Bluegrass Miracle Phenomenon

J4Bama

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Mar 24, 2002
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"I think everybody lost their focus, lost their `why," he said. "I don't think we understood how important every game was. I don't think we understood that you can get beat week in and week out in the SEC, and it showed. I think everybody understands now. I hate it that we had to lose, but if that's what it takes, that's what it takes. We're going to re-motivate ourselves this week and go forward."

Sounds like they were listening to the media too much.
 

Bruce014

1st Team
Aug 29, 2012
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Alabama
When we have real coaches (from Wallace Wade to present day) we have a long history of destroying remaining opponents after a humiliating loss.

We have 2 lay ups before playing UGA. I think we win our 23rd SEC Championship going away.

I had no idea we beat LSU the week after the Bluegrass Miracle. I remember both games well, but didn't realize they were back-to-back.
 

B1GTide

TideFans Legend
Apr 13, 2012
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An opportunity for a different point of view:

Not sure that LSU winning in that fashion against UK had anything to do with their loss to you in 2002. They lost 5 games that season, including losses to every good team that they faced. You guys were good that year (10-3).

I just don't see the parallel, nor do I believe that your heroic win against LSU caused you to lose focus. If this Alabama team lost focus when they were preparing for this year's aTm team they have other problems that cannot be attributed to the media or anyone but themselves.
 

theballguy

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Nov 5, 2012
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I just don't see the parallel, nor do I believe that your heroic win against LSU caused you to lose focus. If this Alabama team lost focus when they were preparing for this year's aTm team they have other problems that cannot be attributed to the media or anyone but themselves.
Not blaming the media. We are blaming ourselves. We lost focus. The media didn't "make" us. Also, if you are bestowed a "win", it is very likely you will think that your mistakes were not big enough to cost you a game down the road especially to a team "weaker" than LSU -- which of course aTm is not.
 

theballguy

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Nov 5, 2012
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The "media" especially national media, do not watch the games much ... they only look at the score and/or the box score. They will say we trounced UT and Ole Miss but I never felt like those games were wrapped up until into the 4th Quarter. Then they will say Alabama is awesome while a team like Texas A&M didn't do well against Florida and LSU. (The Missouri and UGA game was a lot tighter than anyone remembers too.) Should we blame the media for this? Not really, they can't possibly watch every game. I wish it was different but we have to do what we need to do to succeed. This means not only the physical part of the game but also what goes on in our heads.
 

B1GTide

TideFans Legend
Apr 13, 2012
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Not blaming the media. We are blaming ourselves. We lost focus. The media didn't "make" us. Also, if you are bestowed a "win", it is very likely you will think that your mistakes were not big enough to cost you a game down the road especially to a team "weaker" than LSU -- which of course aTm is not.
My point was that 2002 LSU did not lose to Alabama because of the improbable win against UK, and you guys did not lose to aTm because of your win against LSU.
 

theBIGyowski

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Aug 4, 2005
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LSU didn't just lose to Alabama in 2002...they got embarrassed 31-0.

As an Alabama fan...I was happy we spanked them down there in Baton Rouge...after losing in 2000...the first loss there in over 30 years. I can see how CNS would draw a parallel between UK/Bama and LSU/A&M in the sense that the team and fans are all caught up in what happened the week before with a comeback victory that they fail to focus on the upcoming opponent.
 

rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
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I don't think his point was that LSU lost to Alabama in 2002 because of the epic comeback over Kentucky. His point was that his team had issues, he knew they had issues, they won a game they shouldn't, everybody is patting the shoulders of the team telling them they're great because they found a way to win, and the team buys the talk and doesn't appreciate the reason they got into that scenario over the first 58 minutes. They walk into the next game and get stomped partly over the same problems that dug the hole for the comeback the previous week. There is a strong parallel in that regard and a pretty astute assessment of how that played out.

When it takes an improbable throw to win against Kentucky, you probably are struggling to accomplish things needed to beat a quality opponent. When you let a mediocre LSU offense control the game for 58 minutes, all hands should be on alert when playing the best offense in the conference. The offense fell victim to the same problems as last week, the defensive issues were still exploited from the LSU game. Alabama obviously has the ability to play a good game because in parts of that game Alabama seemed to be wresting control of the game away from TAMU. The difference: there was no screen pass score and we got an interception this time. That is what is the most frustrating to Saban because when the intensity ramped up, Alabama started to play a better game than their opponent over the last 45 minutes but they dug too deep of a hole for it to be good enough.

They lost the first 15 20-0; won the last 45 24-9...to Saban that is a cardinal sin.
 
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RollTide1224

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Feb 18, 2008
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I don't think his point was that LSU lost to Alabama in 2002 because of the epic comeback over Kentucky. His point was that his team had issues, he knew they had issues, they won a game they shouldn't, everybody is patting the shoulders of the team telling them they're great because they found a way to win, and the team buys the talk and doesn't appreciate the reason they got into that scenario over the first 58 minutes. They walk into the next game and get stomped partly over the same problems that dug the hole for the comeback the previous week. There is a strong parallel in that regard and a pretty astute assessment of how that played out.

When it takes an improbable throw to win against Kentucky, you probably are struggling to accomplish things needed to beat a quality opponent. When you let a mediocre LSU offense control the game for 58 minutes, all hands should be on alert when playing the best offense in the conference. The offense fell victim to the same problems as last week, the defensive issues were still exploited from the LSU game. Alabama obviously has the ability to play a good game because in parts of that game Alabama seemed to be wresting control of the game away from TAMU. The difference: there was no screen pass score and we got an interception this time. That is what is the most frustrating to Saban because when the intensity ramped up, Alabama started to play a better game than their opponent over the last 45 minutes but they dug too deep of a hole for it to be good enough.

They lost the first 15 20-0; won the last 45 24-9...to Saban that is a cardinal sin.
Great post. I thought Coach's comment about the team being tired was really good. He basically said if they were tired what happened for the last 45 minutes? To me his implying that for whatever reason the team was not mentally ready to go when the game started. By the time they responded they had dug themselves too deep.
 

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