I try to understand that most people don't really understand the personnel issues. When you don't, it's easy to throw out posts like most of these in these threads. One of the other mods PMed me a couple of days before it became public and told me about Moses' knee. He said he'd thrown his iPhone across the room (only cracked the screen) and said "We're screwed." We lost the other ILB who had experience, also to injury and one very talented guy turned out to be a head case and disappeared. We started as many as six pure freshman at one point. We're not only thin; we're young and inexperienced in a couple of crucial areas. The job done by the coaches this year on defense is little short of miraculous, given the the circumstances. It makes it very hard to read a lot of the uninformed posts blaming the coaches (and everyone under the sun) in these threads...
Acknowledging that we're 8-1 and about 125 FBS teams would love to trade places with us, it has been an incredibly trying season.
Incredible coaching turnover, some warranted, some not. Lose multiple players to the NFL draft that really shouldn't have gone. Incredibly bad injury luck, and a ton of it. Mistakes from areas that shouldn't have made them.
Lose several NG / DT players to the NFL. Does anybody realize that, a decade ago, Q would be a junior with one more year of eligibility? Lose several other players who, honestly, their time had come. Then lose an AA ILB who would have been the bellcow and on-field leader of the defense before the season starts (Moses). Lose a less-talented, but highly experienced, 5th year senior ILB, who would have been the intellectual backup to Moses, to injury before the season starts (Mosley). Lose a game-changing kicker because he kicked the tee and sustained a 3-4 month groin injury. Lose a NG / DT (Ray) to injury before the season starts. Have a generational QB at roughly 80% against what ends up being the #1 team in the country.
If you dismiss all that as, "excuses," you just don't understand a thing about the real world, let alone the intricacies of football.
I agree that, (1) too many people are ignoring (or are incapable of understanding) the real issue, dismissing it as, "excuses," and (2) second only to the mental turnaround between 2007 and 2008, this is Saban's best coaching job.
The Process isn't broken or outdated. Through no fault in anything, we're depleted of 1st round NFL talent, injured, and forced to play talented boys against men who are both talented and experienced men. Results to be expected.
