Bama Game Thread: Official Postgame Thread - Bama vs. UTw...

[BamaMoon]

I understand what you are saying but, unfortunately those final 13:56 count and the defense failed to do much of anything when we needed it most. Texas had the ball for about 10 of that final 14 minutes.

Like I said the dam broke.

If our offense can't make first downs and move the chains for extended amounts of time, how can that not happen against a Sark led team?

If we have any kind of offensive identity in the first 3 quarters (before the big bomb TD at the end of it), Texas is not scoring 34 points. They'd been lucky to even get to 20.

The struggle for most of us older Bama fans is we may still believe defense wins NCs. That's like saying the best way to watch a movie today is to go down to the nearest Blockbuster and rent a movie for your VCR.

I do think a good defense can be the offense's best friend, but if you are going to win college football games in the 2020's you better have an offense that can put points on the board. I don't care how good your defense is. There will be at least 3 or 4 games each year you'll have to win in a shootout.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Part of me thinks it’s more like 1976

Man I hope you are right.

By the way, the worst part about this weekend's result? We have not been able to mock Texas 8&4 sufficiently.

 

[colbysullivan]

There is a big difference between fault and blame. I don’t blame Milroe at all. He is exactly who I thought he was after the aTm game last year. It’s 90% his fault we lost the game. The blame is 100% on Saban.

 

[AWRTR]

A few unconnected thoughts:

1. While most of the comments here about the problems on offense, and rightly so, I think the total absence of a pash rush last night is just as alarming. Ewers' jersey looked like it had just come out of the dryer at the end of the game. As good as our secondary is, there's no way they could hold up when a quality QB is utterly unbothered in the pocket and has elite WRs to throw to.

2. Kudos to Sark for crediting Saban for saving his career (and his life) after the game. He was on the skids when he entered the Saban Home for Wayward Coaches, and the rigorous annual physical Saban requires of his assistants revealed a heart problem that needed surgery. Full credit to him for a well-prepared team and an outstanding game plan.

3. Interesting how the units for TX that essentially won them the game are coached by former Bama assistants. Key for the OL and Bo Davis for the DL. As for Sark's other ex-UA assistant, at least our kicking team outperformed Stripper Monkey Guy's unit.

4. How will you feel if the same OL and QB get the vast majority of run on Saturday?

Answering your question on number 4 I will just facepalm and move on. I can't affect any of it, and will resign myself to a tough season ahead.

 

[AWRTR]

Like I said the dam broke.

If our offense can't make first downs and move the chains for extended amounts of time, how can that not happen against a Sark led team?

If we have any kind of offensive identity in the first 3 quarters (before the big bomb TD at the end of it), Texas is not scoring 34 points. They'd been lucky to even get to 20.

The struggle for most of us older Bama fans is we may still believe defense wins NCs. That's like saying the best way to watch a movie today is to go down to the nearest Blockbuster and rent a movie for your VCR.

I do think a good defense can be the offense's best friend, but if you are going to win college football games in the 2020's you better have an offense that can put points on the board. I don't care how good your defense is. There will be at least 3 or 4 games each year you'll have to win in a shootout.

You have hit the nail on the head. It doesn't matter how the offense scores as long as they are good and consistent. You can be spread, RPO based, smash mouth out of the I formation. It really doesn't matter. You just have to maximize your scoring opportunities and be able to give your defense some breathing room.

 

[Bamaatthebeach]

This weekend was humbling. A week ago I was laughing at Clemson. This week it's not so funny.
I think Sark wanted this game very badly as did his team, and they played lights out. There is no telling how long they have been waiting for that game.

I'm like everybody else. Who knows if they'll get it together or not? If 2020 or earlier, I wouldn't even bother wondering, but now I honestly have no idea. I do think our defense is a lot better. Was the DL good Saturday, no, not at all, though I do think the level of play is elevated versus the previous coordinator. When the offense doesn't allow them much time off the field, though, what can you expect?

 

[SkullDuckery]

A few unconnected thoughts:

1. While most of the comments here about the problems on offense, and rightly so, I think the total absence of a pash rush last night is just as alarming. Ewers' jersey looked like it had just come out of the dryer at the end of the game. As good as our secondary is, there's no way they could hold up when a quality QB is utterly unbothered in the pocket and has elite WRs to throw to.

