A Critique of a champion
By Shane from Centerpoint
In my opinion, Alabama running–back Mark Ingram cemented himself firmly as the front-runner in the Heisman trophy race Saturday night in Bryant-Denny Stadium. He sliced and diced his way through Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina Gamecocks like a Ginsu knife through butter. Ingram touched the ball 26 times and rumbled for 269 yards, setting a stadium record with 24 runs for 246 yards. In the end the Crimson Tide offensive line dominated, shoving one of the best rush–defenses in the nation around.
Yet, the passing–game seemed to digress, turning in a poor performance for the second week in a row. Truthfully, for the past two-weeks, Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy has been playing like a rookie. The offensive line and receivers have done a good job, but G-Mac’s timing seems to be off. However, his problems do not appear to be catastrophic in nature.
We must remember that the young signal-caller (in terms of on-field experience) is still learning. He just needs to settle down and play with instinct like he did earlier in the year.
Actually, I don’t think Tide coaches are ready to push the panic button, mainly due to the fact that the running game is simply awesome. South Carolina’s defensive coordinator, Ellis Johnson, put 8 and 9 men in the box attempting to slow Ingram down. It didn’t work!
Much like he did last week at Ole Miss, Ingram “trucked†the Gamecocks, leaving jock straps all over the field. This guy is a “thoroughbredâ€. He displays the same speed and powerful moves in the fourth quarter that he does on the first play of the game. That winning trait is the mark of a champion.
Meanwhile, McElroy needs to get a grip on his poise in the pocket because the Crimson Tide’s next two opponents, Tennessee and LSU, are just as good as the Rebels and the Gamecocks on the defensive side of the ball — especially defending the pass.
In other words, extreme pressure is going to be coming at Greg for the rest of the season. He must refocus and respond in order to get the football into the hands of the open playmakers — instead of throwing into triple coverage.
McElroy – like all winning quarterbacks – must limit the turnovers as well. “Sudden changes†could be the difference between Alabama’s being a champion or a runner-up.
Head coach Nick Saban said it best when he said that Alabama was basically one-dimensional on offense Saturday.
He knows the passing game is also important and the Tide has too many explosive athletes for it not to be utilized.
With that said, the Alabama offense can afford to go through a few growing pains because this Tide defense can literally destroy an opponent’s will to play.
Like I said after last week’s dismantling of Ole Miss’s gunslinger Jevan Snead, somebody will have to show me this stop unit’s Achilles heel. I just don’t see one!
They now understand Saban’s system and are executing every game plan to near-perfection — and should get even better. Watch out!
I’ll say this: I don’t envy Tennessee’s Jonathon Crompton or LSU’s Jordan Jefferson. They have the unenviable task of being the next two “victims†in line to face this vicious pack of quarterback–killers.
Perhaps the most impressive part about this defense is the fact that, when they lose a player, another steps in and the unit continues to play with deadly precision.
The one area that leaves me suspicious and puzzled centers on the Crimson Tide’s special teams, specifically the kick-off team’s kick coverage, or lack thereof. Opponents are gaining too many return yards.
Alabama is also getting penalized constantly on both kick and punt returns. Numerous “block-in-the-back†and “holding†calls are negating very good field position.
In fact most favorable outcomes in the tougher SEC match–ups are directly affected by field position. As a result, Alabama cannot afford to continue giving up territory by stopping themselves.
Realistically, I think everybody agrees by now that this football team is very good. But, they do have areas where they need to improve in order to win the national crown.
Ultimately, consistency is most important because Alabama is going to get the “best shot†from every team they play.
Also, college-age young men tend to become complacent with winning. They have a tendency to rest on their laurels and relax due to being undefeated and the status it brings.
Some very good teams even punish themselves with a loss before they get totally focused on execution and winning. Florida and Texas barely escaped on Saturday.
By all indications, Alabama shows no signs of heading in that direction. Nevertheless, if all else fails, doesn’t defense win championships?
