan334]

I was tracking with you for the most part until you got here. The State QB has been pretty. I contend he is better than Bennett but w/o the supporting cast. I see Bennett the same as I saw him last year when he was pretty bad against Bama. Could he have improved sure but what happens against a really good team? UGA is winning because they are winning the line of scrimmage not because Bennett is some great QB.

Go watch their games. He had a crappy game stat wise against Arkansas, but he's throwing the ball a lot better this season and not making the same mistakes he made against us last season. Watch him drop passes right into Bowers hands, been doing it all year long. Our corners and linebackers aren't necessarily inspiring me coverage wise, so it has me concerned. Georgia isn't leaning on him to win them games, but they aren't scoring as many points as they are because he's sucking either. Their receivers aren't as good as ours. Their tight ends are good, but he's not exactly oozing with skill talent to help him out. The running backs are doing decent, but nothing crazy. He's seriously managing the crap out of the game and scoring plenty of points to help his team win. You cannot knock his performance this year. The one thing I have noticed is when he gets rushed, he will throw it away and get rattled. That has happened few and far between this season though, but it is a weakness. He's having a better year that 90% of the quarterbacks in the SEC, and that's without a household name like Smith, Waddle, or Metchie to throw to. I'm taking him over JT Daniels at this point.

 

[TerryP]

Say what you want, but this defense is not to the standard set before them. Less with more will continue to be my comment. Saban gave them an out, but even he ain't happy. If you're happy with their performance, that's your opinion, but simply using 'unrealistic expectations ' as a crux isn't a good argument. Creating more efficiency against inferior teams like Vanderbilt, Arkansas years before, Mississippi State, Missouri, and others is not as charming as you want to make it. The Ole Miss, Florida, A&M, and a few others is where the cream rises and we haven't fared well. I don't care about '3rd and Kirby', I care about fixing and getting better. Which is not happening.

I've said, repeatedly, that we were all disappointed in seeing the defensive lapses. But, as stated as well, a lot are focusing on two quarters of play like they were focused on two games from the '20 season going into this fall. Literally, 7% of the quarters played this season.

You're going in circles here. I don't care about "3rd and Kirby" but they aren't playing up to a standard in which we've seen "3rd and 'Kirby's'" Saban's entire career running his 3-4 over/under. Realism says "3rd and Kirby's" are a standard because we've seen these routes open since Saban took the helm in Tuscaloosa.

If the head coach tells you you're going to see yards put up and points scored and you still see people whining? Unrealistic expectations. Literally, fans being told this is going to happen, they see it happen, and then complain because their expectations weren't met because they saw what they were told they were going to see.

I see you as wound tighter than a drum about Golding and I'm sitting here relaxed? Why? Perhaps, just perhaps, it comes from having realistic expectations on what we were going to see this season?

 

[Tidestalker]

I've said, repeatedly, that we were all disappointed in seeing the defensive lapses. But, as stated as well, a lot are focusing on two quarters of play like they were focused on two games from the '20 season going into this fall. Literally, 7% of the quarters played this season.

You're going in circles here. I don't care about "3rd and Kirby" but they aren't playing up to a standard in which we've seen "3rd and 'Kirby's'" Saban's entire career running his 3-4 over/under. Realism says "3rd and Kirby's" are a standard because we've seen these routes open since Saban took the helm in Tuscaloosa.

If the head coach tells you you're going to see yards put up and points scored and you still see people whining? Unrealistic expectations. Literally, fans being told this is going to happen, they see it happen, and then complain because their expectations weren't met because they saw what they were told they were going to see.

I see you as wound tighter than a drum about Golding and I'm sitting here relaxed? Why? Perhaps, just perhaps, it comes from having realistic expectations on what we were going to see this season?

I agree with a lot of what you're saying and consider myself more mild in terms of Golding criticism. But we saw a game this year with 0 sacks & 0 QB hurries against a pedestrian at best QB vs previous competition, and you're pointing to unrealistic expectations? IMO that stance is just a wild as the stance that Golding is clueless and should have been fired long ago.

@BamaFan334 is making a point that I've made in the past in regard to evaluating the defense & expectations against what would be considered "like competition"... The teams where the talent disparity isn't as obvious (Florida, Ole Miss, TAMU, Miss St). I think that's a fair evaluation, but at the same time it would take a lot of data to just compare all those teams against the other top teams, and just disregard the gimmies on the schedule. Ultimately those games count too and matter, but the expectation is to beat the best teams, because the resources have been put in place to do so, and those resources don't come from no where... So that public standard is for a reason, even if applied sometimes more or less fairly.

 

[TerryP]

I agree with a lot of what you're saying and consider myself more mild in terms of Golding criticism. But we saw a game this year with 0 sacks & 0 QB hurries against a pedestrian at best QB vs previous competition, and you're pointing to unrealistic expectations? IMO that stance is just a wild as the stance that Golding is clueless and should have been fired long ago

21-31, a little under 300 with three touchdowns. That's hardly pedestrian even if it's against a FCS opponents. I'll take a 68% completion rate out of a QB every day of the week.

He looked pedestrian leading up to the Bama game, sure. But let's not take a thing away from his performance; hell of a job.

