Are you expecting an easy win vs. Texas?

[bayoutider]

Tennessee was a pretty good team, better than I expected. Nebraska was as good as I expected. Both teams will be better next season unless Tennessee all go to jail. We expected a fight out of Auburn especially after the way we treated them last year, they may as well get use to that kind of treatment.

 

[gmart74]

im just glad we have 2 great teams playing for the title. 2 teams whose players are good role models for kids. i think it is great when the high profile players for both teams are good people instead of the trash and scum that was glorified in the old miami days. im looking forward to a great game that will be entertaining for the entire country. I also look forward to continuing the process and winning another natty champ.

 

[afadam07]

Yes, Texas struggled against Oklahoma and Nebraska, but how is that any different from our struggles against UT or Auburn or even South Carolina?

You have a few good points in your post. I have to disagree with you on this though. The only one who gave us trouble without reason is SC. Tennessee had a bye the week before they played us. Giving Monte Kiffin two weeks to prepare for Bama is almost asking for a stalemate game. Also, Aub had a bye week right before we played them on a friday, giving us one less day to prepare for them. Aub's two weeks of practice compared to Bama's 4 days is pretty much a mismatch even though bama's team is better than Aub's this year. In the SC game, it wasn't a struggle persay, it was those redzone blues that we've had all year. TX and OK should have been in a struggle. They are the 2 best teams in the Big-12. I believe the only reason OK has such a mediocre record is because Sam Bradford was out. They would have still lost that game, but they would have probably had one more loss or won out the rest of their games

I ain't making excuses saying Bama is better because of this, just defending the misleading statements. I know Texas is a good team and I believe Bama will win close to the score of the Florida game (It'll be close at half-time like FL). If you give Nick Saban a month to plan for a team, dont you think they'll be as prepared, or better, as they were against Florida. I know Texas has just the same amount of time to prepare, but I'm telling you, Saban is a mastermind with this stuff.

Bama 31- Texas 17

 

[afadam07]

What is up with eveyone jumping on the close game bandwagon? We have less confidence in our team than the rest of the country. It will take a very uncharacteristic game for both Bama and Texas for the game to be close. The only two good defenses Texas has faced held them to below twenty. Texas talks about a great rushing game but they haven't faced a great rushing team, I would argue they haven't even faced a good rushing team. Alabama is dedicated to the running game. And Texas' receivers (with the exception of Shipley) haven't demonstrated the ability to get off of good coverage (and our secondary is great). And we have to best linebackers for stopping the short pass game. And Texas has no running game. All the factors point to this game being a comfortable victory for Bama. Am I missing something? Texas will have to catch some huge breaks to stay in this one.

I almost fully agree with you! I think the first have will be close, 2nd half we put it away.

 

[gmart74]

I almost fully agree with you! I think the first have will be close, 2nd half we put it away.

i love how our team plays in the 4th quarter. s&c coaches are so important and it is great seeing our coach going nuts on the sidelines. is he the same s&c coach from last yr that made the great statement about UGA's blackout?

 

[Tidewater]

I'll agree with much of that. The value of a great QB cannot be underestimated. However, we have also shut down some pretty good QBs this year in Mallet, Snead and Tebow.

I recall an article from ESPN at mid-season, showing the stats for opposing QBs against Bama and against all others (e.g. Taylor, Mallet, Garcia, etc.).
Bama's defensive schemes made some very good QBs look fairly pedestrian.
Here's hoping the Bama D can make McCoy look human. He's a good'un.

 

[TidePrideGA]

Anyone who thinks this will be easy is fooling themselves. This will not be an easy game.

 

[gmart74]

the motivation to beat a heisman winner is very inspiring to teams. we made gino toretta look foolish back in the day, auburn sold out against ingram and shut him down when i didnt think they had a chance. i figure texas will do the same especially after seeing their qb lose to our rb. you would think their is no greater motivation than winning a natty champ but i would say extra motivation to maintain intensity until the nat title game can be very beneficial. i think texas plays us a lot closer than we think... but i would love to see us completely dominate them.

 

[tftplisa]

I think we win with a comfortable margin. Not that I don't respect them, but our Defense will be the best they've played. We have a balanced Offense that can put together long drives. I'm sure that whoever had so much trouble blocking Suh will get a good dose of Cody and Chapman and while they may not be "the best defensive player of the decade", it won't be a huge dropoff in ability. Their cheerleaders in those chaps and fringe are among the best. Colt McCoy is a class guy as is Coach Brown. I just honestly feel we pull away at the end and are awarded the crystal football.

 

[BamaSkins]

IMO this will be a hard fought game...Texas has an excellent team, it will take a Florida type game from us to beat them...BUT I do think we will win our 13th NC

 

[LoyalAlum]

If Bama can keep McCoy off the field then it will be a comfortable win. We can't let him get into a throwing rhythm. I predict CNS will keep it on the ground an grind out the clock if he gets a lead.