—Shane writes a weekly column for the Call News and the Capstone Report.
That was way too long! Anyway, is calling us cheaters the best you’ve got? Even if we are, Saban knows the rules and it will take alot to bust him for cheating. He’s just that good! Don’t hate on the antichrist!RTR
I had a friend. His son plays for Saban. One week his son came home with the play book. Dad he said. I’ve got to study the play book this week end. Good his Dad said but first would you mind if we looked at the plays. Sure he said. The reaches into his bag and pulled out the play book. My god I said. What the hell….The adverage play book is probably about 150 pages. Their were 350 in Sabans play book,. When we opened it. My buddy said to his son. Most of these are the same plays . No dad look closer. You see on this play you place your hand here and on this play you place your foot here and turn it this way etc,etc, you see /dad its all about technique….
Whats up people? MISS ME? Sorry I have been moving and changing jobs ( GO OBAMA ) and lifes gotten complicated. BUT I have watched CFB and WOW…. Anyone remember that SHane blog on GMAC for HIESMANN????
Whats up people? MISS ME? Sorry I have been moving and changing jobs ( GO OBAMA ) and lifes gotten complicated. BUT I have watched CFB and WOW…. Anyone remember that SHane blog on GMAC for HIESMANN???? Remember who I told you was YOUR studd…. Mr Ingram… WOW is better than most thought huh? NOT ME.. And howabout them TIGERS??? I LOVE EM
WAR EAGLE….
WAR POLYTECH BAMMERS!!!
OMNIPRESENT
i agree with you about hussein obama
i wished he would go off a cliff some where. ingram will not win the tebow trophy this year.ingram could if he continues be in the running next year.
A young lad from Alabama decides to attend college at a small school out of state. After a couple months away he writes home to tell his parents he met a wonderful girl and has fallen in love. “She is beautiful, smart, and is a virgin” he says in his letter. Upon reading the letter, his father immediately calls him on the phone to voice his concern. “Son”, the dad says, “So she is a virgin”? “If her own daddy does not want anything to do with her, then there must be something very wrong with her”.
Q: What do you call a 14 year old virgin in Alabama?
A: Someone who can outrun her daddy and brothers.
Q: How do men in Alabama order an extra gallon
of milk from the milkman?
A: They pin a note on their wife’s bra before leaving for work.
Q: What do a divorce in Alabama and a tornado have in common?
A: Someone is getting ready to lose a trailer.
You do realise that you are from Tennessee , right ?
I’m glad we have Jay Leno posting. Let me try a joke……Who coaches the University of Tennessee Volunteers?
Answer: Lame Kiffin. Pretty funny huh?
“I’m glad we have Jay Leno posting. Let me try a joke……Who coaches the University of Tennessee Volunteers?
Answer: Lame Kiffin. Pretty funny huh?”
You may not think it is so funny come Sunday morning!
You guy’s better hurry up and get your punches in on “Indiana Vol”.
Because he/she want be around anymore after 5:30pm (Central Standard Time)Saturday OCT. 24th, 2009.
ROLL TIDE CRIMSON BROTHER’S
21 SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Bama goes 14 0 and wins national championship.It is already a done deal. RTR RTR//////////////
IndyVol…..I’m not one of those who picks bama to blow y’all out. TN seems to be peaking at the same time the tide is not playing up to it’s potential. Could be closer than we think.
Crompton will dump a gold turd when Cody McLain and Co. are breathing down his throat. At least 3 picks for Crompton. Tennessee has no more than 250 yards total offense. 150 on the ground 100 through the air. Bama wins it 34 – 10
idy vol you forgot one very important question.
Who you goona call when you need a toilet imspector? Of course its the tennessee grad that got ran out of his favorite and now resides in indy, who happens to call himself the indyvol.
You are so sick boy, I don’t really believe you actually graduated slUT, but you said so, so I’ll take you at your word, the same I do as you telling us all that you are a toilet inspector. Come to think of it, I guess you did yourself good, seeing as where your degree came from. Heck you could be selling tomatos with ole phat phil.
