A different thought regarding the past 9 seasons

smith5753 · Feb 20, 2019

I don't post much but I read often and appreciate all the conversations and nuggets you guys put here concerning the Tide.

I had a thought today and was interested to see how you guys responded. We've been on a historical run the past 10 seasons and may never see anything like this again once coach Saban retires. Now, with all the success and glory we've experienced, if you could go back 9 seasons ago as you're watching Saban and Ingram and Julio lift that national championship trophy above their heads, how many of you guys would have ever guessed that would be our last undefeated champion for the next 9 seasons?? This thought blows my mind when you consider how dominant we've been the past decade.

B1GTide · Feb 21, 2019

IMO, going undefeated in the SEC (including winning the SECCG) is harder than winning a national championship. It does not surprise me that you have managed to win more championships without going undefeated again. What is more surprising to me is that you managed to go undefeated through all of that and then lose to Clemson in the CFPCG, not once but twice.

But, when Saban's legacy at Alabama is discussed, the discussion should be framed around the fact that he had Alabama in the hunt for a national title every single year that he was at Alabama (other than 2007, and those were not his players). That has never happened before, and it will never happen again.

smith5753 · Feb 21, 2019

B1GTide said:
IMO, going undefeated in the SEC (including winning the SECCG) is harder than winning a national championship. It does not surprise me that you have managed to win more championships without going undefeated again. What is more surprising to me is that you managed to go undefeated through all of that and then lose to Clemson in the CFPCG, not once but twice.

But, when Saban's legacy at Alabama is discussed, the discussion should be framed around the fact that he had Alabama in the hunt for a national title every single year that he was at Alabama (other than 2007, and those were not his players). That has never happened before, and it will never happen again.

I absolutely agree. We are realistically a few bad games and a few bad plays away from being undefeated national champions 11 years in a row. Every single season we've had a route to the title and that even includes 2010 after a bad south Carolina loss. I don't think Saban's success will ever be replicated. Here's to hoping we put the pieces together this season to go 15-0!!

BamaMoon · Feb 21, 2019

If I'm being honest, yeah, it's a little disappointing when you consider how close we were those two times. There is really something special about that 0 after the win number. It's classic and clean.

But, I also think most of us know the real goal is the NC, not an undefeated season.

And yes, certain seasons it's been harder winning the SEC than the NC and CNS has said so.

UntouchableCrew · Feb 21, 2019

Like B1G Tide alluded to, it's really a testament to the strength of the SEC. The same Alabama teams that won national championships would have likely had "undefeated" runs in other conferences... And despite that we were pretty darn close to another perfect season in 2016.

BamaMoon · Feb 21, 2019

Another thing to consider is that in the SEC (and probably other top conferences too), a loss is sometimes a good thing. It's hard to learn from winning, but you can definitely learn from a loss and, perhaps even more importantly, get motivation and a reset of priorities.

The year Florida got beat by OM and Tebow made his famous speech afterward is the classic example. Our losses to TAMU and LSU were resets during two championship years too.

Bamabuzzard · Feb 21, 2019

BamaMoon said:
Another thing to consider is that in the SEC (and probably other top conferences too), a loss is sometimes a good thing. It's hard to learn from winning, but you can definitely learn from a loss and, perhaps even more importantly, get motivation and a reset of priorities.

The year Florida got beat by OM and Tebow made his famous speech afterward is the classic example. Our losses to TAMU and LSU were resets during two championship years too.

The 2018 team could have used a regular season loss to be quite honest. The glitter and glamour of the offense masked a lot of the problems on both offense and defense that culminated in completely being exposed in the second half of the title game.

BamaMoon · Feb 21, 2019

Bamabuzzard said:
The 2018 team could have used a regular season loss to be quite honest. The glitter and glamour of the offense masked a lot of the problems on both offense and defense that culminated in completely being exposed in the second half of the title game.

Had the very same thought when I typed that post. The problem was when was it going to happen? We dominated/overwhelmed everyone early and we certainly didn't want to let the Barn win another one. Maybe a loss to MSU would have been good timing, but IDK.

And with the Bama fatigue, we don't want to give the CFP committee a reason to leave us out of the top 4.

TideEngineer08 · Feb 21, 2019

Bamabuzzard said:
The 2018 team could have used a regular season loss to be quite honest. The glitter and glamour of the offense masked a lot of the problems on both offense and defense that culminated in completely being exposed in the second half of the title game.

We needed to be humbled. I would have much rather suffered that moment in the regular season than when it did happen.

81usaf92 · Feb 21, 2019

Bamabuzzard said:
The 2018 team could have used a regular season loss to be quite honest. The glitter and glamour of the offense masked a lot of the problems on both offense and defense that culminated in completely being exposed in the second half of the title game.

