Link: Kirby Smart Reflects on Ohio State Loss

81usaf92 said:

The Big 12 couldnt decide on a champion when Baylor won the head to head, tOSU had an extra game, and tOSU blanked Wisconsin and Melvin Gordon with a third string qb. tOSU was clearly deserving. I think the results speak for themselves. We got beat by an equal team. The only difference is that tOSU had all the momentum and we were exposed after Auburn. I think we need to realize that tOSU was an elite and truly deserving team last year.

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Absolutely, well said.

tide96 said:

I think this is pretty insulting to our players to say they didn't want it enough.

This is still football and one team has to lose. We had too many mistakes and turnovers and that is why we lost, not because our players didn't want to win.

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Come on dude, that's not what was written at all.

AgentAntiOrange said:

This. I think that the truth, as is often the case, is that prior to kickoff our coaches & players felt confident about their preparation and abilities--and rightfully so. But OSU came in on an emotional high, and they also felt confident. On that given day, in those given circumstances, OSU simply played better and won. That's it. End of story.

Now, after the fact, everyone has to try and define it, explain it, assign reason to it. Truth is, there is no mathematical formula that explains that loss. Not everything can be narrowed down and strained and refined into singular answers. They just beat us. Congrats. On to 16.

[edit] 16th NC, I mean.

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Dig it...

I like the exit interview concept for post-game...what did we do right, and where did we go wrong?

CrimsonForce said:

The same things win that always won. We just have a bunch of different excuses if we lose..


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What he said!
:BigA:

Love to hear what Herman told CKS and CNS.

Moro Creek said:

Love to hear what Herman told CKS and CNS.

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Herman probably asked CNS why he stopped running Henry behind Big Cam in the 2nd half..


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Sometimes you just get whipped, plain and simple. I remember mentioning Ohio St. had a chance to make the playoffs when they were ranked 16th in the country and got ridiculed. Ohio St was getting better every week in spite of injuries. We were stagnant all year.

I love hearing about how coach Saban brings in these other coaches to meet about what they do or did. This just shows how some coaches are always looking for ways to get better.


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Agree with AgentOrange


tOSU was ready to play and wanted to show they could beat us. Reminded me of the 92 Alabama team that whipped Miami. We so wanted that game, while they felt entitled to it.

tOSU just beat us that day, but we can still learn from it. Everyone wants to beat us. Just look how many have an extra week to get ready this year.
Our kids better be ready to prepare every day or we'll see more games end like that one.


PS- I don't think it's a fluke auburn plays their hardest when the Iron Bowl comes around. If they're in the game late they don't wilt. They make us beat them.

colbysullivan said:

I still maintain this very point, OSU didn't deserve to be there. Too many times, people simply look at the end result instead of looking at the whole. Do people really think the 2007 Giants were better than the previously undefeated Patriots just because they won one game?

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The teams that Ohio State beat had an AVERAGE of 6.67 victories. The teams that TCU beat? 5.4. Baylor? 5.5

In other words, Ohio State played a tougher schedule than those other contenders.

Ohio State beat an ELEVEN-WIN Wisconsin team by FIFTY-NINE POINTS!!!!

They beat THIRTEEN-WIN Oregon by TWENTY-TWO points.

How many teams have ever won the national title by beating teams that in the final three games had 11, 12, and 13 wins?

Heck, how many national champions have beaten teams in the final three games who had double-digit wins period?

In 2003, LSU's final four opponents were ten-win Ole Miss, nine-win Arkansas, 11-win UGA, and 12-win Oklahoma. I'm sure you remember you coached LSU in 2003. That's a phenomenal closing, especially considering only the Arkansas game was a HOME game.

In 1996, Florida played three opponents in their final 3 games with double-digit wins - FSU, Alabama, and FSU - but they lost the first time against FSU (although frankly they should have won that one as well, it was a lot like our 2011 LSU loss where everything went wrong).

I looked back to 1977. NOBODY has beaten three consecutive double-digit winners in the final three games to close a season. Since they only played 11-12 games back then, I'm guessing it has never happened at all. (Auburn's 1983 down-the-stretch drive is pretty phenomenal itself, knocking off 9-win Florida, 8-win Maryland, 10-win UGA, 8-win Alabama and 9-win Michigan).

As far as the 2007 Patriots, did you conveniently forget:
a) they won that game, 38-35
b) they were trailing that game, 28-23, entering the fourth quarter

And what does this prove? In the NFL, the difference between unbeaten #1 seed and 7-loss six seed is not all that great. Green Bay won the Super Bowl in 2010 with a six-loss season as the sixth seed. Just looking at those numbers makes one say, "Oh, they got lucky." The Packers never trailed AT ANY TIME DURING THAT SEASON by more than 7 points, something that hasn't happened since prior to the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.

In other words, yeah, they were 10-6 but they were a damned good team, too.


Saying after the fact "they shouldn't have been there" is preposterous in light of what they did accomplish. Now your objection goes like this:

"A team that lost to a 6-6 team doesn't belong there."

But.......USC won the 2003 AP title with a loss in triple overtime to 8-6 Cal. And btw you want to know who didn't belong in the BCS title game? The team that got throttled 35-7 in the Big 12 title game by Kansas State, that's who.

2001 Nebraska got blown out, 62-36, by Colorado but played for the title.

I don't think making NFL comparisons works because there's not that big a difference even in teams 1-32 - that's not even as big a gap as within the Eastern division of the SEC to say nothing of all of college football. Several teams including the 1981 49ers and 1999 Rams have won the Super Bowl while perennially losing teams like the 1981 Bengals, 1985 Patriots, and 1998 Falcons have made the Super Bowl.

