The Bottom Line is....

[CarolinaTidefan]

we were outplayed by SC. They beat us in every aspect of the game. I know there has been alot of talk on here blaming the coaches, the QB's, the WR's, etc..., and maybe those arguments are warranted, but the fact remains that SC was the better team on the field last night. Let's give credit where credit is due.

I'm going to take an optimistic point of view, and say that SC, save maybe Auburn, may be the best team on our schedule this year. Going into this week I knew their defense was good, but I had no idea how good. Now I do. This is a SC team that should have beaten Georgia. Maybe they aren't as good as Georgia, but they are very, very close. We all know what Georgia did to LSU yesterday.

If CMS had coached the perfect game or if MG had stayed in the game for the 4th quarter, we would have still had a hard time winning this game. Let's all take a minute and look at the bright side. We were competitive against a very good team. The players fought hard until the bitter end. The players and coaches will learn from what happened last night, hopefully sooner than later. We will get better. Amen.

 

[Bama Alum 92]

I completely and adamantly disagree

USC was very beatable and I mean VERY beatable. We lost this game because our QB position is disastrously weak and we consistantly shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties and turnovers. USC did not "drive" on Bama the entire nite, instead they capitalized on field position that resulted from our inability to get a first down. When we produce less than 40 net yards in an entire half and never convert a third down, it doesnt matter if our opponent is completes only 4 passes the entire game. When we have 70 yards in penalties, lose a snap over our head, never convert a third down, punt for an average of only 38 yards drop the ball 3 times and turn the ball over four times even Mississippi State would look good.

Out of 52 total offensive plays, Bama threw 14 incomplete passes, four interceptions, dropped the ball three times, and seven penalties. Thats a total of 28 "negative" plays - over 50% of our plays were non-productive yet we still outgained USC on yards per play. That doesnt tell me that they are the second best team in the SEC, that tells me they beat the second from last team in the SEC.

IF and its a big IF, we are going to right this sinking ship, we have got to get better production from our QB and eliminate the penalties and dropped balls that impede our progress. The defense is fine, the running game is fine, if we can balance out the offense we can play with anyone in this league. Hopefully, coach Shula will do whatever it takes to motivate Guillon and get him to lead the team. Otherwise, I'm up for putting no QB's in the back field and snapping directly to Hudson with Castille and McLean as lead blockers.

:biga: