Link: Various columnists opine on the Tide's win over UGA

[4thGenBamaGrad]

Collection of articles from various columnists about the Tide. Feel free to add some more. The best one is Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel, who had a great column about John Parker Wilson this week, and obviously had more interaction in the locker room than other national media.


Wetzel, Yahoo Sports: "Sour Saban bedevils Dawgs"

Whatever enjoyment everyone else had as the league’s traditional kingpin stumbled is officially over. The Tide has turned. This is a program in progress, yet with both power and potential. Anything seems possible right now. If not this year, then soon enough.....

“We got outscored 30-10 in the second half,” he barked.

This is exactly the mindset that delivered Bama here a year ahead of schedule.

Twice in his postgame media conference Saban banged his fist on the table, aftershocks of frustrations from some bad, if unimportant, play. He went on long tangents about mental strength. Every bit of praise was followed by twice the criticism. He frowned even more than usual.

“That is not how we want to play, that is not how we play and we should not be happy about that,” he said. “I hope we learn.”
​

Staples, Sports Illustrated: "The long kiss goodnight for UGA"

We gather here tonight to pay our respects to the national championship hopes of the Georgia Bulldogs. Please gather 'round the gravesite. The Bulldogs' national title dreams will be interred at the 50-yard line, near the spot where, in tonight's first quarter, 365-pound Alabama nose tackle Terrence Cody flattened Georgia tailback Knowshon Moreno after a screen pass. The Right Rev. Larry Munsoncouldn't be here tonight to deliver the eulogy, but we can guess at what he might have said.
​

Forde, ESPN: "Alabama delivers last rites to Georgia, arrives on title scene"

As the Alabama strength coach famously predicted during practice last week, the blackout was a bleepin' funeral for Georgia, 41-30. In fact, the blackout was a blowout until two late embalming fluid touchdowns by the overwhelmed home team. Rest in pieces, Bulldogs.
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Zemek, FoxSports: "Alabama makes big statement in win over Georgia"

Alabama's funeral service — a lavish liturgy exceeding three hours in length and witnessed by more than 90,000 worshippers, most of them mourners — stands tall for many reasons, chief among them the fact that the Tide finally throttled a foe with legitimate national-title credentials. With this five-star, top-of-the-line victory — the kind that decides difficult BCS debates on the first weekend of December — the boys from 'Bama announced to the college football world that this signature program has firmly and forcefully returned to the ranks of the sport's elite.​

Glier, New York Times: "Rebuilt Alabama Unveils Its Power"

To the talk of Alabama’s vaulting into the top five in college football this week and becoming part of the national championship discussion, Saban, Alabama’s coach, had a terse response.
“I’m not interested,” he said.
Saban’s pleas are becoming less reasonable to outsiders because his team is arriving ahead of schedule as a powerhouse. The Crimson Tide scored on its first five possessions Saturday, built a 31-0 halftime lead, then relaxed and won, 41-30, over the Bulldogs (4-1), who were riding an 11-game winning streak.
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Bradley, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Tidal wave blacked out Georgia’s hopes"

Forget Corso and Herbstreit. Forget Holtz and May. Forget, for that matter, anything you might have read in this space about Georgia being really good this year. For guidance in matters concerning college football, you had only to read the financial magazine Forbes, which last month proclaimed Nick Saban “the most powerful coach in sports.”
​

Schultz, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Reality hits Dogs like a truck"

Alabama was tougher, and smarter, and better. At everything.

“I don’t think we were overwhelmed,” defensive tackle Geno Atkins said. “I felt we were ready. They just came out and smacked us in the face and jumped on us.”
​

Cecil Hurt, Tuscaloosa News: "Alabama can't be ignored"

Alabama didn’t look for any motivation beyond the chance to get back on a football field and hit someone in the mouth. It was the Crimson Tide that exuded quiet confidence all week. By Saturday, more than a few observers noted that the roles seemed reversed, that Alabama was already looking like a contender and Georgia like a pretender.
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Scarbinsky, Birmingham News: "Alabama is back, and this time, we mean it"

Go ahead. Now you can say it. Now you can use the words ``Alabama’’ and ``national championship’’ in the present tense.
Don’t be shy. Now you can think it.
This season’s BCS Championship Game will be played in Miami.


