Depression Board - what hurts most about this loss

BamaJama17

Hall of Fame
Sep 17, 2006
16,365
8
47
34
Hoover, AL
Ehh screw it. Alabama should have been ahead enough to where two pick plays wouldn't have mattered. Offense didn't do much to help out the defense on time of possession either.
 

CrimSonami

All-American
Jul 17, 2011
3,038
1,929
187
Ardmore, AL; too close to 10erC
Ehh screw it. Alabama should have been ahead enough to where two pick plays wouldn't have mattered. Offense didn't do much to help out the defense on time of possession either.
It wasn't just the pick plays. Offensive interference (pushing off the defender) contributed to sustained drives. The officials refused to veer from their typical Big12 "Basketball on Grass" mentality.
 

Jean Lafitte

1st Team
Dec 31, 2004
647
0
35
You could tell Saban turned pale white in the third quarter, as he knew what the situation was. He wasn't scared, just didn't feel comfortable with where things were. I'm not sure I've ever seen him turn that pale along with in a game for quite some time, if ever.
I think that was the moment that he and every thinking person watching realized that the refs were not going to call a penalty for either Pick, Pushing Off or other Offensive Pass interference. He saw the absurdity of the situation because that's not how the college football rules are supposed to be interpreted. Sorta a "Kafka-esque" moment.
"
 

BamaBoySince89

All-American
Aug 13, 2016
2,691
1,858
187
Harvest, AL
I was disappointed, but I didn't wake up feeling like I felt in 2013 after Auburn and 2015 after Ohio St. The most important thing is how will this team respond in the off-season during workouts and will anyone emerge as a leader to help focus the mindsets of everyone else. If they don't use this game to get them motivated, next year will be hard to watch.
 

trenda

Hall of Fame
May 17, 2000
6,496
213
187
55
Hendersonville, TN USA
What hurts most for me about this loss is that the season has ended. I really, really enjoyed watching this D play. It was an outstanding season that fell one second short of a national title. Great era for Tide fans. Soak it up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

USCBAMA

All-SEC
Sep 21, 2001
1,860
105
182
Columbia, SC, Richland
What hurts most is abandoning the running game in 2nd half and throwing the ball over and over when it wasn't working. We just needed to run clock to keep Watson off the field and to give our D some rest. Was just odd to watch in the 2nd half as we'd rush for 11 yards, then call 3 straight pass plays and punt. No clock run and you abandon what was working for what was not working. Very frustrating.
 

Al A Bama

Hall of Fame
Jun 24, 2011
6,658
934
132
It wasn't just the pick plays. Offensive interference (pushing off the defender) contributed to sustained drives. The officials refused to veer from their typical Big12 "Basketball on Grass" mentality.
I guess Clemson took a course in Big 12-2 Football including how officials call plays in that conference.

In defense of our awesome DEFENSE: the OFFENSE did NOT control the ball and as a result the DEFENSE was on the field toooooooo long!

However, give credit where it is due. Clemson drove the ball down our throats with 2:07 left and we could not stop them when we needed to even
after Bama had come back to go ahead 31 to 28.

I guess we were just outta gas. I guess 99 plays will do that to you! That's got to be a historical record for number of plays our DEFENSE has ever
been on a field of play.

It's sure gonna be a long offseason.

Is the sun shinning in Alabama today? I'll bet it is in South Carolina!

Will Alabama add PICK Plays to our Playbook for next year?
 

dWarriors88

All-American
Jan 4, 2009
4,234
869
137
Tulsa, OK
I can't shake this nauseating sick feeling. Everyone wants to pat each other on the back for a great season, but in the end we didn't finish so now these players have made it this far and won't reap the rewards of all that labor, and that just kills me for them.
 

tusks_n_raider

Hall of Fame
May 13, 2009
12,096
12,087
187
Mobile, AL
The defense getting exposed hurts most. I really thought they were the goat.
This for me too. I bought the hype. But no.....they were WAAAAAYYYY overrated. 1992 and 2011 are still the standard bearer's. I guess in retrospect when you look at the season.....NO other SEC team had less than 4 losses. It feels like we were a paper champion from a weak conference now. It hurts bad to know how motivated this defense was to erase their embarrassment from last year just to get torched AGAIN.
 

Tidewater

Hall of Fame
Mar 15, 2003
22,401
13,176
287
Hooterville, Vir.
I hate to say it, but I hope Jalen improves a lot as a passer over the next spring camp and summer pre-season. Clemson knew Bama was not a serious threat passing the ball and that makes running the ball very difficult. Jalen has played his heart out and has the potential. I admire his poise. Time to develop as a passer. A lot.
Credit Clemson's coaching staff for correctly assessing that a Big 12 officiating crew would let offensive players get away with murder and calling plays based on that assessment. A pick play won't work unless you call that play. Clemson knew the refs would be very lenient with pick plays.
I'll be patient with Sark. I saw moments of greatness. Let's see how he does after one spring season and one summer pre-season.
Hat tip to Clemson. The better team won last night. (It literally had not occurred to me that Coach Saban could lose in a championship game.)
 

