2 observations on Alabama - Clemson game

Submitted by anywaytodelete… on

1) Clemson wins despite being -2 in turnovers and having a seriously inferior punting game - thus losing the field position battle in a major way for most of the game.  Even those things up and Clemson might have won by 3 touchdowns.

2) It took an incredible (2nd half) performance by a very very good team to beat an Alabama team that fought with one arm tied behind its back.  Damn they're good.

Will be interesting to see how Alabama's loss of its aura of invincibility plays out during the final 3 weeks of 2017 recruiting. (No, I don't expect commits to defect, but just maybe it influences a certain 5-star DL's assessment of the schools he is considering).

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Aura of Invincibility

Blue in Paradise

January 10th, 2017 at 11:08 AM ^

Was it me or did D'Shawn Hand barely play last night? I think I saw him in 2 plays - including a big stop he made up the gut. I get that he has a ring on his finger and "iron sharpens iron" but it is ridiculous that so many 5 stars flock there and half of them sit on the bench. And don't say that he should have beaten the guys in front of him because that would just mean some other 5 star is sitting on the bench. This guy would be a star on 99% of FBS teams and should be deciding on whether to go pro. Given who they have coming in behind him, he had 1 year left and may never get significant PT.

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Blue in Paradise

January 10th, 2017 at 11:25 AM ^

He has looked great in the limited snaps he has gotten. But the guys in front of him are absolute beasts - possible top 10 draft picks. But the analysis holds even if he is the starter- that means that Allen or Payne is sitting on the bench. You are correct that I was only tracking Hand due to the recruiting battle. But it doesn't change the substance.

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Ziff72

January 10th, 2017 at 11:33 AM ^

They talked about it all year and you saw it come to fruition against Clemson.  The Alabama dline was great but it was not as deep as last years.  If he was good enough to turn pro he would have got way more snaps.   The starters were gassed in the 4th and he still wasn't playing.  Maybe he blossoms next year, but as of now he's been a miss in the eyes of Bama fans and if you brought up going pro they would laugh at you.

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Blue in Paradise

January 10th, 2017 at 11:43 AM ^

But is there anything tangible that you can link to where he is discussed as a miss. It is an interesting topic for me. The point holds that when Alabama can stack positions with a 3 deep of 5 stars / High 4 stars year after year that some star players are going to sit on the bench their whole career. I get that this great for the coaching staff but seems like a bad deal for the players.

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Kevin13

January 10th, 2017 at 12:01 PM ^

Blue in Paradise. Alabama is just loaded everywhere with blue chips and when this happens some guys are going to get lost in the shuffle. You have guys sitting on the bench who would start at most other programs, but everyone wants to go to Alabama. You would think eventually some of these kids would actually look at the depth chart and see there are 5- 5* ahead of them and maybe do something different and go to a different school.

I don't post this to be bitter, and I understand kids wanting a shot to win an NC and Alabama is definitely that draw. But, would also think they would want to play, there are only so many snaps to go around on a team with that much depth.

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Blue in Paradise

January 10th, 2017 at 12:12 PM ^

You can probably make a similar point about Michigan (to a lesser extant than Alabama) at certain positions. But Alabama makes the most interesting analysis because you have future NFL players who can barely get on the field at some positions. On the other hand, they have had trouble getting QBs who can throw downfield consistently despite Defenses needing to load the box.

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Blue in Paradise

January 10th, 2017 at 12:54 PM ^

Totally forgot about Dee Hart- gets buried on the depth chart behind a bunch of 5 stars and you don't hear his name again until he does a grad transfer to G5 school. Makes no sense at all. And that is not hind sight bias - the guys that beat him out on the depth chart were already on the team or committed when he flipped.

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canzior

January 10th, 2017 at 1:02 PM ^

the only reason i watch Bama games are to see him play.  He played quite a bit last night.  he gets great push and moves well.  But he's playing behind the #1 or 2 pick in the draft this year.  He's already listed as a top 15 DL if he were to go out this year.  He's not a great fit for their system, and was told he'd be a standup DE in their system, instead he's being pushed to the DL.  For his snaps, he's played well, and his strength is still unquestioned.  He's also putting up over 50 reps at 225.  He'll be just fine.