Wouldn’t that be just like Nick Saban? To return to south Florida and shove his new team down everyone’s throat?
​

 

[Crimson Surfer]

Thanks for taking the time to link all those stories. I am sure there will be some more good ones to add to this thread this week.

 

[bamaga]

from the SI article

The quickest way to lose a football game is to get dominated at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. "We got ourselves into a mess," Richt said. "I don't know how else to explain it other than Alabama took it to us

dominated, seems to be a common theme in Bama games this year


from fox sports, I like this one

Remember the hobnailed boot Georgia used to break Tennessee's nose in 2001? Nick Saban, John Parker Wilson and the rest of the Alabama Crimson Tide found that sucker between the hedges and whaled away Saturday night.

 

[4thGenBamaGrad]

​

Alabama pic above headlined the SportingNews.com's regular feature, "The Alphabetical: NCAA Football, Week 5" and the item below is a thing of beauty worth framing!:

C is for Cro-mag’d. Humiliating Georgia is one thing, but doing it in a manner that has the fanbase giddily waxing their pickups on a sunny Sunday morning is quite another. It’s not just that Alabama packed the brass knuckles and blackjack for their trip to Athens and, yes, turned the Blackout into “a motherf---ing funeral,” as Alabama strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran would call it.

It’s that Saban’s team, while indelibly his own -- the Cover 2 noose on display should have given you frightening flashbacks of Saban’s LSU teams -- still looked so much like the great Tide teams of the past. The lines were tree-shredder nasty; Coffee, Upchurch, and Ingram pounded north/south runs all night long with obstinate cruelty; John Parker Wilson deserved an Emmy for playing the role of Jay Barker with a better haircut for most of the night.

Your spread foolishness be damned: Bama’s beatdown was pure cromag football in all its brutal, pounding glory.
​

 

[Tider@GW_Law]

Staples, Sports Illustrated: "The long kiss goodnight for UGA"

We gather here tonight to pay our respects to the national championship hopes of the Georgia Bulldogs. Please gather 'round the gravesite. The Bulldogs' national title dreams will be interred at the 50-yard line, near the spot where, in tonight's first quarter, 365-pound Alabama nose tackle Terrence Cody flattened Georgia tailback Knowshon Moreno after a screen pass. The Right Rev. Larry Munsoncouldn't be here tonight to deliver the eulogy, but we can guess at what he might have said.
​

I liked the following quotes from that column :

Wilson smiled enough for both of them. With Smith, left guard Mike Johnson, center Antoine Caldwell, right guard Marlon Davis and right tackle Drew Davis protecting him, he had to feel like a visiting head of state. On one second-quarter play, Wilson had enough time to read his progressions, balance his checkbook and knit a sweater before throwing a strike to one of three open receivers. "That guy just had too much time to watch everything develop," Georgia coach Mark Richt said.
. . .
But before we throw the final shovelfuls of dirt on the title aspirations of USC, Georgia and Florida, let's remember one thing: LSU lost twice and still won the 2007 national title. Those hopes can be resurrected faster than Alabama's Cody can break a futon. Still, on a Saturday night in Athens when everyone wore black, it felt like a funeral. The sign one Alabama fan held as the clock wound down cinched it. It bore three letters.
R.I.P.

 

[ghickok234]

This is pretty good too!

G is for Gelling. Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge appear to be gelling nicely after a bumpy start, if the Bama/Georgia broadcast is any indication of an emerging trend. Patrick was enthusiastic and concise Saturday night and kept the non-sequiturs in check, while Blackledge (aside from wearing a ghastly tie) did a superb job delineating Alabama’s gameplan for the viewer. (Not that the gameplan was that complex: “1. Beat hell out of Georgia’s defense. 2. Beat hell out of Georgia’s offense. 3. Repeat until 60:00 elapses.”)

