The state of the SEC and college football in general is the more important question. Notre Dame and the BIG fans are having a field day after this beat down and and it makes sense they would. I agreed with Mark Ingram that Alabama should not have been in the playoffs after the Georgia beat down. Some people thought he and I had committed a cardinal sin. The committee blow it and Notre Dame and Miami both should have been in. Politics and money are running college football under the new paradigm (maybe it always has). For the good of the game this needs to change. Of course Notre Dame has always thrown their weight around so I don't feel sorry for them or the BIG either for the same reason. They are not used to the SEC having stroke. The state of the game is more important and it does not look good right now. The SEC has been greedy in more than one way. Alabama is not a team they were eleven guys running around on a football field.
Was the season a success anyway?
- Thread starter PA Tide Fan
- Start date
Notre Dame? They were rightly left out...they lost the only 2 games to decent teams, their best wins lost their bowl games btw..one to EAST Carolina...and their schedule was made up of the worst P4 teams, 3 x G5 and one military academy....NOTHING on their resume said they should be in over Bama and our schedule. WHO you play and when/where matters...our run of wins in tough game was far greater than anything the Cryish did....they get preferential consideration for being ND...no conference title game, no tough conference schedule etc...they should be treated like a G5...either go undefeated and get in or go play in a conference like everyone else...sick of hearing that they deserved to be in over Bama
Nope about ND. If Bama can't get in with a loss in the SECCG, why should ND when they can cherry-pick a few decent matchup and play Navy and bunch of school that should guarantee they'll get at least 10 wins every year???
Nope!
Yes, the season was a success. We made the playoffs. Granted, I would have preferred a better showing against Indiana, but it didn't happen.
We'll never see another era like the Saban era. Not in the pay-for-play NIL environment. Schools like Texas, aTm, Stanford, Michigan, So. Cal (and the Ivies...)... schools like those have lots of very wealthy alumni who can drop a few tens of millions every year for NIL payments. We don't.
We're spoiled to competing for championships every year. Those days are gone. Yes, we want and expect to be competitive every year, and maybe make a championship run every decade or so... if we're lucky. I hope our unrealistic expectations for the future don't push us into irrational management actions that will further impede our ability to have a successful program in the future.
We'll never see another era like the Saban era. Not in the pay-for-play NIL environment. Schools like Texas, aTm, Stanford, Michigan, So. Cal (and the Ivies...)... schools like those have lots of very wealthy alumni who can drop a few tens of millions every year for NIL payments. We don't.
We're spoiled to competing for championships every year. Those days are gone. Yes, we want and expect to be competitive every year, and maybe make a championship run every decade or so... if we're lucky. I hope our unrealistic expectations for the future don't push us into irrational management actions that will further impede our ability to have a successful program in the future.
Alabama's success was because the SEC is overrated right now. Our dismal effort against two good teams at the end of the year shows this. People need a reality check on the state of the SEC. It is not the dominate conference it was for years. It is similar to the BIG now without two dominate teams.
Well a glass half full take, we managed to win 11 games with the worst run game in the history of the program
I don’t think any other team in the country could’ve done that
I don’t think any other team in the country could’ve done that
I was listening to Luke and Jimmy this morning. And they were talking about needing to replace some of the coaching staff Which I don’t disagree with
My question is, when has ever changing out the coaching staff, but keeping the head coach worked? I know Nick would replace coaches But many times that was due to them moving onto a promotion for another team They were probably circumstances where they were in fact, terminated, but I don’t remember many
Usually, when you keep the coach, but replace the staff, all you are doing is prolonging the inevitable See the university of Arkansas for more information
And yes, for some reason, my period button is not working on my phone sorry
My question is, when has ever changing out the coaching staff, but keeping the head coach worked? I know Nick would replace coaches But many times that was due to them moving onto a promotion for another team They were probably circumstances where they were in fact, terminated, but I don’t remember many
Usually, when you keep the coach, but replace the staff, all you are doing is prolonging the inevitable See the university of Arkansas for more information
And yes, for some reason, my period button is not working on my phone sorry
Being competitive in a loss, showing will to win, is much better than being run out of the stadium.
ND had no more right to be in the playoff than we did.
ND needs to shut up and join a conference in football.
It's long passed time for ND specially protected status in football to end.
Join a conference or go away.
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Saban told Golding to hit the bricks and in one season the defense improved pretty dramatically under a tough old hand like Kevin Steele.
As someone else mentioned, when Kyle Whittingham was asked about where you start building a team, he didn't hesitate saying that it all starts in the weight room.
We are a soft football team with a soft S/C program and a soft head coach.
I will be surprised if DeBoer is still the head coach in 2 years after watching two years of uninspired slop from this team.
I'm guessing the AD is already looking at potential replacements and boosters are starting to reconsider some of the money they're spending on this team right now.
Yesterday was an epic disaster for this year's team and for the program in general.
Yesterday put the final nail in the coffin...we are now just a second-tier contender.
I would have to say the season overall was a success. We improved from last year and we hit our benchmarks for the year. SEC championship game and make the playoffs. Although we did beat OU in the first round the other two games left a sour taste in our mouth.
The only positive I can come up with from getting blown out like that in both games is it might be the push this staff needs to demand a more physical team. I’m not saying the staff is going to make that change or even draw that connection. I just imagine if you got beat by 3 you might have the mindset of we was right there and we don’t need to change much. You get beat by 35 points you tend to go back to the drawing board.
