Saban >>>>>> Miles
I hate to be the hysterical fan over-reacting to the result of one game....
Howeva, evil oversigning Nick Saban is a coaching genius. Hate the guy, but must respect. While Miles and LSU somehow pulled off the victory earlier in the year, Bama was the better team for most of that game as well. Did LSU deserve the national title given the results from the regular season?....probably, as it is really hard to beat a team twice in a year, let alone a conference rival.
Given almost two months to prepare for this game Saban showed why he is the best in the business. Miles has recruited all the talent in the world and has made some of the luckiest/gutsiest calls we have seen in recent college football years, but as a tactition there is no competition. Clearly they are not in the same league. Saban just pooped on the Hat. And I just realized, if not for bama choking last year against Auburn...this could have been a three-peat...amazing for modern day college football.
LSU showed absolutely no preparation on offense, no imagiation, no adjustments from the first game. That offense was pathetic....Alabama came out throwing on 1st down and totally changed up their game plan.
As for next year's game, I fear Bama's defense. I said this after watching what Michigan State did to Denard with their 3 and 4 star recruits. Bama, with Saban and their exclusively 4 and 5 star defense...all the way down to their 3rd string, will eat up our one dimensional offense.
All that being said, congrats Bama, evil Satan, and cheating SEC. If nothing else Saban, you prove that assholes finish first.
January 9th, 2012 at 11:44 PM ^
He also scared OSU's new savior into retirement.
January 9th, 2012 at 11:46 PM ^
Lmfaoooo true dat
January 9th, 2012 at 11:47 PM ^
Cool story, bro.
January 9th, 2012 at 11:49 PM ^
That's the spirit!
January 9th, 2012 at 11:50 PM ^
It wouldn't have been a three-peat for 'Bama. They were 9-2 going into the game against Auburn last year.
January 9th, 2012 at 11:53 PM ^
That's what happens when you oversign and abuse medical harships.... you win football games
January 10th, 2012 at 12:40 AM ^
This blog's crusade against oversigning has now taken on mythical proportions to where it is now acceptable in these parts to rob teams of all due credit for their accomplishments.
Oversigning has a role in Alabama's success. Brilliant gameplanning has a much, much bigger one.
January 10th, 2012 at 7:55 AM ^
Give me a gameplane with a team full of all-stars after I "thinned the herd."
January 10th, 2012 at 9:21 AM ^
Saban is a great college coach and an absolutely fantastic defensive college coach. Full stop. The fact he's a dick and oversigns is part of that story but does nothing whatsoever to diminish that fact.
January 10th, 2012 at 9:33 AM ^
He cheats. Full Stop. The fact that he is a great coach does nothing whatsoever to diminish that fact.
Failure to put the former above the latter is a slippery slope. Success means nothing if you compromised integrity to get it, even if it wasn't the only factor.
January 10th, 2012 at 12:43 PM ^
He does exactly what the SEC rules allowed him to do--the rules are wrong and should be changed, and what he is doung is ethically wrong also, but he is not cheating.
January 9th, 2012 at 11:54 PM ^
Hate to "poop on your parade" but any good coach with an extra week of scouting, preparation, and gameplanning would have been able to put together a solid plan.
not to say Saban isn't a great college coach, but given the fact that LSU had 1 week and 1 game less to prepare for Alabama makes this game even more unfair and unqualified.
I Hate Saban with a passion and any way you give him any extra ANYTHING to win, just pisses me off more considering the liberties he takes to win as is.
January 10th, 2012 at 1:25 AM ^
Oh, please. This was a total demolition. The extra week made no difference at all. For one thing, they both had the same amount of practice time. For another, they'd already played/scouted each other. Miles could have had an extra two weeks and he still would have been destroyed.
January 9th, 2012 at 11:55 PM ^
I think you're giving them all way too much credit....this game basically was a disaster to watch...Musburger and company were admirably valiant in carrying the corporate torch but seriously...LSU sucked....I'm a lot less scared of Alabama than I was earlier today.
January 9th, 2012 at 11:59 PM ^
I feel bad for Chip Kelly,
Must have been hard for him to watch the abomination to offense that both of those teams put forth today.
