Bama Game Thread: Official Postgame Thread - Bama vs. Michigan...

[Oregon Tide]

Washington may win the national championship, but they're the only playoff team that didn't beat Bama.

 

[bamafaninbham]

Got a chance to talk to all of my Michigan friends today. Yeah, every one of them reached out to me. They all know how much my wife and I love Alabama. None rubbed it in. Every one of them piled on praise for Alabama's defense, punter and kicker. They feel lucky to get the win and move on, especially given how Alabama shut them out for almost 3 straight quarters.

The exact opposite of every barn fan i have encountered online or in person. I hate everything there is about auburn but i never rub salt in the wounds of my friends, coworkers, or online facebook or whatever friends. But those barners love to throw any Bama loss in our faces. Friends or not. Pathetic bunch they are.

 

[rolltide7854]

The exact opposite of every barn fan i have encountered online or in person. I hate everything there is about auburn but i never rub salt in the wounds of my friends, coworkers, or online facebook or whatever friends. But those barners love to throw any Bama loss in our faces. Friends or not. Pathetic bunch they are.

I had a barner acquaintance who loved throwing things up to me but when I came back at him he acted like a little boy. Before the 36-0 game everyone in the gym was talking before the game and there weren't anyone doing any trash talking. After we won I didn't hear any Bama fans saying anything to the aubie fans. After we lost to Florida when I walked in the gym he yelled at me and did the Gator chomp. I walked over to him and calmly said how I never said anything after we won 36-0 but if he wanted to do the Gator chomp that just showed the typical Auburn class. He shut up and didn't have a comeback.

 

[The Ols]

I have a problem with this. I have been following recruiting in the state of Michigan for decades. I have watched scores of our best high talent go out west or south to pay-for-play schools. When it was discovered that Ed Martin was giving money to college basketball players, the school nuked the basketball program for decade. NIL is a fully weaponized means for laundering money from boosters. State legislators ensure that they are protected from NCAA prosecution even if the official rule that the promise of laundered NIL is part of the scholarship package. Michigan has NIL. But it has never been pay-per-play like OSU down south. I still remember as if it were yesterday with surprise when Mark Ingram decided he was going to play at Alabama despite years of mediocracy.

Yet Michigan is the worlds greatest cheaters because of the following. One is the NCAA could not make up its mind and sent confusing, contradictory rules for contacting recruits during COVID. Like our taxes dozens of programs violated this rule because it was impossible to keep track. The issue is not whether a COVID rule was violated but because someone in the NCAA claimed Jim Harbaugh was lying about it. Fyi the few recruits contacted during this period did not sign with Michigan.

Connor Stalions was such an important cog in Michigan winning he was paid bartender wages. There is no doubt he was a nut case as he wrote a "Mein Kamp" book on how he was going to take over Michigan football over the next twenty years. The NCAA strongly considered removing the surveillance rules because of the irrelevance of the rule. I would propose that the Michigan victory over Alabama is proof that whatever Connor Stalions was doing did not move the needle. Michigan won because they went "Bo Schembechler" retro on offense to replace "Speed in Space" and introduced the Ravens "Amoeba" verses the Don Brown "Dr Blitz and Man Press"

Football is like chess in that initiative is everything. If you dictate and force the other team to react to you, the other teams signs are not as important. UM did this with as what was pointed out a couple 5 stars on the roster. Connor Stalions was our "Hunter Biden" and regardless of the impact or non-impact of the violation, it still is. Though it is pointed out that he technically might not have violated the NCAA rule as written.

My point is neither egregious violation moved the needle. Neither violation was willful malice by the UM coaching staff as there is no evidence anyone was aware of Stalions conduct. If he was a "sign whisperer", he would be being paid more than 50K. That is not even bagman money these days.

I appreciate Harbaugh's us against the world mentality and that so many people are sickened by construed scandal. There is no doubt that Harbaugh is an unlikeable person to some. His competition can be unhinged. There is an old story about how he boxed his niece off the driveway because even family pickup basketball is a competition. But Jim Harbaugh is not the problem killing college football.

Rapidly approaching Bozo level clownery here…

 

[GboyBama]

I waited a while to post.

Facts: This team made it farther than last year's. They avenged our two losses from the previous year to hated rivals. They won at the barn. They went undefeated in conference and won the SEC - over a team with a nearly 30 game winning streak. They lost to two playoff teams in games that could have gone the other way.

