In retrospect, how satisfied are you with our win over Southern Cal?

bobstod

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Oct 13, 1999
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Coach Saban, in the after-game presser, was less than overwhelmed. From my extremely non-professional opinion, we benefited from a gracious plenty of miscues from SC. We cashed them, and that is a positive; but we were not as dominant as the score would indicate.

Am I worried? No. We have another dominating defense, if a player or two short. We have offensive weapons that have not shown themselves yet. Best of all, we have a coach who never stops working to make our team better. But I think many people less familiar with the inside facts of our program will see this as another dominating Bama victory; while I saw a scattering of good plays but no underlying, cohesive plan.

What did you think?
 

selmaborntidefan

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It did not feel to me like a 52-6 whitewashing, no.

On the flip side - we adjusted. Half of their game's offense was in the first half of the first quarter and even then they were so frazzled they had used up their timeouts.

Defense looked good but as someone said in 2009 - "It's one game."
 

LSUgrad2BamaDad

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In watching the wrap up shows, every single pundit - ACC lover Danny Kannel included - says Alabama is far and away the best team in the country right now. Great teams force mistakes and take advantage. A couple other SECW teams were still in the game because of opponents mistakes, but Alabama made the opponent pay. That's a huge difference.

You're about Saban, he won't be satisfied and his job is to keep the team level headed.
 

Clubfitter

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For me you can use terms like ecstatic, euphoric, or state of blissful excitement. Got 2 up and coming QB's, 4 tailbacks, and an OL that will only get better. Maybe the best Defense in Bama History (ok, cool it a little, get back under control). Tampa seems like it could very well be our destination in January. Must strive to get better everyday. Offensive leadership should start jelling now. Defense is fine.
 

TideEngineer08

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i am still pretty impressed with the win. 52-6 over that team is a pretty big deal, especially playing a true freshman at QB. USC came in on fire with a lot to prove. We took their best shot, stumbled around for a quarter and then knocked them out with haymaker after haymaker. That was impressive.

but yes we still have plenty to improve, and we will need to do that in order to compete for titles at the end of the season. Those 4 road games will be much tougher affairs even if those particular teams looked average this past weekend.
 

crimsonaudio

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I'm about 85% satisfied. There were enough issues, none of them major, that need to be worked out as the season moves forward. I'm worried about our depth on DL, hoping some of the new guys can step up and take snaps (we might need them as early as this Saturday as WKY runs a fast-paced offense), I'm worried about our young QBs facing a really a good secondary, I'm worried about the OL imposing their will on a team that hasn't already quit...

It was a good win, but there are lots of little things that need to be addressed before we face a good defense.

That said, the defense played near perfectly - to hold a team littered with 4-5* talent to two FGs is ridiculous.

I believe Saban and Co will get this figured out - if the pieces click like they appear that they can, this team will maul everyone on the schedule.
 

colbysullivan

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It did not feel to me like a 52-6 whitewashing, no.

On the flip side - we adjusted. Half of their game's offense was in the first half of the first quarter and even then they were so frazzled they had used up their timeouts.

Defense looked good but as someone said in 2009 - "It's one game."
I believe it was 2008 after the Clemson game.

Also, to me things got out of hand quickly. We had 10 points and then what seemed like five minutes later we had 31. I was like "What just happened? How did we get 31?" And then it was over.

Overall a very convincing win against a solid team, but we still have tons to work on, just the way Saban likes it.
 

CullmanTide

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The game was much closer than the score. As stated above USC made more mistakes and we were fortunate to make them pay. I think the crotch stomping woke our guys up and was the turning point. Our offensive line AND quarterback situation worries me. Our 2 guys are indeed talented but very inexperienced. The defense and kicking game will be relied on to carry us until the offense settles in. That said, this offense has the potential with all that talent, especially at wide receiver, to be one of our best ever.
 

4Q Basket Case

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Overall, enough positives to be optimistic, enough opportunities to improve that the coaches will have plenty to get on the team about.

Game was closer than the score. We were clearly the better team, but not 6 TDs better.

Hurts brings a dimension we've never had before. But blown assignments by USC masked an inconsistent passing performance. Dumb freshman mistake on the interception, but one he'll learn from and hopefully not repeat.

Same with OL....explosive plays were good, but masked an inconsistent blocking effort.

USC was stacking the line early, with 9 in the box. Even the two who weren't there were cheating up. Hurts made them stop that, but even then, running didn't get consistent until USC got worn down and demoralized.

On defense, DL didn't consistently get pressure in the passing game, but plugged the running game all night with the exception of a late 40-yard run. Take away that run, and in fairness the 17-yard loss when their punter dropped the snap, and they got abut 40 yards out of what was trumpeted as the best OL we'd see. I never bought into that...they weren't all that good last year, and the talking heads thought Neil Callaway and 8 months would change that? Plus, they were missing their LT, and his replacement was dinged.

