I never thought that was Saban's best team of all time. It might have been Saban's best offense, and Tua is certainly Saban's best QB, but that doesn't make it the best team. Some of Saban's previous defenses were better than this year's, and those big margins of victory during the regular season were against a bunch of scrubs.
As Lee Corso says "not so fast my friend". This was a beatdown, not just a fluke win. I question how good the SEC really was this season. Georgia had Bama on the ropes for 3 quarters. Their post season play was unimpressive.One game against a very good fired up opponent that played very well. If they played 10 times Bama would probably win 6.
As Lee Corso says "not so fast my friend". This was a beatdown, not just a fluke win. I question how good the SEC really was this season. Georgia had Bama on the ropes for 3 quarters. Their post season play was unimpressive.
I'm not saying all of a sudden Bama sucks, they are good. But this Clemson team looked better. I've never liked the hypothetical "let's play 10 times and see what happens" Each team had a shot on a neutral field and Clemson dominated. I think both teams played hard. Clemson's QB looked like he handled the pocket pressure nicely and was on the money with his passes. People have been crowing about TUA ad-nauseum for ever. He got outplayed at the QB spot last night.
Having said all that, could this be the crack forming in the Saban dike we've all been waiting for? This game can definitely be used as recruiting canon fodder. A changing of the guard seems to be occurring. And Dabo, being an Alabama alum, will have the Bama faithful foaming at the mouth for him to come there. I know they love Saban, but he's getting old. Dabo (in their minds) could bring another decade of dominance to the "capstone". How much would you pay?
As for Pruitt, his coaching worth is still an unwritten book. Bama would poach Dabo long before Pruitt and that might end up being good for UT. Only variable is how comfortable is Dabo at Clemson?
I never thought that was Saban's best team of all time. It might have been Saban's best offense, and Tua is certainly Saban's best QB, but that doesn't make it the best team. Some of Saban's previous defenses were better than this year's, and those big margins of victory during the regular season were against a bunch of scrubs.
LSU's offense was pretty up and down though. They showed out against Miami, Georgia, A&M, and UCF, but aside from Georgia those teams didn't play great D. Against the better defenses they faced, their offense was just OK at times.I mean, they shut out an LSU team that finished 6th in the country.
But yeah, this was far from Saban's best defense. The youth in the secondary (coupled with the early injury to Diggs) was painfully obvious at times, particularly last night. The cycle for Bama defenses tends to be up in odd numbered years, so I have high hopes for 2019.
I think it is telling that y'all started Surtain, a true freshman, at CB. I know he was an extremely highly recruited guy but you don't see many true freshman starting, especially at that position, at Alabama.
When Alabama doesn't have quality replacements for guys in the secondary, it still results in a top 15 defense and them going undefeated all the way to the national title game, where they then get blown out. When we, or most other college teams, don't have quality replacements for guys who left it results in 4-8/5-7. Must be nice.I know many of you have serious man crush on Pruitt but Alabama lost their top 6 DBs, best pass rushers from last yr. They didn't have quality replacements for guys like Fitzpatrick, etc in the secondary and without pass rusher they weren't near as good as they have been irregardless who the DC is. Add to it Venable absolutely schooled the offensive staff and it's a 28pt butt kickin.
When Alabama doesn't have quality replacements for guys in the secondary, it still results in a top 15 defense and them going undefeated all the way to the national title game, where they then get blown out. When we, or most other college teams, don't have quality replacements for guys who left it results in 4-8/5-7. Must be nice.
I know many of you have serious man crush on Pruitt but Alabama lost their top 6 DBs, best pass rushers from last yr. They didn't have quality replacements for guys like Fitzpatrick, etc in the secondary and without pass rusher they weren't near as good as they have been irregardless who the DC is. Add to it Venable absolutely schooled the offensive staff and it's a 28pt butt kickin.