Bama Game Thread: Official PostGame Thread - Bama @ FSU...

[OconeeTide]

I heard the administration was sending letters out to beg for more NIL money, i bet you would get alot of donors now if they asked for a Buyout...

 

[BamaMoon]

Slept on it and, unfortunately, I don't feel any better. Maybe a little worse.

Worse thing is we got beat in the trenches on both sides.

Now, I still don't understand the OL issue...but that's been an ongoing issue for years...even back to BY, but he was able to handle it. JM mitigated it with his legs, but the passing game suffered. But now it looks like we've got a QB who can throw it around if he's got the time. Seems like the answer here is more short routes and screens.

But the thing that bothers me the most is what seems to be a scheme and personnel issue on defense. We got owned by a run 1st QB. Then, on top of that, our back 5 (supposedly our strength) seemed very slow and took terrible angles and tackled very, very poorly.

The "play the next play/do your job each play" isn't present anymore, either.

I don't have the answers, but the problems are pretty evident.

 

[Cruloc]

Enjoy this stat


Castellanos had promised a win, saying in June he saw no way Alabama could stop him. Lo and behold, he was right. The signal-caller who was benched at Boston College in November ran all over an Alabama defense that seemed utterly flustered at times, despite FSU's game plan including just 14 pass attempts, nine of which were completions.

Fewest completions in a win over Alabama since 2008:
FSU - 9, today
Okla - 9, Wk13, 2024
LSU - 10, Wk10, 2011
Mich - 11, bowl, 2024
Aub - 11, Wk14, 2013
Aub - 13, Wk14, 2010

So, 3 all-time Saban classics (Cam, 9-6, Kick 6) and 3 of DeBoer's 14 games as Bama HC.
— (@ADavidHaleJoint) August 30, 2025

 

[BamaMoon]

One other thing, though. Pretty much everybody agrees NIL/transfer portal has greatly affected the game we love and destroyed whatever college football was before it.

It's hitting us harder because in the former era, we/CNS had figured it out. We dominated that era. But, "goodbye yellow brick road."

So now, it's not OUR problem, it's THE problem.

Therefore, blaming our struggles on it seems useless. Everybody else is dealing with it, too. I wish we could collectively get passed this, as it seems to dominate every discussion now.

 

[Cruloc]

One other thing, though. Pretty much everybody agrees NIL/transfer portal has greatly affected the game we love and destroyed whatever college football was before it.

It's hitting us harder because in the former era, we/CNS had figured it out. We dominated that era. But, "goodbye yellow brick road."

So now, it's not OUR problem, it's THE problem.

Therefore, blaming our struggles on it seems useless. Everybody else is dealing with it, too. I wish we could collectively get passed this, as it seems to dominate every discussion now.

Our problem on the field isn't NIL.

We've got a personality problem. We are soft. We've brought in a west coast mentality to the SEC....doesn't work. See Dan Lanning's Oregon....he took the SEC mentality out west and it works.

We don't have the talent on the DL anymore either. Less beef up front too. We don't pull those top DL anymore....say like Clemson does. Like Georgia does. Like Ohio State does.

Other big problem.....DeBoer is breaking streaks I didn't even account for now. Biggest opening loss since 1970....lowest rushing yards in an opener since 1975....get him out of here.

Or is this all a grand plan to reset the program back to factory settings.

 

[KrAzY3]

One other thing, though. Pretty much everybody agrees NIL/transfer portal has greatly affected the game we love and destroyed whatever college football was before it.

It's hitting us harder because in the former era, we/CNS had figured it out. We dominated that era. But, "goodbye yellow brick road."

So now, it's not OUR problem, it's THE problem.

Therefore, blaming our struggles on it seems useless. Everybody else is dealing with it, too. I wish we could collectively get passed this, as it seems to dominate every discussion now.

For the record, Justice Haynes had 3 TDs and 159 yards on 16 carries in his first game against Michigan. Now it was weak competition, but those 16 carries were more than he got at any point last season.

I felt like the problem was he wasn't used properly last year (and understandably left) but we'll see which it is. Can't blame NIL or the portal on him not getting carries last year though...

 

[RollTide_HTTR]

Man, just so disappointed still. We didn't just lose we never seriously had a chance of winning after the first drive

 

[81usaf92]

For the record, Justice Haynes had 3 TDs and 159 yards on 16 carries in his first game against Michigan. Now it was weak competition, but those 16 carries were more than he got at any point last season.

I felt like the problem was he wasn't used properly last year (and understandably left) but we'll see which it is. Can't blame NIL or the portal on him not getting carries last year though...

Again…. He was the best running back we had in 23 and we never used him. He was about to leave before Milroe convinced him to stay. That was under Saban. The Rose Bowl was a prime example.

