I realize Arizona and Illinois would have sucked anyway but both did not have a traditional Spring game. Rich Rod decided to let his players play with the fans and the new Illinois HC decided he didn't have time to get to know the players. To each his own and I guess if you are an Arizona, Illinois (or Vandy) fan it doesn't matter much anyway.
vandy no longer having Spring game
- Thread starter bamanut_aj
- Start date
Because this isn't really what you are doing. The game is not played with normal rules because the threat of injuring a player is too high - risk/reward. You run very vanilla plays against defenses that make no adjustments and only have to touch the QB to register a sack. Not sure about Alabama, but most schools don't blitz or tackle fully, either. It is not your offense playing your defense if both have their hands tied behind their backs - it is a show for the fans.
If the spring game were run more like your other spring scrimmages the coaches could learn a lot more about the players. Those scrimmages are not played like a game. The players run specific plays in specific game scenarios. They are designed to put the offense and defenses in tough spots and test how well they players understand their roles. The coaches are able to break down that film and take it back out to the field, correcting mistakes. Coaches are also better able to evaluate players.
Typical of Vandy, they were simply afraid that the stands would be empty without the fans of an opposing team there to visit Nashville. I think most schools consider playing at Vandy to be practically a home game anyway.
I disagree. Every year, Saban always makes a point to encourage a big attendance for the Spring Game. He uses it as a way to simulate a real game day experience for the players. Even if the play calls are vanilla, he still wants to see them play hard in a simulated game environment to see how they respond. You don't get that with a closed scrimmage. And the players always talk about how excited they are as the game approaches. Saban uses A Day to his full advantage. He even mentioned the 2007 A Day game as a moment when he realized Alabama was a special place.
Don't we bring in recruits for the weekend too? For that reason alone, I think the coaching staff loves having a big spring game with all of the fanfare.
Another big reason to keep the spring game is that it is a big economic boost in the spring for the city of Tuscaloosa. People tend to spend more money because they aren't shelling out hundreds of dollars just to get in the stadium. All of the places like gas stations, restaurants, and retail get a nice boost during a relatively low point in the year. I remember back when I was younger and all you could get was bottled water at the game. Now they have the concessions open as well, which has to bring in more revenue for those vendors.
I know it's not all about money...but I do know that businesses in Tuscaloosa look forward to mid April every year because of our glorified practice.
Another big reason to keep the spring game is that it is a big economic boost in the spring for the city of Tuscaloosa. People tend to spend more money because they aren't shelling out hundreds of dollars just to get in the stadium. All of the places like gas stations, restaurants, and retail get a nice boost during a relatively low point in the year. I remember back when I was younger and all you could get was bottled water at the game. Now they have the concessions open as well, which has to bring in more revenue for those vendors.
I know it's not all about money...but I do know that businesses in Tuscaloosa look forward to mid April every year because of our glorified practice.
We all have our opinion. I think the Spring Game being a "wash" as far as coaching them up goes is over hyped just like a 6-6 team in a bowl game is supposed to give the freshmen 12 more practices and really give them a leg up for next year. Each year I look at the team in bowls and see many of them suck next year ..... they did NOT get that benefit from those extra practices. Now I am supposed to believe that 14 practices and 1 A Day is worse than 15 practices. C'mon, missing one practice for ADay can't be too bad, it is less than 10% of practices. Also, you have a stadium near capacity cheering which you do not have in practice and that should be a small benefit.
Latest threads
-
No. 1 Visits Tuscaloosa for Second Straight Week as Alabama Hosts Top-Ranked Texas A&M- Started by Diamond Tide
- Replies: 0
-
-
I'm Declaring the Emporer has no clothes (NCAA rules implosion)- Started by BamaNation
- Replies: 14
-
Home-and-Home Series Wraps Up as Alabama Welcomes UAB on Tuesday
- Started by Diamond Tide
- Replies: 1
-
-
A huge win today at my doctor's office...- Started by uafan4life
- Replies: 4