January 10th, 2012 at 12:02 AM ^
Was thinking the same during game ... Kelly must have been screaming at the monitors.
January 10th, 2012 at 12:04 AM ^
Good point...can only imagine what he was thinking
January 10th, 2012 at 12:10 AM ^
Hope he was thinking he should start concerning himself with defense considering he got smoked by the team that got their ass kicked tonight.
January 10th, 2012 at 8:50 AM ^
This.
January 10th, 2012 at 12:16 AM ^
How did his offenses fair agains Auburn and LSU the past two years? Better than tonight I know...but they werent putting up their usual 50 points.
January 10th, 2012 at 1:06 AM ^
Better than most people give them credit for. In both games, they were doomed by turnovers. Hardly anyone gives Oregon credit for last year, when they played Auburn to a tie before Auburn kicked the game winning fg as time expired.
January 10th, 2012 at 9:44 AM ^
Oregon put up something like 450-500 yards of offense last year, they just had some bad turnovers and Auburn made one great goal line stand.
Similiar situation this year with LSU. Both situations seemed to be a team that looked slightly off, probably from the lay-off from their last game to the current one they were playing in.
January 10th, 2012 at 12:00 AM ^
Wow ... I'd sure like to hear your reasoning behind that.
Sure, Richardson is probably off to the NFL. But they'll reload. They always do.
What path to victory do you see for Michigan against a 'Bama team anything like what we saw tonight?
January 10th, 2012 at 12:06 AM ^
What path to victory do you see for Michigan against a 'Bama team anything like what we saw tonight?
That path would be scoring more points than Alabama...that's how it generally works
January 10th, 2012 at 6:59 AM ^
I am more concerned. After watching VTech pretty much dominate our offense, I don't see many scenarios where Michigan puts up points against Alabama.
January 10th, 2012 at 12:02 AM ^
THE HONEY BADGER FEARS....NO ONE.... uh, he's tackled for a loss on the play.
January 10th, 2012 at 12:03 AM ^
Yeah, that was when I knew Musberger was getting a nickel for every time he said "Honey Badger."
January 10th, 2012 at 7:56 AM ^
I don't mean to be Debbie Downer, but LSU has more depth at any offensive position than we have or will have next year. Add that to how Michigan has played against the physical defenses this year and the forecast doesn't look too bright and sunny for the match up in Dallas.
I will be pulling for Michigan, but I just don't see them winning. Hopefully something happens over the next 8 months that can change my mind.
Keep in mind that I'm a pessimist and I subscribe to the theory that Michigan will take a step back next year due to lack of depth in key areas (most notably the DL).
January 10th, 2012 at 9:43 AM ^
Yes LSU is more talented than UM, except for maybe a few positions like QB, but I don't think they're better coached. UM is probably going to lose the Bama game but they do have a chance when you consider what Bama is losing. Namely their OC, 8 senior starters and some undertermined number of junior starters like Richardson. So UM has a chance, not much of a chance but a chance none the less.
January 9th, 2012 at 11:57 PM ^
Hoke > Saban > Miles > Weis > Tebow
January 10th, 2012 at 12:24 AM ^
Why would you rank Tebow below Weis in any category except weight?
January 9th, 2012 at 11:59 PM ^
The team that lost the first game usually seems to win the rematch if the teams are reasonably close in talent. The team that won plays not to lose, and the team that lost plays to win. Also, the losing team has a lot more to adjust off of than the winning team does.
Looking at the score, I'm glad I didn't watch. It sounds like it was as exciting as watching prostate surgery.
January 10th, 2012 at 12:03 AM ^
So if Saban is such a great coach, please explain why he was so bad in Miami?
January 10th, 2012 at 12:11 AM ^
Professional athletes didn't put up with his GET OFF MY LAWN attitude about everything.
January 10th, 2012 at 5:56 PM ^
Seems like Belichick can get his players to put up with it...
January 10th, 2012 at 12:12 AM ^
Can't oversign and issue medical hardships on the pro's. Seriously though NCAA to NFL is no comparison. When a kid doesnt workout in NCAA you can have a replacement next year. In the pros when the talent sucks in comparison it is extremely hard to replace them all. Think about this he has a new team ever three years at Alabama that couldn't happen in the NFL.
