How do you feel about the Sugar Bowl loss?
- Thread starter TommyMac
- Start date
Do you really think those kids on the 1966 team had a great knowledge of the Rose Bowl teams of the 20's and 30's? Of course not, but they knew that they were on the precipiece of CFB history and they took care of business. The voters let them down, but they didn't let themselves down and I bet that's a bit of pride that they'll take to their graves.
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I do not disagree with any of this, Tommy. Of course having CPB as the head man then and being an alum and player back in the 1930s bridged that gap, unlike today. I will always believe that the 1966 team was CPB's best of all his 1960s teams and probably as good as some of his NC teams of the 1970s. I just believe that the coaches and athletes in today's game do not enjoy nor emphasize the history of Alabama football.
And 26% of the 1966 team was from out of state. 58% of the Spring 2012 roster was out of state players.
Think that many out of state kids know about the history of the program? Probably not. The coaches can fix that.
The while not having enough homegrown players is a total myth. Look at the barn most of their roster is from Georgia. When Tubs was the HC they also recruited a lot from Florida. OU recruits heavy in Texas IE Adrian Peterson.
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I'm still not convened that OU was the best team in 2000. They may have beaten FSU to finish 13-0 but they didn't play Miami (who beat FSU earlier and then got robbed in the BCS) who along with all that 2001 talent had Reggie Wayne, Santana Moss, and Dan Morgan. Anyways I'm going to be pulling hard for OU this year because I'd love a rematch.
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"How do you feel about the Sugar Bowl loss?"
I feel swell about it. And by swell, I mean I'm having an anaphylactic reaction...
I feel swell about it. And by swell, I mean I'm having an anaphylactic reaction...
I can't believe that some of y'all actually think that the player's knowledge (or lack of) of the history of Alabama football is really some sort of an excuse for such an uninspired effort in the SB.
Our history should not have been even the slightest factor in that loss. Personal pride should have been all that was needed, and please spare me any hokum about the IB loss killing their spirit, their will to win or anything of the sort. They were facing a quality opponent in a BCS bowl on national TV and representing their school, their conference and most importantly, THEMSELVES. History and tradition aside, it's just gotta mean more than that, competitors don't just go through the motions in such situations. They COMPETE!
It's hard for me to accept that some Bama fans are so willing to casually accept it as no big deal. I'm just used to Bama football being held to a higher standard.
Our history should not have been even the slightest factor in that loss. Personal pride should have been all that was needed, and please spare me any hokum about the IB loss killing their spirit, their will to win or anything of the sort. They were facing a quality opponent in a BCS bowl on national TV and representing their school, their conference and most importantly, THEMSELVES. History and tradition aside, it's just gotta mean more than that, competitors don't just go through the motions in such situations. They COMPETE!
It's hard for me to accept that some Bama fans are so willing to casually accept it as no big deal. I'm just used to Bama football being held to a higher standard.
Tommy, it's more a reflection of changes in college football, not in our program. To a team like ours, only 1 bowl game matters and we were 38 seconds from getting there and making history. Thus, the Sugar Bowl was an enormous letdown.
When we were younger, a big-time bowl trip meant so much more. But even then, look at how we played during the 1973 Cotton Bowl against an undermanned Texas team after another inexplicable loss to Auburn.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
When we were younger, a big-time bowl trip meant so much more. But even then, look at how we played during the 1973 Cotton Bowl against an undermanned Texas team after another inexplicable loss to Auburn.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Well, let's look at some of your very own posts in this thread:
Now, let's look at what I and others have posted about the history of the game for today's players.
None of us are excusing the loss. None of us were happy with the loss. We're just trying to give possible explanation to a point you yourself brought up in your own posts. Today's players don't understand what the jersey represents.
You say we can't lose the pride of wearing the crimson jersey. The only disagreement between you and others is the reason for the lost of it. We're trying to point out our players do not arrive on campus knowing what the Denny in Bryant-Denny Stadium means. They don't know John Hannah. They don't know Don Hudson. The players can learn about the pride we all have as Alabama fans by going on a day long tour of the Bryant Museum and talking to former players to learn what it meant.
We care more about the pride because many of us grew up in the state, attended the university or have been Alabama fans since momma and daddy met. Many of today's players are coming to Alabama because Nick Saban is the best coach in the nation, the facilities are magnificent, and their position coach is one of the best.
Now that you have summarized it so succinctly, can't really argue with it.
But someone needs to 'splain to the players how API thinks. They can not dismiss them the way we, as fans, do.
But someone needs to 'splain to the players how API thinks. They can not dismiss them the way we, as fans, do.
