Bama's dominance may take a hiatus this season

[Peter Gozintite]

@bamabear82 should put his foot up your ass

His wife doesnt let him post anymore

 

[tnapucco]

meh you guise got Mike Stoops you'll be fine.

 

[tnapucco]

His wife doesnt let him post anymore

...so I guess the t-bagging britches have been retired as well?

 

[Peter Gozintite]

...so I guess the t-bagging britches have been retired as well?

Well duh

 

[GoldRusher]

7. Clemson is just better

8. Georgia is mad

9. UT is getting their sh*t together

10. Jimbo is at A&M

 

[Deep Creek]

I've never seen fans of such a dominant team do so much whinging. Like hell I'd sell my soul to get Duke a 10 win season but OP is wringing his heads over some turnovers and minor injuries.

I'd do it if my guys have a four win season!

 

[Cowboyinexile]

I've never seen fans of such a dominant team do so much whinging. Like hell I'd sell my soul to get Duke a 10 win season but OP is wringing his heads over some turnovers and minor injuries.

I wouldn't say minor injuries. It's Bama but their best player blowing out his knee has to have an impact.

 

[fredmccallyRTR]

The injuries and the coaching turnovers have to show up at some point. This schedule appears tailor made for what we need, a lot of average opponents for new starters to get reps early, but it'll be late in the season still when potential issues of depth show up the most. And I don't care who you are, replacing a player like Dylan Moses is tough. If we could bring down our opponents avg. ppg to about 13.5 from the 18 they scored last season I'd be happy.

With that said, let's see how it plays out. The inexperience and depth in D could take care of itself over the course of the season as players get reps, the offense should still be able to put up 38+ ppg and hopefully the dline will be improved.

 

[Diego Roll Tide]

Somehow we’ll survive.

And even if we don’t, at least we don’t and never will wear orange.

Life is good...

 

[7Samurai13]

8. Georgia is mad

9. UT is getting their sh*t together

10. Jimbo is at A&M

9. No they are not

10. Jimbo hasn’t done shit without Winston.

 

[Diego Roll Tide]

9. No they are not

10. Jimbo hasn’t done shit without Winston.

I’m not sure how Georgia being “mad” means much, either. If losing to an opponent makes teams mad, Rutgers and Kansas should be the maddest mofos on the planet.

 

[amszete]

9. No they are not

10. Jimbo hasn’t done shit without Winston.

While I think he is a giant dbag, Jimbo will beat either Saban or Cajun man this year. I see his team being dangerous in the SEC-W this year.

 

[Bedlam131]

Honestly, I am not up on 'Bama's personnel issues but, it seems to me the rise of some programs has sucked a little air out of their recruiting.

I would add to this that the transfer portal (although affecting all the upper tier teams) may hurt Alabama more than most. It was not long ago that Alabama was THE dominant recruiter. Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State and lately Oklahoma and even Texas have been cutting into this near monopoly Alabama had. I expect, the long term effect is going to be a dwindling of the depth of upper tier depth with Alabama probably get hit the hardest.

 

[sanction]

12-0 regular season.

Deal with it.

 

[Shanemansj13]

 

[Rod Freakin' Dangerfield]

Hammerdown in Colatown II

 

[7Samurai13]

I’m not sure how Georgia being “mad” means much, either. If losing to an opponent makes teams mad, Rutgers and Kansas should be the maddest mofos on the planet.

Well Maryland’s head coach murdered a player last year. Don’t believe the lies it was an accident.

 

[Diego Roll Tide]

Well Maryland’s head coach murdered a player last year. Don’t believe the lies it was an accident.

Those helmets would make me mad.

 

[BigRedMoe]

Even before the injuries started piling up, I had a gnawing feeling that Alabama's unprecedented 5-year playoff run might be coming to a close this season. The reasons are listed below.

1. Alabama has had to replace several experienced members of its defense for multiple seasons in a row, due to both graduating seniors and early NFL departees. I know the Tide has weathered this phenomena for quite a while, but it really showed last year when the defensive points per game ballooned from 11.9 to 18.1. They lost even more experienced players following the 2018 season.

2. Assistant coaching turnovers. This is another area where the Tide has been efficient in rolling along; but after 13 departures in two years, the lack of continuity is bound to start showing an effect. The offensive staff last year helped the team improve from 37.1 points and 444 yards per game to 45.6 points and 522 ypg. All the major coaching contributors are gone from that staff, and I don't believe that Steve Sarkisian's crew can match that output.

3. Relative health & readiness of returning personnel. It's good to have Tua Tagovailoa back at QB, but we don't know yet if he is fully recovered - both physically and mentally - from the injuries he sustained last year. Will he be as mobile as he once was, and be able to plant his foot and make the kinds of throws he has in the past? Will pain or fear of pain be a factor in his performance? Will the absence of Jalen Hurts to push him to excel at the QB position be a detrimental factor?

4. Lack of depth at many key positions. We had two very capable quarterbacks last year. This time there is no proven back-up should Tua get hurt. Mack Jones played mostly in mop-up situations & only completed 38.5% of the 13 passes he attempted. Taulia Tagovailoa & Paul Tyson are both freshmen. Are any of those guys ready to step forward if needed?

Running back is another area with a lack of depth. We had three guys last year that could have started at most other SEC schools, plus a 4th guy that progressed quite a bit as the season wore on. Two of the top three are in the NFL now, and the other two are suspended for the first half of the season opener. There's no proven depth behind them.

The offensive line is in rebuilding mode, and the defensive line and linebacking corps are thin on overall experience. At least two defensive starters may miss the entire season due to injuries, with two freshmen starting in their place.

The best news is that practically our entire receiving corps is back. We also have an experienced secondary, although they gave up a lot of big plays during the last few games of the season last year.

5. Special teams continues to be a weak point, but may be getting a shot in the arm if true freshman Will Reichard lives up to his performance from his kicking days in high school. Maybe Skyler DeLong can improve on his 34.4 yards per punt average. Kick coverage is usually pretty tight, and there are break-away threats in the return game.

6. Injuries. There seems to be more players than usual on the moderate-to-severely injured list heading into this weekend's opener. At least two players - maybe more - are thought to be lost for the season. Several more could miss from one to four games, and a few others are in the may play if they don't get re-injured category. Most of these are lower leg injuries. Two are bad knee injuries. Makes me wonder if there is something amiss with the training staff?

With the internal stuff out of the way, we now turn to the opponents. Teams most likely to have a chance at beating the Crimson Tide are Auburn on the road on Nov. 30th, and Georgia in a potential SEC Championship Game rematch a week later. With a few bad breaks, the Tide could also be in for a hard time at Texas A&M on Oct. 12th or at home against LSU on Nov. 9th.

If the combination of lack of depth and experience doesn't derail the Tide somewhere during the season, then they may well be on their way to a sixth straight playoff appearance. But, even if they don't get there this year, I expect them to be back in 2020.

So many words...

So.... Natty on a platty then?

 

[Deep Creek]

While I think he is a giant dbag, Jimbo will beat either Saban or Cajun man this year. I see his team being dangerous in the SEC-W this year.

I do too....IF...they can defend the pass. They weren't very good at doing that last year IIRC.