I hope for your sake you don’t take sux vol football as serious as you say, because if you do we wont ever near from you after Saturday.
Bama-48 the sux vols-3.
Tick,tick,tick,tick………………
Hey SUX vols! Hey SUX vols! We goona beat the hell outta you! Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, give em hell ALABAMA…..
Sweet Dreams SUX BOY!!!!!!!
Tick,tick,tick,tick………………
I heard only 2 things come from Tenn.. Queers and their lovers. TADUM
amen to that omni. Good to see you back.
Jesus Christ, there’s some people in love with themselves on this board. They even think they can write. But damn, those f–king novels waste my time having to scroll through ‘em. It’s a shame everybody can’t be perfect like me! RTR!
Hey Carl the Crimson TURD Moron,
Funny, I never said I graduated or went to Tennessee. Fact is, I went to UNA. I grew up in Tennessee and have been a lifelong fan. As far as the career, my position in the insurance industry has taken me to different parts of America through promotions including 5 years in the cesspool that is Birmingham, AL. This is where I got to see for myself what others had said, Bammer fans are the most classless, uneducated fools in college football. Fact is, the company I work for probably insures your double-wide!
You really need some help; get your facts straight before you make and ASS of yourself. Oh, you have already made an ASS of yourself.
Rammer-Jammer, Yeller-Hammer; GO TO HELL ALABAMMER!!
tick…..tick……….
Indiana Vol,
Do us all a favor and never move back to the STATE OF ALABAMA.
Keep on making those millions up there hawking that Insurance for those double-wides in cold AZZ Indiana.
Will be thinking about you hawking that Insurance up there in cold AZZ Indiana while we’re down here in good ole Alabama laying out by the Gulf of Mexico (Orange Beach)! LOL LOL LOL
ROLL TIDE CRIMSON BROTHER’S!!!!!!!!
21 SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
OH I SEE indy vol, not only are you a slut fan bur you also admit to lieing. I’m not going to take the time to search all back through these posts to point out where you said you were a ut grad., but you did say that as I’m sure omni, aurox, ballplay, and some others will remember, as they were involved in the postings during that time. Fact is it’s not important, if you are a fan of the UcheaT u that’s enough.
To compair the entire state of Alabama, to what I agree is a cesspool, known as Birmingham, is about as valid to comparing apples to oranges. I have not, and will not ever live there, but I think more of that rat hole than I do the entire state of tenn.
I can assure you toliet boy, you don’t write the insurance on my doublewide, for you to do that I would have to live in one. How anyone that attended UNA could have turned out like you is very suprising. Why don’t you go bace there and tell some of them how you feel about Alabama, cause I’m sure some of those red blooded American guys would beat your stupid ass.
Are you really in insurance, or is that a lie as well? Are you really a slUT fan, or is that a lie? What explains most of this to me is this, if you are in fact involved with the insurance industry in any way would make me question anything you say. Because to be in insurance isn’t part of your training in the art of misleading honest folks?
You are a lot lower form of scum than I at first thought, not only a ut guy, but a insurance man, that claims to inspect toilets. My opinion of insurance people is lower than most any other industry. I hope you are happy in indy, because most folks I know in Alabama would be happy you’re there, scum boy.
A scum boy, living in a scum state, pulling for a scum team. What a life you must have. Do me a favor scum boy EAT IT!!! Your team is going to Saturday.
Went to school at Florence State huh? Worked over on Pine Street once, I used to go to the little soda shop by the campus when I needed something to eat. There were some pretty cute female students who stopped by from time to time. Enjoyed mingling with them. One thing I noticed, and the girls tended to back it up, was that some of the dudes, definitely not all, were kind of ‘light in the loafers’ if you know what I mean. I’m thinking that you ‘Indiana, Toilet Face, Volunqueer Suck Boy’ might be one of the light loafer boys. In fact, judging by your profession, obvious love of the male toolkit, and unbridled passion for Lame Kiffin, I would have to say, D@mn boy go sign up with the rainbows and get the H3ll off of this site.