We also featured a quarterback who was a first time starter with a first year OC and was among national leaders in passing rating for most of the season. He threw at a 70 percent completion percentage with no picks in the game against Michigan, all while fielding the snap off the turf half the time. I, for one, am very much looking forward to his return next year. I doubt the rest of our league is.

I know the loss is raw for many of us but the hyperbole about Monday's outcome is just too much. In my view, we had a very vanilla and tight offensive gameplan for Michigan. There are things that worked for us during the season that we didn't even try the other night. I suppose Saban saw how fundamentally tough Michigan looked and decided safe and fewer mistakes was the gameplan. It didn't work. Anyway, it seemed like they had the perfect counter for everything we tried. I call that being outcoached. That's okay. It happens sometimes.

Combine that with our heroic defense being gassed late in the game and there we are.

This team didn't make it all the way, but it was still among Bama's best. Are we so spoiled that we're going to eat our own when we don't win a NC every year? The players work hard to put a great team out there for us and they're probably listening... So I say it was a great season, Roll Tide and let's go all the way next year.

 

[bama2112]

Amen Brother, thanks for the eloquent post. I get too tied up in what we did wrong sometimes instead of seeing what went right. I think CNS had his team prepared as well as he thought he could plan for sometimes you get out schemed. I have lived thru the CPB days, and thru the valley of wandering, CGS glorious National Championship (one on my favorites, to never have met the man, I grew to love for what he stood for). I am not going to comment on current day, because many of us here were around when CNS was hired. We held out breaths for a couple of years and here we are. I would not change that ride for any other teams. Roll Tide........

 

[AlexanderFan]

Spoken like a true Michigan Man.

The more I think about this situation the more it becomes apparent that this is $cam Level coverup by the big ten because Michigan is their only hope for a title. How can the head coach not know what an analyst’s responsibilities are? The man is literally on the field telling coaches signals, and he never thought to ask, “who is this 🤡?” We going to say the assistant linebackers coach orchestrated all this? The DC didn’t happen to ask, “why you changing up our plays, and why is it so effective?” There’s just no feasible way more people didn’t know what was going on. The three game suspension is lame as well.

 

[bamaga]

I checked the stats , the RB’s( McClellan, Williams , Haynes , Miller) had 20 carries for 128 yards. That’s over 6 yards a carry. Take out Jase’s 34 yard scamper and it’s 19 carries for 94 yards, that is still right at 5 yards a carry. Justice Haynes had a lot of success. With that kind of success , why only give it to the backs 20 times out of 66 offensive plays? It was clear Michigan geared their defense to stop Jalen. Camped on his best throws, deep routes and A gap pressured his runs/ad lib on most plays. Run the ball and quick throws worked, but we kept going back to what wasn’t working. It was pretty clear Jalen didn’t have his A game, but we were talented enough to win the game anyway with better playcalling.

 

[bamaga]

I have a problem with this. I have been following recruiting in the state of Michigan for decades. I have watched scores of our best high talent go out west or south to pay-for-play schools. When it was discovered that Ed Martin was giving money to college basketball players, the school nuked the basketball program for decade. NIL is a fully weaponized means for laundering money from boosters. State legislators ensure that they are protected from NCAA prosecution even if the official rule that the promise of laundered NIL is part of the scholarship package. Michigan has NIL. But it has never been pay-per-play like OSU down south. I still remember as if it were yesterday with surprise when Mark Ingram decided he was going to play at Alabama despite years of mediocracy.

According to 247 sports, of the top 30 recruit prospects in the state of Michigan the last 3 years( NIL years) , the SEC signed 3 out of 90. The conference that’s been the best in CFB the last 20 years and has put the most kids in the NFL the last 20 years only signed 3. So that argument has no merit.
As far as Mark Ingram , Mark’s mother wanted him to play for Saban because their relationship with Nick when Nick was at Michigan St. I guess you also conveniently forgot Lloyd Carr retired after 2007 and was replaced by RichRod. I love you B1G guys that lose a recruit and claim immediately it was due to being bought by a Southern school.

 

[Cruloc]

 

[Toddrn]

I waited a while to post.

Facts: This team made it farther than last year's. They avenged our two losses from the previous year to hated rivals. They won at the barn. They went undefeated in conference and won the SEC - over a team with a nearly 30 game winning streak. They lost to two playoff teams in games that could have gone the other way.

We also featured a quarterback who was a first time starter with a first year OC and was among national leaders in passing rating for most of the season. He threw at a 70 percent completion percentage with no picks in the game against Michigan, all while fielding the snap off the turf half the time. I, for one, am very much looking forward to his return next year. I doubt the rest of our league is.

