Link: Let The QB Battle Begin (and other Fall Camp discussion)...

4Q Basket Case

FB|BB Moderator
Staff member
Nov 8, 2004
9,554
12,823
237
Tuscaloosa
It's hard to use the strength of schedule argument in this case when tOSU and bama played mizzou and whisky in the championship game and had the same amount of time to prepare for the game, and tOSU's injuries throughout the year trumps ours. As far as the sec being worn out... I guess ole miss is the only one that can make that claim with their injuries because MSU just played a complicated offense and auburn was playing a hall of fame coach with a heisman finalist running back going against auburn's horrible defense. So I'm not sure if being worn out truly applies to anybody outside of ole miss.
The grind absolutely does matter. It's not just the season-ending injuries. It's the zillions of deep bone bruises, sprains, separations and other soft tissue damage that take their toll.

Let any school play an SECW schedule, even if they play Vandy and UK in the east, and I promise they won't be the team in December that they were in September.

Shout it from the mountaintop...it's not any one game. It's the accumulated toll.
 

deliveryman35

Hall of Fame
Jul 26, 2003
12,997
1,194
287
55
Gadsden, AL
This, along with the schedule flip, is one reason I'm bearish on our prospects of winning any championships this yr--I think Cornwell is the future but he will need a yr to develop. Also I'm not sold yet on our defensive backfield woes from last season being fixed. And we may not know the answer to the question until the Georgia game. AJ in 2011 is the rare exception and not the rule.
 
Last edited:

BamaInBham

All-American
Feb 14, 2007
4,464
2,104
187
This, along with the schedule flip, is one reason I'm bearish on our prospects of winning any championships this yr--I think Cornwell is the future but he will need a yr to develop. Also I'm not sold yet on our defensive backfield woes from last season being fixed. And we may not know the answer to the question until the Georgia game. AJ in 2011 is the rare exception and not the rule.
How about McElroy in '09 and Blake last year ? The odds are that QB will not be a problem. It has NOT been the past 3 times for Saban at Bama, which means it is unlikely, though possible, this time. In fact, Bama has better raw material to work with and very good, though inexperienced, offensive talent. Bama probably has its best QB coach, though CJM was probably in the same class as Kiffin.

I agree the schedule is a hurdle.

I think the secondary will improve significantly. For the most part, it was not as though receivers were running free through the secondary, the DB's just had difficulty making plays on the ball and frankly occasionally had some bad fortune.

They should be hungry too, as will the fans.
 

GreatDanish

Hall of Fame
Nov 22, 2005
6,079
0
0
TN
The grind absolutely does matter. It's not just the season-ending injuries. It's the zillions of deep bone bruises, sprains, separations and other soft tissue damage that take their toll.

Let any school play an SECW schedule, even if they play Vandy and UK in the east, and I promise they won't be the team in December that they were in September.

Shout it from the mountaintop...it's not any one game. It's the accumulated toll.
The grind matters, but it's tough to make the argument, "we were all beaten up," to a team that was down to its third team QB. I mean, that reminds me of Brandon Avalos.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk
 

81usaf92

TideFans Legend
Apr 26, 2008
35,295
31,347
187
South Alabama
The grind absolutely does matter. It's not just the season-ending injuries. It's the zillions of deep bone bruises, sprains, separations and other soft tissue damage that take their toll.

Let any school play an SECW schedule, even if they play Vandy and UK in the east, and I promise they won't be the team in December that they were in September.

Shout it from the mountaintop...it's not any one game. It's the accumulated toll.
Then I guess the sec shouldn't have won any of those championships in the seven year streak except 2011. I think y'all are using the SOS argument in the wrong way. Yes the sec plays harder schedules but really it hasn't ever been used as an excuse to justify a bad bowl season til now. The sec has had very good bowl results until now. The SOS argument isn't really a huge impact on a game played a month from the last game. If you really look the 4 SECw losses you'll see that auburn's defense failed like they did all season, MSU played a very complex offensive team, ole miss's injuries and bad Bo finally caught up to them, and bama played an equally talented team that got hot at the right time. With the exception of ole miss I don't see SOS being a sizable impact on the outcome of those games. SOS is more used to justify who is ranked where at the end of the season and not why team a beat team b after a month layoff.
 

KrAzY3

Hall of Fame
Jan 18, 2006
10,615
4,540
187
43
kraizy.art
Well, I think part of the discussion is perspective. I'm not trying to make excuses for a loss, I've said before I think the team needs no excuses. What they did was amazing last season, it was an amazing season. You simply are not supposed to play a schedule that brutal and still be in the title hunt.

