Props to Saban

[AlaskaGuy]

And Saban is on record for 9 conference games and 10 P5 games, so Gus is just a pussy for not calling for 10 too I guess.

Nobody is very happy about playing Duke as a P5 opening game this year, but since Saban has been here we’ve opened with Clemson, Virginia Tech twice, Michigan, West Virginia, Wisconsin, USC, FSU, and Louisville, and open with USC next year and Miami the next, followed by a home and home with Texas. We’ll live with an occasional clunker.

Gus Malzahn agrees with Nick Saban: Expand SEC schedule to nine games

Auburn's Gus Malzahn and Alabama's Nick Saban agree: SEC should play nine conference games

 

[78Cyclones]

Gus Malzahn agrees with Nick Saban: Expand SEC schedule to nine games

Auburn's Gus Malzahn and Alabama's Nick Saban agree: SEC should play nine conference games

2 down and 12 to go!

 

[78Cyclones]

Malzhan is on record to go to 9 conference games. He just isn't hypicrital like Saban is especially when your main OOC opponent this year is Duke. Bama is playing the worst OOC schedule in the SEC.

Alabama's OOC schedule this year is atrocious: Duke (ACC) @ Atlanta, New Nexico State (Independent), Southern Miss (C-USA) and Western Carolina (FCS). Meanwhile, Auburn plays Oregon (Pac-12) @ Arlington, Tulane (AAC), Kent State (MAC) and Samford (FCS). Not sure if Alabama could handle that gauntlet or not.

 

[Wild Turkey]

And Saban is on record for 9 conference games and 10 P5 games, so Gus is just a pussy for not calling for 10 too I guess.

Nobody is very happy about playing Duke as a P5 opening game this year, but since Saban has been here we’ve opened with Clemson, Virginia Tech twice, Michigan, West Virginia, Wisconsin, USC, FSU, and Louisville, and open with USC next year and Miami the next, followed by a home and home with Texas. We’ll live with an occasional clunker.

You just added 2 + 2 and got 8. Typical Bammer blinded by their own stupidity.

 

[socaljim242]

Lots of fired up folks in this thread and anytime anything about Alabama's OOC comes up. Bottom line, there are only a few OOC teams who have a real chance to beat Alabama at this point in time home, away or neutral. Clemson is a given + Ohio State and Oklahoma would have a 50/50 chance. Tough to get those 3 teams on the schedule because they have a say in it too. I'd like to see those games though!

Besides that, it really doesn't matter who they play OOC at this point in time (until they come back down to earth). They literally toss aside teams with strong names who cannot keep it on the field with them (in the Regular Season and in the Playoffs) including Blue Bloods such as Southern California, Notre Dame, Penn State, Michigan and Florida State in the Saban Era. Double digit wins ALL.

Sheesh, Alabama has beaten all of the P5 Conference Champions at least once since 2015: 2015 B1G Champion Michigan State in the Cotton, 2015 ACC Champion Clemson in the Championship Game @ Glendale, 2016 Pac-12 Champion Washington in the Peach, 2017 ACC Champion Clemson in the Sugar, 2017 SEC Champion Georgia in the Championship Game @ Atlanta and 2018 Big Xii Champion Oklahoma in the Orange. Has any other program done that this Century, let alone in the CFB Playoff Era? Maybe, but I doubt it.

The good news is that Saban supports 9 SEC Games (and has for years) and now supports 8 SEC + 2 P5 OOC games (since the rest of the SEC does not support 9 Conference games) - which they are working on now. After their next 3 Neutral Games with Duke (ACC), Southern California (Pac-12) and Miami (FLa.)(ACC), they have started scheduling home and home with Texas (Big Xii), Wisconsin (B1G), West Virginia (Big Xii), Notre Dame (Independent-ACC) and Oklahoma (Big Xii) coming up. Plus, they are filling in gaps with other decent game like playing @ South Florida when they play Texas @ Tuscaloosa and FSU @ Atlanta when they play Wisconsin @ Tuscaloosa. There will be others too, as they start this better scheduling. Encourage it across the board instead of the faux outrage against Saban and 'Bama.

fyi: IMO, the main reason for this is that it is very tough to sell the extra tickets (mentioned by Saban) for the newer Upper Deck North and South End Zone seats that pushed expansion to 100,000 plus with 3 crummy OOC games. Those seats suck, and nobody wants to sit there for a good game, let alone a crummy game. As a former season ticket holder (good seats), it would be much better to see teams like Syracuse, Purdue, Iowa State and Cal than the current home OOC games, BUT do you think they want to get squashed by 'Bama? Either way, regardless of quality, Alabama hasn't lost an OOC game in the Regular Season since 2007, and that includes games vs. ACC teams (6), B1G teams (4), Big Xii Teams (1) and Pac-12 teams (1) ALL by DOUBLE digits!