 

[4thGenBamaGrad]

Stewart Mandel, SI.com, "Five Things We Learned This Weekend"

1. That Alabama's O-line is Overpowering. Of all the impressive moments in the Crimson Tide's depantsing of Georgia -- and if you watched, you know there were many -- the one that stood out to me most was a seemingly simple four-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter. Roy Upchurch took a quick handoff on the draw -- and proceeded to run through a hole the size of Athens. Each 'Bama blocker sealed off his man like he was forming a police baracade, and Upchurch was not touched until his teammates were congratulating him.
It was like that all night for the Tide, just like it was in their season-opening rout of Clemson. A replay of one long running play showed tackle Andre Smith manhandling an opposing defender 10 yards downfield. Meanwhile, 'Bama QB John Parker Wilson (13-of-16, 205 yards and a TD) spent most of the night standing on his own private island. Other top-10 teams may have more stat-happy QBs or more flashy skill players, but if, like me, you believe games are won in the trenches, you know why Nick Saban's team is as suited as anyone for a national-title run.


2. That the Urban Meyer aura is wearing off. He arrived from Utah as the sport's most intriguing new coaching figure, and he backed up the hype almost immediately by delivering a national title in just his second season. But following the Gators' inexplicable home loss to Ole Miss on Saturday, Meyer's team has gone just 6-4 over its past 10 SEC games. Most puzzling of all is how the coach's once-feared offense -- the one that was expected to truly take off once he had "his own guys" -- has regressed considerably in Tim Tebow's second year at the helm.
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[Bama1970]

Just think,, most of those folks hated Bama a year ago.:biggrin:

 

[bamaga]

This is pretty good too!

G is for Gelling. Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge appear to be gelling nicely after a bumpy start, if the Bama/Georgia broadcast is any indication of an emerging trend. Patrick was enthusiastic and concise Saturday night and kept the non-sequiturs in check, while Blackledge (aside from wearing a ghastly tie) did a superb job delineating Alabama’s gameplan for the viewer. (Not that the gameplan was that complex: “1. Beat hell out of Georgia’s defense. 2. Beat hell out of Georgia’s offense. 3. Repeat until 60:00 elapses.”)

my favorite

 

[bat123]

Saban is that persistent in pursuit of perfection. It's why he treats praise like poison. It's why the thought of Alabama ranked No. 1 is at least mildly appalling. It's why he smiles less than Spock.

"I'm happy," he said, "even though I don't look happy."

He never looks happy. Public happiness might be construed as satisfaction, and satisfaction could lead to slacking off, and slacking off could lead to losing, and Nick Saban would rather sleep with snakes than lose

My favorite quote and I think it says it all...............

 

[TommyMac]

Looks like Coach Saban is force-feeding an elephant sized helping of crow to lots of folks. :biggrin:

 

[Tider@GW_Law]

My favorite quote and I think it says it all...............

I was thinking about this the other night as I was watching "There Will Be Blood" for the 3rd or 4th time, if Saban was an oil man, I bet he would be a slightly watered down version of Daniel Plainview. They're both intensely focused, are never satisfied, thrive on competition, and among the best at what they do.

If Plainview was a football coach, I bet he would be saying a lot of the same things that Saban does, e.g. I want to dominate them on every play, never lose your intensity, keep the heel on their throat, etc.

Saban of course has a moral compass and hasn't yet gone into a murderous rage that we know of - but the intensely competitive spirit is there.

To sum it up, I would like to see Saban tell an opposing coach, "I'll drink your milkshake," just once.

I would wear a T-shirt that said, "Saban will drink your milkshake." (Done in the font of the movie logo of course). I'm thinking others might to???

 

[4thGenBamaGrad]

I always find the non-national (and non-wire), out-of-state stories about the Tide fascinating--simply because these writers are writing to an audience that may not care about SEC football, and, therefore, have to have a good reason to write such columns.

Dick Weiss, New York Daily News - "Nick Saban has Alabama on the move after beating No. 3 Georgia"

It's hard to leapfrog the eighth-ranked Tide past unbeaten Oklahoma, which also looked impressive during a 35-10 victory over TCU in Norman, or LSU. Sam Bradford - who is generating growing support as the best quarterback in the Big 12, passed for 411 yards and three long touchdowns of 76, 55 and 63 yards to Manuel Johnson, who is starting to look more and more like OU's all-time great Mark Clayton.

