First, after sleeping on it, I'm at peace with the game. For the first time in my life when Bama was playing for the opporutunity to be champs, we actually lost. Since the late 70's Bama is something like 7-1 in "title games." Not bad.
But to the point of the thread. We know defense wins championships, but that's ony true when the offense does it part. It's ironic that in a season when we probably were as good or better than any Bama defense I've ever seen, we ultimately lost it all because we couldn't produce on offense.
1. We couldn't convert 3rd downs and grind the clock. In this game, that was the ultimate issue. We actually scored enough points to win, typically, but not against DW and this Clemson team.
2. We couldn't keep the defense off balance by being able to run and pass. All game they were jumping the short routes knowing we couldn't do anything else and they were loading the box daring us to pass.
3. As a result, our dynamic receivers (with the exception of OJ's long TD) were reduced to nothing. Stewarts biggest impact play was a pass, ironically. Ridley was basically not a factor. This will go down as the biggest waste of talent at Bama in any unit I can remember.
4. For a failure to do #1, we let their offense run 99 plays and we were gassed. Ironically, they did to our defense, what we usually do to defenses.
5. And my biggest fear is this. In choosing to go this philisophical route of dual threat qbs, we will be at the mercy of the limitations of his passing skills. The inability to complete downfield passes may put us back in this position again.
So, let the debate begin, has CNS set sail on sea of Dual-Threat QBS to never look back OR was this a pretty successful trip that ultimately fell a few plays short that will cause us to return to our traditional roots???
But to the point of the thread. We know defense wins championships, but that's ony true when the offense does it part. It's ironic that in a season when we probably were as good or better than any Bama defense I've ever seen, we ultimately lost it all because we couldn't produce on offense.
1. We couldn't convert 3rd downs and grind the clock. In this game, that was the ultimate issue. We actually scored enough points to win, typically, but not against DW and this Clemson team.
2. We couldn't keep the defense off balance by being able to run and pass. All game they were jumping the short routes knowing we couldn't do anything else and they were loading the box daring us to pass.
3. As a result, our dynamic receivers (with the exception of OJ's long TD) were reduced to nothing. Stewarts biggest impact play was a pass, ironically. Ridley was basically not a factor. This will go down as the biggest waste of talent at Bama in any unit I can remember.
4. For a failure to do #1, we let their offense run 99 plays and we were gassed. Ironically, they did to our defense, what we usually do to defenses.
5. And my biggest fear is this. In choosing to go this philisophical route of dual threat qbs, we will be at the mercy of the limitations of his passing skills. The inability to complete downfield passes may put us back in this position again.
So, let the debate begin, has CNS set sail on sea of Dual-Threat QBS to never look back OR was this a pretty successful trip that ultimately fell a few plays short that will cause us to return to our traditional roots???