Might have to settle for 35-3 or 36-2 That last number is hard to come by nowadays. LOL But i'm humble i can live with that
Great Jay Barker Video
- Thread starter jsd4ua
- Start date
I have always been a Jay Barker fan. The criticisms of him were ridiculous in my opinion since the Gene Stallings offense was always "three yards and a cloud of dust". Jay never threw the ball until third down when the opposing defense knew it. Yes our O-line was awesome and gave him tons of time usually but he put the ball on the money nearly every time. Who knows if we had more of a balanced offense what he might have done. Anyway, nothing against Brodie, but Jay is definitely the last great QB we had. Like Pat Trammell, all he knew how to do was win!
One because he gave thanks to God first and foremost and two because he wasn't perfect although his record almost diminshes that.
If the BAMA qb is not throwing for 300 plus yards and and scoring 5 tds every game then we're dissatisfied. We're spoiled and we want perfection in every game.
I remember the fans belly aching all the way to a national championship. I loved the way that we played back then. Grind it out, control the ball and bust 'em square in the teeth when on defence.
I also remember Jay out passing Eric "Air" Zaier from UGA one night. Jay may not have been the most athletic QB around.............but he didn't make mistakes.
Just so you know....And he & Sarah Evans are a mighty cute & HAPPY couple right now too! PLUS: He's one of those athletes who don't think they're better than everyone else & are so FOR REAL!!! Jay's the GREATEST!!
Sarah Evans and "Insert name here" make a cute couple.
And as soon as that 35-2-1 QB has a bad game, fans will be calling for the backup. Like Joni said, "You don't know what you got 'til it's gone..."
just what I needed on a Monday morning read. Graduated in '95 (grad school), so for me Jay's team is what I most associate 'Bama football with. To me, he was the stereotypical Bama QB on a stereotypical Bama TEAM. No one individual ruled the team. That night game in BDS v. Georgia. Wow...memories.
Jay Barker was a class act, but I can tell you why fans cringed every time he dropped back to pass:
1993 Sugar Bowl
Barker was something like 2 for 12 for 18 yards or something ridiculous like that and threw two interceptions. A lot of folks see 34-13 and consider it a top-to-bottom blowout if they aren't Alabama fans. How many of them know that we passed for less than the distance of the red zone?
That game was won by the defense early in the second half when Tommy Johnson picked one off followed by Teague's TD pick and then the greatest non-play in the history of college football.
There were times Barker could be well above average. In 1992, Ole Miss decided to force Barker to beat them. It was a great strategy at the time, but he did it.
You also have to look at how fortunate Barker was to be surrounded by some great atheletes. Consider some of his receivers:
David Palmer (a Heisman contender)
Toderick Malone
Curtis Brown
And look at his running backs:
Derrick Lassic
Sherman Williams
Martin Houston
Tarrant Lynch
His first three years, Barker stunk the joint, and you held your breath every time he dropped back to pass.
In 1994, we had Homer Smith back as OC, the best we've ever had. If you don't believe me, look at our offense in 1989 and 1994 and consider whether we've ever had it as good on offense. (1999 was primarily two NFL players, Samuels and Alexander).
The game that made him was the Georgia shootout with Eric Zeier. We came back eight times that year in the fourth quarter. Which, of course, shows that Barker wasn't exactly Peyton Manning.
You can only come from behind in the fourth quarter if you're losing.
Barker was a class act and a polite man. In many ways, he reminds me of what I always heard about Pat Trammell (who died before my time).
But let's not think we rode him unnecessarily. Barker only got the job in the first place because Danny Woodson got suspended. And who was going to take it from him?
The celebratory SI pointed out that Barker might be the first college QB in history to win a national title one year and ride the bench the next. Do you know who - according to SI - was going to beat him out?
Freddie Kitchens
Sounded good at the time....
In our offense when Jay was playing the QB was kind of like a good officiating crew...if you didn't really notice they were out there then they did their job. Nothing spectacular but also very few mistakes. But I must say I find it hard to criticize a guy who puts up a 35-2-1 record as the starting QB.
Right now I'm just looking forward getting back to the point where we are complaing about how we win.
Right now I'm just looking forward getting back to the point where we are complaing about how we win.
Like I said he mostly just threw the ball on third and long, even under Homer's offense. I remember vividly Bama fans complaining that Stallings never took the cuffs off of Smith. In a way you proved my earlier point because it took Homer Smith in 94 to finally give Barker a chance to prove himself.
And you left out Marcel West and Kevin Lee as good WRs, but even so did any of those guys light up the NFL? They didn't even have to work that hard because Barker was usually right on the money. The only guy who made amazing grabs to save some of Barker's throws was the Deuce, David Palmer. If you want to look at statistics look at Barker's QB rating. He was extremely efficient. Yes his MNC stats were horrendous but he had several good games in 92 leading up to that one including an amazing TD throw against Florida in the SEC championship game. And coming from behind to win games, sounds familiar, like....Joe Montana, Tom Brady, or John Elway. You're right though, not exactly Peyton Manning.:cool2:
The Pat Trammell comparison is a good one, which I made, but even Pat didn't throw as well as Jay.
