By Shane from Centerpoint
I remember the first time Nick Saban made the statement. He said that he wanted Alabama to be a team that opponents feared – a physically dominating team that would literally beat others into submission.
He wanted a team that could exercise its will on the field. It was never more evident than last Saturday night in Knoxville when Tennessee players were falling like flies during Alabama’s mauling (31 rushes/150 yds/2TDs.) second-half performance. I know Saban has to be smiling right now because the Crimson Tide is becoming the team that nobody wants to play.
Forget fancy formations and schemes. Anybody who really understands football knows that physicality, when added to speed and execution, is the secret ingredient that allows the great teams to dominate games.
Want proof? Alabama’s total time trailing all opponents is 75 seconds! Yes, through 8 games (4 on the road), countless potential momentum shifts, turnovers, and negative plays, Saban’s Tide continues to stay focused and intense. I have yet to see a team that can break their will, even for a moment.
Experts who claimed Alabama might win 8 games and no more forgot about Nick Saban’s ability to quickly create a strong, hard-nosed football team. I know I’m about to commit gridiron blasphemy by saying this, but I think this year’s version of the Crimson Tide resembles a Bryant team from the “seventies†era. They play flawless, fundamental football. The offensive and defensive lines are just as dominant as those monsters the “Bear†used. Saban’s innovative defensive style resembles both Bryant’s and Oliver’s to some degree as well. Lastly, much like coach Bryant, Saban has some of the best athletes on the defensive side of the ball.
This season I’ve yet to see or hear a player who doesn’t completely understand the team’s mission. There are numerous leaders at every position. This group of athletes also speaks with one heartbeat in the most important place of all – on the field during the heat of battle.
Great coaches say football teams must be able to run the ball and stop the run to win championships. Alabama has been extraordinary in its ability to do both. Since the running game is by far the most brutal aspect of the game of football and is a key for all other processes, Bama’s success in this area is directly responsible for its victories.
Alabama’s offensive rushing capabilities allow them to control the clock, dictate the pace of the game, and break the will of the opposition. They force the defender to play their game, and they execute run-blocking schemes almost flawlessly. Bama’s stellar running game allows the play-action passing game to have consistent success.
On the other side of the ball there is a brick wall that is hard to break through. Think about what this group has accomplished. They shut down Clemson’s super tandem of Spiller and Davis. They shut down Heisman candidate, Knowshon Moreno. The Tide has taken away the run from everybody and left them one-dimensional. Predictability cripples an offensive attack.
Everything I’ve stated thus far is merely confirming fact. From this point forward, like anybody else, I am issuing an opinion. I don’t think any of the opponents remaining on Alabama’s schedule have the right ingredients in place this year to stop the Tide’s roll. After Arkansas State, the remaining three teams in Bama’s way all have one thing in common – they all have a winning streak against Alabama. Alabama will snap every one of those streaks in fine fashion. Payback is hell. Just ask Georgia.
The Crimson Tide will face Florida or Georgia in the SEC championship game. Both squads have great skill players, perhaps better than Alabama’s, although that is debatable. The problem for these teams is the same faced by every opponent Bama will have eliminated on it way to the Georgia Dome – they cannot win the war on the line of scrimmage. Alabama has already dominated the Bulldogs, and Florida’s line would fare no better against the best linemen (on both sides of the ball) in the nation.
Of course injury luck will come into play, but that is true with all teams in this bone-crunching sport. Barring those sorts of problems, Alabama seems destined for a match-up against either Big 10 foe Penn State, or Big 12 champion Texas or Texas Tech. Neither team leaves me with the impression that it could come close to beating the Crimson Tide for the same reason as I stated above – they can’t whip the Tide up front.
I give former Tide coach Mike Shula credit for the highly talented linemen he recruited. I give Joe Pendry and Saban’s defensive staff credit for developing these men into a dominant force on both sides of the ball. Saban also has a “lead dog†in strength coach Scott Cochran, who is probably the best in the country. In a short time he’s turned a bunch of growing boys into a driven unit of grown men.
Championship football teams get better each game as the season progresses. Alabama’s defense is becoming so good that the offense can afford to make a mistake, never affecting the defense’s mission of just shutting the opponent down.
One other key component to Alabama’s soaring rise to the top is John Parker Wilson. He beat “media darling†Matthew Stafford in his own house (between the hedges). His leadership qualities – decision making, putting his team in the right play, passing-game management, even the way he carries himself – all serve to confirm that he is one of the best quarterbacks in the nation. John Parker Wilson is playing consistent, winning football.
Finally, I’ll sum it up for the rest of the SEC. This isn’t the Alabama you enjoyed kicking around the field during the first seven years of this decade. This version of the Crimson Tide is relentless and will smack you in the mouth for sixty minutes. They thrive on pure physicality and simply have no fear. I looked in their eyes when they entered big games on the road in Athens and Knoxville. Each time they seemed so business-like. The atmosphere around them seemed secondary to their mission at hand – kicking some ass.
