Spurrier: I don’t know if Saban has maxed out potentially as well as he could...

IH8Orange said:

I personally don't see the reason for the negative reactions. He is saying that he doesn't believe that Saban has reached his full potential yet, thus he is saying that Saban will likely be MORE successful in the future than he has in the past. Let's be honest; we also expected more accomplishments during each season that we didn't win one of the championships.

in 2008, we were the undefeated team that had been just destroying every opponent. When we faced Florida, I thought we would win and then win the NC because no one had even really been competitive against us that season. The disappointment of losing the SEC championship was then compounded when the Tide basically threw in the towel in the Sugar Bowl.

In 2010, we had everything (returning Sr. QB, returning Heisman RB, another RB that many thought was actually better than the Heisman winner, an NFL quality receiver, and most of the OL was back) that most people consider to be the criteria for a championship team and we just didn't show up for some games that season.

In 2011, we arguably outplayed LSU in the annual Game of the Century, but red zone ineffectiveness lost the game for us. That cost us the SEC championship that season, but we got the rematch, shut down LSU, and took the NC right from the uncaring Honey Badger.

Last year was supposed to be the crowning achievement for AJ, but the team faltered at the end. Before the barn game, most Bama fans were probably finalizing their travel plans for the BCSCG. As in 2008, disappointment was just compounded by the bowl game loss.

Most great teams that fail to achieve the glories that were expected of them can often attribute the shortfall to the loss of key players due to injury or other reasons. We have arguably the most talented overall team in college football year after year, but it seems that in some games they just don't show up or they are distracted. If one judged by talent alone, we should have taken the crystal football home every year.

i think that Spurrier might have some basis for his assertion that Saban might sometimes overdo the planning. There are several games where opposing teams broke their tendencies in a game against Bama (UF IN 2011, LSU in 2012, OU in 2014) and we look completely disconcerted and the other team has unexpected success. Usually, Saban and Smart are able to make adjustments and then we begin to stifle their efforts. It almost seems that Saban has so completely based his defense on his extensive planning that he can't easily get the defensive players to switch gears and effectively react to the altered tactical situation. In most cases, however, they eventually adapt and play well, proving that the excellent talent is sufficient in most cases to provide the effort needed to win even when the plan comes to naught.

I think that Saban's greatest talent is teaching the tactics of defense: recognizing formations even when offenses try mightily to disguise them, determining route patterns that may attempt to disrupt the coverage assignments, anticipating a particular play (especially audibles) and being able to adjust at the last second to defend it, and changing up coverage assignments on the fly when an opportunity arises. Plans are fine if the opponent follows it, but it can become a liability if too much emphasis is placed upon it.

Everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Then instincts, teaching, and skill takes over.

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Wanderer said:

Let's answer the question strictly from a coaching perspective, which is Spurrier's point. Given the talent that he has had during his Bama tenure, how good a job do you all think Saban has done on the field since 2007? And if Spurrier had been coaching at UA since 2007 with all of the same players (Julio, Ingram, Richardson, Hightower, etc.) do you think he would have won more games than Saban?

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