I don't think it would've mattered. We probably still get plastered by Clemson without 3 of the 4 most important defensive players due to injury and with coordinators out of their depth. Yes CNS has said "the team never got better after the LSU game", but how much is that due to leaders being out?

Bamabuzzard · Feb 21, 2019

81usaf92 said:
I don't think it would've mattered. We probably still get plastered by Clemson without 3 of the 4 most important defensive players due to injury and with coordinators out of their depth. Yes CNS has said "the team never got better after the LSU game", but how much is that due to leaders being out?

I was actually thinking it would have done the coaching staff good to lose a game.

81usaf92 · Feb 21, 2019

Bamabuzzard said:
I was actually thinking it would have done the coaching staff good to lose a game.

Maybe, but its kinda hard to see it after the MSU and UGA games at the coaching staff getting any better. Locks was going to ride Tua's deep ball all the way even if it wasn't working, and Tosh was so lost on the sideline. I really think we had more recruiters than coaches on the sideline was a huge problem.

Bamabuzzard · Feb 22, 2019

81usaf92 said:
Maybe, but its kinda hard to see it after the MSU and UGA games at the coaching staff getting any better. Locks was going to ride Tua's deep ball all the way even if it wasn't working, and Tosh was so lost on the sideline. I really think we had more recruiters than coaches on the sideline was a huge problem.

I wonder at what point in the season did CNS realize Tosh was in over his head? But I agree, the guy was absolutely lost on the sidelines.

BamaMoon · Feb 22, 2019

Bamabuzzard said:
I wonder at what point in the season did CNS realize Tosh was in over his head? But I agree, the guy was absolutely lost on the sidelines.

No wonder our linebackers seemed lost at times and out of place if the DC was "lost."

I think this also suggests that CNS sees Golden as someone who "isn't lost" in regards to understanding, coaching and hopefully seeing the game in real time and making quick adjustments/calls.

RTR91 · Feb 22, 2019

Bamabuzzard said:
I wonder at what point in the season did CNS realize Tosh was in over his head? But I agree, the guy was absolutely lost on the sidelines.

There was a report during the coaching changes that Tosh was no longer calling the players as early as September.

Bamabuzzard · Feb 22, 2019

RTR91 said:
There was a report during the coaching changes that Tosh was no longer calling the players as early as September.

If that's the case then Tosh wasn't the only one lost. Defense looked out of sorts all year.

RTR91 · Feb 22, 2019

Bamabuzzard said:
If that's the case then Tosh wasn't the only one lost. Defense looked out of sorts all year.

Yes, but the belief is Pete was in the booth radioing down the play to Tosh, who then signaled in the play to Mack and/or Moses. If any adjustments needed to be made, Pete had to radio those down to Tosh to repeat the process.

That would lead to several guys being lost.

Bamabuzzard · Feb 22, 2019

RTR91 said:
Yes, but the belief is Pete was in the booth radioing down the play to Tosh, who then signaled in the play to Mack and/or Moses. If any adjustments needed to be made, Pete had to radio those down to Tosh to repeat the process.

That would lead to several guys being lost.

Gotcha. That makes sense.

smith5753 · Feb 22, 2019

BamaMoon said:
Another thing to consider is that in the SEC (and probably other top conferences too), a loss is sometimes a good thing. It's hard to learn from winning, but you can definitely learn from a loss and, perhaps even more importantly, get motivation and a reset of priorities.

The year Florida got beat by OM and Tebow made his famous speech afterward is the classic example. Our losses to TAMU and LSU were resets during two championship years too.

I completely agree with this point. We've seen several examples of a team being humbled and learning from that experience and being better because of it down the stretch. And as many of you guys have pointed out our players / coaching staff could have benefited from that this year.

To some other points I would always take the national championship over anything else as I assume 100% of our fanbase would as well. My though was just that if you asked me 10 years ago I would have beat the house that we had at least 1-2 undefeated seasons over the next 9 seasons.

Power Eye · Feb 22, 2019

TideEngineer08 said:
We needed to be humbled. I would have much rather suffered that moment in the regular season than when it did happen.

I agree with this, and I think it will significantly help drive the 2019 team. It seems like it already has with the coaching staff shake-up.

It will be interesting to see how Clemson handles their success and undefeated season. Lawrence still really hasn't faced adversity and he's going to go through an entire offseason of being the Heisman front-runner and will be getting constant media attention. Swinney's biggest coaching challenge for next season will be managing their team's humility. Lord knows it won't be schedule, though A&M and Syracuse are in back-to-back weeks and are probably the only two teams that could really challenge them going into the season.

A different thought regarding the past 9 seasons

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