Nick Saban called 2021 a ‘rebuilding year'...

[Padreruf]

I can be a bit of glass half full type sometime but I do expect that a couple of teams will be able to run on Alabama and as a consequence be able to throw the ball. I believe that is a very real expectation for modern no huddle offenses. The difference has to be the offense being able to run the ball and make longer drives. The Bama defense will dominate if the opponent is forced to play from behind. With an SEC schedule there will be some nail biters.

Could not agree more...as far as I can tell the SEC West is much improved...especially OM and Arky. LSU is an unknown, but they always play us tough. We will not cakewalk through this season as most of 2020.

I know we have a lot of talent, but Mack Jones and receivers had played together for several years even when not starting. They had a familiarity with each other than is hard to duplicate in one spring and fall practice.

 

[STONECOLDSABAN]

Could not agree more...as far as I can tell the SEC West is much improved...especially OM and Arky. LSU is an unknown, but they always play us tough. We will not cakewalk through this season as most of 2020.

I know we have a lot of talent, but Mack Jones and receivers had played together for several years even when not starting. They had a familiarity with each other than is hard to duplicate in one spring and fall practice.

I don't think anyone thought they would cake walk through the 2020 season before the season and then they did it. Not saying Alabama is going to this year it's just that football is kind of unpredictable like that.

 

[colbysullivan]

I don't think anyone thought they would cake walk through the 2020 season before the season and then they did it. Not saying Alabama is going to this year it's just that football is kind of unpredictable like that.

2020 wasn’t even a cakewalk to be honest. That Ole Miss game took years off my life. The Florida game might have had a closer final score, but the Ole Miss game was much closer “on the field”.

 

[buckeyeFB_]

Right about the time his boys went to clempson.

Watching a Clemson game in recent years has been rough if Kirk was the commentator.

There was even a running joke about how many times Kirk says Brent Venables' name during each Clemson game.

 

[STONECOLDSABAN]

Watching a Clemson game in recent years has been rough if Kirk was the commentator.

There was even a running joke about how many times Kirk says Brent Venables' name during each Clemson game.

it's like Mark May and the word "football". Yeah, a guy I used know pointed that out to me. I still like mark may and wish he was still doing College football live.

 

[Padreruf]

2020 wasn’t even a cakewalk to be honest. That Ole Miss game took years off my life. The Florida game might have had a closer final score, but the Ole Miss game was much closer “on the field”.

You are not the only one...but for a fumble going into the end zone we would have hung 70 on OM.

For the life of me I cannot understand how CNS and our defensive gurus cannot figure out how to stop a good TE. OM killed us with it...UF did it to us...and UGA did it again last year in the CFB Championship game. Our scheme must be flawed...

 

[TideEngineer08]

it's like Mark May and the word "football". Yeah, a guy I used know pointed that out to me. I still like mark may and wish he was still doing College football live.

Rece Davis, Lou Holtz, and Mark May doing College Football Final was peak College Football broadcasting. Never seen before, and we'll never have it again.

 

[STONECOLDSABAN]

You are not the only one...but for a fumble going into the end zone we would have hung 70 on OM.

For the life of me I cannot understand how CNS and our defensive gurus cannot figure out how to stop a good TE. OM killed us with it...UF did it to us...and UGA did it again last year in the CFB Championship game. Our scheme must be flawed...

The way I understand it from (I can't even remember the source), Something is always going to get exposed if you have enough talent, especially in todays game. I think Saban would rather get beat short over the middle than beat deep (If he has to get beat). Thankfully, Alabama doesn't play Kyle pitts and brock bowers every week. Fun fact Georgia finished the season 10th in points per game and (38.4 points per game) and alabama held them to 10-12 points offensively below their average in both matchups. (If you take out the pick six in the national title game).

 

[CB4]

Anyone notice the contrast in the first few press conferences with CNS this year as opposed to this time last year? Last year it was “about players not doing what they are suppose to do, how they didn’t do things the right way, and do things when they were suppose to do it”.

This year? Much more upbeat. Much more positive. Players focused on “the process”.

Man I like what I’m hearing.

 

[BamaHoosier]

I’ll never understand the people who got up in arms over the rebuilding comments. Yes, we won the west, the SECCG, and had a Heisman winner. But anyone with half a brain, who watched us play more than the SECCG, could see that Bryce’s generational season was covering several warts. No team can lose the amount of talent we lost after 2020 and not take a step back. That’s the literal definition of a rebuilding year.

