ITK answered this week's roundtable. Here are the questions and my answers.

The Roundtable this week is hosted by Roll Bama Roll. You can also view an archive of Crimson & White Roundtables at the C&W Roundtable blog.

1. How did you watch the game, and why?
I watched from home. My daughter had a commitment that evening and I wasn’t 100% sure I could get her back for it if we went. So I watched from the ‘ole homestead. I wanted to be there, but 91,000 of my closest friends took up my slack for me.

2. Who stood out most on offense, be it for good or bad reasons?
I think the consensus is that A.J. McCarron made his deposit on his (and Bama’s) future in Tuscaloosa. His arm is monstrous, but he also possesses the finesse and accuracy to drop it where it has to be, as you saw on the touchdown pass to Richardson. He throws a ball similar to Brodie Croyle, but unlike Brodie has a legitimate supporting cast around him. He, Sims and even Jackson are the backbone (for the future) of the best QB talent we’ve ever had there at one time.

Other offensive notables were the usual suspects…not sure how many schools let their Heisman winner go at it full-speed in a spring game, but Ingram looked in mid-season form. Trent is just ridiculous, possibly the strongest running back we’ve ever had. The right tackle spot concerns me at the moment. Fluker is enormous but needs to improve on his footwork. But he or any of our offensive line won’t face a defense better than what they saw on Saturday. I liked that we didn’t think we had to “camouflage” anyone from our competitors on national television. When you’re not afraid, you don’t have to.

3. Same question for the defense.
Courtney Upshaw was everywhere, and looks to have gotten bigger. Dareus is unblockable. The only way you beat him is getting the ball away from him as fast as possible. He’s as fast as he is big. When God designed cornerbacks, He undoubtedly used Dre Kirkpatrick’s body as a mold.

But overall, what impressed me most was the sheer size of our defense. Like others, I had watched some of the Abarn A-Day game beforehand…when ESPN2 finally went to it from its coverage of a high school lacrosse game (true story). By comparison (because it was the only other college team I saw on Saturday), their defensive starting unit looked like a college defense. Ours looked like the pro-bowl defense representing the NFC. And deep into the game, when they were throwing in their scout team for late game action, Bama’s scrubs looked like Abarn’s starters.

Someone said it before: Nick Saban recruited well while he was at LSU, but never this good. One of the joys of watching this upcoming season will be watching our “weakness”, the defense. By the time we reach October, this unit may be better than last year’s squad. There is that much depth, talent and ability on that side of the ball.

4. Did A-Day make you feel better or worse about our chances for a repeat in 2010?
I’ll echo Coach Saban in that we are not “defending” our national championship next season. Last year is ours to keep and savor in the Bryant Museum until the end of time. But can this team make it to Arizona and win another one?

First you must ask, who from the SEC West is going to keep Alabama from getting to Atlanta? There is not a single school from the West that can beat this Alabama team. I understand the “six teams having off weeks before us” issue, and believe me, it is an issue. Anyone who says it isn’t is (a.) biased, (b.) ignorant or (c.) both. But all an off week does for the SEC West teams against this Alabama team is possibly make the games closer. The Arkansas game is the scariest of the bunch. LSU will be a tough game, but the hat will prove yet again he can’t win there without a foundation laid by Nick Saban.

And the Iron Bowl is in Tuscaloosa so it’s doubtful that anyone from “The Fambly” can orchestrate game day chaos and/or delay, keeping Bama’s bus from arriving at the stadium by an hour. Saban’s dislike for API only grew with that fiasco last November, and as a result the only chaos taking place this year will involve Bama’s defense shutting the dipsy-do offense down, you know, like it did for over 3-quarters of last year’s game. Whoever their QB is, by mid-third quarter he’ll look like Jordan Jefferson on the sidelines.

Then, who from the East will make it to Atlanta? I think it will be Florida again as Georgia and South Carolina continue their spiral. Tennessee’s stupidity has placed itself on its own make-shift probation. Urban Meyer is smart enough though to field a totally new challenge to defend. Getting past them will be more difficult than in 2009.

Then nationally, who will contend in 2010? As usual, a handful will find their way into the conversation by late October, but Alabama will definitely be among them. There are others with great talent, but there is no team with better size, talent, speed, game planning and preparation than this team. Last Saturday, Alabama could have played any of its opponents from 2009 and won. This team is stacked.

5. With the long dark of the offseason finally upon us, what’s your favorite coping mechanism?
You know, back when we sucked, it used to be playing EA Sports’ NCAA Football, recreating the pitiful season we just had or visualizing something better for the upcoming season. Kids and work demands prevent that kind of time anymore. Now I guess it’s coming on here and tangling with the aubsessed fambly who live on this an other Bama sites. That fact continues to amaze me. Every day that passes in my life is another day in which I have NEVER typed a URL address to go to an Abarn website to engage a barner. That they continue to come to us here illuminates their infinite insecurity and little school syndrome. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: Abarn is a D-1AA school with a big stadium. That’s it.

The bigger mechanism though is my family. Alabama football is a passion of mine, and you might even say a hobby. But it is just an element of my life, not my life. If you have family who loves you, you’ve got a treasure that wins and losses can’t take away. Tell them…or better yet, show them…as often as you can how much they mean to you. And don’t let them go to Abarn or UcheaT. 🙂 Roll Tide!



