LISTEN: Given recent dominance, CFB insiders believe Alabama stumble won’t happen again
By Keith Farner
Published:
While Alabama has lost games in recent years, college football insiders were not used to the way the Crimson Tide lost the Iron Bowl on Saturday.
During a segment on ESPNU Radio on Sirius XM, Tom Luginbill and Andy Staples discussed how the Auburn win unfolded, and how it compared to recent losses like the Ole Miss game a couple years ago when Alabama nearly recovered from five first-half turnovers.
But given a rash of injuries, especially on defense, “even their depth could not sustain them,” Staples said.
The rarity of recent Alabama losses has led to observers being “conditioned” to appreciate how good the football program is, Luginbill said.
“We’ve seen them be so dominant in so many different ways,” he said. “If you don’t have equitable talent, they have to do something to screw up the game in order for you to have a chance to win.”
That’s why Luginbill believes a bounce back will happen quickly.
“When Alabama loses a game, like they did yesterday, because of what Alabama’s done as a program, the caliber of players they have, their preparation, their coaching staff, it’s hard to imagine it happening again,” Luginbill said. “… We’ve become conditioned to think that way.
“I would still put that team up against almost any team, including the team they just lost to, and you’d have a hell of a football game, and figure they’d beat nine out of 10.”
Staples added that Alabama couldn’t physically overcome the kind of mistakes it made against Auburn.
“It was odd,” he said. “I have been conditioned to think of Alabama. Seeing Alabama look like a normal team was weird. … They looked human.
Alabama looked human last night in their 26-14 loss to Auburn in the #IronBowl, a sight that is strange to @Andy_Staples and @TomLuginbill. pic.twitter.com/wMkUSFwYBy
— ESPNU Radio on SiriusXM (@ESPNUonSiriusXM) November 26, 2017
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