Bama 40
Hillbillies 6
YO! How I LOVE THIS SITE! Lots of crazy, hilarious stuff that ALWAYS makes me come back for MORE! Can’t get enough of it. ANYWAY, “INDY VOL,” why is it that people like YOU always pull out the inbreeding jokes? Maybe its because YOU have a GUILTY CONSCIENCE? Psychiatrists have called this TRANSFERENCE. TRANSFERRING your guilt-ridden psyche over to others in order to justify your degenerate activity. IS THAT IT? Haha, just picking on ya a little bit. CARL pointed it out and I REMEMBER along with many others that YOU SAID you were a UT grad. I UNDERSTAND WHY you will keep the flag flying for Lane & Co., but get ready dude; THE TIDE IS ROLLING and the Vols are gonna get SWEPT by a PSUNAMI!!! Later!
Actually E.G. White, we only have to beat Furman to make a bowl. If we beat Furman and lost the rest we would go to a bowl. Yeah Ball State is having a rough year. They did win 12 games last year though. Maybe we can add Florida International and North Texas to beef up our schedule next year.
Auburn High-Opelika High tonight. At least Auburn has 1 team number one right now!! Cory Grant hasn’t lived up to the hype so far…..may have a big night tonight.
Yea Vols loose BIG!
Not pretty, but I’ll take it.
Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer Give Em Hell Alabama!!!!
EAT IT SUX BOY INDY!!!!
“Chinks in the armor.” Very fitting.
Hey sux vol indy, I’ll give you one thing, your little boy coach did as good a job as could have been expected on his first visit to the “Mecca.” But you seasoned sux vols have got to teach him, that when he is on all fours at the Meeca getting one rammed to him, he has to be like you big boy sux vols and swallow instead of choking!
When you’re a visitor at the Mecca you trully have only two choices while suxing, CHOKE or SWALLOW! SUX VOL!!!!
Tick,Tick,TICK, the clock just struck and the sux vols once AGAIN, proved they sux like none else!!!
Now go on back to your hole and keep your pie trap shut toilet BOY!
Where you at Indy? Close but no CIGAR! I don’t give a shit if we win by half a point as long as we win. I haven’t been that crunk after a win in a while.Mt. Cody deserves to be the hero. Bring on the Hat for his annual ass whippin!RTR
I do have to say, I wish UT could play Auburn again. Crompton has gotten better. He made some really good throws yesterday, and his recievers drop alot of balls. I almost felt sorry for Kiffin because he just knew they were gonna beat Alabama until Cody yanked that victory out of the air. It really was a boring game until the 4th qtr. Everybody’s gonna be talking about whats wrong with Bama, but every Nat Champ team has a game they could have/should have lost and they find a way to win, so thats all I’m gonna say about that. Saban will use the off week wisely and then whip LSU’s ass in 2 weeks. RTR
YO! THANK GOD WE WON! Its ALWAYS GREAT to defeat those orange-clad invaders from Knoxville. Terrence Cody IS THE MAN! The open date comes at a great time. The batteries DEFINATELY NEED re-charging. I’m sad to say that the offense reminded me of 2006. When we got in the red zone we bogged down and we’ve got to put teams away to keep from being caught in a situation like yesterday. A so-called “ugly win” is better than a “moral victory” any day of the week but I’M CONFIDENT that Coach Saban & Co. will get this thing fixed. The Bayou Bengals are next on the list. LSU looked good last night. Sorry Aubies, but the truth is coming out about that team from the village. Lack of depth, at best a 7-win team. One last comment about the win over Tennessee; give those Vols the credit they deserve. They played a heckuva game. Their defense bent but didn’t break and their offense made enough plays to put them in a position to win, but THE TIDE ROSE AND OVERCAME ADVERSITY. That’s the mark of a championship team.