My preliminary analysis of Bama vs Michigan...

[uafan4life]

My comment was meant to be positive toward Lord Saban and the SEC. No way you guys would have let this nothingburger blow up into what it has been and tear down one of your strongest teams. Not trying to be smug, just firmly believe there is no there, there.

A lot of people - especially Michigan people - want to be very dismissive of this whole thing, often by dismissing the efficacy of it by saying that there wasn't much advantage to be gained and such.

Here's the rub - the advantage gained, even if it was literally zero, should have no bearing on the consequences.

If Michigan - everyone involved, everyone who knew, and everyone who should have known - didn't think that the benefit was worth the risk to cheat then they wouldn't have cheated in the first place. This was not some random, harmless mistake like using the wrong font size in the media guide. This also wasn't some random, loosely related, rogue associates trying to bend the rules a bit behind the program's back trying to help out. No, this was a concerted effort that took place within the program, knowing full well that it was cheating, and not giving a crap.

Consequences for such actions should be as dire as required to uphold the principles at play, regardless of whatever tangible benefit might or might not have been gained.

...You guys should have been banned from postseason play.

Yeah, I don't know about that - only because of due process. You have to allow enough time for things to be properly investigated, by all sides, and thoroughly evaluated. Unfortunately, this usually means that the bad actors are only punished retroactively and the sanctions handed to a program affect a great number of people who had nothing to do with making those decisions.

Because of this, a lot of people want to cry foul and say that it's unfair for players down the road to be punished for others' mistakes when those players had nothing to do with making those decisions.

On that, I call absolute, complete, bovine excrement.

You know who else didn't have anything to do with making those decisions but who also directly suffered from them? All the players of other programs who had to compete against your cheating program! Where are all the bleeding hearts for the, potentially, hundreds of student-athletes who were unfairly forced to compete at a disadvantage? Why aren't all those people crying out for their fair treatment?

That's why, in actuality, it's completely fair for a few classes down the road from the cheating to be punished - it evens out the unfairness of the cheating in the first place!

 

[Saban4Ever]

I wonder if sometime during the season this year, did someone from Michigan staff come to a Bama game and try to steal signals? I'm sure Coach Saban will change the signs/signals during the next 3 weeks if necessary.

 

[B1GTide]

I wonder if sometime during the season this year, did someone from Michigan staff come to a Bama game and try to steal signals? I'm sure Coach Saban will change the signs/signals during the next 3 weeks if necessary.

You can bet that he is doing so. You cannot take that chance.

 

[BamaInBham]

A lot of people - especially Michigan people - want to be very dismissive of this whole thing, often by dismissing the efficacy of it by saying that there wasn't much advantage to be gained and such.

Here's the rub - the advantage gained, even if it was literally zero, should have no bearing on the consequences.

If Michigan - everyone involved, everyone who knew, and everyone who should have known - didn't think that the benefit was worth the risk to cheat then they wouldn't have cheated in the first place. This was not some random, harmless mistake like using the wrong font size in the media guide. This also wasn't some random, loosely related, rogue associates trying to bend the rules a bit behind the program's back trying to help out. No, this was a concerted effort that took place within the program, knowing full well that it was cheating, and not giving a crap.

Consequences for such actions should be as dire as required to uphold the principles at play, regardless of whatever tangible benefit might or might not have been gained.



Yeah, I don't know about that - only because of due process. You have to allow enough time for things to be properly investigated, by all sides, and thoroughly evaluated. Unfortunately, this usually means that the bad actors are only punished retroactively and the sanctions handed to a program affect a great number of people who had nothing to do with making those decisions.

Because of this, a lot of people want to cry foul and say that it's unfair for players down the road to be punished for others' mistakes when those players had nothing to do with making those decisions.

On that, I call absolute, complete, bovine excrement.