The SoS component, I have been bringing that up, and warning against making schedules even tougher for years now. It's not some new argument I just invented. I'm against another conference game, and I've been the first to point out when other "contenders" played weak schedules. It does matter, it matters a lot.

It's not common to see a team in title contention that played a really brutal schedule, the schedule usually wins. Usually, when you look at a team that really ran the gauntlet, you see something like Auburn at 8-5. They weren't a bad team, they might have been a contender in the ACC for instance, but they got dismantled by the rigors of their schedule. If you question that, consider that they lost 4 out of their last 5 (see? not just talking about Ole Miss). Ole Miss by the way lost 4 out of their last 6. Heck, Miss. State lost 3 out of their last 4. All three of those teams looked like contenders earlier in the season. Am I to believe that the high SoS wasn't a major factor in their collective collapses?

What is happening here though? It's not just injuries, as in what's reported. It's the things that make you walk with a limp, that make it hard to take a deep breath, it's what makes it hard to get out of the bed in the morning and move around. All these collective things take a toll to the point that these guys who had a really brutal season are pained just going through the motions. Then, there's the psychological impact which might be the most severe. If you've been playing through that, and something weakens your will, can you keep it up? It even impacts coaching, the coaches have to show their hands earlier and often, they get less chances to hold back, to plan ahead. It all accumulates.

So, why did the SEC win all those championships? They won them because a perfect storm of sorts had formed. The SoS was high, but generally the SEC championships weren't playing top ten SoS, the coaches, the players, the facilities, the SEC was simply putting out a better overall product and things were working. Perhaps most importantly, the SEC almost always had multiple contenders, when one team fell, another was there to take their place. But, that was delicate, as we've seen. The streak is broken. However, no playoff last year, Alabama vs. FSU, who do you think wins? How things were still set things up well, now though, the extra game, it favors a slightly different pedigree, it does involve a little less rest, a little less preparation, and more importantly it can involve a team that has evolved vs. simply being elite the entire year. Even the signing limit matters, it went into place in 2012, is it coincidence that the SEC started looking mortal shortly thereafter? It impacts depth, we all know that much, as does high SoS.

The SEC did sneak some high SoS teams in there, but if you look at other contenders you routinely see "worse" SoS. It's just easier that way, heck look at the last two champions.
2014: Ohio State 29
2013: Florida State 62

Is SoS everything? No, of course not, I don't think it explains everything that for instance playing in the SEC entails (I simply don't buy that high SoS in say the Pac-12 is quite the same). But, I will argue that when a team wins a championship that played a very high SoS, it is because they were a very good team, and despite the high SoS rather than because of it.
 
Last edited:

RTR91

Super Moderator
Nov 23, 2007
39,407
6
0
Prattville
ok, can i infer from this that there are folks who are actually betting on this?
Proposition bets have become popular. For example, there are bets for the Super Bowl on who scores the first points or the over/under on the national anthem.
 

skrayper77

All-American
Sep 4, 2003
3,511
228
182
Re: Link: Let The Battle Begin: David Cornwell (speaks very highly of his progress)

When I looked up Strength of Schedule Alabama was number one. Guess who was number 2. Ohio State.
Part of that is the fact that OSU played in two playoff games, giving them games against the (then) #1 and #3 teams in the country.
 

derek4tide

Hall of Fame
Jan 19, 2005
11,492
1
0
Daphne, AL
I'm still not holding breath on Coker. I think it is very close and Cornwell may just surprise everyone the way Blake did last year.
 

Al A Bama

Hall of Fame
Jun 24, 2011
6,658
934
132
I'm still not holding breath on Coker. I think it is very close and Cornwell may just surprise everyone the way Blake did last year.
I can see Coker having a poor start against the Badgers and being replaced in the 2nd Quarter by Cornwell.

I can also see Coker having a GREAT start and Cornwell coming in after the hay is in the barn.

So, which way will it go? I'm looking forward to seeing the answer.
 

CrimSonami

All-American
Jul 17, 2011
3,038
1,929
187
Ardmore, AL; too close to 10erC
I can see Coker having a poor start against the Badgers and being replaced in the 2nd Quarter by Cornwell.

I can also see Coker having a GREAT start and Cornwell coming in after the hay is in the barn.

So, which way will it go? I'm looking forward to seeing the answer.
I still think Cornwell will emerge as starter by week 3. Between the Wisky opener and the following MTSU cruiser game he'll show he is the better decision maker under pressure. That'll be the deciding factor IMO.
 

Latest threads

TideFans.shop : 2024 Madness!

TideFans.shop - Get YOUR Bama Gear HERE!”></a>
<br />

<!--/ END TideFans.shop & item link \-->
<p style= Purchases made through our TideFans.shop and Amazon.com links may result in a commission being paid to TideFans.