January 10th, 2012 at 6:08 PM ^
Were you trying to support my point, because you pretty much said that he is successful due to the talent. Give Saban the Boise St team, do you think he would duplicate Peterson's success? He might, but if he is a great coach, then he definitely would.
January 10th, 2012 at 12:39 AM ^
He took the team from 4-12 to 9-7 his first year. He went 6-10 (his only losing season as a HC) the next season but his QBs were, Daunte Culpepper (got hurt), Joey Harrington and Cleo Lemon.
Saban is one of the better head coaches in football. And he is collecting the hardware to back it up.
January 10th, 2012 at 6:03 PM ^
Jim Harbaugh (so far, he is what I consider a great coach) is winning with Alex Smith... I don't remember him being considered better than the QBs you mentioned (well with the exception of Lemon)...
January 10th, 2012 at 8:47 PM ^
They focus on D and a ball control run game in SF. Not to mention he was a former number 1 overall pick.
January 10th, 2012 at 12:44 AM ^
He was 15-17 in two years in which he did not have a real answer at quarterback and he left on his own accord.
This is all you've got?
January 10th, 2012 at 4:36 PM ^
Not sure if you were directing your post at me, but assuming you were...
If he is such a great coach, then he should be able to coach up his team. My point is, he is a good coach, but until he wins without great talent, I don't know how you can call him great. Furthermore, I'm not even sure you can call him a great recruiter, if he was a great recuiter (or great coach), why couldn't he turn MSU into a winner?
January 10th, 2012 at 12:04 AM ^
Can saban gameplan for drew dileo completing passes to our longsnapper? I didn't think so
Hoke's golden poop > Saban
January 10th, 2012 at 12:05 AM ^
Saban is a football nihilist. He hates the game more than anyone, and he shares it by putting on these abominations of games. I flipped to the game once and saw a 6-0 score and then watched reruns of family guy. Amazingly, the Buzz Killington one was on. Coincidence? No way.
January 10th, 2012 at 2:42 AM ^
I know Im in the minority, but I love these types of defensive games. The hitting and intensity seems like its always on another level in these types of struggles.
January 10th, 2012 at 8:05 AM ^
with what you are saying is that the entire country has come to the conclusion, based in large part on the rhetorical brainwashing of Gary Danielson and the constant barrage of ESPN analysis of SEC superiority, that there can be no bad football played by SEC teams. Alabama and LSU get the benefit of a "tough fought" football game, when you are actually seeing bad offense. Good defenses can be scored on, Alabama can be scored on. LSU had absolutely no rhyme or reason on offense. The quality of the play had a lot to do with the poor display, just like any other bowl game. But we have to face it, the BCS National Champioship is now the SEC Championship. SEC teams being in the BCS title game does not mean they are one of the two best teams in the country, it means simply that you cannot have a BCS title game without an SEC team. The rest of the country is starting to not care about the MNC because it is not their game, not necessarily because they are not deserving, but because they are from the wrong conference.
January 10th, 2012 at 11:43 AM ^
There is something to be said for a game in which neither team gives the other an inch. I thought this was a much more compelling game than the Rose Bowl, in which the scoring plays came so frequently that they lost a lot of significance. Why is it when no one plays defense, the game is "exciting", but when neither plays offense (or when only one team shows up, as in this game) the game is "poorly executed"? Defenses don't have to execute?
There was some great defensive football played last night. The problem with the game was that LSU's offense was totally inept; even still, they were in that game until the last 6 minutes. Bama's offense wasn't bad, they accumulated 384 yards of total offense against a great defensive football team. They just ran into Michigan-esque 'give me a place to stand' unit that stopped them from getting into the endzone. Luckily, field goals count, despite what many people seem to think.
The football on display is completely independent of what ESPN, CBS, Danielson, or Musberger say. I watched it with my own eyes. It was a good game. If I were a fan of either team, I would have been on the edge of my seat biting my nails all the way up until LSU fumbled on their second to last drive. Call me crazy, but when first downs, let alone scores, are hard to come by, each play seems to be very important.