Link: Stoops tired of Bama's Sugar Bowl excuses.

To expand on an earlier point: for our juniors and younger, the Sugar Bowl was the first game of their college career that didn't have national title implications. That's 39 games where a loss may mean you're out of the running, then after the IB they're faced with the first game that is, in many ways, meaningless.

That said. If Bama doesn't turn it over 5 times it's a 2 TD win for the Tide.

I think we'll see this (not playing 'inspired' ball in a bowl game) is going to be the norm going forward for many teams that had been in NC contention until a late season or conference championship game loss. We've experienced it twice now in the Sugar, both times after disappointing losses that ended title runs and aspirations. With the advent of the playoff system there are only three end of the season games that mean a darn thing - the two semifinal games followed by the championship. Every other game is just for fun, or pride if you prefer. As a diehard fan I certainly hope we play with more pride than we've exhibited in our last two Sugar Bowls because every game matters to me, and even though I can understand how the disappointment may lend itself to a less than stellar performance from the players, I can never condone nor excuse it.

I'd like to look up and post all the excuses he came up with when he lost all those "Big" games he was in....the idiot.

Y'all might ought to remember a few things:

1) Stoops was Spurrier's DC in 1996
2) He apparently learned a lot about being a jerk from SOS
3) This ain't the first time he's shot off at the mouth - and I'm not even talking about what y'all are

Here's what that dope said just last year (13 May 2013)

"Going into the bowl games, Northern Illinois had one loss, we had two," Stoops said. "Theirs was to Iowa, right? Ours were to Notre Dame and K-State. And they're ranked ahead of us - well, they got the bid to the BCS bowl ahead of us."
"If they went through our whole schedule, would they have been 11-1? I doubt it," Stoops said. "So obviously then, the voters, it didn't matter that much to 'em. And it's not right."

Oh and btw - despite the fact his team played for the 2004 BCSNCG title against LSU, Bob's own setup would NOT allow NON-CONFERENCE champions in the BCS (or presumably playoff) games.

Oh - and I also learned from the web (LSU Tigerdroppings) but didn't now - Stoops did not show up at the BCS selection show in 2003 - the day after K-State shellacked them.

Wonder why?

Eh... It is what it is. I"m not too concerned about that game anymore. Saban knows his team and he said that he tried his best to get them ready for the "consolation game." I believe him. Should we have won the game? Sure, but if you aren't focused on the task at hand in big time football things, bad things, happen. It's 2014 now, Coach Saban answered a question he was asked. That's all. Let's move on.

Instead of "Big Game" Bob, he needs to be called "Big Mouth" Bob. Does he really think playing all Big 12 schools is equivalent to playing an SEC conference schedule. No where close to apples-to-apples.

RollinTider1335 said:

As fans we WANT that bowl W.

As players they play for a national championship. Am I surprised they played like they did after that loss against the barn? No. As a whole the team lost its focus and started looking elsewhere than how to beat OU. (ie. NFL, college parties, next season).

It is what it is, Bobby. You didn't beat us. We lost it. There's a difference.

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Eh. You can say there was a lack of focus, lack of inspiration, whatever. No doubt there was. We still lost, they still made us look silly, and everything else is just an excuse to make us feel better. I've seen other teams trounce their opponent after a devastating, championship ending loss. Florida in 09 for one. No reason we can't do it.

Now as for Stoops, if he wants to crow all season about beating us, he is welcome to it. If he wants to define the Oklahoma program by a win against Alabama, thats fine. Jump in line behind the long list of everyone else in D1 football. It should really help him win his conference this coming season.

I thought we played hard enough in that game to win, but the turnovers and poor playcalling killed us. OU didn't stop us offensively in the 1st half, but the turnovers put us down a couple of scores, and then we went to our CFL playbook. The OU loss bothers me more than the Iron Bowl, because I just don't get why we kept calling pass plays that we couldn't block. Try something else, Nuss !

