Depression Board - what hurts most about this loss

Alasippi

Suspended
Aug 31, 2007
12,875
2
57
Ocean Springs, MS
It hurts that we lost but I am very proud of this team.
We had a true freshman quarterback who did a totally fantastic job and made an incredibly good athletic play to give us the lead with two minutes to play.
He also led us to a 14-1 record and a final number two ranking.
Not what everybody wanted but still a great year.
I thought yesterday that in order to win, we needed to shorten the game by running the ball on sustained drives and keeping our defense off the field.
Of course that didn't happen, but give Clemson some credit for that.
It hurts that we probably had more false start penalties this year than the last three or four combined.
Penalties caused by a lack of focus and concentration will absolutely kill you.
It hurt that our kick offs were ridiculously short and Clemson continually made a short return turn into great starting field position, especially after our last touchdown.
Ultimately though, in my opinion, we lost because Clemson made the plays when they had to and because they have the best offensive football player in America in DeShaun Watson, who never got rattled no matter how hard we popped him.
It was simply a great game between two great teams and Clemson happened to make literally one more play than we did.
Hat's off to them and congratulations to Bama on a great season.
I'll close with this, the absolute biggest play of the college football season was N.C. States field goal kicker missing a chip shot field goal that would have eliminated Clemson from the playoff.
There's not another team in America who could come close to beating us.
 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
36,432
29,730
287
54
I guess I'm a little surprised because my reaction was so "ho hum" about the loss.

Let's take stock. I became a Tide fan early in the 1978 season. We've played EIGHT national championship games in that time - and until tonight we had never lost one. SEVEN national championships in just under forty years.

Look at what some BIG NAME programs have done in the same time frame:

Miami 5
Nebraska 3
USC 3
Ohio St 2
Oklahoma 2
Notre Dame 1
Texas 1
Tennessee 1
Florida St 3
Florida 3

And then there's some lesser names that have JUST AS MANY as Notre Dame:
Ga Tech, Colorado, Washington, Auburn, Georgia, BYU.....I repeat....BYU has as many titles in the last nearly 40 years as Notre Dame.

Clemson now has TWO during that time frame.

Miami is literally the only team even close to us in my lifetime - and the rules were different anyway. Two of their titles were of the 'back in' variety (1983 and 1989) and another was a split title (1991) in a year they REFUSED to play Florida in the Sugar Bowl (given their record in 'non-Orange Bowls' and against SEC teams in particular....). Furthermore, Miami sorta got hosed in 1985 and lost a game they should have won in 1986.


So not only is Alabama the most decorated program of my lifetime but only one team is even remotely close. And Miami ain't winning two national titles any time soon, either.

I just can't find much to be upset about. Obviously I wish we had won, but...we'll be back.

And Clemson - like Ohio State before them and Florida State before them and Auburn and Florida and Texas.....are about to find out how hard the road gets.

Comets have risen and flamed out during our run. When we began this journey in 2008, USC was an annual powerhouse national contender. They've plummeted and bobbed back to the surface. Florida was the envy of college football - they're a joke by comparison now. Boise State was a big name - who? Even Ohio State, who lost back to back title games, has fallen and rebuilt the monster. And Texas was in the midst of a sensational run when we nuclear bombed their program - and it's nowhere close to coming back.

Auburn rose, imploded, rose again, and has settled back into acceptable Opelika mediocrity - though they'll be tough the next couple of years. Oregon rose and ended in a calamity.

Through all of it - there's been one constant - and that's us.

RTR
 

Ole Man Dan

Hall of Fame
Apr 21, 2008
8,959
3,392
187
Gadsden, Al.
What hurts most is the two TDs on Pick Plays the Refs allowed by Clemson. What hurts equally bad was the Offensive Pass Interference calls not called on Clemson.
 

