The thought occurred to me that Saban is such a genius that he knew the offense would be sorely lacking this season as Kp suggests so rather than take any criticism himself he brought in ole Kiffy to be the whipping boy since LK is so used to such criticism. Smart guy that Saban.....
Kiffin better be a F'n miracle worker...or Coker better be the next Payton Manning. The likelihood of either of those things being true, really depresses me. I hope I'm wrong. :?
Well if you guys don't have a good starting QB next year I don't know what to say. You've had the #1 recruiting class 4 out of the last 5 years and the 5th year you were in the top 5. Plus you have 6 QB's on your roster including Coker Sims..unrated player out of HS is a Sr. so I assume he holds a clip board Then there are 4 big strong Pro Style QB's including 2 National top 5 QB's in their recruiting year in Bateman and Cornwell, McLeod and Morris were 3 star QB's but have the prototypical size and arm to do well in college in an offense like yours. Then there is Coker who was ranked about like McLeod and Morris but has more experience at this point. Your cup runneth over with big strong armed Pro style white QB's!! Cry me a river!!
MCG, Im glad you said that. We are deep at great RBs, WRs, and LB's. OL is a question mark and DB is a question mark. I think we can cover holes in the DL and DB but QB and OL are where we need some folks to step up. I keep telling y'all having #1 recruiting classes don't mean **** if you don't fill the right holes. Terry I shouldn't have to tell you that and obviously MCG knows the pain that I fear.
True, but for Terry, Brown has had #1 recruiting teams for many, many years and yet the last couple of years Texas has not been at the top. So.... it happens. I'm not saying Alabama is there but I am saying I am worried. 8)
You know, kp, I appreciate your humility and your openness in discussing your feelings about your team. As an outside observer of the Tide FB program, I would submit that Alabama has become the gold standard for college football, at least in this decade. It's like a great player at 70-80% is better than most of his peers at 100%. You may be perceiving your team in the spring at 70-80% of Bama teams of the past few years. Most of us, myself included, would love to see our teams playing at that level. Having said that, I understand your concern given the standard of excellence set by Coach Saban.
It is true of course that Mack for a big portion of his career was known as Mr. Feb for his prowess in bringing highly rated recruiting classes. But Mack's prowess as a game day coach has always been doubted and some at least feel he wasted a lot of talent over his career. But even in Mack's hey day he didn't bring in a 5 year haul like Saban has at Alabama, and nobody really doubts that Saban isn't the best coach or at least one of the top 3 coaches in college football now. Not sure who besides Urban Meyer would have the record to challenge him for that title. Pete Carroll probably was Saban's equal at bringing in top talent and coaching it as well during his run at USC, but even he couldn't win it every year but he was always in the running. Not sure Bob Stoops is currently up to Saban, but he also had a run like Nick is having right now. Very tough to keep those runs going, sure you can win a lot of games. Look at Bobby Bowden, what an incredible run he had for 14 years being in the top 5 and winning big Bowl games...but "only" won 2 Nat'l titles and some people think his '93 title was not earned that there was another 1 loss team out there who deserved it more! You guys might not be undefeated this year either unless one of those guys steps up and seizes the job or maybe you guys will win with the defense this year. Either way I expect Alabama to be a top 5 type of program again and be in the conversation for the playoff...that's about all you can fairly ask.
Terry, I hear what you are saying. The worry I have is that for the past 3 years, Alabama had a great qb. Saban was incredibly successful at designing a strategy to use the assets that he had (although I wish he would have run the ball more :lol: ) . When McCarron came onto the scene, he had shown real potential in his limited back up opportunities. Sims (the apparent #1 contender for the starting job) has not shown much potential in his appearances. Coker may step in and really shine, but who knows. The other side of this is that last year's defense was not dominating and we are losing some key players off of that team. The dominating defense can and has covered for our offense when needed. Will we have that defense? I am worried about that as well. Sid, I know, I know. The standard is high. Alabama's success has become addictive. Last year with no trip to the SEC Championship and not figuring into the National Championship picture was disappointing. Now Saban is at the top of the coaching mountain and has been for at least the last 5 years. I firmly believe that Alabama will be back into the NC picture, I just don't know if it will be this year.
If Bama isn't the premier team in the SEC..... who would it be? Maybe it is finally Steve Spurrier's time to shine at SC. I do think he won't retire from South Carolina on his own accord until he has won an SEC title there.
MCG, That is history. I am addressing the upcoming season. Alabama could be great, but someone is going to have to be a lot better at qb than what we have seen so far. The A Day game was not encouraging, at least to me it wasn't. :?
Well, Auburn is the defending champ. Of course, Alabama is historically better. If you want to worry about winning the SEC, you might want to worry about beating one of the teams who has a more difficult path in winning state bragging rights than they do in winning the nation's premier football conference. When you get done loading your pants about the Noles, you should probably start by worrying about one of those 2 next.
I have high expectations for the noles..... and about zilch in expectations for the Gators..... but surely somehow you can't see that. The SEC Title is out of reach.... beating Bama on the road will be next to impossible.... and an 8-4 record would be cause celebre. I don't know.... somehow Corey you read some tea leaves and conclude I don't really feel that way...... it's pretty laughable.
who said anything about me thinking you have a chance? I find it laughable at Florida, a school in which every hand is dealt 3 aces off the top, that you complain about not being able to compete. Sure, it's not a hand that's always going to win but what you have to work with is one hell of a lot better than what 98% of college football has in front of them.
No.... I was saying that you do not accept it when I am saying we don't have a chance.... or that we haven't performed well...... or that my expectations are low for the upcoming season. Yes I agree our resources and subsequent recruiting usually puts us in a position to do well but lately this Muschamp experiment doesn't seem to be working out so hot.