Question: What is this team’s biggest obstacle to winning a National Championship?

[TideEngineer08]

You can’t just look at the end results. It wasn‘t a guarantee that we made the playoffs with a loss.

I got that after I commented. I thought you were forgetting 2017 was the year we won the NC after losing to Auburn.

Yeah, it was definitely not guaranteed the night we lost.

 

[RollTide_HTTR]

2017 didn’t matter? So we were a shoe-in for the playoffs that year even with a loss to Auburn??? No way.

That's not what I meant. I'm just saying I'm not going to worry any more about Auburn because of a few past games with different teams and coaches.

Sure Auburn might beat us but it won't be because of previous games.

But the 2017 iron bowl didn't matter in the end. I just wanted to say that again for fun

 

[Probius]

The biggest obstacle to this team winning a national championship? I would say this team playing consistently for 60 minutes. That has been Bama's struggle all season long.

 

[TRU]

Pete Golding

 

[deliveryman35]

Auburn. Notice that I didn't say Georgia.

 

[deliveryman35]

Auburn has benefitted from just pure stroke of luck, having the Tide at home, during their better seasons. Then, like clockwork, the calendar flips, and they become very average, before visiting BD, and getting obliterated.

I love the Michigan/Ohio State rivalry. I love watching Oklahoma/Texas, and Oklahoma/Ok State. Heck, I love the Iowa/Iowa State rivalry. But the Iron Bowl is a thing of mystery and intrigue. If I were an outsider, I'd think that Stephen King has a hand in the Iron Bowl, somehow.

I think that the series has been so evenly matched over the years is one reason that it is generally regarded even by people all around the country as THE best rivalry in college football. Take away Bama's 9 game run in the '70's, and the entire series is almost a dead heat. I'm too young to remember, but I believe that the barn actually led the series at some point in the mid/early 1960's.

 

[BamaInBham]

I think that the series has been so evenly matched over the years is one reason that it is generally regarded even by people all around the country as THE best rivalry in college football. Take away Bama's 9 game run in the '70's, and the entire series is almost a dead heat. I'm too young to remember, but I believe that the barn actually led the series at some point in the mid/early 1960's.

Why not take away AU's 6 game stretch when Bama was under the draconian effects of scholarship reductions and Bama has a 16 game lead - 47-31? And the first six games before 1903 when Bama was 1-6 - it would be 46-25. Hey, why not just add in the 30-10 type edge Bama would have had if they had played from 1908-1947, a period during which Alabama was 2nd in the country in wins and win % and AU was 74th, Bama would have a 41 game edge - 76-35 . (From 1923-1946 Bama was number 1 in wins and winning %, AU was 119th in win %.)

AU has been very fortunate the way things have played out, yet Alabama still has a 10 game edge, a 13 game edge, 43-30, since the series was resumed in 1948.

Bama fans seem especially concerned about JH but AU doesn't just lose in BDS, they get blown off of the field: 42-13, 52-21, 30-12, 55-44, 49-0, 36-0 in 6 of the last 7 trips.

 

[AUDub]

Bama fans seem especially concerned about JH but AU doesn't just lose in BDS, they get blown off of the field: 42-13, 52-21, 30-12, 55-44, 49-0, 36-0 in 6 of the last 7 trips.

Hell I just hope Harsin builds us into a consistent program that can challenge every year. Could always count on even year Gus.

I mean I get that it's hard to win at in Tuscaloosa, Red Stick and Athens but 0 wins during his entire tenure was inexcusable. And as you pointed out, we didn't typically just lose. We'd get outright obliterated.

I mean I did enjoy parts of the Gus era. Hell, you could count on a short period most years where our offense might be one of the hardest to stop in the SEC. Then the wheels would just fall off for one reason or another. Injuries to our bellcow back most seasons, I guess.

With Harsin, my worries about Xs and Os and mindset are evaporating the more I'm seeing. Now we just have to figure out how good of a recruiter he ends up being.

 

[BJ4TIDE]

Hell I just hope Harsin builds us into a consistent program that can challenge every year. Could always count on even year Gus.

I mean I get that it's hard to win at in Tuscaloosa, Red Stick and Athens but 0 wins during his entire tenure was inexcusable. And as you pointed out, we didn't typically just lose. We'd get outright obliterated.