drjohn432

1st Team
Nov 28, 1999
432
2
137
67
mobile
It hurts that we lost but I am very proud of this team.
We had a true freshman quarterback who did a totally fantastic job and made an incredibly good athletic play to give us the lead with two minutes to play.
He also led us to a 14-1 record and a final number two ranking.
Not what everybody wanted but still a great year.
I thought yesterday that in order to win, we needed to shorten the game by running the ball on sustained drives and keeping our defense off the field.
Of course that didn't happen, but give Clemson some credit for that.
It hurts that we probably had more false start penalties this year than the last three or four combined.
Penalties caused by a lack of focus and concentration will absolutely kill you.
It hurt that our kick offs were ridiculously short and Clemson continually made a short return turn into great starting field position, especially after our last touchdown.
Ultimately though, in my opinion, we lost because Clemson made the plays when they had to and because they have the best offensive football player in America in DeShaun Watson, who never got rattled no matter how hard we popped him.
It was simply a great game between two great teams and Clemson happened to make literally one more play than we did.
Hat's off to them and congratulations to Bama on a great season.
I'll close with this, the absolute biggest play of the college football season was N.C. States field goal kicker missing a chip shot field goal that would have eliminated Clemson from the playoff.
There's not another team in America who could come close to beating us.
true all
 

JDCrimson

Hall of Fame
Feb 12, 2006
5,312
4,358
187
51
Sark should have run those pick plays too......free yards!
Therein lies the problem, we add these plays to our package and SEC refs would call us for OPI while Big 12 refs let it go. Whereas, SEC refs can't see a illegal man down field to save their life but I actually saw a couple Big 12 games where the refs called it.

A lot of the officiating against us has reverted back to some of what we saw back in the Shula years but for different reasons. The Bama fatigue factor is really starting to show itself in the officiating too not just with the media. Saban can't complain about it because it will just get worse. Not sure what can be done about it. But I don't think there is any doubt on many Saturdays there is an invisible hand trying to level the playing field for our opponents.

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JDCrimson

Hall of Fame
Feb 12, 2006
5,312
4,358
187
51
This is right on the money. We just had the D on the field for too many plays. You just can't expect a team to play 99 plays and expect to win. NO one in college football has enough depth to play 99 plays on defense. The offense was not good and it wasn't play calling. It was execution. Dropped passes, running poor routes, and most disturbingly not blocking at the point of attack. Bama is not supposed to lose the line of scrimmage, but we lost it last night.

All this being said, Clemson outplayed us last night for the most part so they deserve to be champions.

What burns me is the pick plays that were ignored. It is either a rule or not. The refs were from the Big12 who probably see that play 100 times in that throw it around everywhere league of theirs and never call it so I am not surprised it wasn't called last night. There is a reason that it is a rule that you can't block the DB away from the play, but no one seems to care anymore. If it is not going to be called abolish it and let college football become the CFL. I for one am tired of seeing the game being perverted into something it is not meant to be. College football has been a great game for over a 100 years, but this HUNH crap and lineman downfield and the rub/pick play not being called almost ever, has gotten to the point where it is ruining the game. Like it or not, ESPN is now running college football and the PTB cowtow to them for the sake of a check.
Go back and breakdown the game. From the very first possession by Clemson they were testing the line judge on our sideline to see what he would call. Literally every route that Cain ran involved some sort of push off by him. No call. Meanwhile on the other side of the field on the Clemson sideline this line judge calls 2 DPIs well actually one called on the long pass by a official 30+ yds away standing right by Dabo only seeing the back of our DB. The official on the play didn't call it because he saw what I saw that our DB never even made contact with the receiver.

The pick plays were ran in front of the official who they tested all night to see if he would call anything. That official was going to let anything go. They had what they wanted and go 2 tds doing it.

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bamacon

Hall of Fame
Apr 11, 2008
17,179
4,352
187
College Football's Mecca, Tuscaloosa
Because we abandoned what has worked for 4 titles and totally abandoned it with no explanation. It cost these guys a title that would've been more than earned. If we had run the ball and kept the clock running the defense gets rest, Watson gets no time, and IMHO Bama wins.


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Special K

All-American
Feb 8, 2008
2,788
1,268
187
Disappointed but certainly not depressed. What hurts the most about this loss is that they beat us at our own game in a sense. Just wore on us and kept coming until we finally broke in the 4th quarter. That's what we do to teams not the other way around. Tough to swallow but it is what it is.
 

bamamc1

Hall of Fame
Oct 24, 2011
5,392
3,870
187
Haleyville, AL
Because we abandoned what has worked for 4 titles and totally abandoned it with no explanation. It cost these guys a title that would've been more than earned. If we had run the ball and kept the clock running the defense gets rest, Watson gets no time, and IMHO Bama wins.


