Let me be the first to say the Dogs go down in Jax next year to the Gators! I believe it. I can visualize it. I have seen it happen many ,many times in person. And I’m really not afraid to say it will happen.
Guy can really coach and bring a game plan. In 2 years we are going to rule the east.
You have to look at who the losses were to and where teams started and were ranked as the season progressed. We lost to Kentucky, Missouri & Georgia. Georgia lost to LSU, Alabama & Texas. LSU lost to Alabama, UF & Texas A&M. Also, Georgia has been ranked higher than us all season and they beat us convincingly. Plus Georgia has 11 wins, UF & LSU have 10. I think my logic is correct and we shall see. But I know LSU will not be ranked ahead of either Georgia or Florida and I will be surprised if we are ranked ahead of Georgia.
Georgia will be ranked ahead of Florida & LSU. Get back to me after the final rankings come out on Tuesday. If I'm wrong I'll admit it. Will you?
I ask you what exactly saban does these days other than run the program as a CEO and then patrol the sidelines during games in the true spirit of Bobby Bowden. His coaches do all the work with the team, he is simply observing and giving suggestions to the coaching staff at this point. Don't get me wrong, he knows how to BUILD a program, that's how he got to where he is, and he knows how to stack coordinators and assistant coaches year after year, but being at Alabama, that place recruits for itself. Do you think Nick Saban does in-home recruiting trips?
As far as this goes, I would love to say we're going to build on 2018 for next year, but we've lost 4 out of 5 of our senior laden offensive line. One of the biggest changes in what made 2018 a success was the massive improvement to our offensive line. 37 sacks in 2017 down to 18 and we played an extra 2 games this year too. Will we have the offensive line next year we had here this year? Certainly not. It CAN be good but the majority of the guys on it will be first time starters and talent just won't make up for the lack of experience. Not at first. All these Freshmen coming in will not be big or strong enough to contribute a lot yet either. This is the one and only reason I think we are going to have a bit of a drop in 2019. The offense should get smoother under a second year of consistent coaching. Defense should be about the same or improve depending on how the line replaces itself. The DBs can only improve from their position this year and LB is going to be young but definitely have depth.
Yes it is really a 50/50 on if they drop only 1 place to land right ahead of us at 6. But just as easily the voters can say we've been playing better the last half of the season and have improved our game, which we have. We ended the season with the #22 scoring offense averaging 35 points a game, a 2TD improvement over 2017's offense. They ended the year with 2 back to back losses. It could all come down to perception. On that note, why are we so much higher ranked than Kentucky even though we have identical records and they beat us heads up? So it can happen. What I hold faith in is that they came out so completely flat and arrogant against Texas, that they played so damn badly and were so out matched and out coached, that the voters will feel it is necessary to drop them MORE than just 1 spot.
Exactly. We were leading on the scoreboard in the 3rd quarter and we completely shut their running game down. The only reason they ran away with it was because someone on their team finally realized we were playing the whole game without our two top DBs for the game and started picking on our corners in the 4th quarter. For anyone that watched the game, there was nothing convincing about that win as we outplayed them, albeit gave them a gift of 3 turnovers for our part. Fix the turnovers and the DB play in the 4th quarter and we won that game.
Yeah Oline is going to be a tough spot...I'm not as worried as much about our record next season...more about the continuing positive direction of the program. We'll be good enough but when those players get experience we will be strong moving forward.
You are way off on Saban. He has his hands in and on every aspect of that team, and that means practices, too. A CEO? Shirley you jest.
That's basically the voters remembering the asspounding that LSU gave Georgia during the normal season when they were looking hard at how far UGLY should drop. None of them really went back and remembered our squeaker win over LSU at home, or if they did it didn't stand out in their minds. The beatdowns count in this day and age. Just winning the game doesn't matter anymore. They looked at UGLY, saw UT thrashed them, and then said where were the other 2 losses so we can see just how far to drop them. Alabama was respectable of course, but looking at LSU, then they went and made the logical leap that LSU winning a NY6 game and having the same # of losses should jump UGLY. I could make that assumption as well. Florida's winning streak at the end doesn't get much comparative thought and other than jortgia's butthole, we took the worst pounding in the polls based on the work delivered at the end.
Yet I still maintain my original assumption that Saban is not the game day miracle worker on the sidelines that people think he is. He has been riding on his laurels and letting the assistants do the work for years now. I contend that he is closer to a Bobby Bowden type head coach, offering insight to his assistants every so often, or suggestions. When it comes time for him to actually manage a real fist fight of a game, he clearly didn't have the skills that Dabo did. Now I understand that this takes away a lot from their position coaches and the coordinators, but going in with the assumption that both teams are generally equal on talent, Bama flat out got outcoached. Nothing anyone can tell me will convince me that 16 total points at the end of the night from the 2nd best offense in the country was ALL on Clemson's defense. Other teams this year have held their own better against that same defense. Other teams in the ACC have scored more on that defense.
Not very good. But I’d say the fact he needs two hands for all his rings says it works very well. He is the GOAT and it’s not close
