I wish Christion Jones had given future Tide opponents one more thing to have to think about when facing the Tide.
I wish Christion Jones had given future Tide opponents one more thing to have to think about when facing the Tide.
Looking back on Saturday night’s game in the Georgia Dome, I have many regrets on the Tide’s opener for the 2013 season. But the biggest one is this:

I wish we had beaten the Hokies by 25 points.

The line on the game was 18.5, but if I could have an early birthday present, it would’ve been Bama covering that line and tacking on an extra 6.5 points for good measure.

I wish our physical defense had made big plays, shown speed and aggression and had totally stymied the Hokie offense. With the lone exception of giving up one big play, I wish we had pretty much kept Tech completely at bay the rest of the game.

And, if I could go way over the line and ask just a little bit more, I wish that, even if you took away the non-offensive points the Tide scored, we still would have won the game even with a struggling offense still finding a way to grind out what it needed to get the job done.

If I could jump in a time machine and go back to the frozen Nashville parking lots following the 1998 Music City Bowl, where the Hokies dominated Alabama in all three phases of the game, I wish I could tell those dejected Bama fans that in 15 years Bama would be a dynasty again, and that they would one day be griping about a more than three touchdown victory over Frank Beamer and company on opening day with a brand spanking new offensive line that replaced two NFL 1st rounders and a third, an Outland Trophy winner.

Beating Frank BeamerAnd forgive me, because I know this is way beyond the scope of what one man should be allowed to ask. But I wish Alabama had soundly beaten a team coached by the game’s winningest active head coach, and whose defensive coordinator has been by his side for a bijillion seasons, producing season after season of top, salty, physical, unconventional and aggressive defenses.

And dangit, I wish VaTech returned nine starters from the year before to give our new front five likely the biggest challenge they’ll face in a front seven until the Tide faces LSU in November.

And for good measure, I wish the separation between the two schools would have been superior special teams play on the part of the Tide, the phase of the game Frank Beamer’s teams are most known for.

And I wish we had the game’s best head coach who can magically transform adversity into a personal challenge that gets the very most out of his players. And I wish the next game Bama played was a little under two weeks away, with plenty of time to prepare for and correct the issues that its first game exposed before taking the field again.

Oh well, one can always wish. Roll Tide anyway…


(Follow me on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

35 thoughts on “I wish Bama had beaten Virginia Tech by 25 points”

  1. Your tongue-in-cheek article certainly makes me feel guilty for wishing our offence had lived up to the pre-season hype.

    Good article!

      1. Yeah me too…I wish the media would not build BAMA up like they did in 2010…I mean we lost three starters on “O” Lie to the NFL…And no on expected any drop off??? COME ON MAN…
        RTR
        Protect America, Build Submarines

  2. i wish we had game this week.

    the o-line could use the practice.

    still, this game, this team was exactly what we needed.

    my observations from the 20 yd. line:

    the left side of va. tech’s line had their hands in our face masks all nite long. no calls.

    we were beat out of a call on the roughing the kicker no-call.

    our kickers have progressed light years from a couple of years ago. ditto kick coverage.

    team speed. we got it.

    somebody from the georgia dome needs to attend a game at the jerry dome to see how things are done. all replays on the big screens were done from cameras on the field. replays looked like friday nite high school football coverage.

    lots of individuals hanging around the marta stops. reminded me of the old mutual-of-omaha film of lions stalking a herd of wildebeest. lying around looking for a weak link to attack.

    finally, if our o-line had lived up to the performance of the aptly named “Million Dollar Band” sat. nite, we’d have won by 100.

    the last two games i’ve attended, the bands of both Michigan and Notre Dame were a treat to watch. saturday nite our band played James Bond theme music. first off, i’m a fan of 007 movies. our band did wonderful renditions of those including ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘Skyfall’ and the finale, Carly Simon’s ‘Nobody Does It Better’ where at the end flags representing each of Alabama’s 15 National Titles were run out on the field.

    of course, a standing ovation ensued.

    1. Great points, especially the MARTA observation! I felt the same way, ushering my naive wife to stay deep within the herd.

      The only thing I wondered about the band’s performance, which as you said was superb, was the celebration of our national championships. Saban just hates living in the past, and everything is about what you’re doing today. Seemed to just enoucourage fans to look over their shoulder, which he preaches bleeds over to the team. We have the best band in the country though, no doubt.

      Another observation was Kellen Williams replacing Arie Kouandjio early in the 3rd. Williams seemed to do as good or better, and Arie K never came back in. One has to wonder if there’s a spot about to be taken there.

      I think the off week, though strangely early, comes at a good time. If we played this week the opponent would need to be Akron or somebody else weak. But the OL issues will be fixed. Won’t be perfect, but they’ll be fixed before A&M, and we WILL run on TAMU.

