Final thoughts on Sugar Bowl...

Here's some details about the offensive struggles from the game. It's painful to read. Link

It seems backwards that in Game No. 14, Blake Sims would be reeled in from taking shots down the field. But whether by Ohio State's scheme, its defensive line's capability to bring pressure with just four lineman or a rough performance from Sims, Alabama had a dearth of deep shots in the passing game against the Buckeyes.

According to metrics compiled by TideSports.com, Sims' average pass attempt traveled 7.3 yards (in relation to the line of scrimmage) in the Sugar Bowl, which would rank 12th among Sims' 14 starts this season. But take out his two Hail Mary throws at the end of the game and that average plummets to 5.3 yards per attempt, which would be his lowest of the season.

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It seemed to me that OSU torched our defense in much the same way Auburn did. The difference was that OSU had a much better defense than Auburn and we just couldn't score at will on them to win the game. We didn't have the speed and 'eye discipline' at LB to set the edge and still defend the run up the middle without committing Collins to run support much of the time. When we did that, we exposed our CBs who weren't top notch pass defenders like we've had in recent years and we became susceptible to the pass. The Bama defense struggled with that dilemma all season to various degrees depending upon who we played. It was a masterful coaching job to do it as successfully as we did and get to the playoffs but once there, OSU's offense was too balanced and multiple and stressed our defense more than it could handle. It's disappointing that our offense didn't sustain a few more drives- and score with the field position we had in Q4- to keep OSU's offense off the field. The Bama defense is in transition and I think it will be better next year- if Ragland stays.

This was in the link above which points to a question I asked in an earlier thread. I remember some deep drops by Sims which never resulted in a throw due to coverage or, more likely, the pass rush.

"Why so short on the throws? A few possibilities; It could have been a schematic decision by offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, it could have been the lack of execution on Sims or the receivers, meaning the deep shots were called, just not thrown. It could have been thanks to Ohio State's defensive front that managed to get good pressure with just four down lineman most of the night coupled with a strong defensive gameplan that keyed on keeping the Crimson Tide receivers in front."

day-day said:

This was in the link above which points to a question I asked in an earlier thread. I remember some deep drops by Sims which never resulted in a throw due to coverage or, more likely, the pass rush.

"Why so short on the throws? A few possibilities; It could have been a schematic decision by offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, it could have been the lack of execution on Sims or the receivers, meaning the deep shots were called, just not thrown. It could have been thanks to Ohio State's defensive front that managed to get good pressure with just four down lineman most of the night coupled with a strong defensive gameplan that keyed on keeping the Crimson Tide receivers in front."

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DC told someone on Twitter Ohio State sent 3 or 4 rushers on 36 of Bama's 43 dropbacks. They were able to get some serious pressure on Blake by either dominating our OL or great coverage allowing the DL time to get to Blake.

day-day said:

Are you trying to get the NCAA back at our throats?

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Oops !

davefrat said:

it didn't look like a safety in real time or in replay.

you can't just drag someone into the endzone and make it a safety.

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It looked like a safety to me in real-time. I thought the QB was in motion on his own will. I am sorry I ever brought this up.

nx4bama said:

Tell that to TCU

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I should have included the phrase, "once the ball is kicked". The relative merits of the SEC and Big 10 did not matter during the game, it was all about the matchups.

bamacpa said:

I should have included the phrase, "once the ball is kicked". The relative merits of the SEC and Big 10 did not matter during the game, it was all about the matchups.

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But that's always been the case. The big complaint about the BCS was it's subjectivity about perceived conference strength. You still had that this year. The discussion just got pushed down to #4 and #5 instead of #2 and #3.