Will Alabama play Oklahoma like they did Michigan State or Utah?
- Thread starter dmac.2055
- Start date
I have confidence that Coach Saban will have our players very motivated for this game. It's been 50 yrs since we've beaten OU and it would be nice to add that feather to our cap, along with Michigan, Mich St, Notre Dame, Texas, Virginia Tech, and Clemson as big OOC wins for the program since Saban got here.
"We're fired up playing Oklahoma," defensive end Jeoffrey Pagan said. "It's not for a national championship or anything, but we're going to go into it like it is.
"We're going to try to finish this season as strong as possible."
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/oklahoma-alabama-preview-170646511--ncaaf.html
"We're going to try to finish this season as strong as possible."
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/oklahoma-alabama-preview-170646511--ncaaf.html
Don't seem like everyone is as fired up as they were against ND last january. Maybe the reason is that we're not playing for all the marbles. Hope I'm wrong, all we can do is have faith in our coaches that they will have the team snot-slinging fired up when it counts.
I think the 2008 team's performance was an aberration during Saban's run. They hadn't really experienced that kind of success before, so the Florida loss was completely devastating. They had no clue how to rebound and respond (much less how to deal with the last minute loss of their best lineman).
I think this team understands that the season is not over and the seniors will do an excellent job (as they have all season) making sure this team has its mind right against Oklahoma.
You will see a performance that will more closely resemble that of the 2010 team.
I think this team understands that the season is not over and the seniors will do an excellent job (as they have all season) making sure this team has its mind right against Oklahoma.
You will see a performance that will more closely resemble that of the 2010 team.
It's true that we played a great game against Mich State. But you also have to remember that they probably didn't want to be there any more than we wanted to be in New Orleans after the 2008 SECCG.
They were tied for the best record in the Big 10, but couldn't go to the Rose Bowl because of tiebreaker rules. The specifics are fuzzy for me, but I seem to recall that it was something other than a head-to-head loss to one of the other teams. Or maybe it was a three-way tie and each of the three had beaten two of the others, but lost to the third.
Whatever the details, MSU felt they were the best team, and were denied the Rose Bowl by some bureaucrats.
So they saw a 3-loss Alabama team, underestimated us, and didn't want to be in Orlando in the first place. We were healthy for the first time all year, and were out to show the world that we were still Alabama. All that combined for an embarrassment for the Spartans.
Not an exact parallel with our own experience with Utah, but close enough to be indicative.
They were tied for the best record in the Big 10, but couldn't go to the Rose Bowl because of tiebreaker rules. The specifics are fuzzy for me, but I seem to recall that it was something other than a head-to-head loss to one of the other teams. Or maybe it was a three-way tie and each of the three had beaten two of the others, but lost to the third.
Whatever the details, MSU felt they were the best team, and were denied the Rose Bowl by some bureaucrats.
So they saw a 3-loss Alabama team, underestimated us, and didn't want to be in Orlando in the first place. We were healthy for the first time all year, and were out to show the world that we were still Alabama. All that combined for an embarrassment for the Spartans.
Not an exact parallel with our own experience with Utah, but close enough to be indicative.
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I don't think anyone will know until kickoff. And yes, there seems to be an overall lack of enthusiasm; this is the effect the BCS has had on the bowl games since it's inception. To quote Ricky Bobby's father, "if you ain't first you're last".
Go back and look at some of Stoops' comments about the SEC and how unimpressed he is. This is a perfect opportunity to put his money where his mouth is and I'm hoping that he got Coach Saban's undivided attention. I may be wrong but I see an opportune time for a reality check.
Oklahoma is the program that is the most like Alabama with such great tradition and I'm sure our players understand that so getting motivated wont be a problem.
This is a completely different team than the one that faced Utah. The 2008 team was still not totally Sabanized and suspension of Andre Smith right before the game certainly seemed to knock the team back -- at least for the first quarter of the Utah game.
This years Oklahoma team is better than 2008 Utah. If we don't come ready to play we will get beat.
I don't believe that at all. That was a solid team in 2008. This OK team has serious issues on the offensive side of the ball. Some say it is "offensive".
You never can tell. "Meaningless" bowl games are approached in different ways by different players. I always get a kick when the pundits stress that Conference A is 0-4 in bowl games this year and Conference B is 4-0, like it's wholly indicative of how good or bad said conference is.
You could have a star athlete who's already decided he's going into the draft after the game and plays not to get hurt. Some guys may party too much or relax and treat the game as a reward. Back in the day, some coaches would play a lot of younger players in the game to give them experience heading into the new season. General Neyland comes to mind.
Basically, it comes down to players wanting to win. Coaches can do this or that, but it boils down to the player having pride in himself to play the game like it should be played on every down.
You could have a star athlete who's already decided he's going into the draft after the game and plays not to get hurt. Some guys may party too much or relax and treat the game as a reward. Back in the day, some coaches would play a lot of younger players in the game to give them experience heading into the new season. General Neyland comes to mind.
Basically, it comes down to players wanting to win. Coaches can do this or that, but it boils down to the player having pride in himself to play the game like it should be played on every down.
We also lost Mike Johnson in the 1st Q, who replaced Andre. That quick DE for Utah ate up JPW from the backside all night long. This was a crucial factor in that game.
Yeah, that statement was definitely not very accurate IMO. That Utah team was undefeated all season long and had a few players that went on to play in the NFL IIRC.
This Oklahoma team has 2 embarrassing losses and has looked completely inept at times. I remember watching the Baylor game and thinking Alabama would crush either of those teams. We'll see if that comes true...
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