I don't think they did. Anybody who has played or seriously watches any kind of sports knows that you lose sometimes. A loss to Auburn may be considered an aberration on this board, but historically it happens, a lot: 42-35-1. That's us winning 54 percent of the games; Auburn 45 percent. (Nick Saban: 57 percent; Auburn, 43 percent.)
Those numbers cover a lot of years when players primarily came from the same state, same towns, same high schools, churches and delivery rooms. In my opinion, that makes it hard to make a case that a sudden lack of appreciation for the red jersey, an accusation first hurled by Vol linebacker Steve Kiner in 1970, explains the losses to Auburn or OU. Blame it on probation, Bill Curry, bad calls or worse luck, but sometimes, they're going to win. They just do.
No one disputes this. What can also not be disputed is the fact that we have played AU seven times under Nick Saban and have dominated them three times. Those three Auburn teams were absolutel disasters by the end of the season. The other four games - 1 win, 3 losses - we looked awful for most, if not all, of the game. That can't be chalked up to "sometimes you just lose." That dog hunts when you talk about the loss to UGA in 07, the loss to South Carolina in 2010 and I'll even give the losses to LSU in 2010 and 2011 and TAMU in 2012.
But against Auburn?
Hell no.
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Sorry, Prof, but we may have played our best half of football in decades against a great Auburn team in 2010. Nor did we look awful while we were pulling ourselves out of 14-0 hole, on the road, against a more than solid Auburn team in 2009. The 2007 game doesn't help your argument either because, frankly, we stunk and were not favored to beat AU at Auburn by anyone.
That leaves last year. We should have won. Big. We made more mistakes in one game than we did the entire season. But how does that prove we took them lightly? It's just as possible we were strung tighter than a banjo. And it wasn't as if we were playing a hyphen school. Auburn was good enough to get within 15 seconds of a national championship. Many of us maligned them all year, just as we did in 2010, but they were very good, playing at home, running on underdog adrenaline.
I want to beat Auburn every year, but history tells us they'll win more than four times a decade. It doesn't tell us that something has suddenly gone wrong with our priorities. A great rivalry takes two teams.
That leaves last year. We should have won. Big. We made more mistakes in one game than we did the entire season. But how does that prove we took them lightly? It's just as possible we were strung tighter than a banjo. And it wasn't as if we were playing a hyphen school. Auburn was good enough to get within 15 seconds of a national championship. Many of us maligned them all year, just as we did in 2010, but they were very good, playing at home, running on underdog adrenaline.
I want to beat Auburn every year, but history tells us they'll win more than four times a decade. It doesn't tell us that something has suddenly gone wrong with our priorities. A great rivalry takes two teams.
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IMO the further you are removed from the past, the less it means to folks who did not live through that era. As RTR91 said, most all of our players are at Alabama to play for CNS, hopefully to carry their careers to the NFL, and enjoy the lavish facilities offered by our program. While I am sure most of our players have heard of CPB, he is from a distant era and not their reason for being on scholarship in Tuscaloosa. This in no way diminishes CPB's accomplishments or the mark he made on the history of college football and the University of Alabama, but it does not resonate with those who were not alive when he was our coach.
Well, I wasn't alive during Washington's presidency, but I'm pretty sure he was a great president.
Going to repost what I posted in the thread about Jess' post-Iron Bowl article. Look at the tendencies in the games against Auburn. Alabama won some of the tight games and lost others. The common theme in the Iron Bowls against decent Auburn teams -- Alabama failed to finish drives.
I haven't read all the posts here. I'll just say that Oklahoma beat us because they kicked our butt. They were more ready to play and wanted the game worse than we did, much like Utah in 08. Emotion, is huge in the game of football. They had it, we didn't. I think that was so obvious, and saw it unfolding as the game unfolded.
Coach Saban is the best coach in college football, but he's not the best in getting a team up after they've come, "this close".
2010 was different. We didn't have a national championship chance and we knew it. So the Bowl Game was a chance to make a statement, which we did against Michigan State.
When we lose a chance to win the national title in our final game of the season, we just haven't been able to show up for the next or consolation game. It's understandable, to say the least. To Oklahoma, this was a "statement game". To us, it was a "why are we even playing" game.
I really think it's that simple.
But that's gone, and the only way we can go is forward--so that's the direction we should take.
sip
Coach Saban is the best coach in college football, but he's not the best in getting a team up after they've come, "this close".
2010 was different. We didn't have a national championship chance and we knew it. So the Bowl Game was a chance to make a statement, which we did against Michigan State.
When we lose a chance to win the national title in our final game of the season, we just haven't been able to show up for the next or consolation game. It's understandable, to say the least. To Oklahoma, this was a "statement game". To us, it was a "why are we even playing" game.
I really think it's that simple.
But that's gone, and the only way we can go is forward--so that's the direction we should take.
sip
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