Not much rotation in the front seven. We need to develop some depth, or the hurry-up teams will wear us down, and fourth quarters could turn into nail-biters.

Reuben Foster is a beast. The DBs had good coverage, and I loved Marlon Humphrey's physicality. But I also wish he'd pick his battles there....with the transfers, we have no real depth at corner, and an injury there would be a huge problem.

Scott was consistently Scott. I don't remember any punters who have gone pro early, but I really believe he'll be the first. Griffith didn't miss any kicks, but was close on a couple of XPs. His streaky accuracy continues. KOs were sound.

Punt coverages were likewise good, but a lot of that has to do with Scott's towering punts. The OFC could cover those passably well. KO coverages were less consistent. History says we'll get better.

Not perfect...lots to work on. But it's nice to be picking out flaws in a 52-6 win over a ranked traditional power in the first game of the year.
 
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crimsonaudio

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On defense, DL didn't consistently get pressure in the passing game, but plugged the running game all night with the exception of a late 40-yard run.
Interesting - it seemed to me that their QB had about 2-3 seconds max to throw on virtually every snap. I thought the DL affected the QB very nicely in this game.
 

bamacpa

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It was a mixed bag for me. I don't feel that we were as dominant offensively as the score indicated. The USC secondary made 2 very big mistakes on Hurt's TD passes. It was nice to see the explosive runs, but I love those 12 play drives that break the opponent's will. Can we do that this year when needed ? the D was fantastic, and the DL will single handedly keep us in games, barring injury. LB corp looked destructive and the DBs were impressive. We just don't have a lot of depth on D.
 

twofbyc

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How satisfied am I? It was a win.
Time for celebrating has passed - it's about WKU now.
 

Bamabuzzard

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I'm overly pleased considering the circumstances. Let's not forget we were breaking in a new QB(s) (freshmen), a new center and two new running backs. To ultimately pull through and perform like we did (regardless of USC's mistakes) says something. Not too many teams could be replacing key components like that and get on that type of stage and do what they did. But I also take it as one game with no indicator of future performance. College football teams are a week to week organism that changes from the week before. They either get better or get worse. They'll do one of the other. They won't stay idle. So next wee against WKU we might look sloppy and out of sorts. I expect things like that too happen as this team grows.

Which ever quarterback ultimately gets the nod I expect them to hit a rough patch, much like Greg McElroy and AJ Mccarron did in their first year to start. I expect the Ole Miss game to be one of those rough patches. Make no mistake about it, Ole Miss' defense will be no joke and they will throw the kitchen sink at us in two weeks. Wouldn't surprise me if we dropped that game for a third year in a row. But, as it was last season, it could be the turning point where the team "grew up" and we all know what happened after that.
 

TIDE-HSV

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It was a mixed bag for me. I don't feel that we were as dominant offensively as the score indicated. The USC secondary made 2 very big mistakes on Hurt's TD passes. It was nice to see the explosive runs, but I love those 12 play drives that break the opponent's will. Can we do that this year when needed ? the D was fantastic, and the DL will single handedly keep us in games, barring injury. LB corp looked destructive and the DBs were impressive. We just don't have a lot of depth on D.
One of the few things the USC fans were happy about was that their front seven kept us from mounting one long drive after another and they are right. Sooner or later, they will run into a team which is not going to allow the big play over and over...
 
After the pick 6, it was over. Defense looked fantastic. As for the offense, it has a chance to be special. Needs to clean up a few things. They players are extremely talented, just gotta give them the ball. OL took over a bit in the second half. I'm not satisfied, I'm excited because you can see what people were talking about in the board about that D and Jalen. It can only get better. Roll Tide!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk
 
Interesting - it seemed to me that their QB had about 2-3 seconds max to throw on virtually every snap. I thought the DL affected the QB very nicely in this game.
It was consistent pressure all night. Only 2 deep balls were thrown with no pressure, one catch and one drop. Everything else was thrown under pressure, at least from what I saw.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk
 

trenda

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Trying to put it into perspective. If we had beaten East Popcorn State 52-6, I think we would still have the same observations (but with possibly even more players playing - haven't seen the participation chart).

However, this was USC; so, to me, it's much more impressive. I think, for a first game with so many guys getting their first extended PT, we looked really solid. Like so many have already stated, we were patient, played our game and capitalized on their mistakes. That's the mark of a really disciplined team. We definitely still have a LOT of room to grow; but this was a really good start.

Can't wait to see how much we improve from game 1 to game 2.
 

crimsonaudio

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We just beat the #20 ranked team 52-6 and we're not satisfied - this is why fans from other schools hate us (and proof positive we've all bought into the 'process')... LOL...
 

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