BCS Title Game Open Thread: Part II

They played a great game.

ND had no business playing on this field with Bama and the game proved it. Hopefully a playoff will help to limit curb-stompings of this nature in the future by taking into account SOS, margin of victory, etc, though I doubt it.

Bama was tough, as usual. We've got a long way to go before we're on their level but I believe we're on the right track. Go Blue, back to basketball!!!!

Notre Dame return to glory...to be continued. Again.

and maybe someone else has hashed this out somewhere, but Alabama winning like this has got me thinking about how replicable or not the system they seemingly have is. As far as I can tell, they

1. Recruit very well. This is a necessity for any team to do well at a high level. Note, though, that they do not always have the number 1 recruiting class, so the talent they get is not far and away better than any other team's talent. In 2012, according to Rivals, they had 2621 points, and actually were number 1, whereas number 10, Auburn, had 1951 points. Point being that the difference in talent should not be that extreme. They had 26 recruits, which, while being on the bigger side, is not unheard of, or even that unusual. We had 2132 points and 25 recruits, by way of comparison. Obviously, they've been recruiting like that for longer, so they have the stockpile now.

2. Aggressive roster management. From what I've seen discussed here, Saban won't hesitate to dump a kid that won't be playing. While he may be more heartless than some, I think many coaches probably have some system where they encourage players who aren't working out in their system/cracking the depth chart to go elsewhere where they might.

3. More or less singleminded coaches whose only focus is winning. Maybe the most apt comparison is Coach K, in that he always seems grim and super focused, while never getting emotional. He won't be your friend, but you will win playing under him, and get drafted, so see number 1.

4. A system they want to run, and, you guessed it, the correct personnel. It seems to me that Alabama is built on defense that gives up some yards (and a fairly high number of passing yards), while giving up very few points. This is built on a good defensive line. On offense, my understanding is that they run what we would call MANBALL, with a line that clears space for dominant North-South running backs who don't go down after the first hit.

Maybe I'm making nothing out of something, but the plan seems replicable by someone (us?), if we continue to pull in recruiting classes in the top 5 area, are upfront with kids who aren't cracking the depth chart and tell them it might be best to move on if it's not working out, and if we keep up the defense, while molding a more coherent offense, which is possible. I just don't really think we're more than a couple years away from this high of a level, given that we don't have sanctions, are recruiting well, and seemingly have a competent staff, provided Borges gets his system in place, and the players he wants. Thoughts?

Closing thoughts.