Instead of getting upset, send an email to your favorite team's A.D. and ask them to try to schedule 'Bama while they are on this current P5 scheduling spree. The more P5 games the better for Alabama and everybody else. BTW, PROPS to all of the teams who have already agreed to play 'Bama. Much Respect!

What a load of horseshit. It's not always about who can beat you it's about scheduling a team where you might have to travel and have a decent game. Saban's already giving an excuse that his guys could have been tired by the time the national championship game came up. Imagine if he had to play at Wisconsin at the second to the last game of the season instead of playing Mercer or Citadel at home. Yes that's a game that Alabama should win but he would have to play all four quarters and somebody could get hurt instead of playing a one-legged trucking school the second to the last game of the season

 

[78Cyclones]

What a load of horseshit. It's not always about who can beat you it's about scheduling a team where you might have to travel and have a decent game. Saban's already giving an excuse that his guys could have been tired by the time the national championship game came up. Imagine if he had to play at Wisconsin at the second to the last game of the season instead of playing Mercer or Citadel at home

It was a bit of a ramble. I was taking a break from work and sort of did a stream of consciousness. James Joyce, I am not. I agree with you more than you know, and that is a great point about it is not always about whether the other team can beat a team or not. Very good point.

FWIW, I am not defending Alabama's weak OOC schedule. That is one of the reasons I gave up my season tickets after the 2013 season. I grew up with them playing challenging OOC schedules as the norm in the 70s and 80s, and I wish they still did that. If I was A.D., there would be 0 FCS teams and at least two P5 Home and homes alternating EVERY YEAR with the other two games against decent programs of some sort (Army, BYU, Hawaii, Houston, etc.).

As for playing Oklahoma in Miami and having to play Clemson in Santa Clara the next week in the Playoffs, that's a nasty back to back for any team. I mean, Alabama was very, very, very good, and they couldn't do it. I doubt many other teams not named Clemson could have done that either. Just because a Coach talks about something that happened doesn't make it an excuse.

I was at the Orange Bowl, and it was hot and humid, and the OU offense was relentless after they got on track. Clemson's defense just had to deal with a generic ND offense in a dome. Those things do make a difference. I think if Alabama would have played ND or at least played OU in the dome in Arlington, they would have been fresher in California.

BTW, I still think Clemson was better, but who and where the semis are played can make a difference. Probably would have still lost to Clemson but would have been able to keep it closer than it was. As a matter of fact, Alabama has been on the good end of that deal twice (2015 and 2017).

Looking forward to the USC game next year! I was at the 1978 game when Charles White ran for 199 on the Tide @ Legion Field! That was the first time I ever saw Alabama lose in person. The USC O-Line was HUGE! Loved McDonald @ QB too. Did I mention those running backs?

 

[The Crimson King]

At least the SEC moved November cupcake week back a week for 2020

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

Alabama coach Nick Saban again calls for teams to play at least 10 Power Five schools per season

BREAKING NEWS: This just in, Saban follows up on his comment claiming that if/when this becomes a reality, Bama has claims on Kansas and Rutgers.

 

[Mistaken4193]

He can call for it all he wants, but when is the last time he has actually scheduled that for himself? Until then he looks like a hypocrite.

What’s hypocritical about it? He has begged the other SEC coaches for years to go to 9game conference schedule.....he didn’t get it so he is starting to schedule 2P5 going forward. (2025 FSU,Wisconsin being the first official one)

Sorry we aren’t like Georgia or Clemson where we have a built in OOC P5 opponent because they are our rival.(GT,South Carolina)

 

[Innermind]

Although it'll probably never happen, I want to see the following mandatory for the P5 conferences:


10 in-conference games (5 home & 5 away)....

with the two OOC games played vs P5 opponents (1 home & 1 away)....

that's right.... all 12 games vs P5 opponents.


Fuck the 7 home games needed for the local economy argument.... 6 home games is plenty for making money for local businesses when ALL 6 games are P5 games. If a local restaurant/saloon/hotel fails because of only 6 home games instead of 7, then that probably wasn't a very good business establishment.