 

[BamaFan334]

I've said, repeatedly, that we were all disappointed in seeing the defensive lapses. But, as stated as well, a lot are focusing on two quarters of play like they were focused on two games from the '20 season going into this fall. Literally, 7% of the quarters played this season.

You're going in circles here. I don't care about "3rd and Kirby" but they aren't playing up to a standard in which we've seen "3rd and 'Kirby's'" Saban's entire career running his 3-4 over/under. Realism says "3rd and Kirby's" are a standard because we've seen these routes open since Saban took the helm in Tuscaloosa.

If the head coach tells you you're going to see yards put up and points scored and you still see people whining? Unrealistic expectations. Literally, fans being told this is going to happen, they see it happen, and then complain because their expectations weren't met because they saw what they were told they were going to see.

I see you as wound tighter than a drum about Golding and I'm sitting here relaxed? Why? Perhaps, just perhaps, it comes from having realistic expectations on what we were going to see this season?

See, this is where your approach differs from others. You're out fishing, playing golf on the weekends, others are attending games and analyzing what they have seen, some are at the ball field with their kids, and even people are out shopping. So there are differences in priorities and desires, and therefor different approaches and expectations. Neither is wrong, but EVERYONE has a differing opinion.

Coach made that comment about offenses changing and us having to recruit a different player to defend it. He didn't mean he doesn't still want to hold teams to less points and that it wasn't possible. If you're trying to insinuate Coach Saban is fine with an offense like A&M's scoring over 40 points you're just not being true to yourself or what the man was insinuating when he made the comment.

You've never shared your expectations for this defense (you have always spoken more about offensive expectations) from anything I can recall in the preseason, you just comment after the fact. It's much easier in hindsight and will further your stance on here, but you easily could be hiding what is really on your mind. You're the one that brings up 3rd and Kirby all the time, I was just using it against your argument, because I don't personally recall us giving them up that much, and the points allowed per game were much lower during this time period you keep referencing which shows me we were stopping folks more.

Wound up on Golding? He's not consistent enough to run our defense. It's not wound up when the proof is in the pudding. The statistics are there to show we are giving up more and more points the last few years. Explain to me why Georgia is able to field a better defense but we can't. Are we only playing spread teams and they aren't or something? You're still stuck on the fact that is just a Saban defense, but when it's getting worse and worse, there has to be an issue somewhere as the talent has only gotten better. Our guys aren't prepared and hitting the proper gaps? Well whose freaking fault is that when it's a consistent issue? Are we in fact not getting elite talent anymore? Is Saban trying very hard to create some continuity so it can't be used against us in recruiting?

Was it unrealistic to think we would beat Texas A&M with a weak quarterback? No it wasn't, because you and I were right there commenting step for step about us dominating them. We said the exact same thing about Florida and Emory Jones. Yeah, I'm focused on two games at the moment because they are two of the three teams that were worth a shit that we have played till this point. I don't care about what happened against Southern Miss or Mercer. Football is a four quarter game and Lord knows Coach Saban has expressed 60 minutes of intensity, not 15, 30, or 45. It's clear by your statement that one quarter can lose you a game, so once again, is it 100% of the players at fault here or are we not getting it from the headset? You seem to think it's the players, and I don't. Differing of opinions.

 

[Davestwin]

I've said, repeatedly, that we were all disappointed in seeing the defensive lapses. But, as stated as well, a lot are focusing on two quarters of play like they were focused on two games from the '20 season going into this fall. Literally, 7% of the quarters played this season.

You're going in circles here. I don't care about "3rd and Kirby" but they aren't playing up to a standard in which we've seen "3rd and 'Kirby's'" Saban's entire career running his 3-4 over/under. Realism says "3rd and Kirby's" are a standard because we've seen these routes open since Saban took the helm in Tuscaloosa.

If the head coach tells you you're going to see yards put up and points scored and you still see people whining? Unrealistic expectations. Literally, fans being told this is going to happen, they see it happen, and then complain because their expectations weren't met because they saw what they were told they were going to see.

I see you as wound tighter than a drum about Golding and I'm sitting here relaxed? Why? Perhaps, just perhaps, it comes from having realistic expectations on what we were going to see this season?

I agree with you on our expectations but only on offense. I knew going into this season that even Saban could not simply reload all of the talent lost on that side of the ball. That’s not the case with the defense. This was by everyone’s account to be the best Bama D in several seasons. Well, it’s not. Personally, I don’t know if it’s more about poor coaching or it’s more about poor play … but I trust Saban’s evaluations of players more than PG’s running of the defense.

 

[mando]

best Bama D in several seasons.

Still could be but not right now for sure. Can make the decision at the end of the year. Right now performing worse than I expected.

there has to be an issue somewhere as the talent has only gotten better

I question this on the defensive side of the ball. I do not see any Mosley, Foster, Quinerly, Alan, Reed, Upshaw etc... out on that field right now with the exception of one player of course.

 

[BamaFan334]

Still could be but not right now for sure. Can make the decision at the end of the year. Right now performing worse than I expected.


I question this on the defensive side of the ball. I do not see any Mosley, Foster, Quinerly, Alan, Reed, Upshaw etc... out on that field right now with the exception of one player of course.

I meant from a recruiting prospective. We have not missed on many guys in general, so if we signed the best classes ever the last few years one would think the talent is there, even with a few misses.