Anyway, it was fun watching the Rose Bowl with Georgia fans. Since they were our guests, I suppose they were listening with different ears for the first time and a full blown conversation broke out concerning 'Kirk Herbstreit is absolutely terrible' without me contributing a word. I enjoyed that.
You know Saban usually does the "take a knee" thing, I wonder why he didn't today? I have always wondered why a team with a lead is.supposed to not try to score while the losing team is throwing bombs? Why aren't they expected to take a knee when the game is.clearly over? Aren't they worried about injuries too?
Just speculating here but Harbaugh personality might rub a few people the wrong way and his incursion into SEC territory with those remote camps weren't very well received by SEC Coaches. Plus I'm serious that he might hold a grudge against UM from his days at MSU
The remote.camps.we're one thing but Harbaugh wrote a book and made some very disparaging remarks about the SEC member institutions and even the intelligence of SEC football players, so that may have played a part in the way this ended.
The book you are referring to was written by John Bacon, not Harbaugh. Bacon has written 4 books in the recent past about M football. Also, some of the quotes in the book that you likely are thinking about were from people in the AD’s office, not Harbaugh. Re the TD, it was M’s job to stop A’s offense, not Saban’s. I have seen Harbaugh in similar situation not take his foot off the gas pedal so he can’t bitch about the same being done to his team. In looking at his post game press conference, he was very complimentary about Alabama and did not discuss the TD.
Ok Bob, so Harbaugh didn't say it's hard to beat the cheaters? I guess I was wrong. I read that it was.a.quote.
You claimed he “wrote a book” that “disparaged” SEC schools and “the intelligence of SEC players” Do you want to name this so called book he “wrote”? Do you want to reference the pages of the book that support your assertion? The Bacon book that I referenced did quote him as saying it was “hard to beat the cheaters” in recruiting. I wrote at the time that this was a wrong thing to say unless he was able and willing to provide facts to support the claim or was referring to SEC teams presently on probation. I have not read anywhere where he insulted the intelligence of SEC players. An asst AD was quoted in the book as claiming that Michigan players can play football against elite teams but also compete intellectually with Ivy League schools. That pompous remark seems to have been refuted by our last two games.
Terry, No, they've heard rumors of team violations to PEDs. Like a lot of fans of their teams, 'their boys do no wrong' and I really don't care enough to press them. KP, Well, here's another way to look at it. Bama hands off to Najee in the final seconds and while he's dragging guys trying to strip the ball from him into the endzone, a LB flies across and destroys his knee. His career is gone forever. For what? Saban's pride? How do you sit on a couch after something like that and tell Najee's mother that you actually give one rat f*ck about her kid when you pulled a stunt like that? The fact is you couldn't, with any credibility. But that's not how a lot/most fans view the game of football. Their guys are the good guys. Their coach loves their players. Rubbins' racin' and all that good ****. It's a very black/white, very unrealistic view of the world and the game... but it's fun to turn on the tube and pretend that it's all real, isn't it? You ever notice there's a lot of macho ******** that goes on in college football that you don't see in the NFL? That's because lives and livelihoods are really at stake. They're at stake in college too, but we all like to pretend that these kids are just lucky to have a chance to get an 'education' and play for our famed emperors in our little fiefdoms. It's a mindset that will eventually die in college football as players gain more rights, aside from sitting out bowl games and making a few bucks off video games or jerseys. The truth is, your emperor doesn't actually give one rat f*ck about those kids playing for him any further than it can further his wallet/fame. Now, before you go all SEC/"Are you trying to say you're better than me, boy?" on me... the answer is, not really. I still root for my team, but I wake up every day hoping that the POS with a body count to his tenure at ND gets fired or takes a job elsewhere. I actually think the school is better than the little generalisimo leading the program at the moment. The school deserves better. The kids deserve better. It also has absolutely nothing to do with wins and losses. But you do you. What's important to me shouldn't have any bearing on what's important to you or the fans of your team.
The article I read (I believe it was the New York Post) indicated the Harbaugh was the author of the book, I stand corrected, but he did say it. The other statement intimated that Michigan players could compete on the field with players.from Alabama (among other schools) but Michigan players could also compete academically with Ivy League schools, while Alabama (and the other schools mentioned) couldn't. I never said you endorsed these sentiments, but they may be a reason for Saban not to have his quarterback take a knee at the end of the game.
Corey, I guess my only retort would be, shouldn't that same standard be applied to the team that has lost the game? Can't the same thing happen to Patterson as he is scrambling trying to score a.meaningless touchdown in the last 2 minutes?
KP, It wasn't 2 minutes, it was the final seconds and both coaches had their pants around their ankles with the rulers out at that point. It was a terrible display by both of them, I thought. Bama could have taken the knee twice, maybe three times, and killed the game. Instead, they kept feeding Najee to run up the score. Then Harbaugh decides he's going to go for a meaningless TD. It was all just absurd. Crazy ass PJ Fleck did it right today. He milked the clock, ran the ball down Auburn's throat to the red zone and the second the game became a mathematical certainty on the clock, he took 3 knees, picked up his commemorative t-shirt then headed out to the recruiting trail. We should all be so lucky... and we got to watch the Gus bus sit there and pout while his prized defense was eviscerated all day long on the ground. It was a fun watch. That Sugar Bowl was terrible. Georgia was missing an entire line of a depth chart and still cruised over Baylor.. even with Kirby doing Kirby things to make it close. How did Baylor win 11 games? I think Rhule (or however you spell it) is gone to the NFL anyway.
As I mentioned earlier, the other statement re competing with the Ivys was made by our asst AD. Interestingly, that claim was contradicted by Harbaugh when he coached at Stanford, and compared the academic challenges faced by Stanford players versus his experience at Michigan where he claimed players were encouraged to take less challenging courses so they could spend more attention to football. I still like Harbaugh. He is more than a little quirky and eccentric but from all that I have read and heard, he plays by the rules and has worked his ass off to try and bring life back to a program that has fallen into complete disarray. He may not be successful into making Michigan a real competitor again with the likes of Ohio State, Clemson, and Alabama but if he fails, it will not be because of an lack of total effort on his part.
My point in all of this is that the reason Saban did what he did may have been because of the things that that were said by someone associated with the Michigan football program about Alabama and the SEC. If y'all watched Alabama this year, I've said Saban has kept his starters in too long (especially Tagavolua) at times, but he has also taken a knee at the end of the game several times but this time HE WAS PROBABLY SENDING A MESSAGE!!