dcroz

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Tennessee beats Alabama twice, Alabama beats Mississippi State twice, Mississippi State beats Tennessee twice. Go figure.
It looked like Oats figured that out against Florida a couple weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, as well, with the Tide going inside when the threes weren't falling. We did the same last night in Gainesville, but the problem is that when you play terrible defense, it takes an awful lot of offense to keep up. The Gators were shooting well, but that's because they got a lot of open looks from being in rhythm which we never seemed to find on either end of the court. With no real threat to stop anyone in the paint, any team that can defend the three-ball against us will gladly trade some layups knowing they're going to score on the majority of their trips down the court. I mean, last night Florida gave up 52 points to us in the second half and still outscored us by nine, averaging three points per minute. There are a lot of other teams that can do that to us, too.
You really are a sad, pathetic excuse for a human being, aren't you?
Auburn is stuck with Freeze for better or for worse for at least the next three seasons unless he takes off for somewhere else on his own. It cannot afford yet another coaching change this quickly, both financially and in turning the position into a poison pill no reputable coach would want. I think Freeze will get things going, but he took over a dumpster fire that's going to take time to extinguish.
This isn't about what makes the most competitive or interesting Playoff; it's about what generates the most money. They'll get everyone used to seeing 12 teams for the next couple years but they're already laying the groundwork for that to be seen as insufficient so we'll quickly be up to 16. Then they'll look at the FCS model and say that FBS should be the same way and will bump to 24. As long as the ratings continue to look good and tickets continue to move for these games, they'll keep expanding it.
That can't happen because of Title IX. Schools are required to offer athletic scholarships to females in proportion to the percentage of students they constitute at the school. That's why there are more women's sports than men's because of the massive number of scholarships football receives. Even if a school stopped offering scholarships and went strictly NIL with players as employees, it would still be unable to discriminate against women because of labor laws. Women's sports aren't going anywhere.
Even more than developing Milroe, DeBoer is going to have to develop some WRs and TEs. There hasn't been a true go-to receiver at Alabama the last two seasons, and Milroe really needs someone who can run routes and get open quickly. Of course, that also assumes that Milroe is guaranteed to be QB1 and that DeBoer doesn't open up competition for the spot in spring practice.
While the defense in the paint is still a concern, it was great to see that Oats does have a Plan B after all on the offensive side. When the three-pointers weren't falling, he directed his players to push into the lane where they did a great job scoring there instead. It kept us in the game until the long-range shooters finally got going late to catch up and force the game to overtime and then getting the win.
That doesn't seem to have anything to do with what I posted, and for that matter Blackmon didn't predict anything about who would but just said Alabama might make it.
"With Mark Sears, my current pick for SEC Player of the Year, leading a lethal group of guards, the Crimson Tide might make the program’s first Final Four next month." Perhaps, though Alabama still has that glaring problem with physicality in the paint. We saw how Tennessee and Auburn took advantage of that in their wins against the Tide. Alabama does have the shooting ability to help overcome that and win high-scoring games, but when the Tide goes cold from the perimeter or plays a team that guards them well, then it usually has no Plan B to make up for it. Whether Alabama makes that Final Four will likely depend on the draw it gets with whether it runs into a physically-dominant team.
He couldn't put Aubie's head on anyway as Auburn doesn't even allow Corso to do that. In any case, that's a Corso thing and I seriously doubt that ESPN would have the GOAT do a silly (albeit fun) gimmick like that.
I have a feeling that Milroe was told to stay in the pocket and go through his progressions rather than making an impromptu run because a) Rees wanted him to focus on developing as a passer, and b) because you don't want your starting QB taking hits, especially with no proven quantity behind him. Unfortunately on b), though, he took those hits anyway from an often-porous O-line that did improve as the year went on only to regress in the Rose Bowl. And on a) it looked like Rees called either for quick swing routes or 30+ yard ones; the quick throws on crossing routes or short-to-middle routes in the middle of the field were few. A lot of that had to do with no WR stepping up to be the go-to guy. Those are two issues DeBoer is going to have to figure out in spring practice.
Why is Sarkesian ahead of DeBoer when DeBoer has beaten him twice in the last two seasons and did so with a less-talented roster each time?
There's supposed to be a new one coming in the next couple years. Coleman looked old and outdated even when I attended Alabama 35+ years ago, and it was only about 20 years old at the time.