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harmon40

January 10th, 2017 at 2:15 PM ^

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2685086-alabamas-beast-in-waiting-2014-no-1-recruit-dashawn-hand-still-biding-time

The writer definitely does not see him as a bust, says he is in great shape and looking to step into a starting role next season.

I guess that's just the reality of choosing Bama, you could be a beast and still not play that much. Hopefully that will be our reality in another year or two...

[EDIT - I see the link doesn't go to the article but rather to Bleacher Report main site. You can copy and paste the link abover into your browser and that should work]

 

 

 

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Blue in Paradise

January 10th, 2017 at 2:27 PM ^

And he has already been passed up by a couple of guys his year or later.  Anyway, I hope the kids has a great NFL career and all's well that ends well.

But needing to wait until Year 4 to get on the field when other guys in your class are already getting paid millions seems crazy.

By the way, don't think that I am trying to say that NCAA or whoever should do something about it.  I just think the kids need to get better advice from the folks in their circles.

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harmon40

January 10th, 2017 at 5:41 PM ^

when you commit to a school like Bama (and hopefully UM now that JH is at the helm).

Every 5 star knows - KNOWS - that they will beat whatever competition they have to face and rise up the depth chart...then you get there and realize that there are 5 stars who arrived before you and 5 stars who will arrive after you.

 

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Blue in Paradise

January 10th, 2017 at 1:40 PM ^

In contrast, Allen and Payne had 12 tackles between them.

Hand averaged just over 1 tackle per game for the season. So he was at the very bottom of the 2 deep (and that is a generous definition of 2 deep). Like you said, he is still getting draft hype so good on him for that as that is the ultimate goal, but don't these guys actually want to play?

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MGoStrength

January 10th, 2017 at 1:47 PM ^

I agree.  I'm not saying guys like Hand or Harris should have chosen Michigan.  But, I don't understand the lure of likely winning a NC if that means you may never really even get 1st team snaps.  I'd rather go to UM (or any other quality school) that maybe has only an outside shot at a NC, but will still be a quality ranked team, and be able to be a star there, but that's just me.  But, that's what "happy trails, hope he likes playing for Saban" means I guess.  They made their choice and now they have to live with it.  I wonder if they are happy about thier choice looking back.

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Blue in Paradise

January 10th, 2017 at 2:15 PM ^

Same as you, not saying that he made a mistake by not picking UM.  To be honest, our DL wasn't the easiest to crack this year either (although Hand would have been in the 2 deep for sure).

But there are at least a dozen or so programs that you will be able to start by year 2 and where you will be on TV every week, get full coverage from NFL scouts and have a great chance to build a NC winner.

 

As far as whether guys are happy or not, depends on the player.  Dee Hart has to be thinking there was a better choice out there.  The kid got hurt early on and never again sniffed the depth chart.  Ended up have a good grad transfer year at a middling G5 program (CSU) but never got a true look in terms of the NFL.

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EastCoast Esq.

January 10th, 2017 at 10:32 AM ^

FauxPelini was OBSESSED with the ref's arms last night. 

A few of my favorites:

 

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FauxMo

January 10th, 2017 at 10:59 AM ^

I wasn't on Facebook or Twitter during the game, honest to God, but I paused the live stream at one point and said to my kids, "Good God, look at this ref. The dude is ripped! But he's also older and overly tan, which tells me he KNOWS he's ripped and playing it for all it's worth." 

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LSAClassOf2000

January 10th, 2017 at 11:45 AM ^

You know, the Hochuli / Defee arm wrestling match - if we could get it to happen - could very well be the most watched thing on the Ocho ever. Actually, I would imagine the pre-match hype alone gets this one booted up to ESPN2 potentially. The only question now is this - how many rounds do we want?

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