Is This A Pivot Point Game For The Season?

[Tideflyer]

To me, it kind of has that feel.

 

[CrimSonami]

Possibly, but IMO the pivot game is in College Station on October 7th.

 

[PA Tide Fan]

I think it is. If we lose this one it's doubtful we win the West and we might be on the way to a 8-4 or 7-5 season.

 

[Power Eye]

This isn't coach speak or whatever, but it honestly feels like every game going forward is pivotal. Not just because we have no margin for error for purposes of playoffs, but because we have no margin for error for where this season could just implode.

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

I'm just not sure how to measure Ole Miss to say that it is a pivotal game. To me, they are not as good as they were last year.

 

[Foleybammer]

This game is a season breaker or season maker. It hinges
all on our offensive line. We expected our qb play to drop
off but by far our offensive line has been the biggest
disappointment this season. If they block great we win
and if not we lose.

 

[JustNeedMe81]

This is an excellent question to ask today. Yes and No.

Yes- Because the team needs to establish their identity on offense and this weekend is the good starting point to do so. This is also critical time for Rees, OL and Milroe. They needs to be able to back up their talk on offense and I think they will this weekend. This weekend will be good gauge point to know where they are. They just need to get out with a W, but give us something to show us that they're on path to get better.

No- Given the way SEC teams are playing lately... If this holds... If they let D dominate and let Offense figure it out next few games, no matter how uncomfortable it is, I don't think Saban will allow the team to fall apart like that.

Those who is saying we might be facing 4 or 5 loss this fall, Step off the ledge. I don't think this is the team that will win less than 10 wins this season. I think this is the team that is capable of winning the SEC West, the question is can they execute the game plan to do so? I think so. I really think Milroe and OL will take significant steps in next few weeks.

 

[tidefan39817]

This isn't coach speak or whatever, but it honestly feels like every game going forward is pivotal. Not just because we have no margin for error for purposes of playoffs, but because we have no margin for error for where this season could just implode.

not even thinking about playoffs or winning the west.

 

[CrimSonami]

This game is a season breaker or season maker. It hinges
all on our offensive line. We expected our qb play to drop
off but by far our offensive line has been the biggest
disappointment this season. If they block great we win
and if not we lose.

THIS

 

[BamaMoon]

IDK. It could be another MTSU game. Everyone plays sharp and 100% attention to detail. Milroe doesn't make any huge mistakes and we look real good on offense and the defense does its job. I could see this as a knee jerk to last week. Team's on board and we play great.

It looks like everything is fixed.

But, then we have to ask, "how good is OM? OR what happens if we have an off game with bad OL or QB play again?

What happens when we go to TAMU on the road OR when UT or LSU comes to town?

I don't think we will know for sure no matter how this game goes.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I don't think so, I think we pretty much know what we have this season and who we are. Granted, there is a chance of major improvement happening by the OL and Milroe's passing shortcomings and I hope that is exactly what happens. But, how likely? I don't think very likely at all. I think we will see improvement by the OL and Milroe, but not the type of improvement that makes us contenders for the playoffs.

Personally, from what I've seen and heard, this team isn't made up of enough players who are mature enough or are of the right mental makeup to make the type of improvement needed to put us back on a legit championship run. Again, I hope I turn out to be as wrong as I've ever been. But that's just where I stand as of now.

 

[Cruloc]

Yes, because I fully believe that if we lose this game, this team will implode. There are just too many babies and too many individuals.

If we lose this one, then going on the road for 2 weeks.....maybe we beat MSU, but no way I'd pick us vs A&M with a mentally fragile team.

 

[RollTide_HTTR]

Possibly, but IMO the pivot game is in College Station on October 7th.

Yea, I'd say this game and the A&M game will tell us who we are. These 3 weeks will really dictate if we're heading for 3+ losses or if we are good enough to make the SECCG.

I am admittedly afraid of the answer

 

[BamaMoon]

I don't think so, I think we pretty much know what we have this season and who we are. Granted, there is a chance of major improvement happening by the OL and Milroe's passing shortcomings and I hope that is exactly what happens. But, how likely? I don't think very likely at all. I think we will see improvement by the OL and Milroe, but not the type of improvement that makes us contenders for the playoffs.

Personally, from what I've seen and heard, this team isn't made up of enough players who are mature enough or are of the right mental makeup to make the type of improvement needed to put us back on a legit championship run. Again, I hope I turn out to be as wrong as I've ever been. But that's just where I stand as of now.

Tend to agree. There's too much tape to suggest that even if we get better we can't be elite.

The questions "What's our ceiling?" and "What's our floor?" are fascinating to me.

In a perfect world our ceiling might be 11-1, but this requires EVERYTHING to fall into place. Our floor, worse case scenario is probably going 4-4 in the SEC. 7-5 at the end of the regular season.

I think we probably land somewhere in between. Likely 9-3 but maybe 10-2 and a chance at the west.

We get to Atlanta, it would be incredible based on where we are right now!

 

[davefrat]

I guess it depends on what kind of pivot you're talking about. We could still win the west with one loss, but it would require us running the table after that.

What remains to be seen would be how the team would respond to another home loss so early in the season.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Trick question.

We can't know this until the end of the year. I hope this is the pivot point. Right now, we're headed down the drain. Gone. Buried. So, the only way to pivot right now is back in the right direction.

 

[bamadwain]

I think this is a pivotal game, I think it will tell us where our mindset is and where we want to go, also about the Oline, I heard a guy on the radio this morning that is very close to Wolford as he said he coaches a zone blocking scheme instead of power running scheme and he is probably out of he's comfort zone, because at South Carolina and Kentucky they ran it pretty well

 

[BamaNation]

Yes ... and would the real Slim Shady Crimson Tide team please stand show up?

So much depends on who we truly are. Are we the team that seemingly clicked vs tremendously overmatched MTSU? Are we the team that made lots of mistakes vs TX (and still had a chance to win)? Are we the team that struggle-won vs the vastly inferior USF? Are we a team that sucks its thumb because a "favorite" QB isn't playing?

Who are we?

I've always discounted the "find our identity" talk that CNS espoused but now I'm a true believer. Much like Alice in Wonderland if we don't know who we are (where we're going), then it's hard to know where we're going to end up (which path to take).

 

[BamaMoon]

A good friend proposed to me that possibly the best thing that could happen against OM on Saturday is we HAVE to get in a shootout with them. If so, it forces JM to have to try to keep up. He said that JM will make some mistakes/throw some INTs but if we are still behind he'll have to forget the mistakes and go out the next series and try to be dynamic again. He even suggested if we lost this game but it caused JM to grow it might be worth it and prod us on to possibly running the table and getting to Atlanta on a 10-2 record.

Since we are entertaining all kinds of scenarios, this is one. 😁

 

[Bamabuzzard]

A good friend proposed to me that possibly the best thing that could happen against OM on Saturday is we HAVE to get in a shootout with them. If so, it forces JM to have to try to keep up. He said that JM will make some mistakes/throw some INTs but if we are still behind he'll have to forget the mistakes and go out the next series and try to be dynamic again. He even suggested if we lost this game but it caused JM to grow it might be worth it and prod us on to possibly running the table and getting to Atlanta on a 10-2 record.

Since we are entertaining all kinds of scenarios, this is one. 😁

What I'm hoping is OM's defensive coordinator has their defense about as confused as he had ours for the past five years and we don't have to worry about a lot of the pressure and tight coverage we did against Texas.