I know the loss is raw for many of us but the hyperbole about Monday's outcome is just too much. In my view, we had a very vanilla and tight offensive gameplan for Michigan. There are things that worked for us during the season that we didn't even try the other night. I suppose Saban saw how fundamentally tough Michigan looked and decided safe and fewer mistakes was the gameplan. It didn't work. Anyway, it seemed like they had the perfect counter for everything we tried. I call that being outcoached. That's okay. It happens sometimes.

Combine that with our heroic defense being gassed late in the game and there we are.

This team didn't make it all the way, but it was still among Bama's best. Are we so spoiled that we're going to eat our own when we don't win a NC every year? The players work hard to put a great team out there for us and they're probably listening... So I say it was a great season, Roll Tide and let's go all the way next year.

Yes.

 

[TyperWoods]

Aggie here.

Just want to congratulate you guys on another good season, and a good showing against Michigan. I thought you guys had it turned around in the 2nd half and were going to win.

 

[Cruloc]

According to 247 sports, of the top 30 recruit prospects in the state the last 3 years( NIL years) , the SEC signed 3 out of 90. The conference that’s been the best in CFB the last 20 years and has put the most kids in the NFL the last 20 years only signed 3. So that argument has no merit.
As far as Mark Ingram , Mark’s mother wanted him to play for Saban because their relationship with Nick when Nick was at Michigan St. I guess you also conveniently forgot Lloyd Carr retired after 2007 and was replaced by RichRod. I love you B1G guys that lose a recruit and claim immediately it was due to being bought by a Southern school.

I'm not gonna type all the names, but here's the breakdown for the last three recruiting rankings of recruits in the state of Alabama.

2022 - Top 15 were 4 stars or better. (8 of the top 15 went out of state)
- Alabama got #1 through 4, #6, #11 (6)
- Florida got #5 (1)
- Texas #7 (1)
- Clemson #8, #13 (2)
- Auburn #9 (1)
- Cincinnati #10 (1)
- Ole Miss #12 (1)
- Coastal Carolina #14 (1)
- Georgia Tech #15 (1)

2023 - Top 19 were 4 stars or better. (9 of the top 19 went out of state)
- Alabama #2, 3, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 (7)
- Georgia #1 (1)
- Clemson #4, 6, 10 (3)
- Florida #5 (1)
- Auburn #7, 16, 18 (3)
- Penn State #11 (1)
- Michigan State #15 (1)
- Arkansas #17 (1)
- Michigan #19 (1)

2024 - Top 23 were 4 stars or better. (10 of the top 23 go out of state)
- Alabama #2, 4, 8, 10, 16, 18 (6)
- Auburn #1, 5, 6, 11, 13, 14, 22 (7)
- Tennessee #3 (1)
- Oregon #7 (1)
- Arkansas #9, 20 (2)
- Missouri #12 (1)
- Kentucky #15 (1)
- Miami #17 (1)
- NC State #23 (1)
Still two appear undecided, both lean out of state

Alabama gets the best of the state....or most of the ones they want. Except for this last cycle with Freeze selling Auburn to them very well.

We also seem to have an issue getting the top kids from Central Phenix City on any type of regular basis. We did get Rydarrius Morgan this year from there. Cam Coleman went Auburn though. In 2023, AJ Harris signed with Georgia and Karmello English signed with Michigan. In 2022, JQ Hardaway signed with Cincinnati. Seems we certainly don't have a pipeline into Central Phenix City.

 

[92tide]

I checked the stats , the RB’s( McClellan, Williams , Haynes , Miller) had 20 carries for 128 yards. That’s over 6 yards a carry. Take out Jase’s 34 yard scamper and it’s 19 carries for 94 yards, that is still right at 5 yards a carry. Justice Haynes had a lot of success. With that kind of success , why only give it to the backs 20 times out of 66 offensive plays? It was clear Michigan geared their defense to stop Jalen. Camped on his best throws, deep routes and A gap pressured his runs/ad lib on most plays. Run the ball and quick throws worked, but we kept going back to what wasn’t working. It was pretty clear Jalen didn’t have his A game, but we were talented enough to win the game anyway with better playcalling.

i would argue that we were talented enough to win the game solely with better execution. self inflicted issues stalled at least 2 drives in the second half, score a td on any of those and it would have effectively put the game out of reach.