 

[PEOPLESCHICKEN]

Alabama coach Nick Saban again calls for teams to play at least 10 Power Five schools per season

Hey Nick, lets play follow the leader. You start

#Mercer

 

[trojanfan12]

At first glance i thought you said Southern California type teams.

Well, considering what happened the last time we played them...

 

[trojanfan12]

What’s hypocritical about it? He has begged the other SEC coaches for years to go to 9game conference schedule.....he didn’t get it so he is starting to schedule 2P5 going forward. (2025 FSU,Wisconsin being the first official one)

Sorry we aren’t like Georgia or Clemson where we have a built in OOC P5 opponent because they are our rival.(GT,South Carolina)

It's hypocritical because he's claiming that something should be done that he's not doing himself when he has the power to do it.

If Bama is going to be scheduling 2 P5 teams going forward, that's a good start. But it isn't even set up to start until 2025. So, we'll see if the games actually happen (I do think they will).

As for the SEC going to a 9 game conference schedule...this where I think the NCAA needs to step in and make a ruling re: the number of in conference games. I don't care if it's 8 or 9, but all of the P5 conferences should be playing the same number of conference games.

 

[BamaDude]

He's had four slots every season he can schedule to his hearts desire. He can choose to schedule a cupcake and a couple decent teams and a really good team or even two pretty good teams. But no. Chattanooga , Mercer, Towsend, South Texas , Southern Carolina type teams have been used for three of the four slots for a decade now.

Three of the five teams you mentioned don't even exist, so how does he schedule them? You really need to lay off the wacky weed.

 

[BadMotoWeazal]

Alabama's OOC schedule this year is atrocious: Duke (ACC) @ Atlanta, New Nexico State (Independent), Southern Miss (C-USA) and Western Carolina (FCS). Meanwhile, Auburn plays Oregon (Pac-12) @ Arlington, Tulane (AAC), Kent State (MAC) and Samford (FCS). Not sure if Alabama could handle that gauntlet or not.

Yeah... it ain't pretty. But damn, we've run the gauntlet in the not so distant past. Shit, there's no pleasing you dick heads. LOL

 

[socaljim242]

Three of the five teams you mentioned don't even exist, so how does he schedule them? You really need to lay off the wacky weed.

Southern Carolina South Carolina UAB Wofford Noth Texas Northern Arizona. Does it really matter? Lol.

 

[Rolltide94]

He's had four slots every season he can schedule to his hearts desire. He can choose to schedule a cupcake and a couple decent teams and a really good team or even two pretty good teams. But no. Chattanooga , Mercer, Towsend, South Texas , Southern Carolina type teams have been used for three of the four slots for a decade now.

I agree we need less years like 2016 where we played #23 11-3 Conference USA Champion Western Kentucky and 3 cupcakes....I mean they must have been cupcakes, because we won 52-6, 48-0 and 31-3. That last one was a pretty good ranked FCS squad, they actually gave us a game, but those other two pooftas....might has well have been a pads walk through. That first team, the one we beat 52-6, their other OOC opponents were 3-9 and 4-8, but I heard the rest of their season was somehow impressive, was probably smoke and mirrors, we played their conference champ later in the year, they were supposed to be good too, but honestly Chattanooga put up more of a struggle.

 

[socaljim242]

I agree we need less years like 2016 where we played #23 11-3 Conference USA Champion Western Kentucky and 3 cupcakes....I mean they must have been cupcakes, because we won 52-6, 48-0 and 31-3. That last one was a pretty good ranked FCS squad, they actually gave us a game, but those other two pooftas....might has well have been a pads walk through. That first team, the one we beat 52-6, their other OOC opponents were 3-9 and 4-8, but I heard the rest of their season was somehow impressive, was probably smoke and mirrors, we played their conference champ later in the year, they were supposed to be good too, but honestly Chattanooga put up more of a struggle.

And yet that team finished ranked higher than any team in the SEC . way to think one regular season game is your season. Syracuse gave Clemson a better game .

 

[Rolltide94]

And yet that team finished ranked higher than any team in the SEC . way to think one regular season game is your season. Syracuse gave Clemson a better game .

I though cupcakes were supposed to be sweet, not salty.

 

[BamaDude]

Southern Carolina South Carolina UAB Wofford Noth Texas Northern Arizona. Does it really matter? Lol.

You don't know much about college football, do you?