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My problem with the whole thing is the fact that we are loaded with all this 4 and 5 star talent but seem to play a limited group. There is no excuse in not having people ready to play spot minutes to give starters a blow on the sideline. Most of the folks standing over there start at 95% of the other D1 schools.
 

BamaInBham

All-American
Feb 14, 2007
4,464
2,104
187
That there will be a false narrative that Bama's D was exposed. It was a great D, and was in this game til it ran out of gas. Clemson scored twice out of its first 12 drives, then 3 of the last 5. Bama averaged 12 drives per game in the reg season. As many have pointed out, the O provided little relief - though it did score 31 points. 14 of its 16 drives were under 2:00, averaging an amazing 1:29 per the 14 drives. The other 2 were 3:56 and 2:31. Bama's 5 scoring drives averaged 1:29.

It is not the greatest D of all time but it was a very great D. 14 points to a great O under normal circumstances. I normally withhold any questions regarding coaching, but it seemed that there could have been more substitution on the DL and outside LBs. Am I wrong ? The subs have been good. I have avoided all media (video, audio, print) since the game, but I assume there has been and will be no mercy shown by the "deceitful vultures" 😊 to the team, program and this great D. Am I wrong ?
 

CrimsonProf

Hall of Fame
Dec 30, 2006
5,716
69
67
Birmingham, Alabama
Because we abandoned what has worked for 4 titles and totally abandoned it with no explanation. It cost these guys a title that would've been more than earned. If we had run the ball and kept the clock running the defense gets rest, Watson gets no time, and IMHO Bama wins.


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You're assuming that we could have just imposed our will and run it down their throats. With no threat of even a short range passing game, that wasn't happening.

At some point in the third quarter, I had one of those Kurt Russell in Tombstone, "Oh, hell," moments and realized that it was going to take a lot to get of there alive. It is what it is at this point but I'll never get over that officiating.


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CrimsonProf

Hall of Fame
Dec 30, 2006
5,716
69
67
Birmingham, Alabama
My problem with the whole thing is the fact that we are loaded with all this 4 and 5 star talent but seem to play a limited group. There is no excuse in not having people ready to play spot minutes to give starters a blow on the sideline. Most of the folks standing over there start at 95% of the other D1 schools.
This is one of the only critiques to be made of our in-game coaching. We rotated well in the first half and should have continued in the second. We didn't and we now see the result. I do wonder if this amazing group of seniors refused to come off the field and perhaps their pride got in the way. Either way, the talent was there to spell them for a bit and it just wasn't utilized as much after halftime.


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bamabelle1991

All-American
Jan 1, 2009
4,040
179
87
South Alabama
What makes me the most sad about the loss is how it affects the players. My heart breaks for all the guys who put in so much blood, sweat and tears this season and the past few seasons. The disappointment on their faces after the game nearly did me in. You can't blame missed calls by the refs for this loss. We had several dropped passes that could have made a difference. I believe we only ran 66 plays, but those were 66 opportunities to score. We had two fumble recoveries that lead to a measly 3 points. This just wasn't meant to be and that is the sad part. We will come back better than ever next year and everyone in our way better WATCH OUT!!
 

CrimsonProf

Hall of Fame
Dec 30, 2006
5,716
69
67
Birmingham, Alabama
What makes me the most sad about the loss is how it affects the players. My heart breaks for all the guys who put in so much blood, sweat and tears this season and the past few seasons. The disappointment on their faces after the game nearly did me in. You can't blame missed calls by the refs for this loss. We had several dropped passes that could have made a difference. I believe we only ran 66 plays, but those were 66 opportunities to score. We had two fumble recoveries that lead to a measly 3 points. This just wasn't meant to be and that is the sad part. We will come back better than ever next year and everyone in our way better WATCH OUT!!
If those pick plays had all been in the first half, I might agree that you can't blame the refs. Yet at that moment - right there and plain as day - the Clemson WR drove his helmet into Hump's chest with the ball in the air. In practically any other conference that's a penalty, yet these Big 12 officials let it go and here we are. The refs set the tone for the game and it was clear that they were going to let Clemson get away with OPI all night. Outside of risking personal fouls, there's hardly any counter to that.


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