The Championship is Set... Bama vs Ohio St. What are your initial thoughts?

  • Hi Guest, we are working on updating the site servers and software. We're also 'forcing' everyone to read and agree to our site privacy policy and terms of service. There are no significant changes to either of these but the terms page does clarify a few things that are mostly in the legalese. You can just click the checkbox for both and continue using the site as usual! We'll update you more on the site upgrades VERY soon! THANK YOU AS ALWAYS for supporting the site and being an active participant!

DocCrimson

All-SEC
Jan 3, 2010
1,736
137
82
East TN
My thoughts:
QB - Alabama with the slight edge
RBs - Alabama - Najee is better than Sermon and you have better depth
WRs - Alabama - Smith is better than Olave, but the rest of the field is pretty even - if Waddle plays :eek:
OL - Alabama - best in the country, but close
DL - Ohio State - we are better but don't have your depth
LBs - OSU by a wide margin
DBs - Alabama by a wide margin
ST - Alabama by a wide margin

What I am not sure about - with the lines so good for both teams on both sides of the ball, will either disrupt the opposing QB more than the other? This could decide the game.
FWIW, I feel you are objectively close to correct, perhaps just slightly biased in favor Bama. I seriously don't understand what happened with our LB crew this year. If Fields and the OL play out of their minds again and Mac has an average or worse game, OSU could definitely win, perhaps by as much as 10pts. Y'all put on the best football clinic I'd seen in years against Clemson, and that level of play would beat this Bama team probably 60-70% of the time. I don't know that they can sustain that level of excellence, though, and I'm really curious about how limited Fields might be from his injury (blatant spearing, IMO; I was livid about that hit).


BTW: I was a bit concerned about Day's language about ensuring Fields played the entire 2nd half. I seriously hope the medical crew did their due diligence in protecting him and appropriately cleared him, because it didn't feel like Day cared nearly as much about his QBs future as the game itself. I was having visions of Drew Brees (or even Drew Bledsoe if it'd been the other side) in my head watching how much discomfort Fields was in, and he's gonna be an early first-rounder if healthy. I would never forgive a college coach for knowingly risking a player's health, even for a title. I was worried enough about Waddle and Smith as return guys before Waddle got hurt, no matter how incredible they are at it.
 

DocCrimson

All-SEC
Jan 3, 2010
1,736
137
82
East TN
They will keep that quiet. I bet they have already had one and are coming up with the best painkillers for him to be able to play if it wouldn’t seriously injure him more to play.
Based on Day's commentary, I don't know that they wouldn't risk his long-term health. That seriously bugged me. Hopefully he heard something from the docs that indicated his ribs weren't fractured or at least unlikely to be displaced. Even considering absolute best-case scenario, Fields has a hematoma right now that I wouldn't care to imagine.
 

JustNeedMe81

Hall of Fame
Sep 30, 2011
15,613
7,673
187
44
Huntsville, Al
OSU can say that the Clemson game was not their National championship game but when your defensive coordinator is laying on the ground doing snow angles it is pretty evident. They put a lot of time and effort during the off-season and season to beat Clemson. How much will that take out of them? I am not sure but it was quite evident they treated the Clemson game like a championship game.
One thing is.. LSU will go out of their way to plan against Alabama, so did Auburn. Florida went out of their way to plan against Alabama. Clemson did same thing for a while when we played them in playoff. This short turnaround time for Alabama/Ohio benefits Alabama more than Ohio. Ohio had too much of emotional game and we'll see how they respond the following week.
 

teamplayer

Hall of Fame
Jul 31, 2001
8,002
3,105
282
cullman, al, usa
OSU fans give Alabama no chance in this game. Many think that OSU will win by 3-4 scores
With the way these two teams can score, it is always possible that either team could win by three or four scores. All one team has to do is be a little off while the other keeps on clicking. However, I doubt either team wins by three or four scores (21-28 points).
There have been a few pretty good breakdowns in this thread so far, and, as always, it will come down to whichever team is most able to establish their game while most throwing off the other team from its game. Of course, turnovers are always big but can be huge in a game like this. We must also mention luck. There is regular luck like a ball rolling end over end for twenty yards without going out of bounds, but nowadays we must also mention targeting luck. Everyone knows how I feel about the targeting rule and how it is applied and reviewed, but it absolutely seems to make a big splash in big games. It basically equates to a turnover these days in my opinion. I think OSU was very unfortunate against Clemson last year because of it, and I think Clemson was unfortunate against OSU this year because of it. I really hope that both teams can show up full strength, remain injury free, and decide the game between the players and coaches on the field without poor rules making the difference. Roll Tide!
 

wdstrum

New Member
Jan 4, 2021
1
16
12
Greetings from Ohio, and Happy New Year. Hoping you won't mind this Buckeye interloper taking up a few paragraphs in your conversation. After watching OSU and CU I headed over here to see what the Bama fans were saying about the upcoming NC matchup. I honestly had no idea what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised to simply find a group of real, observant football junkies that know their stuff. I also found out that perhaps OSU did favors beyond the Ohio border by smashing Dabo and the orange in their deserving mouths :) . To that, we can lift a brew. I promise I won't be a nuisance here and might not post again. A couple of observations:

- Even here, where Buckeye football is king, we haven't heard a peep about how JF is doing. Like most observers, I wouldn't think he'll be feeling anywhere near 100% within a week.
- What we saw against Clemson is the team we all expected up here this year. Note that JF threw only 3 interceptions all year last year, so we've seen a couple of games we hope are anomalies. I honestly think there's been a lack of continuity with the missed COVID games, and not sure we handled those unexpected gaps well.
- I agree with some of the posters that say we seem to have treated CU like a championship game. And from a fan perspective, I can't begin to describe how satisfying it was.. Ha! We'll see how good Day is at getting the team to move on. He's Urban's handpicked guy and in most aspects is like a clone of him. We'll see...
- I echo some of the posters here that believe the right 2 teams are in the championship game. Feels like a real big boy game.
- Of the players missing the game against CU, getting our starting guard and d-end will be the biggest bounce. There were a few on the unavailable list that will be nice to have if we need them.