I totally agree with some of the former comments. People complained because we weren't Florida and Spurrier wasn't our coach. End of story. I thought the criticisms were silly then and I still do.
Question to everyone that is questioning Jay's QB prowess with the talent he had to work with..... Just How many good QB's are good QB's without a pretty decent supporting cast of RB's and WR's??? That line of thinking does not make sense.
Futher More, we did not have that powerful of an OL in his awesome stretch of W's vs L's. In fact, I remember the papers and brodcast media touting our OL as the "Shrimp" (Tobie Shiels, an undersized Center) the "Gimp" (George Wilson, a RG that shot half his foot off) and the "Blimp" (Rosie Patterson, an overweight LT).
Jay was a smart QB that didn't make a lot of mistakes to cost ballgames and played within himself and the system in place. Seems he did a pretty decent job on the run considering the aformentioned OL status back then. Sure he had a great defense to lean on. That's why we won a Title that year... But when push cam to shove.... Barker got the job done. Look at Gino... Supposedly the best QB and player for his team... What did that get him. 278 yds. passing 3 picks and a 34-13 whuppin! One more pick than Jay and he won with 18 yds passing!!
I was not in grade school or HS back then. I was 25, attending games and have tons of memorabilia from those years.
Was the Bama offense more of a grind it out style? Yes... But I my friends don't remember many true tide faithful bad mouthing ol' Jay. The coaches and
O system... maybe... but not Jay. He was truely a great person and a great in the storied tradition of Alabama Football. As Coach Bryant would have probably said.... Jay wasn't nuthin' but a winner!
Next topic please
Futher More, we did not have that powerful of an OL in his awesome stretch of W's vs L's. In fact, I remember the papers and brodcast media touting our OL as the "Shrimp" (Tobie Shiels, an undersized Center) the "Gimp" (George Wilson, a RG that shot half his foot off) and the "Blimp" (Rosie Patterson, an overweight LT).
Jay was a smart QB that didn't make a lot of mistakes to cost ballgames and played within himself and the system in place. Seems he did a pretty decent job on the run considering the aformentioned OL status back then. Sure he had a great defense to lean on. That's why we won a Title that year... But when push cam to shove.... Barker got the job done. Look at Gino... Supposedly the best QB and player for his team... What did that get him. 278 yds. passing 3 picks and a 34-13 whuppin! One more pick than Jay and he won with 18 yds passing!!
I was not in grade school or HS back then. I was 25, attending games and have tons of memorabilia from those years.
Was the Bama offense more of a grind it out style? Yes... But I my friends don't remember many true tide faithful bad mouthing ol' Jay. The coaches and
O system... maybe... but not Jay. He was truely a great person and a great in the storied tradition of Alabama Football. As Coach Bryant would have probably said.... Jay wasn't nuthin' but a winner!
Next topic please
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If I remember correctly...Woodson was pathetic and was taken out of the game....Barker got thrown to the wolves as a freashman against UF in 1991. After that as they say... the rest was history. At one point 32-1-1 was his record as a starter... The man was battle tested and the media... as we all know, love to twist a good story as far as the Freddie Kitchens crap.
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Well, Sort Of
Btw - I'm not knocking Barker. Lee Corso commented before the 1993 Sugar Bowl that 'Jay Barker will not allow Alabama to get beat,' arguing that Barker would play it safe and was smart even if not the most athletic QB.
(Of course, Corso did his typical Clintonian flim-flam and picked Miami to beat us although by less than most folks).
Let's not pretend, however, that the guy was the second coming of Joe Montana. College football is more of a running back's game (at least in Barker's day) than a QB game.
Good guy, class act. And every one of you making comments used to cringe every time he dropped back - until 1994 anyway.
Woodson did get pulled in the UF game, but he still started most of the season. I think Barker's first start was against LSU if I'm not mistaken. He was the starter when we smoked Memphis State, 10-7.
Btw - I'm not knocking Barker. Lee Corso commented before the 1993 Sugar Bowl that 'Jay Barker will not allow Alabama to get beat,' arguing that Barker would play it safe and was smart even if not the most athletic QB.
(Of course, Corso did his typical Clintonian flim-flam and picked Miami to beat us although by less than most folks).
Let's not pretend, however, that the guy was the second coming of Joe Montana. College football is more of a running back's game (at least in Barker's day) than a QB game.
Good guy, class act. And every one of you making comments used to cringe every time he dropped back - until 1994 anyway.
Jay never got the credit he deserved, only a fool would put the ball up in the air a hundred times with the defenses we had, and Stallings was no fool, but when things were at their worst, thats when jay was at his best, his record speaks for itself.
I hope one day soon we can all celebrate big victories over big teams again, not just the occasional win over the fat one up north.
I hope one day soon we can all celebrate big victories over big teams again, not just the occasional win over the fat one up north.
The Jay Barker/Sara Evans relationship is getting a lot of national press the past few days.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20175947,00.html
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20175947,00.html
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