 

[First Sergeant]

Does Texas run any misdirection plays or trick plays? Initially, that is what AUmost did to us to catch us off guard....if they come out like AU did, I can see this being to close for comfort....I have not watched TX too much this season so I don't know if they have certain plays up their sleeve to catch us looking.....:BigA:

 

[TexasTideFan]

Does Texas run any misdirection plays or trick plays? Initially, that is what AUmost did to us to catch us off guard....if they come out like AU did, I can see this being to close for comfort....I have not watched TX too much this season so I don't know if they have certain plays up their sleeve to catch us looking.....:BigA:

I watched them 3 times this season when they played OU, the Aggies, and Nebraska. They don't seem to base their Offense off alot of gimmick plays but I am sure in a game like this, with this much time to gameplan, they will probably put in a gimmick or 2. Their base is really the Spread without a solid running game. McCoy seems to be their primary running threat either by design or when he takes off when coverage is good and he loves his primary WR, Shipley. It's an Offense that frankly I feel we can contain after watching us do a solid job against Florida, Auburn (after the 1rst Quarter), Ole Miss, and Arkansas.

I am sure they will probably put in the Auburn film and see how their trickery worked and maybe more important, how they managed to stiffle Ingram.

 

[BAMA504]

Question,

why is a 7-5 UTenn a good team while 9-4 NU a joke?

i am sorta confused.

Have you seen Nebraska's offense?????? Not just the texas game but all year long??? How they got to 9-4 is a telling sign of how great the big12 is. Their offense is in line with running the wildcat every single play with no threat of ever passing the ball...... Hard to believe they won 9 games period but I guess loading the box and making them pass was just hard to figure out for some reason~!~

 

[RobQuig]

I watched them 3 times this season when they played OU, the Aggies, and Nebraska. They don't seem to base their Offense off alot of gimmick plays but I am sure in a game like this, with this much time to gameplan, they will probably put in a gimmick or 2. Their base is really the Spread without a solid running game. McCoy seems to be their primary running threat either by design or when he takes off when coverage is good and he loves his primary WR, Shipley. It's an Offense that frankly I feel we can contain after watching us do a solid job against Florida, Auburn (after the 1rst Quarter), Ole Miss, and Arkansas.

I am sure they will probably put in the Auburn film and see how their trickery worked and maybe more important, how they managed to stiffle Ingram.

Good analysis. I wouldn't expect much trickery from the Horns. Greg Davis (OC) is relatively predictable.

 

[Boclive]

Turnovers.

Alabama is in this game because they only have 10 turnovers on the year. That's less than .77 per game.

Texas is in this game because they have gained 35 turnovers on the year.
That's more than 2.69 per game.

Something has to give right there.

On the other hand;

Alabama has gained 26 turnovers for an even 2 per game average.

Texas has lost 23 - ~1.77 or a little less than 2 per game.

Overall BAMA is +16 and Texas is +12.

So, who's going to turn whom over in this game?

Shouldn't a "Championship" game be well played, without a lot of sloppy ball handling or carelessness with the football?

What's the over/under on total turnovers? Less is better if you're Alabama.

 

[Con]

Watching the two teams in their respective conference championship games I have a great feeling about Bama. I felt like we looked much better suited to handle the "Big Stage" that is the National Championship Game. Texas was a kick out of bounds and horse collar away from playing in the Fiesta Bowl. They looked ill prepared toward the end of the game. That is coaching. I still think they are well coached, but the whole end of the game mess just makes you wonder. What quarterback who is in his senior year in college with all the accolades that McCoy has does not know the rule on throwing the ball out of bounds.

 

[kayakerjess]

I think we will see the Bama defense with at least one interception. McCoy is averaging about 36 pass attempts per game, and has thrown 12 INTs. I know he had an off game against Nebraska which contributed to the number of picks, but I think with our aggressive secondary, we will get one. Will it be Barron's 8th of the season? I hope so.

 

[holybama]

I think it's gonna be a tight ball game. We can win but guys don't start measuring for rings yet!

 

[TRUTIDE]

I know this can be a close game. Anything can happen but the only significant negative that I've seen pointed out is the layoff. This is much too long to go without playing a game.

Otherwise, I see us winning this game pretty comfortably.

One cannot dismiss how Texas has played it's last few games as compared to how we finished. One cannot dismiss the strength of schedule nor the differences in the SEC and Big 12 conferences.

Colt McCoy is a pretty good QB and should fare well in the NFL but he struggles against pressure. He is not a college phenom QB like Vince Young, Tim Tebow or Mike Vick. he has to have time in the pocket and open recievers. One cannot dismiss our mutidimensional offense and our various playmakers on offense. Our OL has done a great job this year against our tougher SEC opponents while the Texas OL struggled against their tougher opponents.

Our SEC tested defense stands tall in this matchup. We have faced multiple good offenses throughout the year, seen plenty of spread and have not let a single team put up 39 points on us. the Texas D have not faced any teams that can run the ball effectively.

On paper, there may be some similarities between the teams but a deeper look at the strength of opponents and circumstances of each game played favors Alabama. All things even and if both teams play the way they have played all year then I think we win without a problem.