CMON NOW BB,
I really like JW but the only thing he owns is the right to JAW becuase HE IS THE ONLY ONE OF YOU to speak his mind on what was gonna happen this year and right now he looks like NOSTRADAMUS to me….. no disrespect at all JW your the coolest BAMMAR here to me BRO but I mean your just not the VERBAL ASSASSIN that BB said Sir!
Brandy……….You react to my ass kickage like Sara Palin to Katie Couric dude, your clueless. And Im a Republican (sorry Omni) …….Your tired and weak attempts to discredit The Indian (me), only prove that you know Im the man. While at times I go astry on my Alabama /Auburn predictions, I always will and have picked against Bama and for Auburn. Hey, Im loyal.
Id be all for a pickem ( non Bama / Auburn) to further ingrain my dominance on this board. But you probably dont want any. Right ? I didnt think so.
Ill go out on a limb and say right now that I would be in the top 5% each and every weak. Put your pride were your mouth is boys and learn that the fear of the Indian is nothing to be ashamed of.
Great Post BI and no apologies needed bro im not a DEM!!
Ballplay, maybe if our players would have saved there energy at the beginning of the W Vir game instead of dancing like a bunch of monkeys we would not have gotten embarassed by a team that is pitiful, even the twenty Tubs slipped the official at the beginning of the game to call a complete pass on a hop off the ground and the intentional grounding and so on didn’t help, we can’t run the spread, we can’t run the ball, we sux! Tubs wouldn’t give our boys any heat, they were cold as school girls, imagine what Ol Miss is going to do to us, we won’t even make the crapper bowl, we really are pathetic posting on here about the mighty Tide with a team that sux like ours. Would you like to come over for brunch tomorrow and talk about our suckage. . . hey, I’ve got an idea.
julio, I don’t care if everybody knows it but I think I am falling in love with you
HEY!! Wait a damn Minute here BI I thought you said YOU LOVED ME??
What am I TOO RADICAL for you is it my typing in CAPS(rude)THAT RUN YOU OFF?
I CAN CHANGE well maybe I cant But I think I can convince you I can!!
OUR TEAM SUX AND NOW BECAUSE I DONT HAVE YOU ……. I DO 2!!!
WPB!!!
Wow.. I can’t believe you allow such trash language like that of the steaming piece of dog doo named TidusMaximus. How classless. Typical Bama redneck like those that trashed my dad’s car, my car, refused me service in their store cause I wore an AU shirt, attacked my father with a hammer because he wore an AU shirt on the jobsite. Typical. Edit your posts here and remove the terms like “gay” and “douchebag” or I will no longer listen to you or consider you to have ANY class whatsoever. Thank God I no longer live in bama and have to listen to such toothless, redneck, drivel.
Look Julio, you know good and damn well that Pete Carrol is to big of a pussy to try in the NFL water’s again. The fact of the matter is, every coach who has been down that road (Saban, Patrino, Carrol, Spurrier…what a list I might add) doesn’t want to go back. Your Aburn ass wishes Saban would take an offer like that to get him as far away from Lee County as possible. Saban would have no credibility with anyone (recruits, boosters, etc.) if he left Bama after four or five years. Not wanting a buyout is smart on his part. Besides the fact tha it has screwed up Tommy Tubbervilles life at Auburn for years now. You wonder why he looks for jobs every year and doesn’t leave. It’s called the buyout dude. Also, if Saban wants to leave he can. He’ll leave Bama just like he left LSU. They’ve already won two natitional titles because of him. Even a barner would take that wouldn’t you julio? You better get used to seasons like this man because no one in their right mind will take that OC job at Auburn if Tubby stays and just like all the media talking heads, who can Auburn get that will be better than Tubby? That makes me laugh.
Speaking of Auburn pieces of shit, where is Bamasux? Don’t worry you racist piece of shit, I wouldn’t want to come on here and talk mindless crap to people if my favorite team was 4-5 either. I guess you’re waiting to see if Auburn upsets Bama to come talk more shit. Thats what you barners hang the success hat on. It makes me laugh becuase everytime they talk about Tubby’s “body of work” the say “…and he has beaten Alabama six years in a row”. Wow, thats so great. “One SEC title and six over Bama”. What a joke. These clowns couldn’t coach there way out of a wet paper sack. And for one more ironic twist. The greatest coach AU ever had and one that brought them out of the dark ages (Pat Dye), the field is named after him. Dye is a Bear Bryant protege who coached at Alabama for years. He learned everything he knew from Bryant and Alabama hahaha, the one man that got Auburn out of the dark ages came from their bitter rival. You Aubies should get on your knees and thank the good Lord everyday The University of Alabama made Auburn what it is.
William Green are you serious?
1st… of all you can’t edit your posts here. Unfortunately that kind of technology is way beyond the Capstone report.