RTR91

Super Moderator
Nov 23, 2007
39,407
6
0
Prattville
This for me too. I bought the hype. But no.....they were WAAAAAYYYY overrated. 1992 and 2011 are still the standard bearer's. I guess in retrospect when you look at the season.....NO other SEC team had less than 4 losses. It feels like we were a paper champion from a weak conference now. It hurts bad to know how motivated this defense was to erase their embarrassment from last year just to get torched AGAIN.
I know you're upset today. We all are, but you're wrong. Stats show this defense is still unbelievable.
 

KrAzY3

Hall of Fame
Jan 18, 2006
10,615
4,540
187
43
kraizy.art
The defense getting exposed hurts most. I really thought they were the goat.
I think the depth was what got exposed. Clemson ran an absurd amount of plays, they just didn't have the bodies to keep the defense fresh. The defense looked every bit the part in the first quarter. Healthy Eddie Jackson and SDH probably changes things though.

As far as what hurt the most, in a lot of ways I saw this coming. I never felt comfortable, I knew Alabama had to mount a drive to give the defense rest, and it just came too late.

The last play was frustrating, both the pick and the fact that had it somehow been an in-completion time might have run out. The Bo injury hurt. The lopsided officiating hurt.

Really though I'd have to agree with the posters that say just the lack of sustained drivers, that hurt the most I think. Penalties hurt a couple drives, and dropped passes cost the team a few first downs. One more sustained drive, even if they didn't score, just one more sustained drive could have been the difference.

Edit:
I know you're upset today. We all are, but you're wrong. Stats show this defense is still unbelievable.
It's also worth noting that they were playing without two key starters. That's hard to overlook.
 

NationalTitles18

TideFans Legend
May 25, 2003
29,547
34,574
362
Mountainous Northern California
I hate to say it, but I hope Jalen improves a lot as a passer over the next spring camp and summer pre-season. Clemson knew Bama was not a serious threat passing the ball and that makes running the ball very difficult. Jalen has played his heart out and has the potential. I admire his poise. Time to develop as a passer. A lot.
Credit Clemson's coaching staff for correctly assessing that a Big 12 officiating crew would let offensive players get away with murder and calling plays based on that assessment. A pick play won't work unless you call that play. Clemson knew the refs would be very lenient with pick plays.
I'll be patient with Sark. I saw moments of greatness. Let's see how he does after one spring season and one summer pre-season.
Hat tip to Clemson. The better team won last night. (It literally had not occurred to me that Coach Saban could lose in a championship game.)
If we don't have someone scouting the refs maybe it's time we start.
 

BamaHoosier

All-American
Jan 17, 2011
3,614
620
132
Noblesville Indiana
This for me too. I bought the hype. But no.....they were WAAAAAYYYY overrated. 1992 and 2011 are still the standard bearer's. I guess in retrospect when you look at the season.....NO other SEC team had less than 4 losses. It feels like we were a paper champion from a weak conference now. It hurts bad to know how motivated this defense was to erase their embarrassment from last year just to get torched AGAIN.
I don't agree with this at all. They played their guts out all night, delivered hit after hit, and that takes as much of a toll on them as it does the offensive player. Heck, the majority of Clemson's points and a good chunk of their yards happened in the 4th, when the defensive was exhausted and running on empty. If you want to say the defense got "exposed," then it needs to be stated that it was our offense that exposed them for not giving them rest in between drives.

Personally I couldn't have been more proud of the defense and Clemson's scheme. That was an elite offense that we faced, and we mostly controlled the game for 3 quarters before we exhausted our personnel. Only thing we saw is that we weren't as deep as we thought we were. Still our D did everything that could have been asked of them. They won the TO battle, and they hit Watson repeatedly. Heck, even two of the TD's Clemson had possibly wouldn't have happened had our DB's not been impeded illegally. If they were exposed for anything, it was only exposed that they are humans.
 

TideEngineer08

TideFans Legend
Jun 9, 2009
36,258
30,841
187
Beautiful Cullman, AL
This for me too. I bought the hype. But no.....they were WAAAAAYYYY overrated. 1992 and 2011 are still the standard bearer's. I guess in retrospect when you look at the season.....NO other SEC team had less than 4 losses. It feels like we were a paper champion from a weak conference now. It hurts bad to know how motivated this defense was to erase their embarrassment from last year just to get torched AGAIN.
No.

That 1992 defense did not have to face anything remotely similar to the kinds of offenses ran today. The closest they came - Steve Spurrier's Florida team - very nearly beat them in Birmingham. But again, those Florida teams, while high-flying for the day, were nothing close to the likes of Clemson today.

Frankly, we didn't even see this kind of an offense in 2011, either. That 2011 defense would have been exposed last night in a worse way, being too big and too slow.

Two things. Clemson's offense is really good. And, when your offense goes 3 and out as much as Alabama's does, while running tempo themselves and not burning the least bit of clock, it is going to cause pain for your defense no matter how good it is.
 

ccc2259

All-American
Oct 29, 2010
2,571
70
72
Lower Alabama
What hurts most.....
1) The pre-game cockiness of the Clemson fans not being thrown back in their face
2) Having 2 TD's scored on pick plays that would have called more than 50% of the time by other officiating crews
3) The news that Bo broke his leg....really feel for him
4) Knowing that as bad as I hurt, the players must feel much worse
 

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