2. Kudos to Sark for crediting Saban for saving his career (and his life) after the game. He was on the skids when he entered the Saban Home for Wayward Coaches, and the rigorous annual physical Saban requires of his assistants revealed a heart problem that needed surgery. Full credit to him for a well-prepared team and an outstanding game plan.

3. Interesting how the units for TX that essentially won them the game are coached by former Bama assistants. Key for the OL and Bo Davis for the DL. As for Sark's other ex-UA assistant, at least our kicking team outperformed Stripper Monkey Guy's unit.

4. How will you feel if the same OL and QB get the vast majority of run on Saturday?

DL hasn’t been the same since Bo was here.

 

[CajunCrimson]

DL hasn’t been the same since Bo was here.

I don't know for sure -- if it was Bo or not. But we tapped into some amazing talent during those years -- and maybe like the WR run we had a few years later, it's just stars aligning, etc --

 

[Krymsonman]

This weekend was humbling. A week ago I was laughing at Clemson. This week it's not so funny.
I think Sark wanted this game very badly as did his team, and they played lights out. There is no telling how long they have been waiting for that game.

I'm like everybody else. Who knows if they'll get it together or not? If 2020 or earlier, I wouldn't even bother wondering, but now I honestly have no idea. I do think our defense is a lot better. Was the DL good Saturday, no, not at all, though I do think the level of play is elevated versus the previous coordinator. When the offense doesn't allow them much time off the field, though, what can you expect?

Dead on. I think Sark and Texas considered this game the Holy Grail of games, and they had to win it or the season was over. Couple Sark's game plan with our lack of any kind of offensive identity and the result was not surprising. Despite all of this, as crappy as we were, take away the turnovers and we have a tie game. If we can learn from this, and I certainly hope we will, the season is not dead. Roll Tide!

 

[teamplayer]

Dead on. I think Sark and Texas considered this game the Holy Grail of games, and they had to win it or the season was over. Couple Sark's game plan with our lack of any kind of offensive identity and the result was not surprising. Despite all of this, as crappy as we were, take away the turnovers and we have a tie game. If we can learn from this, and I certainly hope we will, the season is not dead. Roll Tide!

The problem is that we are every team's Holy Grail. It is one of the most amazing things about Saban's run at Bama. He has just kept producing championship quality team after championship quality team. We are now to a point that our execution has to be flawless against several teams each year, and that just increases the difficulty. This team definitely has some work that needs to be done, but this team also has a lot of talent. I'll keep watching to see how it turns out. Roll Tide!

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I don't know for sure -- if it was Bo or not. But we tapped into some amazing talent during those years -- and maybe like the WR run we had a few years later, it's just stars aligning, etc --

One thing I've noticed is it appears when it comes to our DL, specifically the defensive tackles, we do not have the "quick twitch" guys we did with Q Williams, Payne, J Allen, etc. In contrast, Saturday night it appeared that our OL was getting beat at that fraction of a second when the ball is snapped and the OL and DL explode to contact. Which, IMO, points to their DT's having quick twitch explosive movements and our DT's do not. Regardless of our scheme, J Allen, Q Williams, D Payne used to constantly penetrate the backfield. We haven't had that in several years.

 

[CrimsonBloodn62]

One thing I've noticed is it appears when it comes to our DL, specifically the defensive tackles, we do not have the "quick twitch" guys we did with Q Williams, Payne, J Allen, etc. In contrast, Saturday night it appeared that our OL was getting beat at that fraction of a second when the ball is snapped and the OL and DL explode to contact. which, IMO, points to their DT's having quick twitch explosive movements and our DT's do not. Regardless of our scheme, J Allen, Q Williams, D Payne used to constantly penetrate the backfield. We haven't had that in several years.

They were also penetrating the offensive line while being held and never getting the holding call to boot.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

They were also penetrating the offensive line while being held and never getting the holding call to boot.

Yeah, and that's what made it even more obvious, we couldn't even "hold" and keep them from blowing past us. LOL!

 

[Cruloc]

There is a big difference between fault and blame. I don’t blame Milroe at all. He is exactly who I thought he was after the aTm game last year. It’s 90% his fault we lost the game. The blame is 100% on Saban.

Unless Buchner and Simpson are both turnover prone as well. But who knows, neither see any game action except for Buchner last year.