You know who else didn't have anything to do with making those decisions but who also directly suffered from them? All the players of other programs who had to compete against your cheating program! Where are all the bleeding hearts for the, potentially, hundreds of student-athletes who were unfairly forced to compete at a disadvantage? Why aren't all those people crying out for their fair treatment?

That's why, in actuality, it's completely fair for a few classes down the road from the cheating to be punished - it evens out the unfairness of the cheating in the first place!

Well said. I will just add that any innocents who do not want to endure punishment can now immediately transfer and coaches can seek employment elsewhere - a suitable penalty for the offending program. Therefore, no one would be able to cry "unfair, unfair" in regard to any innocent coaches and players. If they remain, it is because they have chosen to do so. They may love their current school or the benefit$ of coaching or playing there. It is their choice.

This would likely have a dramatic effect on future cheating.

 

[Amaizing Blue]

I think Michigan is going to have the same question UGA didn't realize they were going to have until they got into the game, and that's can you handle the massive and powerful OL for an entire game? Evidence of how powerful this OL has become started to show very early in the SECGG when Booker threw one of UGA's defensive linemen three yards backward and kept going. I think it caught UGA's players and coaches off guard how powerful this unit had become. I take nothing away from Michigan's DL, but I'm not sure I can point to a team on their schedule and say "Yeah, that OL is equal to or better than Bama's". If there is, I stand corrected.

The best O-Line we played was probably Ohio State, and I would agree that Alabama is significantly better than they are. We've played the run with 6 guys in the box for most of the year, which has helped out our pass defense immensely. Our D-Line is our strongest position group, but I doubt we'll be able to stay with a light box against you guys, especially with your QB being BY FAR the best runner we'll see this year. My nightmare is that Milrone will run wild like Vince Young did against us when he was at Texas. That's actually one of several nightmares I have going into this game.

 

[Amaizing Blue]

It’s really difficult to look at Michigan in the same light as Georgia. What position group on their team is truly Elite? How many starters this year started against TCU last year, and why wasn’t the team prepared for that game. I’m very interested for someone, perhaps our friend from Michigan, to break down their position groups and also the 9 players projected to be selected in the 2024 nfl draft. If you truly have elite talent, where is it and how does Michigan exploit that advantage?

Bama has an Elite secondary. Our CBs are consensus first round draft picks, our STAR DB is a consensus All American, one of our safeties is projected to be drafted in the 3rd round, and our other Safety was rated as the top Juco transfer at his position when transferring this year, he should play on Sundays but his raft projection is not yet certain, as he’s missed considerable time due to injuries. We have Elite Edge rushers, and our interior defensive line is serviceable. We have very good depth at each position, as an example Koolaide was removed from the Georgia game due to a concussion, and his replacement broke up two passes in response to being targeted by Georgia.

This secondary is talented enough to play man and cover any receiving core in the country. This gives our coaching staff tremendous flexibility in terms of schematical in-game adjustments, which was evident when we played LSU, Ole Miss, and Georgia. And it would appear that we’ll be relatively healthy on defense, certainly far healthier than we were against Georgia.Our Offense is not elite. They can be explosive at times. They’ve done a nice job of protecting the football. JM will get sacked 2-4 times. It’s the price we pay for him extending plays and generating explosive runs in critical situations.

It’s always hard to compare talent. Looking at objective metrics, Alabama is objectively more talented than Michigan. For instance, we have 18 five star recruit compared to Michigan’s two. We also have more four stars, and fewer three stars. https://247sports.com/Season/2023-Football/CollegeTeamTalentComposite/

Before we pass judgment or make predictions, perhaps you could educate us a bit on Michigan’s personal groups as requested above.