      1. on the band’s performance:

        i think Coach Saban knows there’s a balance to be struck between “living in the past” and using your history to sell your product.

        and that’s what recruiting is, selling a product. think on the question he was asked about what he would do with all those championship rings.

        answer: put them on my coffee table for the recruits to see.

        the poster freshly minted this off season of the checks alabama’s players received after signing w/ nfl teams.

        it’s all a part of our package. it’s the foundation today’s program rests on.

      2. I hope it doesn’t work out that way. I’d hate for Cyrus to get the redass because his big brother doesn’t get to play along side of him in their final year. That’s not chemistry.

      3. Williams won that spot in the Spring. IDK what is going on that they keep putting Arie in there. Arie is a nice guy that is physically unable to compete. He was abysmal. Horrible. Making Cyro Look BAD! Trying to help out the bro is not working for either of them. Let Arie heal some more. Glad KW didn’t bail out cuz we gonna need him.

  3. To TI members,

    All Summer long all we heard from you was that this would be the best offense ever fielded in this history of Alabama football, maybe even in all of college football? Do you still feel that way?

    WFE!!

    1. You sure will this November after we blow you out on your own field that we now own, for the third year running, taking five out of the last six.

      Or did the epic struggle with lowly WSU make you feel invincible?

      1. Oh so it’s the media that creates all the hype about how good bama is going to be, and not typical comments like this from you and the other gumps right ITK

        Your articles are so full of BS you can almost here the flies swarming.

          1. Yea but regardless of how I spelled it, you obviously got my point none the less, since my spelling was the only thing you could comment on. Right ITK? LMAO

    2. “All Summer long all we heard from you was that this would be the best offense ever fielded in this history of Alabama football, maybe even in all of college football?”

      you got any links there, chump??

      one of the things i don’t like about this site is the back and forth with idiots like this.

      but here i go:

      i haven’t read or heard of anything of the sort.

      what i’ve read, heard and felt is concern about the line.

      maybe you’re confused about talk of last year’s line. but make no mistake, you’re confused.

      go back to something you’re good at, praying for more cammy juice lightning in a bottle.

    3. Prediction for this Saturday:

      Arkansas State-30

      SPAU (Stupidity Plagued Auburn University)-24

      WAR DAMN CHICKEN!!!!!

    4. We were also told it would be the best ever by the offensive players, and I do believe they have the resume to know if that is true or not. Therefore they also know what went wrong on Saturday, and they will fix it. Don’t worry your little goat humping ass about it. You have much bigger problems over at West Alabama Men’s College! Bwaa Haww Haww! RTR!

  4. “go back to something you’re good at, ***praying*** for more cammy juice lightning in a bottle.”

    or paying??

  5. that was a high octane scoring machine displayed by bama. roflmfao best in the history of college football. Oregon is throwing away their entire playbook and trying to mimic the ” hurry up and dont block” offensive scheme that saban has now made famous.

    1. That really is funny. Good work. I expect the problems to be improved before next Saturday, and if the shoe were on the other foot, and Auburn had a problem that it needed to get fixed before its biggest game of the year…and had an off week to get it done this early in the year to make this happen, I would be ticked. Because you’ve probably figured out we kind of have the best coach in the country to do that sort of thing.

  6. ABTHOLUTELY BAMA GREAT O…WE WERE UP BY 14 OR MORE THE ENTIRE GAME MINUS SECONDS…..SABAN IS NOT GOING TO BEATDOWN A CLASS ACT LIKE BEAMER…VT HAD 8 IN THE BOX AND AJ DID NOT CHECK TO PASS WHICH HE LOVES TO DO…SAVING OUR O FOR THE MOST HATED TEAM IN HISTORY

    1. HAMMAH, i will agree the offense was very basic. said so to those around me at game.

      i do feel like Coach Saban knew he would win this game and did not want to run up a score on Coach Beamer.

      i also feel like Coach Saban was trying to force them to play together. we had some success early and Foster adjusted. we never re-adjusted.

      i think there was a reason for that.

      in the best of circumstances i’ll agree Coach Saban wouldn’t want to show his hand.

      in this case i think VT exposed weaknesses. i do wish we had a game this wkend.

  7. Did you also wish that your “Heisman Candidate All Star” QB would complete less than 50% of his passes for less than a 5 yard average per completion, and your stable of “great all everything 5 star” runnings backs would combine to rush for less than 100 yards and average less than 3 yards per carry, all against an unranked opponent?

    If you did, then those wishes came true for you also.

    1. How many yards passing did the second coming of Scam have against bottom feeder Washington State this weekend? 99 and no TD’s. One more outing like that and he’ll be playing safety with the original second coming of Scam. Damn dumbasses. You need to worry about Arkansas State coming into Neckburn and running you out of Jordan Hare this weekend.

      WAR DAMN CHICKEN!!!!