2nd… You’re threatening to no longer listen to me or consider me a classy guy because I called someone gay? lol I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think of me.
3rd… You went way beyond me calling one person gay by insulting and stereotyping an entire state. Real classy.
I had nothing to do with your dad’s truck getting trashed and I’m not a redneck, I hate country music and I hate nascar. You need to learn to not take things so seriously on the internet…
The Auburn Family Mourns
It’s the end of a difficult season that started with such great hope. We really looked good in the LSU game earlier this year. I’d never have guesses we would lose 4 games in a row in the middle of the season.
It doesn’t help that across the state, bammers are having the time of their lives. They will certainly make the SEC Championship and though I don’t believe they’ll win the NC, their coach will probably get SEC coach of the year. They are having lots of success and they are doing so with a relatively young team. They will certainly start next season off in the top 5.
And just how long will it take Tubbs to go from this 5-win season to prominence?
I don’t know.
The preceding comments reflect the sentiments of this Auburn Fan sometime late in the 1999 season.
Auburn did go on to only win 5 games that year and Dubose did get the coach of year honors after beating Fla in the SECCG. And they did enter the next year ranked in the top 5. Since then, Auburn rose to the top and won the west the very next year and has beaten bammer 7 out of 8 years. Bammer ended that next year 3-8 and did so with a returning starter at QB.
Keep your heads up Auburn Faithful. The worm can turn mighty fast in this game.
WAR EAGLE!
The cow college down the road is sinking faster than the Titanic. Doesn’t it burn to know that it took Saban 20 games to get to #1 and Tubby couldn’t do it in 10 years?
The Golden Age of Auburn football goes out the way it came in: LOSING. Enjoy those 10 years in your Auburn memories. Remember beating all those top 10 teams, and getting the good running backs in the state. It was a special time for all you Auburn people. Tuberville has came back time and time again. But after ten years, he is getting tired, older, and probably less patient with you guys. He gives 9 years of winning seasons, wins 6 against Bama in a row, and one bad year and you guys show him the door. And ya’ll say Bama fans are crazy.
Your piece of crap team will lose two of your last three. If you get to play Florida, three of the last four.
NOTE to posters: The above post is incorrect.
Shane, the title of your article should say” The Team Hasn’t Played No One” Look at Texas – played 4 top ten teams in 4 consecutive weeks. Don’t be so hasty. The strength of schedule is really what matters. I also cant believe you are now speaking out of both sides of your posterior. You actually praised Shula in your post but ridiculed him over and over again on the radio. My My Shane.
Bammer fans ARE crazy!
Hold on Shane, the team no one wants to play is Texas Tech not Alabama. In the SEC, you dont want to play Florida right now. I guess we will put Shane on a suicide watch if LSU cans that butt first and bring you rednecks back down to earth.
Georgia is a good team and all I have been hearing is how Alabama dominated Georgia, so did Florida. Alabama still hasnt proven themselves yet. I will give you guys props if you beat Florida in the SEC Champ game, but until then you still have no respect.
I am an Auburn fan through and through and to prove it, I will be cheering on the Florida Gators in the SEC Championship Game.
BLOW TIDE.
Hey Julio, I found a piece by Carroll on Sporting News that you might find interesting.
“We have every advantage here,” Carroll said. “We have a lot going for us. Only a handful of universities in the nation have the makeup, the setting, the historical structure that position them so they have a better chance to be successful than others. So that’s the way it is. That’s why I’m so fortunate to have a chance to be here. I’ll never forget that. That’s why I don’t want to go anywhere else. Why would I ever want to go anywhere else? This is it. I don’t know how else to explain it, to describe it.”
It might be time to stop insisting that Carroll is leaving for the NFL, and that Saban is going to take his place over there.
njhilliard,
Your respect isn’t asked for, nor is it required. Frankly, I’d worry about your school’s problems before trying to downplay the success of others.
Anyone that follows Tiger football knows that this team is rudderless and in serious danger of becoming irrelevant again. Auburn’s downward spiral from near-excellence is like seeing a homely girl get a makeover and become the prom queen, only to watch her get drunk and sh-t her dress in front of everyone. It’s a pathetic thing to watch, especially as her supporters try to make excuses and take shots at anyone who happens to be better off at the moment.
Of course, Auburn fans that are older than 25 are quite aware of what it’s like to cheer for a totally irrelevant Auburn team, so they will be able to deal with things in a much calmer fashion.
Kreskin,
I will give my 2 cents like anybody else here. AU is not taking a backseat to anybody. Maybe this year is down but dont worry, we will be back.
Your senior quarterback leaves this year and you’d better hope he keeps winning cause this is as high as you will be for a while until you get another experienced quarterback, trust me, that is what is our problem.
GATORBAIT, GATORBAIT.
BLOWTIDE
You can provide your two cents as often as you like, just don’t be surprised when you find yourself to be completely disregarded in light of your one-sided views.