 

[guntertidefan]

Cecil Hurt said you don't change coaches bc of who you can get. You change coaches when you become convinced that the one you have is not the right one. In other words, once you know you got the wrong coach, then you change. No sense in keeping the wrong coach just bc you don't know who you can get. I'm not advocating changing coaches. Just saying I thought Cecil's logic made a lot of sense.

 

[CB4]

John Talty nails it here.

Kalen DeBoer not up to standard of following Nick Saban: 'You have to be a different breed to survive'

The heir to Saban's throne is looking more like an error in dynasty management.

www.cbssports.com

 

[Con]

I straight up just quit paying attention to the roster. I watch the game and am pleasantly surprised when I see a guy and recognize him from last year. “Oh look, Cuevas is still on the team. Good catch.”

I thought this yesterday too. I didn’t know who some of the guys were. Their number changes throw me off some.

 

[Toddrn]

College football is dead to me.

 

[RollTide_HTTR]

Cecil Hurt said you don't change coaches bc of who you can get. You change coaches when you become convinced that the one you have is not the right one. In other words, once you know you got the wrong coach, then you change. No sense in keeping the wrong coach just bc you don't know who you can get. I'm not advocating changing coaches. Just saying I thought Cecil's logic made a lot of sense.

Unfortunately he has a huge buyout

 

[bamacpa]

For those ready to fire him, we need 69 of yall to pony up a million each...just for perspective. Actually, throw in another 100 grand for the assistants.

I am concerned sure, but my torch and pitchfork remains in the garage a bit longer.

 

[81usaf92]

I’m glad you brought up the coordinators because when you look at Ohio State after Urban retired or Oklahoma after Stoops retired, they were able to hire within to keep things rolling, when Saban retired, we had no one on the staff to hire because every coordinator after Kirby treated their job as a coaching rehab to get a job somewhere else. The only coach that may have been able to take over would’ve been Sark if Saban retired after 2020 but Kevin Steele (or T-Rob) and Tommy Rees had no shot of taking over, I honestly thought after BoB left, Saban’s next OC choice was gonna be someone he chose to replace him.

Either way, while the program was left in good shape, there were a lot of issues under the hood.

I think too many are caught under the “he was left with a loaded roster” argument. Back up until about 2018 I would have said that too, but it is an entirely different sport. The transfer portal mixed with nil have effectively made rosters less permanent and forced coaches to constantly have to sell themselves and recruit their own team every day. So really DeBoer wasn’t left this national championship team that everyone who uses this argument seems to suggest.

But then you realize that the 22 Alabama team was by far the most talented roster of all time with Alabama’s best quarterback returning. Yet we lost to Tennessee and an average LSU team to cost us the playoffs. Our development of players has sucked for along time and we have lived purely off talent since then. The undisciplined Alabama team isn’t something new… we’ve seen this crap since 2021. It’s just more apparent now because we can’t adjust in game to counter it. Thats probably the one real thing I’m disappointed with DeBoer over. If we get caught being unable to stop someone early then our defense won’t be able to stop it all game so you best hope the offense can outscore them.

 

[2ndand26]

What little passion I had for college football was pretty much extinguished today.

C'est la vie...

Alabama is a lemon, and I want my money back.

 

[lowend]

I think the number of A-list coaches willing to come deal with the pressures related to Alabama are almost exactly 0 -- unless some of the actual insiders on here know differently.

The signal-caller who was benched at Boston College, by our former OC that didn't want JM as his starting QB and who we essentially hated as a fanbase, in November ran all over an Alabama defense that seemed utterly flustered at times, despite FSU's game plan including just 14 pass attempts, nine of which were completions.

FIFY.

 

[81usaf92]

I think the number of A-list coaches willing to come deal with the pressures related to Alabama are almost exactly 0 -- unless some of the actual insiders on here know differently.


FIFY.

Well DeBoer was brought in here to solve the NIL disparity gap between us and those with deeper pockets in our conference. To a large degree he has been successful in terms of getting the players he needs and wants here but development is still a reoccurring issue here. So we have two options… 1) hope this is a Ryan Day situation in which we have to get used to alot of setbacks before the payoff or 2) try something else with just as many questions.

Right now the two best candidates available are probably Rhule and Golesh.

 

[bamaga]

Todays match up.....UT ($22.2M) vs OSU ( $20.2M)....winner! ....we have $15.9M in this team this year...so the money is there...FSU was $10M for reference

Rembember

Todays match up.....UT ($22.2M) vs OSU ( $20.2M)....winner! ....we have $15.9M in this team this year...so the money is there...FSU was $10M for reference

as Nick Saban said” it’s not how much you spend, If you don’t pay the right guys , you’re SOL”

 

[denver]

Rembember

as Nick Saban said” it’s not how much you spend, If you don’t pay the right guys , you’re SOL”

100%. Deboer is a loyalty first guy, maybe that is the big mistake...we needed to bring in better players on the DL and OL but he stuck with who we had last season for the most part...and both of those were second-best to FSU yesterday..