14 thoughts on “Roundtable: A-Day and the Future”

  1. Good post. This team looked lightyears better than last years team did on A-day. Hell, they looked better than last years team did at the end of the 3rd quarter of the VT game. If the kicking game, special teams and 2 or 3 critical positions gel before Penn St, 2010 may be a year for the ages. In the SEC nobody but Florida has the talent and coaching to challange us on both sides of the ball. Arky and Abarn have strong O’s. LSWho, USCe and UcheaT have strong D’s. But it will take a hell of a lot more than a 1/2 of a football team to beat this Bama team. If we beat Penn St, LSWho, Arky, Old Piss, Abarn, USCe, UcheaT, and the Gayturds twice; they should just award us the BCSNC by default and let 2 of the children of a lesser God play for #2! My biggest fear would be the letdown of having to play Boise State instead of Ohio St, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, USCw, Va Tech, Miami or Notre Dame. That could be a motivationally disastrous game. Everybody root for VT over Boise and get the fly out of the ointment. RTR!

  2. I agree with ESPN. Bama’s second team should be ranked in the top 5. Hell, they should be ranked #2 behind only the starters! By seasons end AJ McCarron will be the best QB in the nation and GMAC will finish undefeated whether he is still the sole starter or not. I can forsee a possible dual QB situation. Although I don’t think Saban would ever intend it, I think certain games could force it if he wants to win them. RTR!

  3. ITK can’t help himself. He has to regurgitate his standard excuse/conspiracy theory about Auburn controlling the weather, world hunger, and interstate traffic; his bizarre rationale that Auburn’s offensive production in the IB didn’t count because they scored on big plays; and then conclude by accusing AU fans of being obsessed about Bama while never noticing that he just spent half of his post that was suppossed to be about Bama’s A-Day game and upcoming season talking about Auburn.

    PS. I still love how you say that AU is obsessed with Bama based upon the sole fact that you don’t personally go to AU sites to engage AU fans (so you say). I guarantee you there are at least twice as many Bama fans that go to AU sites to engage AU fans than vice versa. Based upon your theory, that kinda makes Bama fans twice as obsessed as AU fans, huh?

  4. Well Julia there are over twice as many Bama fans as Barner fans in the state alone. And Bama has a huge national fan base whereas the Barns is pretty much restricted to the state and the southeast. Furthermore this is a Bama site. We will talk about who we want to, when we want to and how we want to. And although Bama’s goals have always been win the SEC and play for the National Championship in that order, and the Barn’s goals have always been beat Bama and whatever follows is just icing on the cake; still it’s true that the Barn is our most hated rival as indicated by the Bear when he named you the Cow College, and by Sabear when he said he hates that school over there. Therefore I believe it is normal for us to live and breath demeaning your asses. But as far as obsession? Alabama is only obsessed with winning National Championships. Got 13 and counting! RTR!

  5. SI has a great story on Bama. They were undecided on Bama as preseason #1 until they saw the A-day game. They had watched Florida, Oklahoma, USCw, LSU and others and were totally impressed with Bama. They said if our rebuilt defense can shut down that offense, then Bama can beat anybody. They now have us unanimous #1. And really they shut them down worse than the score indicated; because Maze didn’t score on that td bomb. He landed out of bounds. So this rebuilt and destined to be much, much better D, held to 10 points a 32 point a game National Champion O which is reputed to be practically unstoppable this year. Adios putos. Gonna be 14 and counting. RTR!

  6. Julia can’t help himself, using his predictable (yawn) hyperbole and overblown sarcasm to muddy the water and try and draw attention away from the truth.

    Here’s my favorite:

    “I guarantee you there are at least twice as many Bama fans that go to AU sites to engage AU fans than vice versa.”

    Followed up by my second favorite:

    “Based upon your theory, that kinda makes Bama fans twice as obsessed as AU fans, huh?”

    So you interject a completely unsubstantiated opinion then immediately follow it up by basing a conclusion off of it? Nice. That’s the kind of demented aubsession a fellow can’t make up.

    I was actually paying Abarn a compliment when I said its D looked like a college defense. They really didn’t.

  7. And you reach a conclusion about the conduct of an entire fan base based solely upon your own individual actions. Yeah, that makes a lot more sense.

    BTW, in your mad rush to discredit my statements, you forgot to include the part where you disagree with my opinion (based upon my own repeated observations) that there are at least twice as many Bama fans that go to AU sites to engage AU fans than vice versa. Hmmm, must have been an oversight on your part…

  8. The “conclusion” I mentioned was your blanket assumption about websites, douche.

  9. And the “conclusion” I mentioned was your blanket assumption regarding the conduct of the entire Bama fan base based solely upon your own individual actions. I’ll refrain from name calling, though. (as difficult as it is to respond to such a mature epithet like “douche”.)

    Still waitin’ to hear if you disagree with my “blanket assumption”. EG certainly seems to agree with it.

  10. ITK, don’t tee it up for me that high. That’s so easy to knock out of the park I refuse to even respond.

  11. Julio,
    The problem with teeing it up that high is that your intellectual bat is too short and soft to actually make any meaningful contact with it.

  12. See ITK, “tee it up” is a golf term, not a baseball or softball term. One does not use a “bat” to hit the ball in golf, one uses a “club”. Real snappy comeback.

    You should probably stick to calling me juvenile names instead of trying to come up with whimsical insults. It’s obviously very easy for you to outkick your coverage when you go out on a limb like that.

  13. Ummm, Julia? That was almightymc1 who said that about teeing it up. Guess in your mad rush to “get those fingers a’typin’ you missed that fact. But then again, facts…and truth…bother the stew out of you.

    But since you asked me to call you a juvenile name, you’re still a douche.

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