Bama Game Thread: Official PostGame Thread - Bama vs. IU...

[TideEngineer08]

I’m trying to piece together my thoughts; not that they are worth much. Obviously it would be insane to make any sort of HC change at this juncture.

However it is equally obvious that changes must come in the assistant ranks and in the philosophical direction of the program. Alabama as it exists today is no closer to winning a title of any sort than Mississippi State is.

We’ve got to overhaul the offensive line. Whoever the OL coach is should not have even been on the plane home tonight. The RB coach has to go. As bad as the OL has been, the RBs have been even worse. They have no vision whatsoever. And yes it was clear tonight that both were at fault. OL can’t sustain blocks, and on the rare occasion a running lane existed, the RB missed it.

But more importantly, this program has to get tough again. We are generally resilient, but we are not physically tough anymore. The upshot on this is most of the rest of the SEC isn’t either.

Having said all that, when my thoughts go to the overall state of the game, they are nothing but negative. The sport is utterly broken. I would say I don’t know how you build a team in this environment and yet there was Indiana tonight, outclassed in talent in almost every way and yet they physically whipped Alabama for four quarters. They literally made us quit. First of all, that means star ratings are actually crap. But secondly it does prove that building a team that plays sound and together with a purpose is possible.

All I know is this. There is a lot riding on Alabama being a successful program. A 100k stadium to fill. Constant campus overhauls and improvements. DeBoer gets next season to figure it out, IMO, and that’s it.

 

[gtgilbert]

Because we see new coaches actually preventing a mass exodus all the time during a coaching transition

agreed on this - of course some are going to leave b/c they wanted to play for Saban, but some of what I heard about certain players not even being contacted by the new staff (Sayin for example) and how that all played out was certainly not great

 

[Con]

3 friggin points Kalen DeBoer against 1 of the historically worst college football programs of all time?

You must have been the guy Saban was playing golf with the other day.

 

[81usaf92]

No, but it’s disingenuous to say there wasn’t a wealth of talent. You focused on what I tacked on at the end, which, was his job to retain players. And, in 2023-2024 we really didn’t see a mass exudous like teams today. Those 40 players that everyone talks about included players that left before Nick retired, those that graduated and/ or declared for the NFL, etc. I believe 11 left after Nick left, that included Proctor, 5 players transferred in with DeBoer. Saying 40 transferred gives the impression Bama played with only 45 scholarshipped players last year . We didn’t, there were 82.

We had 40 transfers out. That is still alot of depth we lost that is playing somewhere else.

 

[CoolBreeze]

The biggest problem I saw with today’s game was “softness”, especially on defense. They were the more physical team. Softness is not about stats, but about an unwillingness to play with the aggression and intensity required

That is because the offense was not sustaining drives. Takes more effort to play defense and when you are on the field all night you just get winded.

 

[Power Eye]

To me, year 3 is the make or break year for college coaches, and not just for us, which has generally been successful. The fire DeBoer crowd is either an Alabama fan born from the Saban era or has become spoiled and now has unrealistic expectations.

There are only two programs that currently have any shelter from bad football and that’s UGA and Ohio State. All the other blue bloods and top teams are just as prone as we are to laying eggs or having down years. See Texas, Michigan, USC, etc.

We had three really bad losses this year. The type of losses we haven’t experienced in a while, but the vast majority of us would have been content or expected an SECCG appearance along with a first round win in the CFP. I could give two rips if we lost today by 5 or 35. It has no bearing on this program going forward, and who will care two weeks from now?

 

[Krymsonman]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2006890156050235486

I'm sorry that Ty got the broken rib, but that still doesn't explain the elbow issue he's supposedly been playing with for several games.

 

[bamamc1]

Look I have hesitated to divulge why I wasn’t very high on this season to begin with because you would have the same reaction from the “never DeBoer fans” that you are getting now. So here it is:

At the REC scrimmage Courtney Morgan was the big speaker. He basically came out with a “temper your expectations” kinda statement. He basically said the quarterback play was a mystery and we struck out at Oline. He basically strongly hinted at us using the portal hard for the 26 year because we struck out in 25. They kinda made it out that Ty wasn’t their first choice entering the season nor were they positive about the running abilities of this team.

A former Alabama DLine great was also there and believed our front line defensive players were great but we had serious depth problems at DL and LB.

I thought 9-3 with an outside chance of a SECCG was our best outcome if things go good with 10 or more wins as an over achieving team based on vibes.