Auburn did take a brief one-point lead in the second half with just over nine minutes to go, but Alabama took the lead back on the ensuing possession and held it the rest of the way. But about time Alabama finally got a quality win. You can have one of the toughest schedules in the country as the Tide has played, but you've got to win at least a couple against Quad 1 teams to ensure you make the tournament. Still have plenty of chances to pick up a few more.
What frustrates ‘Bama fans right now is the way the transfer rule is constructed. When you have a coaching change, it’s open season on your roster for 30 days while you cannot add anyone yourself (except from other programs that have had a coaching change and are in a 30-day window themselves). This is something that really does not seem well thought out and needs to be addressed, though between it and NIL the NCAA does not appear to have the desire to provide any kind of structure and is content to let chaos reign.
Exactly. Hayes has DeBoer as the third-best hire and the only thing he lists as a negative is that he's following Saban. Is he suggesting that Smith and Fisch would have been better hires for Alabama by ranking them ahead of him?
Hilarious coming from a fan base that just knew they were going to be handed a three-peat on a silver platter this past season and then stomped their feet and cried over the injustice of being denied after losing yet again to 'Bama in the SEC Championship Game. Go back under the porch, little puppy.
Downs is in the portal, apparently headed for Georgia. As for the offense, Grubb really needs both to find receivers capable of getting separation/running their routes along with teaching Milroe how to throw short-to-medium routes in the middle of the field. Milroe needs to be able to do more than either throw a short out-route behind the line of scrimmage or 30+ yards downfield. That lack of being able to consistently throw possession passes hurt the offense greatly this season and is going to be Grubb's biggest priority heading into next year.
Why is my comment “awaiting moderation?”
Perhaps, but that’s how college football is developing. Now in addition to recruiting, coaches also have to deal with NIL contracts and what amounts to trades when it comes to the transfer portal. It’s the NFL’s junior league and training facility now more than it ever has been, for players and coaches alike. And frankly the NFL is now an easier job than college as its coaches *don’t* have to sit in some 17-year-old’s living room pretending he loves his mom’s cooking and helping with the dishes while kissing that kid’s behind. But we didn’t think we’d get more than five years out of Saban, either, as *his* track record was he had never spent longer than that at any one place his entire coaching career up to that point. So, you never know.
Folks, this ain't 1924 or 1964 or even 2004. The whole "Southern roots" narrative is over. College football is now a *national* sport, not a regional one. Gone are the days where teams recruited mainly within a few hours of campus because they were mainly interested in having players who knew how important beating their biggest rivals was. Now you want to recruit the best players wherever you can find them, even if they've never heard of the Iron Bowl or The Third Saturday in October or think of a California desert when someone mentions Death Valley. And you combine that with being able to work the transfer portal to fill those gaps in your roster. You don't do that by focusing on being "Southern" enough by limiting yourself to guys who can visit campus at lunch and be home in time for dinner. Now maybe DeBoer will have to learn his way around the rubber chicken circuit and spruce up his golf game to keep a few boosters happy, but otherwise it's not his ability to be "Southern" that will determine whether he succeeds in Tuscaloosa.
Kiffin is a good coach, but I don’t think he’d get along with the boosters and trustees. He’d be another Ray Perkins that would rub too many people the wrong way.
Well, if he went 14-0 and went to the natty game with the 26th- and 30th-ranked recruiting classes, sounds like he knows how to coach them up. Wasn’t everyone’s favorite claim on Saban (and Smart) that he won on strength of talent and not through actual coaching?
Recruiting is national now. Any coach that only recruits in their region is doomed to mediocrity. And of course there is being able to get players from the transfer portal. The question for him—as it is for every coach—is how well he can do both.
Also: 4, tied with Frank Leahy for the most Heisman winners coached. And: 15, the number of consecutive seasons where Saban had at least one week ranked #1 in the AP Poll. The previous record was 7 by Miami from 1986-92. Not often you see a record broken by more than double.
Thanks, man. If we land the guy rumored to be in Tuscaloosa right now, then I think we will. But we may be seeing college football increasingly become a young man’s job and even OJT for the NFL as now college coaches are also having to deal with player contracts and what effectively amounts to trades with the transfer portal. Will be interesting to see how this pans out over the next several years.
Of course, you’re assuming Smart will stick around to claim that crown. He’s definitely in the running for a number of NFL jobs including the Falcons, and not only does being an NFL coach usually pay better but you can argue that it’s actually an easier gig than being a college coach now that NIL and the transfer portal have combined with the usual headaches of recruiting to make college football a 24/7/365 headache whereas you do at least get some down time in the NFL. Don’t be surprised to see more top college coaches try their hand in the pros now that there is more incentive to do so than before.