This is going to sound hokey, but the strength of Michigan's team has been their togetherness and mental toughness. We also have a lot of experience, and so far the team has been better than the parts. No doubt Alabama has significantly more talent. Michigan's best chance is to keep it close, make it a rockfight, and possibly get a turnover or two. Our offense is pretty risk-averse for the most part, and I think we are the least penalized team in the country. JJ will make the odd crazy throw, but so far it hasn't hurt him. So to answer your question, our best group is the D-Line. We have really good Tight Ends, and use them a lot. Our kicker and punter have been far better than expected. We don't really have a glaring weakness, though our linebackers and DB's have blown more assignments than I'm comfortable with. So we do everything at least pretty well, but our D-Line is the only group you could possibly call elite. JMO, anyway.

 

[B1GTide]

This is going to sound hokey, but the strength of Michigan's team has been their togetherness and mental toughness. We also have a lot of experience, and so far the team has been better than the parts. No doubt Alabama has significantly more talent. Michigan's best chance is to keep it close, make it a rockfight, and possibly get a turnover or two. Our offense is pretty risk-averse for the most part, and I think we are the least penalized team in the country. JJ will make the odd crazy throw, but so far it hasn't hurt him. So to answer your question, our best group is the D-Line. We have really good Tight Ends, and use them a lot. Our kicker and punter have been far better than expected. We don't really have a glaring weakness, though our linebackers and DB's have blown more assignments than I'm comfortable with. So we do everything at least pretty well, but our D-Line is the only group you could possibly call elite. JMO, anyway.

I would rate your DBs as elite.

 

[Tidelines]

From a Michigan site, "Every time I watch Alabama, I just can't help but marvel that their dudes seem to be way more roided up than opponent. I remember thinking this first in 2012, when they crushed us Jerryworld. Their TE, no idea who it was, looked like a man among boys physically." ........roided up

Must have us mistaken for Auburn...

 

[Amaizing Blue]

I would rate your DBs as elite.

Big Tide, I would say that we have playmakers in the defensive backfield. Hopefully Will Johnson is healthy against Alabama, and Mikey S. is always around the ball. We've had more than a few busts this year that keep us from being elite, IMO. If we can avoid the busts, I would absolutely agree with your assessment.

 

[tideindc]

Thx for the insights, Blue.

 

[bamaslammer]

Idk much about X's and O's, and although I think Freeze is a Sleaze, he's a really smart offensive mind.

I'm not surprised that he confused our D all night long.

Freeze looks smarter than he is. He spends an inordinate amount of time prepping and planning to play Alabama. He thinks (correctly I might add) that if you just win that game you won't get fired and you'll get a huge raise. So against Alabama you see brilliance, against most everyone else you see average. In fact against New Mexico state you saw a team utterly unprepared as if they had not even game planned for that team.

This strategy is not unique. It sometimes yields short term rewards but eventually leads to failure. The program goals should be to aid the players to be as successful as possible. Win games, Win championships, not get the coach a big raise. It eventually rots the program from the inside out. The best thing that could happen to Auburn is for them to take Alabama off the schedule to enlighten them on how off base their priorities are. But I hate Auburn so I'm good with them being eternally screwed.

 

[JayBama_in_PCOLA]

Someone said that Michigan is built to beat tOSU. I told them that Bama is built to beat everyone.

Our offensive line is like a way more athletic Wisconsin line from years ago. I think they’ll win the category again the DL of Michigan.

 

[The Ols]

Someone said that Michigan is built to beat tOSU. I told them that Bama is built to beat everyone.

Our offensive line is like a way more athletic Wisconsin line from years ago. I think they’ll win the category again the DL of Michigan.

If we do that’s huge! I believe DL will be their best asset…but man, our OL -v- UGa was something to behold…I watched Jeff Saturday go on and on about our guys pancaking UGa DL…

 

[crimsonaudio]

If the OL plays like they did against UGA, Bama walks away with it.

And I think they will.

 

[JayBama_in_PCOLA]

If we do that’s huge! I believe DL will be their best asset…but man, our OL -v- UGa was something to behold…I watched Jeff Saturday go on and on about our guys pancaking UGa DL…

That’s how I saw it. We could have kept running but I understand we had to pass to keep them out of the box.