Buy Bushwood

December 13th, 2023 at 10:16 AM ^

Anyone overlooking a traditional power coming in at 11-1 is making a grave mistake irrespective of narrative.  Having said that, it is a bit funny to hear about Alabama "surging" at the right time when looking at the Auburn game.  This is a beatable team because it lacks the dominant running game and DT's that have made Bama The Paradigm of the last 15 years.  They have a dangerous young QB who could do serious damage and win a game on his own like Troy Smith in 2004.  He could also make mistakes that cost them the game.  

Joined: 10/24/2020

MGoPoints: 21653

Golden section

December 13th, 2023 at 11:28 AM ^

Their secondary is excellent, certainly. But, with Sainristil, Johnson and Moore, ours is pretty good too. 

Dallas Turner is a beast but we counter fast edges by going up the middle.

Football is a weak-link sport and Bama's weak-link is their interior D line. We don't really have one.

We are a veteran laden team with complicated coverage disguises and blitz packages.  Milrose is like Cardal Jones, big, strong and green. He can be fooled and pressured into mistakes.

We've been out-talented by OSU for 3 years, but win by being solid every where and leveraging their weaknesses. 

The same formula will work against Bama.

Joined: 10/19/2020

MGoPoints: 6891

Bo Harbaugh

December 13th, 2023 at 12:54 PM ^

Yep, Bama has talent everywhere still.  The fact that their O-line/running game isn't vintage Bama, their DT's are not elite typical Bama, and their QB can be hot or cold makes them a high variance team as we've seen throughout the year.

They could look like vintage Bama if we are foolish and play into their strengths, but they can also look like meh, not vintage Bama if we exploit some of their rare weaknesses.

They are a high ceiling low floor version of Bama.  UM has been the most consistent team all year, even with the passing game taking a dip towards the end of the year.  Hopefully we catch Bama on a bad, or at worst good - not great - day for them and play our best game of the year. 

Their ceiling is probably higher, but I think they have a much harder time getting there than UM, our bowl history and Harbaugh's of course withstanding.

Joined: 08/03/2019

MGoPoints: 38615

charblue.

December 13th, 2023 at 2:09 PM ^

Isn't this controversy complicated by Juwan's medical condition? Whether he responded inappropriately or not to whatever circumstances led to the verbal confrontation with Sanderson, I think Howard's situation has to be viewed through the prism of his heart surgery recovery. None of this stress could be good for him at this point no matter how he's doing physically. 

It might be better if rather than any immediate return to the team, he consider further layoff from coaching duties until the school is satisfied that he's capable of handling the mental and emotional strain of competitive teaching, player and team management. Given his recent record and zero tolerance policy allegedly governing him, this might be the university's best fallback position. Put some breathing space between himself and this situation. 

Joined: 05/25/2010

MGoPoints: 11404