And I would note that Ohio St did lose their QB, which affected the Va Tech game. I tried to argue with myself initially that Ohio St was undeserving but looking at the WHOLE BODY OF WORK....I can't say that even before they won. The fact they won justifies their inclusion completely.

Everyone here needs to remember that Coach Bryant got with Darrell Royal to find out about an offense before launching the team of the decade. Allegedly, Royal asked Bryant if he was going to schedule Texas and Bryant said, "Not until I can stop the wishbone." Asked if he wanted to know how stop it or run it, Bryant said, "Both."

And the rest is history.

russtang said:

First off , it just blows my mind that anybody could "overlook" another player or team, especially in the setting of the first FBS "playoff". Even more so a team that is known for preparation.

Second, even if they did "overlook" him or OSU in general, it shouldn't have taken but just a few plays for them to go "oh snap, we got to play this dude hard up!"

It's really hard for me to relate to coaches having to "psych them up" and "get them ready" to play. Prepare? Yes. Game plan? Yes.

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The problem is that the wrong attitude can affect practice and preparation. Players may not focus as well during practice and meetings and put in a little less effort in drills. They may be lacking a little physically and mentally at game time. No matter how hard they try to make up the difference after realizing they are in a tough game they can't make up for what they missed out on during the weeks before the game.

Kirby and "the really smart seniors" were all very diplomatic in not going there with Reason "No. 33" - a slow-footed Ohio linebacker "leading" 'Bama's defense...

Every part of Alabama's defense got whipped that night. Absolutely no reason to single out one player.

TitleWave said:

Kirby and "the really smart seniors" were all very diplomatic in not going there with Reason "No. 33" - a slow-footed Ohio linebacker "leading" 'Bama's defense...

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Come on, seriously?

colbysullivan said:

Come on, seriously?

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Well not to take sides but #33 did not have the lateral movement or pass covering skills he needed. The problems with the defense was not all on him. I haven't read all the threads on this post, but I've been alarmed at Alabama's defense for quite a while. It is not recommended to give up 500+ yards to the other team and generally expect good results. I would like to see some old school football - Defense and Kicking Game first. Offense will follow based on favorable field position - elementary Watson. There are mitigating factors like not running the ball and having longer time of possession but Kirby and defensive side coaches have got to get better if we're going to have success in post season big game match ups. Have a great 4th everyone! Remember our government didn't give us our freedoms and can't take them away (unless we allow them to). Our freedom comes from our Creator. God bless America.

RTR91 said:

That style of football is long gone. Want to talk about better time of possession and running the ball?

Georgia Tech was third in the nation with an average of 34 minutes per game. Their defense was 79th in the nation by giving up 411 yards per game.

UTEP was second in the nation with an average of 35 minutes per game, yet gave up an average of 368 yards per game.

Michigan State led the nation with 35 minutes per game and gave up 315 yards per game.

Alabama ranked 20th in the nation by averaging 31 minutes per game, and Kirby's defense gave up 328 yards per game.

How did Tech and UTEP's time of possession help their defenses? It didn't.

Only five teams in 2014 gave up less than 300 yards per game while 11 teams averaged more than 500 yards per game. Credit rule changes or whatever you like, but the style of football you want to see isn't going to win games in 2015 like it did in 1992 or the 1970s.

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Not to argue with you but what I'm looking up says we gave up 337 yards per game (not a substantial difference).

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/opponent-yards-per-game


Furthermore, statistics don't show everything. Look at who had better defenses than we did based on ypg. Their Sorenson SOS is on the right

Penn St (278.7, 7-6), 57
Clemson (278.8, 10-3), 52
Stanford (296.3, 8-5), 31
Wisconsin (304.2, 11-3), 41
UCF (309, 9-4), 96
Michigan (311.3, 5-7), 30
Louisville (311.8, 9-4), 59
Michigan St (321.8, 11-2), 42
LSU (326.1, 8-5), 9
Arkansas (330.2, 7-6), 8
Ohio State (333.4, 14-1), 15
San Diego St (335.2, 7-6), 112
Alabama (337, 12-2), 4

Taken IN CONTEXT, our defense was NOT all that bad on the year. Twelve teams gave up fewer yards per game than we did and only two - LSU and Arkansas, BOTH of whom we beat - played a schedule anywhere near as tough as ours (in no way to impugn the deserving Buckeyes but their SoS got drastically lifted by their final three games). LSU was 11 yards better per game and Arkansas 7.

but then again, we played AN EXTRA GAME that altered the stats, too. In fact, in our last game we gave up 537 yards to Ohio State which is WAY above our average even counting the Auburn slicing we took.

Incidentally, we ranked FIFTH in scoring defense, giving up an average of 18.8 ppg. Who was ahead of us?

1) Ole Miss (who got trounced in their last game, 42-3)
2) Clemson
3) Stanford
4) Penn St

Then remember that NONE of the teams above us played AN EXTRA GAME.

In the context of the current climate of CFB, we are NOT "a bad defense." And let me reiterate something I keep having to say:

THE 2011 ALABAMA DEFENSE IS NOT THE NEW NORMAL OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL; IT IS QUITE SIMPLY THE GREATEST COLLEGE DEFENSE EVER ASSEMBLED.

Tattoo that on your brain folks - that's a lot of what is bringing some of the discouragement.