I mean I did enjoy parts of the Gus era. Hell, you could count on a short period most years where our offense might be one of the hardest to stop in the SEC. Then the wheels would just fall off for one reason or another. Injuries to our bellcow back most seasons, I guess.

With Harsin, my worries about Xs and Os and mindset are evaporating the more I'm seeing. Now we just have to figure out how good of a recruiter he ends up being.

Good post. I like what I have seen from Harsin. I think he might be a decent hire if he can recruit well.

 

[BamaInBham]

...With Harsin, my worries about Xs and Os and mindset are evaporating the more I'm seeing. Now we just have to figure out how good of a recruiter he ends up being.

True - and especially evaluator. My guess is that he is at least a good evaluator.

He seems to be a good "football man". He's better than I thought, though AU does have more talent than many thought coming into the year. But most of his work at this point seems to be, at least at first glance, on the money.

 

[BamaInBham]

I think that the series has been so evenly matched over the years is one reason that it is generally regarded even by people all around the country as THE best rivalry in college football.

I don't think the rest of the country regards the series even since it's not even at all, but tunes in since Bama began it's run in 2008 because AU wins a little less than 1 in 3 tries which is better than anyone other than Clemson during that stretch. LSU has actually played Bama much better over that period of time but has 1 fewer win to show for it - AU 4-9, LSU 3-11, Clemson 2-3, UF 1-8, UGA 0-6, UT 0-14.

 

[BamaInBham]

That's not what I meant. I'm just saying I'm not going to worry any more about Auburn because of a few past games with different teams and coaches.

Sure Auburn might beat us but it won't be because of previous games.

But the 2017 iron bowl didn't matter in the end. I just wanted to say that again for fun

Very well said - all 3 statements.

 

[AUDub]

True - and especially evaluator. My guess is that he is at least a good evaluator.

He seems to be a good "football man". He's better than I thought, though AU does have more talent than many thought coming into the year. But most of his work at this point seems to be, at least at first glance, on the money.

Yeah evaluating talent is an area I'm not terribly concerned about. Good G5 coaches are typically pretty good evaluators.

Only problem is you're going to have a hard time beating the Alabama's and Georgia's of the world by "coaching them up." You hit a certain point and the idea of outscheming raw talent becomes very hard to do on a consistent basis.

But the coaching is definitely working. Bo's improved play speaks for itself. The offensive line has gone from one of the worst units in the conference to at least serviceable. The receivers are playing far better after the decision was made to move on from Corn, etc. Defense has holes and a telling lack of depth but Mason is doing a good job covering them and his adjustments in game have been very good.

 

[AUDub]

And the personnel movement is balanced. Tank going down would suck but we are repping the hell out of Jarquez (3* that is shaping up to be a diamond in the rough) and you're seeing a lot of rotation along the lines and such. Don't have to worry about a situation like Kerryon or a tackle or guard going down and our season being wrecked quite as much.

 

[deliveryman35]

Very well said - all 3 statements.

Yes, agreed—i believe 2017 is only time in our history where we won the NC but also lost to auburn in the same season.

 

[BloodyTusk]

Biggest problem: Two players – guess which ones -- are making us look better than we are.

anderson & b. young?

 

[BamaBoySince89]

Three things worry me about this team:

1. Leadership. The talent is there as usual but I think they lack leadership

2. Auburn. Say what you want but the game is a JH and we all know the type of “strange” things that happens there. And if they are sitting there at 9-2, the history does not bode well (haven’t beaten a 9-win Auburn team in their own house). Not saying we will lose but…we better play mistake free football.

3. Georgia. Yes, they have a once (or twice) in a decade defense, but look at who they’ve played. Clemson looks more like Tommy Bowden’s Clemson than Dabo’s, Vandy, Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee don’t necessarily strike fear in Georgia. Overall they haven’t been tested much IMO, so I like our chances.Will we run away with the game in the 2nd half like we did last year? probably not, but if we play like we’re capable of playing on defense we have all the chance in the world to beat them.

Honestly, I didn’t have expectations of this team like last years because we’re young and we lost a significant amount of leaders, so for us to win it all this year would be yet another genius coaching job by Saban