Granted, the Tide has road wins over Georgia and Clemson, who were both ranked in the Top 10 at the time; but it's hard to say they should be ranked ahead of unbeaten LSU, which has that huge road victory over Auburn on its resume.

But it is time to celebrate Saban, who won a national championship at LSU in 2003 before participating in a failed experiment with the Miami Dolphins. He is back in college where he belongs and looks like the best coach at Alabama since the late Bear Bryant.
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[Special K]

Just think,, most of those folks hated Bama a year ago.:biggrin:

Most of them still hate us, but if they are hyper-critical now it would be too obvious that they have an agenda against us. Wait and see what happens if we lose one.

 

[RolltideFanz]

The amazing thing in all this, to me, is that the media and all the talking-heads actually see this game for what it was, a complete dismantling of Georgia. There's no talk at all about their "amazing comeback" or whatever you want to call it; they see it was for it was, destruction on the field.

Gotta give 'em credit -- maybe some of them do "have a lick of sense".

 

[rhYno]

http://www.al.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/sports/1222503392238760.xml&coll=2

go ahead. Now you can say it. Now you can use the words ``alabama’’ and ``national championship’’ in the present tense.
don’t be shy. Now you can think it.
this season’s bcs championship game will be played in miami.


wouldn’t that be just like nick saban? To return to south florida and shove his new team down everyone’s throat?
​

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I'm so going! I am so going!

Please make it alabama!!! Pleeeeeaaaasssseeee!!!!!

 

[bamagradinATL]

Those are some big time publications that are writing about Bama. It feels good to be once again thought of as an elite team and a national power.

 

[Leeroy]

Just think,, most of those folks hated Bama a year ago.:biggrin:

They still do. And, they would like nothing better than to see us falter. Media hasn't changed, we have.




Roll Tide

 

[Crimson Surfer]

Here are a couple more from Mobile Press-Register Sports Columnists Tommy Hicks and Mike Herndon.

Saban turns Tide faster than expected

That didn't take long.

Just 18 games into his tenure as Alabama's head coach, Nick Saban has delivered on the promise that led athletics director Mal Moore to pay him $32 million over eight years to take over the reins of the Crimson Tide's football program.

OK, so some in the Bama Nation believe that happened the moment Saban said yes to the job offer. But it gained legitimacy Saturday night in Athens with Alabama's dominating 41-30 win over the Georgia Bulldogs. It wasn't just a win, it was a smackdown. It wasn't just a victory, it was a statement.

Saban puts his stamp on team

About this time three years ago, there was a lot of talk around the Alabama football program about signature wins. Mike Shula finally got his John Hancock moment with a 31-3 pasting of Florida, and a year later he was out of a job.

You don't hear any talk about a signature win for Nick Saban. That occurred back in 2003 when he led LSU to the national championship. You can't write your name much more legibly than that.

But with Saturday night's nationally televised 41-30 whitewashing of black-shirted Georgia, Saban put his imprint on the Alabama program in bright crimson ink.

 

[Crimson Surfer]

Ray Melick from the Birmingham News writes a fairly good column about the Bama win. In his usual style he does manage to try to dampen the Tide fans enthusiasm a bit in the end.

Crimson Tide takes on personality of Saban

But then, that's one more reason to love college football. Every week is a playoff game. A single loss feels like it ruins a team's chance of playing for the national championship. And there is no accounting for college football's greatest equalizer: emotion. Consider last week, when Oregon State played with tremendous emotion to upset Southern Cal, while Georgia played with tremendous emotion but is upset by Alabama.

Which is all the more reason for Saban to worry.

But that's OK. The "Most Powerful Coach in Sports" is paid to worry about cracks in the foundation, sinkholes in the driveway, monsters hiding under the bed, and sudden appearances as the No. 2 team in the nation when he isn't sure his team is ready for it.