Saban even said he thought about pulling Milroe, then we got a TD. Maybe what we have behind Milroe is no better or Saban is just going with the kid that's been there the longest, I don't know. Milroe just isn't the answer vs a good team and we all see it. He'll have a spectacular play here and there, but he'll have some absolutely horrible plays mixed in. The margin for error in big time college football doesn't allow the kind of errors he makes.

With that said though, if someone other than Milroe is in at QB, are they able to handle these groundball snaps from McLaughlin? Why is that even an issue? Are the RB's going to suddenly not get obliterated in blitz pickup? Are fast DE's suddenly not going to be able to get around our LT?

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Unless Buchner and Simpson are both turnover prone as well. But who knows, neither see any game action except for Buchner last year.

Saban even said he thought about pulling Milroe, then we got a TD. Maybe what we have behind Milroe is no better or Saban is just going with the kid that's been there the longest, I don't know. Milroe just isn't the answer vs a good team and we all see it. He'll have a spectacular play here and there, but he'll have some absolutely horrible plays mixed in. The margin for error in big time college football doesn't allow the kind of errors he makes.

With that said though, if someone other than Milroe is in at QB, are they able to handle these groundball snaps from McLaughlin? Why is that even an issue? Are the RB's going to suddenly not get obliterated in blitz pickup? Are fast DE's suddenly not going to be able to get around our LT?

Hopefully, we will see this Saturday, because we cannot afford to waste this game not testing the waters with at least Buchner. Simpson, I have no idea what to think about him, to be honest. But at minimum, Buchner needs to get a lot of meaningful snaps on Saturday.

 

[Cruloc]

Hopefully, we will see this Saturday, because we cannot afford to waste this game not testing the waters with at least Buchner. Simpson, I have no idea what to think about him, to be honest. But at minimum, Buchner needs to get a lot of meaningful snaps on Saturday.

I'd rather being taking lumps with Lonergan in getting experience than with a kid that's been there for 3 years and can't read defenses.

Simpson, I guess the light has just never come on for him or there some other issue. Kid was highly highly rated, but its just not showing up.

Buchner, he's the only one with experience and I'd imagine Rees is more comfortable with him. Seeing Rees look like he just didn't know what to do Saturday was troubling, but if Milroe is making bad decisions, it doesn't matter if even Sark or Kiffin were calling plays.

Lonergan, I have no info on this kid other than that he apparently looks like he knows what he's doing and has a leadership quality about him.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I think we learn on Saturday what direction we're looking to take for the rest of the season with QB and possibly a few Oline spots as well.

I'd rather being taking lumps with Lonergan in getting experience than with a kid that's been there for 3 years and can't read defenses.

Simpson, I guess the light has just never come on for him or there some other issue. Kid was highly highly rated, but its just not showing up.

Buchner, he's the only one with experience and I'd imagine Rees is more comfortable with him. Seeing Rees look like he just didn't know what to do Saturday was troubling, but if Milroe is making bad decisions, it doesn't matter if even Sark or Kiffin were calling plays.

Lonergan, I have no info on this kid other than that he apparently looks like he knows what he's doing and has a leadership quality about him.

 

[BamaMoon]

I'd rather being taking lumps with Lonergan in getting experience than with a kid that's been there for 3 years and can't read defenses.

Simpson, I guess the light has just never come on for him or there some other issue. Kid was highly highly rated, but its just not showing up.

Buchner, he's the only one with experience and I'd imagine Rees is more comfortable with him. Seeing Rees look like he just didn't know what to do Saturday was troubling, but if Milroe is making bad decisions, it doesn't matter if even Sark or Kiffin were calling plays.

Lonergan, I have no info on this kid other than that he apparently looks like he knows what he's doing and has a leadership quality about him.

So the word on Simpson is he was trying to match Milroe's long ball in spring and fall camp, instead of doing what he's probably more capable of than JM.

It would seem to me that he would realize the opportunity to show his short to midrange passing skills and perhaps get a new look.

Will CNS give him a shot? Will TS just be willing to not try to show out and just do the basic stuff???

 

[dvldog]

We were generally terrible on first down outside of the first drive. Seemed like our tendency to pass unsuccessfully on first down really put us behind the sticks which also hurt the run game.

 

[colbysullivan]

If Milroe starts against USF, then Saban has learned a damn thing.