Are We Witnessing the Inevitable Decline of Bama?

Submitted by maizeonblueaction on
Was talking to some people tonight, saying (wishfully) that if OSU lost tonight, it takes some shine off the Meyer star, losing back to back major bowls on a national stage. After tonight, Alabama has done just that (lost Sugar Bowl v. OU last year as well). I know Saban's record speaks for itself and we'd all kill for Michigan to have it, but is Alabama becoming mortal in a way we haven't seen in a long time? Not that they're suddenly bad, but maybe there's room for other teams to catch up, and they're regressing a little.
MGoBoard

NOLA Wolverine

January 2nd, 2015 at 1:11 AM ^

Other teams have caught up, you gave examples. 

I'll always hold out that if Colt McCoy didn't get injured Texas would've wrecked Alabama, but I of course can't prove that. In the mean time, we've seen they aren't super heroes. 

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McSomething

January 2nd, 2015 at 1:11 AM ^

I doubt that. But I do hope it's the end of people trying to proclaim the SEC is head and shoulders above everyone. Deserving a place at the table "just cuz."

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Yostbound and Down

January 2nd, 2015 at 1:13 AM ^

Well, Saban is 63. Figure what, 5-7 more years before he calls it quits?

I don't think it's fair to call it the end just yet. He was outcoached and his team wasn't as good as OSU today but they did still win the SEC and made it to the playoff.

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Chouzard

January 2nd, 2015 at 1:23 AM ^

Eh, when Urban was with Florida, Saban ended up wrecking Urban Meyer's teams near the end of Meyer's tenure there. I thought Bama would take this game because I figured that Saban has had Meyer's number.

This was a winnable game for Bama if their offense was better. I thought Lane Kiffin had an excellent year calling plays but man his fourth quarter was brutal along with Blake Sims. 

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Tater

January 2nd, 2015 at 1:15 AM ^

Football is always cyclical.  Nobody can dominate year after year.  There are too many good programs out there and the increment between one and another shrinks each year as more and more HS coaches have more and more access to training and coaching techniques.  More and more players get to go to summer camps, too.  

Bama benefited from the Bama Exemption, which automatically ranks them at the top any group of teams that has the same number of losses as they do.  Maybe the media will actually consider that other teams might be as good as the Mighty Bammers now.

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blusage

January 2nd, 2015 at 5:08 AM ^

I'm not sure this is a case of cycles: I think the SEC has been so very good at promoting itself this last decade or so that everybody was drinking the kool-aid. The aftertaste of the kool-aid, was that the Big Ten was inferior and had slower, less talented players.

This year the playoffs enabled the head-to-head match ups that pitted the best of both conferences and shattered all the misconceptions propogated by the self-serving SEC propaganda.

Hey, The Big Ten's not so bad after all.

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RobM_24

January 2nd, 2015 at 1:16 AM ^

Until it affects their recruiting, they will keep making Championship runs. He made a run this season with a flock of inept QBs. It won't get much worse than this for Saban.

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M-Dog

January 2nd, 2015 at 1:16 AM ^

I honestly think we are.

They've appeared to be merely mortal since CFB has begun to clamp down on oversigning.  It was a loophole that Saan was smart enough to exploit, but now it's closing.

Everybody scoffs when we say that things run in cycles, but they really do.  It was only a few years ago that Florida, Texas, and USC were dynasties that would never end.

Alabama won't just disappear, but they won't be a never-ending dynasty.

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M-Dog

January 2nd, 2015 at 10:37 AM ^

Intense media oversight, and weak but not entirely non-existing limits put in by the SEC.  They are having an impact.  

You are not seeing the volume of Alabama medical hardships that you saw in the past at St. Nick's hospital.

They know the world is watching.

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M_Born M_Believer

January 2nd, 2015 at 1:17 AM ^

Of what made his teams so great. I suspect he won't digress, but he is trying to be something that he (and his) are not. Sagan was at his pinnacle with a power running game and stout defense. He and Kiffin got too cute in that game. They should have been running Henry and TJ at least 45-50 times and not out of the read option all the time.

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btn

January 2nd, 2015 at 1:17 AM ^

Saban is a secondary guy, and his secondary was beaten up on 3rd down all night.

At the very least this is the begnning of the end for Kirby Smart at Bama, he should have taken a HC job by now.

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Steve in PA

January 2nd, 2015 at 9:14 AM ^

TCU looked pretty darn dominant in their bowl game and Patterson has shown he is willing to embrace change. They are in the fertile recruiting state of Texas and the marquee program in that state is down. Oregon just seems to reload every year and if anything the are better since their DC retired last year. USC has enough starting talent to beat anyone but no depth just because of sanctions. Sark is a wildcard right now because we don't know if he's legit or another Kiffin. Michigan is only in the discussion because this is a Michigan board and Michigan hired a rock star coach. No doubt the team will be better but sensible people don't have a team that didn't even make a bowl in the discussion of next year's power teams.

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alum96

January 2nd, 2015 at 1:24 AM ^

No.

They rebuilt most of the OL, 5th year QB who could not beat other guys earlier in his career, and rebuilt D .  A pretty young team.  Lots of extraplation from 1 game man.  If they go 9-3 next year let's talk.  They have nowhere to go but "down" when you win NC every year. 

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Ty Butterfield

January 2nd, 2015 at 1:22 AM ^

I will say their D has not seemed elite for a couple of years. They gave up a lot on points in the Iron Bowl this year. Losing two big bowl games in a row will dim their star a little. I think other schools are starting to catch up a little. The fact that Urbz was able to do this with a 3rd string QB is mind bottling. I guess Cardale Jones really was serious about not coming to play school.

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DoubleB

January 2nd, 2015 at 1:27 AM ^

"The fact that Urbz was able to do this with a 3rd string QB mind bottling"

That's the part that would scare me as a Michigan fan. Meyer took a 6-6 team in 2011 and has gone 12-0, 12-2, and 13-1. He's playing a 3rd string QB in 11 days for the national championship. If Saban is 1a, he's clearly 1b and I don't think anyone is remotely close to #2.

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funkywolve

January 2nd, 2015 at 2:02 AM ^

That 2011 had loads of talent.  The problem was Fickell was the 'head coach' and Braxton Miller was a true freshmen.  Tressell had won 5 straight Big Ten titles and finished  the season in the Top 10 all 5 of those years.  In fact, they finished the season ranked in the Top 5 four of those 5 years.  Meyer is a damn good coach but he walked into an OSU football program that was loaded with talent.

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befuggled

January 2nd, 2015 at 12:49 PM ^

They'd been 12-1 and (until he was suspended) had a senior Terrelle Pryor returning. If Pryor had played for the whole year instead of the Joe Bauserman/freshman Braxton Miller combo, I have to imagine they'd have won at least another 2-3 games.

That's not even counting the other guys they had suspended for a good chunk of the year, like DeVier Posey.

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caup

January 2nd, 2015 at 1:33 AM ^

are running to their ATMs as we speak. And Saban is gonna be running off the back of the herd something fierce this spring. 

 

And this just in: Alabama just doubled their staff of academic "tutors" and is consulting former East Germans on their training regimens.

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