I’m going to spoil it for you right now… we won’t go into summer without knowing who our quarterback is. Texas Tech is offering Russell truckloads. I don’t think Mack vs Russell will turn into Milroe vs Simpson.

I think we need to be a little more patient and cautious about wanting to run off the head man. However I think changes within the staff are essential and non negotiable if he wants to survive. Keep in mind Cristobal had to make tough staff choices at Miami recently after getting embarrassed time and time again. Day had to too. You just can’t make those moves in season so thinking they won’t happen are very premature.

I can’t imagine Nick Saban having a “GM” come out at the REC. meeting telling everyone there that we “struck out” and to “temper our expectations.” That’s freaking hilarious right there. If that’s how this is supposedly being ran currently, we’re in for a long tumultuous mess.

Did he say anything about what we were doing to improve the oline problems from 2024? What we were doing to improve QB play? Earlier, it was posted here we lost 40 to the portal when CNS retired. Who went to the portal and found replacements? Was it Morgan? If so, lol.

 

[BamaInCummingGA]

I’m not worried about the last word. Where did I name call?

I’m worried about the ignorance of even a modest attempt to blame Saban for DeBoer’s debacle.

At no point under Saban did we look like this.

The man finished 12-2, SEC champions.

That’s slipping, while two 4 loss seasons in a row with some humiliating losses along the way are good seasons.

You nor anyone else that spews that garbage can back it up with any type of facts whatsoever.

Then you have guys like Cignetti literally turn a 3-9 historically loser bad team into a title contender in two years.

But you and one or two more continually push the ridiculous narrative this is somehow Saban’s fault.

Truth Bomb: It’s not. Ignore all you want, I don’t care. Good thing is it doesn’t change the truth.

USF 2023, letting a player run the locker room (won't say more about that because you can believe what you want to there), running game was slipping, Oline wasn't as dominant from 2020 onward (just had some awesomely remarkable QBs who could compensate (except for 2023). You appear to have some selective memory issues going on.

 

[TD7]

I'm sorry that Ty got the broken rib, but that still doesn't explain the elbow issue he's supposedly been playing with for several games.

It wasn't an elbow issue. It was a back issue per his dad, someone posted an article on here with him saying that.

 

[Bluegrasstide]

4th and 1, Wildcat formation, IU TO, Punt to shift for “freeze” play, burn our own TO. Come back out in Wildcat and run… jet sweep! Incompetent. Seen a better play call sequence in mediocre HS football in the bluegrass. Put you 6th best OL, put a fat guy in the backfield, dot the I and get the yard. Instead we saw a slip screen out of I twins later on…. I don’t understand.

 

[KrAzY3]

I'm not on the fire DeBoer bandwagon, but if anyone thinks Saban loses 4 games this season and gets humiliated like that against Indiana then I'd like some of what you're having.

This isn't a Saban issue. Cignetti demonstrated how use of the portal (and people have harped on how many Alabama lost, well guess what? You can get 'em from the portal too) can build a great team. If these guys struggled doing that, it's just their own shortcoming.

Edit: This is made worse by the way, by the fact that Alabama's staff makes a bit over 9 million and Indiana's makes a bit over 5. So the budget staff did all of this.

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

I’m trying to piece together my thoughts; not that they are worth much. Obviously it would be insane to make any sort of HC change at this juncture.

However it is equally obvious that changes must come in the assistant ranks and in the philosophical direction of the program. Alabama as it exists today is no closer to winning a title of any sort than Mississippi State is.

We’ve got to overhaul the offensive line. Whoever the OL coach is should not have even been on the plane home tonight. The RB coach has to go. As bad as the OL has been, the RBs have been even worse. They have no vision whatsoever. And yes it was clear tonight that both were at fault. OL can’t sustain blocks, and on the rare occasion a running lane existed, the RB missed it.

But more importantly, this program has to get tough again. We are generally resilient, but we are not physically tough anymore. The upshot on this is most of the rest of the SEC isn’t either.

Having said all that, when my thoughts go to the overall state of the game, they are nothing but negative. The sport is utterly broken. I would say I don’t know how you build a team in this environment and yet there was Indiana tonight, outclassed in talent in almost every way and yet they physically whipped Alabama for four quarters. They literally made us quit. First of all, that means star ratings are actually crap. But secondly it does prove that building a team that plays sound and together with a purpose is possible.

