Well clearly Bama was the best this year and Ohio State was very good but Bama is just the best right now. Congratulations kp. Bedtime for me.
No disgrace in losing to a team like Alabama. Disappointing yes, but we competed to the end and we will always remember this as the season with COVID19. I am proud to be a Buckeye!
Two weeks ago the Irish were loudly mocked on most social media sites for being unworthy of the playoffs because of their 14-31 loss to the Tide. Perhaps in no other year has one football team so clearly dominated an entire sport for a season. Maybe the 1985 Chicago Bears. I'm convinced this team could defeat a significant portion of the NFL this year.
Congrats to KP and the Tide! Smith was brilliant, Sark drew up a masterpiece for which our staff had no answers. Bama O-line even better than advertised as they kept Jones clean all night while he surgically carved up the Buckeye D. Outstanding game, outstanding team, very well done
Okay, this Alabama team was special. First and foremost for a whole season they showed the dedication and discipline to do what was necessary to avoid widespread exposure to the COVID19. We lost some coaches during the season but very few players, if any. Second, I'm not sure why exactly, but we had juniors that could have gone pro come back for their senior season. Najee Harris (Doak Walker Award), Devonta Smith (Heisman Trophy), and Landon Dickerson (Rimington Award) are the 3 that come to mind immediately. It would have been a much different season without those three. Third, is the single minded way the offense worked all year. It was a methodical, efficient, and relentless execution every game. If Sarkisian can duplicate that at Texas, then Terry will be a very happy camper in the coming years. Finally, Saban orchestrated all of this. From the recruiting, to the the coaching staff, to the "process". He is the mastermind behind it all. The only thing that keeps this team from being Alabama's undisputed greatest is its defense. Our best defense this year is that the other team had to score 60 points if they wanted to win. Anyway, I'm sure that many will point to other reasons why Alabama was able to win the Championship in this weird season, but those are my reasons. Roll Tide.
Congratulations, kp on a dominant win. I still believe that OSU is the 2nd best team in the country based on how they destroyed Clemson, but as a ND fan I'm consoled that the 31 points we gave up to AL was AL's lowest offensive output since the 2018 NC game. Offensively, we were OK but still playing catch-up with the 3 dominant programs in college football. Terry, you have to be excited for the offensive future of the TX program.
"I think we're the best team to ever play," Alabama quarterback Mac Jones said. Jones, who threw for more than 4,000 yards on the season and won the Davey O'Brien Award for the nation's top QB, cited the team's 10-game, all-SEC regular-season schedule. The league adopted the conference-only slate in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. "There's no team that will ever play an SEC schedule like that again," Jones said. "At the same time, we're just so happy to have won this game and kind of put the icing on the cake."
It's not surprising that Jones feels this way but I humbly disagree. I think this is one of the best teams to ever play but there are many contenders to "the" best team to ever play.
Yep... that offense was ridiculous. I'd guess OSU is probably the second best team in the land, and yet... Their defense did about as much as you can do against that juggernaut offense, but still cracked in the end. And Waddle wasn't even a deep threat. That guy adds another headache that wasn't even there last night. No slight to the Irish intended, but the Tide could have put 50+ on them as well, but the situation didn't require it so Saban kept the it down. The only thing that kept this from being the best offense I've ever seen was Mac Jones not being a dual threat guy. If he had Fields' legs... Aye Caramba! KP, don't be too harsh on your defense. Thanks to RPO offenses and the rules as they are there will never be dominant defenses like we used to see, its just not possible. Glad we had a season, and glad to go down the road with you guys for discussion.
Yet another reason it's hard to compare scores. Different games played at different times. The stats on the Bama/OSU game vs the ND/Bama game seem to say ND played Bama better. But stats are just that and really not unusual for them to tell lies. AP rankings are out and they put A&M ahead of ND by 1 slot. Fine, it really doesn't make any difference in the long run. The Irish had a great season and were clearly not as good as the top 3. Whether we are #4 or #5 it doesn't really make any difference. I'm biased and think common opponents favor ND. But all anybody remembers is the Bama domination. I theorize that had Alabama played A&M the result would have been similar and had ND then played that depleted Fla team in the Orange Bowl we'd have likely been able to win that game, and then we'd have likely hopped A&M.
Could come up with excuses for why we didn’t play a better game but none take away the fact that Bama is the much better team. Congrats again on a great showing. I love Ryan Day but I can’t help my feeling that we were out coached. I understand trying the soft coverage strategy but why stay with it when it was killing us? It was like playing a prevent defense for the whole game. Even when down 2 or 3 scores. Still proud of our coach and players.
kp was right when he said the Bama offense this year pretty much meant that if you wanted to beat them you had to score 60. Nobody was up to that task. I thought maybe Ohio State might give them a game like Florida did in the SEC Championship game, but losing Trey Sermon and being down some starters on defense had a big impact, it was going to be a tall task even if they arrived fully healthy.
Next year will be different in one way for sure. The top teams will all be sporting fresh new QB's who haven't played that much. 1. Alabama...new QB 2. Clemson ....new QB who did play 2 games as the starter. 3. Ohio State ...new QB 4. Texas A&M ....new QB 5. Notre Dame ....new QB 6. OU ....likely pre-season Heisman Favorite in Spencer Rattler 7. Georgia ...JT Daniels also likely pre-season Heisman candidate 8. Iowa State ...amazingly returns almost their whole team including 4 year starter Brock Purdy. 9. Cincinnati ...returns their QB who had a very good year. 10. IU ...I think gets the QB, Michael Penix, back plus a lot of players opting to return.
How would you like it dissected Sid? They got ahead and shut it down knowing another game was coming up. As I said no one could stop them, so it's not a slap at Notre Dame - they are just like the rest of us this year.
I knew that the score 52-24 had a familiar ring to it. I guess we can speculate that Bama could have scored more points on the Irish; pick your alibi why they didn't. But we know what they could score against A&M.
Scott, be careful lad with our Erie posters. They never forget and can go from smiling to whirling dervish mode with Ferrari like speed.