I may be in the minority here, but there's a part of me that is (and was) glad we lost the Sugar Bowl from the sense of the larger perspective. If you think what we endured at the end of last year hurt, just imagine if we had endured the following:

1) we go out and pancake Oklahoma
2) Auburn beats FSU (remember - they led 21-3 and came within 13 seconds of winning the whole thing)
3) We wind up at number two

That would have left a pain that never totally went away because 30 years from now we would still be thinking "you know, just ONE PLAY and we'd have been in line for the three-peat, which nobody has ever done." Yes, we would have had to beat Mizzou, but does anyone here REALLY think we'd have lost that if we went into that game either: a) unbeaten or b) lost to Auburn but made the game because they had lost to UGA two weeks earlier? In fact, if we had lost to Auburn but played Mizzou, I'll guarantee you Saban could have gotten those guys to really buy into his "we still have a lot to play for" because an Ohio St loss would have put us back in the title game (which, of course, happened).

We don't have to endure that - we can shrug our shoulders and say, "well, we really weren't good enough" or whatever. We got beat fair and square on the field, which in a bizarre way eases the pain but ALSO imho will stir the guys who have another shot for "three in four" to know what that pain feels like. I feel the same about 2008 and Utah - can you imagine thinking to ourselves "we came so dadgum close" for the next 30 years?

And I feel the same way about 1994. I don't pray over football games, but I did whisper one before that Florida game that year. Basically, it was a "if we're gonna get hosed by the voters, I'd rather not go undefeated." And I still think they would have kept Nebraska sole champion, so I was more "relieved" than anything.

In the larger perspective, it will be good.

The narrow one upsets me because Big Mouth Bob won't shut his mouth, but he's still a choker at the big level, plain and simple.

Bamabuzzard said:

I think our guys played hard but they didn't play with the edge the Sooners did. They weren't willing to match their intensity and focus. In other words the Sooners wanted it more and that's what football is all about, who wants it more. Unfortunately it was the second time in Saban's tenure that we failed to match the other team's intensity in the Sugar Bowl. It is what it is and for us it is time to move on. The sooners won the game so they can wallow and bask in the glory of that win all they want. I'm not real interested in going over the details of it. We got beat. The end.

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I think the "intensity" you mention was the key. It's not that we didn't play a decent game...we did. We just didn't put the hammer down and play to the standard we are use to so that we get to the point we start controlling the game. You know, "make their butts quit."

Sure, the fumbles and INTs certainly prohibited us from doing that. On top of that, OU took advantage of every one of our mistakes and, to their credit, it was the difference in the game.

Now, the bigger context to the OU game was that when CNS was asked about the Barn and OU losses he went back to the LSU game and said from that point we didn't play well. Remember how bad we played against Miss. St.?

We basically lost our edge or intensity after we got past LSU and that was the unravelling that led to the Barn and OU lossess.

But I'll agree with Selma and I said it last year in one of the threads after these losses, but it will end up being a good thing that we lost to the Barn and OU.

It has helped CNS hit the "reset" button and I think we'll see a major difference this year in how we finish.

BamaMoon said:

But I'll agree with Selma and I said it last year in one of the threads after these losses, but it will end up being a good thing that we lost to the Barn and OU.

It has helped CNS hit the "reset" button and I think we'll see a major difference this year in how we finish.

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Just wanted to piggyback on your last point. I really enjoyed the article on Saban having fun. It is fun to him and he really enjoys leading this program. I don't equate that to a future lack of intensity, as if fun should mean a lack of interest. I do believe it helps him to want to hit the "reset button."

Motivators are constantly looking for the edge. Finding something that keeps the kids hungry and focused. The players would know and feel what rings true or not to them. Those last two games on the biggest stage will pay dividends throughout the summer. I got to believe half of the smile on Saban's face these days is the emotional angle he's being given with this group. The other half has got to be the tremendous talent and organization he has here.

1. Stoops can talk all he wants about beating Alabama until we shut him up.
2. It still looks like a large number of posters on here continue to make excuses for the losses to auburn and Oklahoma. The reason we lost does not matter, we lost, they won.
3. The excuse of we only play for NCs and going to anything less is merely an exhibition game and nobody cares is getting old.
4. If your team does not want to play in a particular game because it means nothing then your team's overwhelming talent means nothing.