I would think of about 3 changes
1. Non negotiable new OL coach.
2. In my opinion we need to try something different with the RB coach this is two years of no production from that group. While I do believe they are handicapped by the OL.
3. We need to take a good long hard look at the S&C coach. I think we have become softer over the last 3-4 years.
I think we make these changes and while we can still be a pass first team this staff needs to seriously improve the run game. That probably starts in practicing running the ball more in the spring and fall. Which should improve your defense against the run also.
The only positive I can come up with from getting blown out like that in both games is it might be the push this staff needs to demand a more physical team. I’m not saying the staff is going to make that change or even draw that connection. I just imagine if you got beat by 3 you might have the mindset of we was right there and we don’t need to change much. You get beat by 35 points you tend to go back to the drawing board.
I would think of about 3 changes
1. Non negotiable new OL coach.
2. In my opinion we need to try something different with the RB coach this is two years of no production from that group. While I do believe they are handicapped by the OL.
3. We need to take a good long hard look at the S&C coach. I think we have become softer over the last 3-4 years.
I think we make these changes and while we can still be a pass first team this staff needs to seriously improve the run game. That probably starts in practicing running the ball more in the spring and fall. Which should improve your defense against the run also.
I can't decide if the season was a success or not. People always talk about the mission being to win a championship. In that regards, this season was a failure. But in reality, I think this team over achieved by a game or two. But something has to change between now and next year. O-line specifically.
I think 2026 is his last year barring a miraculous turnaround.
He’d have to change his whole philosophy along with making tough staff choices to send almost everyone packing except for Nix (who deserves a shot 1st).
I just really don’t see this leopard changing it’s spots though.
The only way I could see a 4th year is if Mack or KR played like Bryce wrt covering up a multitude of team weaknesses giving the team a chance despite no improvements elsewhere.
It would probably be tempting to not blow that up.
But either guy being that transformational for the entire team is an unrealistic expectation.
It’s more likely that either would get beat to pulp just like Ty.
We most likely are just going to be riding this out until we can afford the change financially and can absolutely get our #1 Replacement Candidate.
we definitely had a disappointing back half of the season and our o is hot garbage, but i don't consider the team soft. they fought hard through a gauntlet of a schedule and had to scratch and claw for many of those 11 wins, including a pretty spectacular bounce back in norman. soft teams don't do that
The defense improved in 2025 and with the right recruiting and development can take the next step. They really propelled us to the 11 wins moreso than the offense.
That being said, we are going into year 6 with a broken OL and we have had no less than 3 OL coaches over that span try to fix it and have been unable to. This is an institutional problem and it started under the Saban era. The brains behind our S&C left when Dr. Rhea left and Ballou was just the weight room guy left to manage it.
And I can tell you when CM tells us we whiffed in the portal that tells me we have finite resources in NIL and we chose to pay WRs and QBs and spread around the team.
We compensated for this issue with Bryce then Jalen then Ty. Takeaway Jalens rushing yards and we're 3 years with virtually no run ability whatsoever.
Again, if you look at this through lense of an NFL team, we are similar to the Carolina Panthers or any other bottom tier NFL team.
And I will be first to tell you that KR is built more like Bryce and Kyler Murray. He will not prosper in our offense with this mishmash if OL philosophy, coaching, and talent. And he is likely weighing his options at the moment.
There is a rebuild on the OL that has been put off for going on 6 years and smoke and mirrors won't work anymore.
That being said, we are going into year 6 with a broken OL and we have had no less than 3 OL coaches over that span try to fix it and have been unable to. This is an institutional problem and it started under the Saban era. The brains behind our S&C left when Dr. Rhea left and Ballou was just the weight room guy left to manage it.
And I can tell you when CM tells us we whiffed in the portal that tells me we have finite resources in NIL and we chose to pay WRs and QBs and spread around the team.
We compensated for this issue with Bryce then Jalen then Ty. Takeaway Jalens rushing yards and we're 3 years with virtually no run ability whatsoever.
Again, if you look at this through lense of an NFL team, we are similar to the Carolina Panthers or any other bottom tier NFL team.
And I will be first to tell you that KR is built more like Bryce and Kyler Murray. He will not prosper in our offense with this mishmash if OL philosophy, coaching, and talent. And he is likely weighing his options at the moment.
There is a rebuild on the OL that has been put off for going on 6 years and smoke and mirrors won't work anymore.
Bringing in Kiffin certainly helped get the offense moving in the right direction (not withstanding all the noise he brought along)
Not for Alabama. But it would be for say UCLA, Arkansas, Pitt, etc.
This was an okay season if you're anyone except teams like BAMA, Georgia etc. We started out with a terrible loss to FSU, but then seemed to have righted the ship and won a lot of tough games. Then we hit the dreaded November which seems to be some sort of issue with Deboer as we have not played well in November for two years now. We have won games in November, (and lost key games), but when we should be looking better as a team, we look worse. We did just enough to get into the SEC Championship and got shellacked there. Then OU helped us out after we were down 17-0 so we could get the win. I knew going into the Rose Bowl that we might lose that game. Indiana is a good team. But our overall team effort in that game makes me give this season and F.
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