Question: Do you remember a time in the past when the O was ahead of the D?

I always take PFF with a grain of salt especially their college stuff but they apparently have our D as the highest graded in the country.

[The offense is going to get the majority of the praise with this team, and that’s understandable given how well they’ve played at some of the most important spots on the field. However, their defense is the highest-graded in the country, with Quinnen Williams generating another seven pressures last week against Arkansas. Linebacker Dylan Moses flashed last week, with five total stops. He’s allowed only a 45.2 passer rating into his coverage his entire career, while generating 31 stops in the process..

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2014 comes to mind.

B1GTide said:

Did you see the stat that showed that this Alabama team is only allowing 0.9 points per possession before the game enters garbage time? That is the best in college football. Your second team has been giving up a lot of points, and your first team seems to relax a bit when the game gets out of hand. So that represents a difference from previous teams. But the stats show that this Alabama defense is among the best in the country when it needs to play well.

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That is what we hope continues. However, it won't make for very good discussions if everyone just says how awesome we are and that we are unstoppable on offense and that no other team in the history of college football could stay with us. I hope we win every game by 30 points on our way to an SEC and national title, but that doesn't mean I won't continue to discuss each game and things we do well and things that concern me. This and golf are pretty much my hobbies.

teamplayer said:

That is what we hope continues. However, it won't make for very good discussions if everyone just says how awesome we are and that we are unstoppable on offense and that no other team in the history of college football could stay with us. I hope we win every game by 30 points on our way to an SEC and national title, but that doesn't mean I won't continue to discuss each game and things we do well and things that concern me. This and golf are pretty much my hobbies.

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Idk, I'm having a heck of a lot of fun with that kind of talk

B1GTide said:

Did you see the stat that showed that this Alabama team is only allowing 0.9 points per possession before the game enters garbage time? That is the best in college football. Your second team has been giving up a lot of points, and your first team seems to relax a bit when the game gets out of hand. So that represents a difference from previous teams. But the stats show that this Alabama defense is among the best in the country when it needs to play well.

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Agree that the defense is better than the stats show. But there are some issues on defense that we haven't seen in several years -- inside linebacker play is inconsistent to be kind, overall lack of depth, less of an outside rush than we've had in a while, now the Diggs injury. With this offense the D is probably good enough, but no question the O is carrying the team more than I have ever seen before, including all the years mentioned (I've followed Bama since the early 70s). Some of the defensive issues may be fixable on the practice field, and all the playing time that the 2nd and 3d stringers are getting may pay dividends later, but right now the gap between O and D is huge. If we had this year's D and last year's O we'd be looking at 2-3 losses this year (the horror!!)

Despite the issues, I think the defense has heard the criticism and has something to prove...... I think they show up this weekend......

Alabama's offense is much, much better now than 2014. Tua >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Blake Sims. Also, the receivers and offensive line are much better now. Running backs are a push because that team had Yeldon, Derrick Henry and Fowler. Still believe the defense will improve throughout the course of the year. Injuries are the main concern of course. Would be nice if the special teams got better.

Keeter said:

Despite the issues, I think the defense has heard the criticism and has something to prove...... I think they show up this weekend......

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I'm not sure we would be hearing as much criticism if we had not given up that cheap touchdown at the end of the game last week. 65-24 is pretty dominant without the extra TD. It could have been even higher scoring too if we had kept our starters in all game. But I do believe the defense will show up angry this week.

BamaMan09 said:

I'm not sure we would be hearing as much criticism if we had not given up that cheap touchdown at the end of the game last week. 65-24 is pretty dominant without the extra TD. It could have been even higher scoring too if we had kept our starters in all game. But I do believe the defense will show up angry this week.

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I feel the same........ I think they come out with a chip on their shoulder and are ready. Had the starters stayed it it might have been 70 points or more, but that risks the starters, and we don’t want any future injuries

I think Arkansas may have been saving some plays for that game because they had looked completely inept on offense before then. Almost as if Morris pulled a Hugh Freeze.

BamaMan09 said:

I'm not sure we would be hearing as much criticism if we had not given up that cheap touchdown at the end of the game last week. 65-24 is pretty dominant without the extra TD. It could have been even higher scoring too if we had kept our starters in all game. But I do believe the defense will show up angry this week.

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If they don`t, there`s something wrong with them. Hopefully, their pride was bruised last weekend.

Tideflyer said:

If they don`t, there`s something wrong with them. Hopefully, their pride was bruised last weekend.

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Judging by the comments some of them made, I'd say it was...............Dylan Moses took the blame for their performance.....of course, many of those long plays and gains made by the Hogs were assisted by holding that wasn't called...........had they not held, how many yards would they have gotten?

The Arky game was not as close as the score indicated, not from what I saw. Game was really over at halftime, possibly even before that.

RollTide_HTTR said:

Idk, I'm having a heck of a lot of fun with that kind of talk

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Hahaha, I hear you. I was also raised to be nervous about taking things for granted, you know, something about counting chickens before they hatch. However, if we go 15-0 and win SEC and national titles and whip every team we play by 20 or more points, I will love talking about this team being the best ever from January until the A-day game. Then we will talk about the potential for the 2019 team being even better.

JBama_in_PCOLA said:

The Arky game was not as close as the score indicated, not from what I saw. Game was really over at halftime, possibly even before that.

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10 years ago, if Alabama had beaten Arkansas 65-31, there would've been a wild party on University Blvd. The defense had some lapses and became unfocused up 21-0 but it was a total blowout that Arkansas had no chance of winning. I just wonder if there would have been as much outrage had they not scored at the end and the final ended up 65-24. I'm not sure there would be. But maybe that was a kick in the pants the unit needed.