IMO, take Bryce off the team and we were a team that could have easily been anywhere from 8-4 to 10-2. Florida gave us a run. Tennessee gave us some body shots before BY took over in the 3rd. We all know how LSU and Auburn went, and neither were good teams. That doesn’t even count the A&M game or what a potential UGA game without BY could have looked like.

Were we a bad team? Absolutely not. The individual talent was there across the field. But the depth wasn’t there, the experience wasn’t there, and the focus wasn’t there. Even with that, we were still only one quarter away from hoisting another trophy. No the end result wouldn’t qualify as a rebuilding year anywhere else, but we aren’t “anywhere else.”

I’ve said since middle of last year that Bama in ‘21 overachieved. I’ve also said that’s what made last year arguably CNS’s most impressive coaching job of his career. This year though… Look out. This team has that feel to it, like it’s going to be something special.

 

[We_are_Bama]

What makes the 2020 season even more amazing is, we ran the table with an all SEC regular season, NO spring practice whatsoever, no A day game, an extremely shortened fall camp, Covid disruptions left and right, and basically a season that almost wasn't and even after it started, was constantly in jeopardy of being halted. We have a record that will always stand. 10 SEC wins in ONE season. 11 if you count the SEC Championship Game. Now granted, we won't ever see a season like that again, in terms of logistics, so nobody will ever have the chance to tie that particular record. But, even still, no team could ever match that.

 

[Isaiah 63:1]

That’s so they can ingratiate themselves to anybody who isn’t an Alabama fan.

The Alabama hate is real.

Remember the hate for USCw in 2005 … when they’d been ranked AP #1 at some point in three consecutive seasons (the end of their streak)? Multiply that streak and the hatred by (or perhaps raise it to the power of) five…

 

[Tug Tide]

What makes the 2020 season even more amazing is, we ran the table with an all SEC regular season, NO spring practice whatsoever, no A day game, an extremely shortened fall camp, Covid disruptions left and right, and basically a season that almost wasn't and even after it started, was constantly in jeopardy of being halted. We have a record that will always stand. 10 SEC wins in ONE season. 11 if you count the SEC Championship Game. Now granted, we won't ever see a season like that again, in terms of logistics, so nobody will ever have the chance to tie that particular record. But, even still, no team could ever match that.

Nick Saban is the absolute PERFECT coach to guide those young men through those times.

 

[teamplayer]

What makes the 2020 season even more amazing is, we ran the table with an all SEC regular season, NO spring practice whatsoever, no A day game, an extremely shortened fall camp, Covid disruptions left and right, and basically a season that almost wasn't and even after it started, was constantly in jeopardy of being halted. We have a record that will always stand. 10 SEC wins in ONE season. 11 if you count the SEC Championship Game. Now granted, we won't ever see a season like that again, in terms of logistics, so nobody will ever have the chance to tie that particular record. But, even still, no team could ever match that.

I agree. I remember that many people talked during that year about whoever won the championship that year having an asterisk beside their name in the record book. I agree that it should, but I think it is because that year was more difficult. We won 13 games, and 11 of them were against SEC competition, and the other two were against top four competition. That was tough, and that team was very good, especially the offense. It wasn't our greatest defense, but they got things done when they needed to do so.

 

[STONECOLDSABAN]

I agree. I remember that many people talked during that year about whoever won the championship that year having an asterisk beside their name in the record book. I agree that it should, but I think it is because that year was more difficult. We won 13 games, and 11 of them were against SEC competition, and the other two were against top four competition. That was tough, and that team was very good, especially the offense. It wasn't our greatest defense, but they got things done when they needed to do so.

They beat teams that finished ranked #2, #4, #5, #7, and #13. (all the top ten teams by 17 points or more.)

The never trailed in a game after the 4th game of the season.

 

[teamplayer]

They beat teams that finished ranked #2, #4, #5, #7, and #13. (all the top ten teams by 17 points or more.)

The never trailed in a game after the 4th game of the season.

I did not feel a lot of stress during that year, and I loved it. I enjoy close games when I'm watching other teams, but I like Bama to just absolutely beat teams down so I can relax in the second half. Roll Tide!

 

[Tidewater]

Rewatched the Bama-Arkansas game last night and I took some Tums and I'm watching the Barn now. Holy cow did the offensive line play poorly late in the season. Give the Scum credit, their defense played pretty well (I think Mason is a pretty good defensive coach, or he was at least on this occasion), but Bama's o-line played poorly as a unit. Talented players, but as a unit, they did not meet the standard, until the last two minutes of regulation. They seemed to have none of the Landon Dickerson attitude from the year before.