GrayTide said:

1. Stoops can talk all he wants about beating Alabama until we shut him up.

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This is one of the more upsetting things about the loss. He made comments last summer, and the Sugar Bowl was the chance to pretty much make him irrelevant. Instead, he's yapping louder than ever.

2. It still looks like a large number of posters on here continue to make excuses for the losses to auburn and Oklahoma. The reason we lost does not matter, we lost, they won.

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Just because some of us want to discuss why the losses happened, doesn't mean we are making excuses.

3. The excuse of we only play for NCs and going to anything less is merely an exhibition game and nobody cares is getting old.

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It appears to be true, though. The two years Alabama lost right before a championship game (2008 Florida and 2013 Auburn), the team lost the following game. When the team loses a game earlier in the season, the bowl game is completely different. We saw that in 2010, 2011, and 2012.

GrayTide said:

1. Stoops can talk all he wants about beating Alabama until we shut him up.
2. It still looks like a large number of posters on here continue to make excuses for the losses to auburn and Oklahoma. The reason we lost does not matter, we lost, they won.
3. The excuse of we only play for NCs and going to anything less is merely an exhibition game and nobody cares is getting old.
4. If your team does not want to play in a particular game because it means nothing then your team's overwhelming talent means nothing.

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THIS!!!! So all of THIS and especially #3. Point 4 is spot on as well. We have waaaaayy more talent than Okla and AU and that was completely negated by the fact they played harder and wanted it more than we did. I'm just glad we keep getting #1 recruiting classes or we would really have some bad losses. We get outcoached and outplayed from an effort standpoint more than I'd care to see. We played so ugly in several games last year with bad game plans and bad in game adjustments but won because of our superior talent.

russtang said:

Ole "BigGame Bob" is just hoping to get as much praise and attention from one bowl game win as Boise State has.

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It's amazing that one big win over an uninspired Bama team has suddenly made ol' Bob relevant again. He had ALMOST faded into obscurity before then. He will fade back into the woodwork again soon, unless our two teams cross paths again.

GrayTide said:

1. Stoops can talk all he wants about beating Alabama until we shut him up.
2. It still looks like a large number of posters on here continue to make excuses for the losses to auburn and Oklahoma. The reason we lost does not matter, we lost, they won.
3. The excuse of we only play for NCs and going to anything less is merely an exhibition game and nobody cares is getting old.
4. If your team does not want to play in a particular game because it means nothing then your team's overwhelming talent means nothing.

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5. The constant chatter from AJ and the guys on what went wrong suggest it's what many do after a big disappointment. Over-analyze that is.

If I'm not mistaken, all of this occurred "last" season, I'm looking forward to "this" season. I'm standing on that bridge, watching all the water flow under it. RTR

bamacpa said:

I thought we played hard enough in that game to win, but the turnovers and poor playcalling killed us. OU didn't stop us offensively in the 1st half, but the turnovers put us down a couple of scores, and then we went to our CFL playbook. The OU loss bothers me more than the Iron Bowl, because I just don't get why we kept calling pass plays that we couldn't block. Try something else, Nuss !

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One thing that I've wondered about concerning last year was whether the success of AJ and his potential Heisman candidacy caused us to lose our identity on offense. We seemed to lack a toughness last year that we have had in years past even with lines not as talented as 2012 line. I've gone back and watched a lot of last years games and we were absolutely awful in short yardage 3rd down situations, those can cost you a season alone. They are particularly damaging to a scheme that is built on breaking the will of your opponent and possessing the ball. W

We seemed to start a lot of games attempting to come out passing first and it just often didn't work, one reason was AJ tended to be a little off at the beginning of games. Only when we started to run the ball did we really take over the game offensively. This happened somewhat in 2012 as well, particularly the SEC champ game.

I'm saying all of this to say that I'm optomistic for next year that the OL will play with more fire as they will be asked to run block more and we will likely get back to what we think of when we think of Bama offense. We will likely protect our QB early and rely on the run game which we can hopefully get in sink. If the run game is strong the QB will have an easier time finding guys like Cooper, White, and Howard in the play action game.

Can't wait for the season.

Well bless his little heart.

I agree, it all starts with the line of scrimmage. Control the LOS and you control your destiny.