All I know is this. There is a lot riding on Alabama being a successful program. A 100k stadium to fill. Constant campus overhauls and improvements. DeBoer gets next season to figure it out, IMO, and that’s it.

Agree with some stuff and not others. Alabama is way closer that Mississippi State will ever be and that is over exaggeration. Agree with the things to fix including a new OL coach. I my Opinion DeBoer will get an extension this year and we will have him a few more years as long as we make the playoffs.

 

[BamaInCummingGA]

This isn't about any philosophy, its about who someone is at their core. Teams take on the character and characteristics of their leader and DeBoer is simply not a coach that demands perfection. Coaches like Saban (and Cignetti) are, they are tough and highly demanding at it their core and reflects throughout their scheme and players.

Cignetti could run DeBoers scheme and beat us by the same score as he did today. Offensive Philosophy isn't the problem.

Depends: if part of your "offensive philosophy" is being tough/mean/strong it could definitely be part of the problem.
To your point and I've mentioned this before, he has an opportunity for introspection and determine if he sees the need to change his philosophy or not. If not then next season may be his last.

 

[bvandegraff]

Watching that game was like watching Bama hoops play against Gonzaga or Purdue early in the season - disciplined 25-year olds against guys who left HS a year early.

DeBoer needs to ruthlessly assess his program and make some staff changes,
or be ordered to by Byrne.OL and RB coaches must go and go tonight.

Proctor and Brailsford are done, but aside from Carroll, the OL needs replacing. And Ty shouldn’t assume he’ll start if he comes back.

I think Rhea (sp?) was the actual S&C genius. Ballou can go as well.

 

[TideEngineer08]

4th and 1, Wildcat formation, IU TO, Punt to shift for “freeze” play, burn our own TO. Come back out in Wildcat and run… jet sweep! Incompetent. Seen a better play call sequence in mediocre HS football in the bluegrass. Put you 6th best OL, put a fat guy in the backfield, dot the I and get the yard. Instead we saw a slip screen out of I twins later on…. I don’t understand.

That entire sequence, especially with Cignetti smirking and raising his eyebrow on the other sideline, was perhaps the most embarrassing moment Alabama has had since Bill Curry was playing soft rock music in the locker room to pump the team up prior to games.

 

[bamaga]

We had 40 transfers out. That is still alot of depth we lost that is playing somewhere else.

Yeah, most of those guys left before Nick left. But yeah, you are right . There was a dearth of talent after Nick left.

 

[Jack Bourbon]

I do have to make sure one aspect is clear. You might not like Grubb's playcalling and I'm not all that excited with how things have gone with him.

But the run trends are not a Grubb invention. DeBoer even without Grubb has consistently had his offenses kind of devolve in the running game, and one of Grubb's best year's running the ball was actually when DeBoer wasn't his head coach. If you look at last year's numbers even, you'll see use of running backs were about the same usage rate, but Milroe ran so much it obscured that. Of course they ran better but that matches the trend where year to year DeBoer's teams tend to get worse at running the ball and being bad at running the ball is a consistent thing.

So sure part of the issue is Grubb, but this whole let the QB do it all and weak running game is not just a Grubb feature, it's a DeBoer feature. Alabama actually relied just as much on the QB last year as well for example, and on Penix in Washington, etc...

Yes this formula aint it

 

[countrytider]

USF 2023, letting a player run the locker room (won't say more about that because you can believe what you want to there), running game was slipping, Oline wasn't as dominant from 2020 onward (just had some awesomely remarkable QBs who could compensate (except for 2023). You appear to have some selective memory issues going on.

How did that season go?

That’s right…talk about selective memory.

Good God, you guys literally prove my point.

Let me remind you:

SEC Champs

12-2

Stopped UGA from a 3-peat.

4 team playoff berth.

One dumb play call from playing for another NC.

You guys have to just be trolling at this point…surely it’s not the alternative..

 

[TideEngineer08]

Agree with some stuff and not others. Alabama is way closer that Mississippi State will ever be and that is over exaggeration. Agree with the things to fix including a new OL coach. I my Opinion DeBoer will get an extension this year and we will have him a few more years as long as we make the playoffs.

The point is this: Alabama as it exists today is not winning a championship. Any championship. They may go 10-2 but they aren’t winning the title. MSU may go 4-8. Neither team is winning a championship. That was my point.