  8. If I were you Corndog I wouldn’t be letting my mouth write checks my ass won’t be able to cash later. You had your hands full with an overrated team Saturday. TCU not only has a shittier color of purple than the Corndogs, but they are not a Big 12 team. Unlike A&M after they came to the SEC, TCU does not have a new coaching staff and a whole new system on offense, nor a new team full of 4 and 5 stars. TCU is still a MWC/nearly Big East non-AQ. The fact that you tit turds couldn’t beat them but 10 is pathetic. Whatever your offense did against them, Ole Misses could have done better. I kind of think you wouldn’t have scored more than 10 on VT’s defense. Bring your asses on over to T-Town Corndog – we’ll be waiting for you. RTR!

  9. Hey Crimsonite are you dumb or just stupid?

    First of all my post did not say, claim or brag about anything LSU, so there were no “checks written that my ass will have to worry about cashing later”. If fact my post merely pointed out a couple of actual/factual stats from bama’s game against unranked Va. Tech that the “writer” left out of his article. If those facts and stats bother you, take it up with your coach.

    It’s your opinion that TCU is/was overated, but you know what they say about opinions, they’re like assholes and everybody has one, and you seem to be one of the bigger one’s that the bama fan base has. It’s not surprising that none of the sports media or pole voters for that matter seem to agree with your stupid opinion, as I’ve not seen one article opining that TCU was overrated and the pole voters still have TCU ranked in the top 25 even after losing to LSU. Once again Crimsonite you open your mouth and prove your ignorance.

    After looking at the box scores of bama’s game, against an UNRANKED Va. Tech team, it appears it was bama that had its hand full. Thank goodness for bama’s special teams, right crimsonite?

    And I’m not sure what your point was of comparing TCU to Texas A&M was about other than to make bama look bad, seeing how lost to them the only time you played them. I did not compare them to or claim they were/are better than Texas A&M. But you rant was right about one thing, TCU did not have a new coaching staff. Gary Patterson is a very good coach whose teams have won at least 10 games in eight of his last 10 years, and went to back to back BCS games in 2009 and 2010. And despite another of your stupid opinion’s that “TCU is still a MWC/nearly Big East non-AQ” team, TCU led the Big 12 in total defense last year.

    Your last three sentences of your post are nothing but hot air from a drunk gump and don’t even require a response.

    And I know your drunk “horndog” redneck self will be waiting in T-Town, just like you said Two Years ago. How’d that turn out for your big mouth? A LOSS, that’s how. LMAO.

  10. And yes I know it’s POLL voters and not POLE voters, but knowing that you probably spend most of your time in the strip clubs like one of bama’s ex coaches, I thought you could relate more to that spelling. LMAO

  11. Yeah, we all know bow.accurate to polls.are, dumbass. They said.LSU Was.#1 all season in 2011. Bwaa Haww Haww! I knew better then and I know better now. If I say Bama stinking the place up and beating VT by 25 was more impressive than the Corndogs beating TCU by 10, then you can take.it to the bank. My personal rankings are more accurate than the official polls every year. Besides, your polls must have thought the same as me since Bama is.still almost a unanimous #1. Bwaa Haww Haww! RTR!

  12. So Crimsonite, this last post of yours answers my question, you are both dumb and stupid.

    In the first half of your post you argue the polls are inaccurate, and in the second half you claim they are accurate.

    So according to you the polls voters are smart because they have bama number one but then they turn dumb because they have TCU ranked and not Va. Tech? So the voters are both smart and dumb according to you, right?Take another sip of your moonshine Crimsonite.

    If I took your stupid comments to the bank they would give me exactly what they were worth, nothing. LMAO

  13. You find more ways to blow smoke up your own ass than any other troll I’ve ever seen. Keep up the good work. Or maybe you’re just plain doing Blow. Bwaa Haww Haww! RTR!

    1. That’s rich coming from the blow hard that thinks so much of himself he makes statements such as the following in your last post – “My personal rankings are more accurate than the official polls every year.” and “If I say…, then you can take it to the bank” and from the moron that can argue the polls are inaccurate and accurate at the same time.

  14. Oh, and by the way; congratulatons on signing the two Cameron’s. Oh wait! Bwaa Haww Haww! RTR!

    1. Crimsonite ever time you open your mouth you prove what a true gump you are and how ignorant you are.

      For your information the two Cameron’s are still in high school and have not signed with anyone yet! In Fact they can’t until Feb. 2014. But hey I hope Cameron Sims does sign with Alabama, its nice to see this kid get a division one offer regardless of how he got it. Bwaa Haww Haww! LMAO

    2. And by the way Crimsonite wasn’t there a four star lineman out of Georgia that committed to Saban/Alabama last year that Miles got to flip and actually sign with LSU? Yes there was, Andy Dodd was his name. So I wouldn’t go all Gump and start counting your chickens before they hatch and running your mouth too much until after signing day.

Comments are closed.