 

[Krymsonman]

I checked the stats , the RB’s( McClellan, Williams , Haynes , Miller) had 20 carries for 128 yards. That’s over 6 yards a carry. Take out Jase’s 34 yard scamper and it’s 19 carries for 94 yards, that is still right at 5 yards a carry. Justice Haynes had a lot of success. With that kind of success , why only give it to the backs 20 times out of 66 offensive plays? It was clear Michigan geared their defense to stop Jalen. Camped on his best throws, deep routes and A gap pressured his runs/ad lib on most plays. Run the ball and quick throws worked, but we kept going back to what wasn’t working. It was pretty clear Jalen didn’t have his A game, but we were talented enough to win the game anyway with better playcalling.

That's what kills me the most. It took a few minutes to find out what was working on offense, but we wouldn't stick with it. We kept going back to trying the stuff Michigan was set up to stop. We should have won this game, and be getting ready for Washington right now.

 

[cbi1972]

i would argue that we were talented enough to win the game solely with better execution. self inflicted issues stalled at least 2 drives in the second half, score a td on any of those and it would have effectively put the game out of reach.

I would argue further that this is true of every Alabama loss since the 2008 SEC championship

 

[The Ols]

According to 247 sports, of the top 30 recruit prospects in the state the last 3 years( NIL years) , the SEC signed 3 out of 90. The conference that’s been the best in CFB the last 20 years and has put the most kids in the NFL the last 20 years only signed 3. So that argument has no merit.
As far as Mark Ingram , Mark’s mother wanted him to play for Saban because their relationship with Nick when Nick was at Michigan St. I guess you also conveniently forgot Lloyd Carr retired after 2007 and was replaced by RichRod. I love you B1G guys that lose a recruit and claim immediately it was due to being bought by a Southern school.

🎤 dropped…

 

[BamaMoon]

Got a chance to talk to all of my Michigan friends today. Yeah, every one of them reached out to me. They all know how much my wife and I love Alabama. None rubbed it in. Every one of them piled on praise for Alabama's defense, punter and kicker. They feel lucky to get the win and move on, especially given how Alabama shut them out for almost 3 straight quarters.

B1G, everyone of them could see we were shooting ourselves in the foot on about half of our offensive plays. They knew our defense settled in after the first half. They may be Um fans but they've got eyes and you don't have to be intelligent to see we were the better skilled team. They were the better team Monday night and that's why they won, but it's obvious if we execute our offense better we'd be looking at something like a 35-21 win.

Most games are decided by one team just being better. Some games are decided by one team just making too many mistakes. I think this game was the latter.

 

[BamaMoon]

I want to go ahead and get this out of the way and suffer the slings and arrows coming my way. We will not win a NC with Jalen Milroe at QB. I am sure he is a fine young man and, great teammate, but he does not understand and apparently cannot grasp reading a defense, going through progressions, finding a safety valve receiver or react quick enough to avoid a sack, and when a play blows up throw the ball away. These are all traits and fundamentals that a top tier QB has to have. As I have said in prior posts, he is in love with the long ball and doesn't have the patience to wait for crossing or underneath routes to open up. In the open field he is a terror for defenders, but a disciplined defense like Michigan did not allow him to get into the open field where he would have killed them. I think his heroics against undisciplined, talent challenged defenses (except UGA) gave us a false sense of his abilities as a QB. I know this will not be a popular post, but I felt the need to say this. Also our offensive line's poor performance has not helped him. I do not understand why CNS cannot hire and keep a top level OL coach.

Gray, I know you get kicked a little for your pessimism every now and again, but I think you are being a "realist" in this post.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Bill O’brien couldn’t have called a worse play..

I want to go ahead and get this out of the way and suffer the slings and arrows coming my way. We will not win a NC with Jalen Milroe at QB. I am sure he is a fine young man and, great teammate, but he does not understand and apparently cannot grasp reading a defense, going through progressions, finding a safety valve receiver or react quick enough to avoid a sack, and when a play blows up throw the ball away. These are all traits and fundamentals that a top tier QB has to have. As I have said in prior posts, he is in love with the long ball and doesn't have the patience to wait for crossing or underneath routes to open up. In the open field he is a terror for defenders, but a disciplined defense like Michigan did not allow him to get into the open field where he would have killed them. I think his heroics against undisciplined, talent challenged defenses (except UGA) gave us a false sense of his abilities as a QB. I know this will not be a popular post, but I felt the need to say this. Also our offensive line's poor performance has not helped him. I do not understand why CNS cannot hire and keep a top level OL coach.

The center had a horrible game. Rees had a good play called for that last OT play, but the snap was bad and low. Milroe had no choice but to try running into the line. It was supposed to be an RPO, with a swing pass to the RB. They had blockers set up for it. But a bad snap killed it.