After LSU the players were still talking about the win during the Texas A&M week. I do not think our players heads were in that game until the 2nd quarter........ Far too late.
I have not heard a peep out of Alabama this week, kind of like the NC game last year. UGA and their fans are running their head all week. I think we beat them down.
Yeah, all the talk about LSU bleeding into the TAMU week concerned me. I had legitimate worries because we had history of sputtering around in the game following LSU the last few years. In 2007, it was the beginning of an all-out collapse. In 2008 through 2011, I felt Alabama didn't play very well against MSU...State's offensive ineptitude kept it from being a real fight and we'd pull away in the second half. TAMU had a track record of starting fast in every week leading up to the game. The perfect storm happened - TAMU fast start as expected compounded by Alabama malaise - and Alabama dug too much of a hole to climb out even with TAMU's second half struggles they've demonstrated against quality opponents.
I didn't think we'd lose because I thought we'd protect the football better than what happened that Saturday. TAMU's defense hadn't produced a lot of takeaways and we didn't give very many up either. That went sour too and it was all she wrote...but I saw all the circumstances for legitimate upset potential all week.
This week, I see a team that is pretty relaxed given the stakes. They're focused on the goal and the opponent lining up against them. This week has been odd because prior to the Auburn game and into Monday, I felt all the analysis pointed towards UGA pulling out a tough one. Their defense seemed to finally have it together, their runningbacks had gotten back on track after some struggles mid-season, and Alabama had not really looked "great" all of November (if that is possible with two shutouts).
As the media attention has increased, it just seems like Georgia is wound up like a top, a little overly concerned with declaring that Alabama is "merely mortal," and generally a little over-concerned with the stakes or context (how ever you want to put it). Sometimes this works for teams: they embrace the moment, the attention, and "all of the lights" then flourish on the field. Drake's twitter comments withstanding, Alabama is not really rattling the cage either. I'm a firm believer that our 2010 unit is better than this one yet they are 60 minutes from a title berth (that is how the cookie crumbles some years), but I wouldn't want to tell any Saban-coached Alabama team that they aren't as talented as you. This team did get beat by 4 TDs earlier this year, it's not like this is the '01 Miami or '95 Nebraska roster here.
The reason this is important to me is because of the identity Murray/Jarvis Jones-led Georgia has had the last two years: they seem to consistently get "wound up like a top" and make too many mental errors whether it is bad penalties or untimely turnovers. Seeing a team talk like they're repeating the same mental conditioning errors as before excites me as a Bama fan. If this game was played on the video games where it is all about execution and no mental clutter, Georgia wins this game most of the time. It isn't played like that...it is played with real flesh and blood 19-22 year-old young men. Right now, Georgia feels like they're peaking too early.