You're team is dang good, as is NS. We ALL know that up here, make no mistake. Anybody calling for a blowout (on either side) doesn't really know football, although it's possible one team could win handily. If the Buckeyes step it up like last week we hopefully get a game for all of us to remember. In the meantime, best of luck to you and your Bama team, and all due respect from up North!
 

81usaf92

TideFans Legend
Apr 26, 2008
37,131
36,874
187
South Alabama
i didn't know they called them that. i will have to ask around if i can find a jawjuh fan who will talk about football.

a couple of guesses,

- in reference to tommy bowden, tater tot's brother.
- a pejorative referring to them being an farming school in the middle of nowhere
Yeah I’ve been texted by a few over the Christmas holidays that it should be us vs the Taters. Though they have no idea where it came from. I’ve heard several on YouTube say it as well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 92tide

VABuckeye

BamaNation Citizen
Dec 9, 2014
27
35
32
Hello all. Hoping for a great game next Monday and no injuries. Alabama is certainly a program to respect and as some have said it's nice to see two of the Bluest of Blue Bloods playing for the championship.

I noticed some comments about the Clemson signal stealing. Here's a breakdown of some of the things Ohio State did differently offensively for those of you that like the X's and O's. No trash talk from me and probably not a lot of posts. If we lose I'll pop in after the game to give credit where credit is due.

11 Warriors Breakdown of Offense
 

TIDE24

1st Team
Jan 12, 2000
894
393
187
Bartlett, TN
There were two things that I said before the year started and there is nothing that has happened so far to change my mind.
1. there are only two teams in the country that can match up physically with Alabama, and that is OSU and Clemson.
2. No disrespect to any other team, particularly OSU in this case, but the only two things that were going to beat Alabama this year were - Alabama or COVID. Between this team on a mission being left out last year, key juniors returning for their senior year, and a complete coaching staff returning, there is a reason this is the best team in the country.

Can OSU score more points than us next week? Yes, but I think it will take an uncharacteristic game from Alabama in order for that to happen. I believe Alabama will have to turn the ball over or in some other way "help" them out. If both teams line up and play their best, Alabama is the better team. Those may be my crimson glasses and we'll see if I am wrong on Monday, but I really believe this is one of the best teams CNS has put together and I have believed that all year.
 

jjv0004

All-SEC
Dec 13, 2017
1,152
1,840
187
Greenville, SC
This is on an Ohio State forum. Something about Fields but it gets into some possible Covid stuff with several players. The post is down below the article a ways.


Gobuckscm 51 MINUTES AGO
I know a guy who is close to a few of the players and gets "inside info". He says that Justin Fields just has a lot of bruising (nothing broken), so that's the good news. The bad news is that there have been more positive COVID tests for additional players, including Tommy Togiai and Tyreke Smith, along with some other unnamed guys on defense. This guy has been accurate on all of the other COVID test absences in the past. Obviously not great, as the D-line was awesome vs. Clemson. Hopefully, we can get Zach Harrison back to take Tyreke's place. Not being at full-strength against Bama is not ideal.

 

TIDE24

1st Team
Jan 12, 2000
894
393
187
Bartlett, TN
Gobuckscm 51 MINUTES AGO
I know a guy who is close to a few of the players and gets "inside info". He says that Justin Fields just has a lot of bruising (nothing broken), so that's the good news. The bad news is that there have been more positive COVID tests for additional players, including Tommy Togiai and Tyreke Smith, along with some other unnamed guys on defense. This guy has been accurate on all of the other COVID test absences in the past. Obviously not great, as the D-line was awesome vs. Clemson. Hopefully, we can get Zach Harrison back to take Tyreke's place. Not being at full-strength against Bama is not ideal.

Wouldn't it be convenient to have some COVID cases and get the game delayed, giving some time for your injured QB to heal up.
 

crimsonaudio

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 9, 2002
69,925
87,746
462
crimsonaudio.net
Hello all. Hoping for a great game next Monday and no injuries. Alabama is certainly a program to respect and as some have said it's nice to see two of the Bluest of Blue Bloods playing for the championship.

I noticed some comments about the Clemson signal stealing. Here's a breakdown of some of the things Ohio State did differently offensively for those of you that like the X's and O's. No trash talk from me and probably not a lot of posts. If we lose I'll pop in after the game to give credit where credit is due.

11 Warriors Breakdown of Offense
Thanks for that link, and stick around - we don't bite.
 

Saban4Ever

All-American
Sep 27, 2016
3,945
3,220
187
Cobb County GA
Wouldn't it be convenient to have some COVID cases and get the game delayed, giving some time for your injured QB to heal up.
i saw this on another board. I wonder if the Covid cases are true or if it’s an excuse for Fields to heal? It hasn’t been that long since the game, but I know the virus can show up regardless. RTR
 
  • Like
Reactions: The Ols