Nick Saban's record first year at Alabama

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10-01-2018, 12:25 PM
I seen it dawg

Crazy talk
10-01-2018, 12:46 PM
smootness

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg

But 2011 UGA and Arkansas defenses were not, and they locked us down too.

Ah yes, 2011. A year we had high hopes with a pre-season ranking, with a very good run oriented QB, 2 NFL RB's (both spent time in the NFL), an "even better" QB waiting in the wings, and a sick returning defense with at least 12 future NFL players on it. We probably should have panicked and fired that coach who did so little with so much. I was at that UGA game. If it wasn't for Darius Slay we would have been shut out completely. Dylan Farve played that game our offense was so bad. We went 7-6 and almost lost to La Tech.

To me, the biggest learning curve for a coach coming into the SEC is that everyone usually has a very solid defense. There may be 1-2 outliers in any given year (OM right now), but this league is built around defense. That is a big adjustment for outsiders.

It is also a margin over error league. There is no room for error. The type of error can change from game to game. One week, turnovers. Next week, penalties. Third week, dropped pass. Fourth week, bad OL play. Fifth week, bad play in the secondary.

Georgia's was 5th in 2011. Arkansas' was just a little better than average, sure.

That was Mullen's worst offensive year in his tenure, and we had Chris Relf at QB. And still we never had back-to-back offensive games like the 2 we just had.
10-01-2018, 02:49 PM
BrunswickDawg

Quote:

Originally Posted by smootness

Georgia's was 5th in 2011. Arkansas' was just a little better than average, sure.

That was Mullen's worst offensive year in his tenure, and we had Chris Relf at QB. And still we never had back-to-back offensive games like the 2 we just had.

Yes, a Chris Relf who after torching Michigan our fans were touting as the best QB in a decade (he was, but still wasn't great). We didn't have back to back SEC games like that until late in the season - but...

So, LSU was obviously bad. The week after the LSU game, our offense was so bad we had to go to OT against LA 17'n Tech to win at home (26-20).
We followed those 2 stinkers with UGA - where our only TD was a pick 6 by Slay. We then followed that offensive wonder up by trailing UAB for almost 3 quarters 0-3. The yardage wasn't bad but the ability to put together drives against an 0-5 UAB was equally as embarrassing. We switch to Tyler Russell due to Relf's injury for USC and lose at home 12-14. 1 TD, 1 FG and a Safety. Tyler looked totally lost.

That 5 game stretch was some of the worst football of the Mullen era. We somehow beat Kentucky, then torch UT-Martin, then have the Bama and Arkansas stinkers (shown on that list) back to back. Then we are blessed with a 2-10 Ole Miss to get bowl eligible.

This was under a coach in his 3rd year. With a roster full of returning NFL talent. And we sucked.

I'm not trying to say we don't have issues right now. Ray Charles can see that. I am trying to illustrate that SEC football has a lot of variables. Some years, it doesn't matter how much talent you have, how hard you work, how prepared you are, how good everyone thinks you are going to be, you have a shit season. It happens to everyone. This belief that we were entitled to a 10-2 season, or that we "have too much talent" to have this happen ignores so much it's comical. Changing coaches and systems creates a huge amount of room for error - and most of us ignored that believing the "upgraded over the Country Club" narrative. "17 returning starters!!" ignored the long term recruiting holes we have at WR, OL, DB that didn't instantly get solved. Believing Fitz would magically turn into a QB far better than he is ignored the fact he was injured, missed a lot of prep time, and was unlearning the only real system he has known as a QB. Believing we were superior in talent to UK ignores that our recruiting profile is so similar to them it is separated by about 3 players - if that. The belief that Florida was down and out ignores that their issue last year was mainly off-field turmoil and a lame duck coach that had lost the team. Their #13 5-year recruiting average probably means that they have a whole lot more talent. They have 3x the 5* and 2x the 4*s that we have.

And yeah, I'm rationalizing. It gives me hope that a season is more than a game. It's more than 2 games. It's more than 5 games. We need to let the season play out.
10-01-2018, 03:10 PM
smootness

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg

Yes, a Chris Relf who after torching Michigan our fans were touting as the best QB in a decade (he was, but still wasn't great). We didn't have back to back SEC games like that until late in the season - but...

So, LSU was obviously bad. The week after the LSU game, our offense was so bad we had to go to OT against LA 17'n Tech to win at home (26-20).
We followed those 2 stinkers with UGA - where our only TD was a pick 6 by Slay. We then followed that offensive wonder up by trailing UAB for almost 3 quarters 0-3. The yardage wasn't bad but the ability to put together drives against an 0-5 UAB was equally as embarrassing. We switch to Tyler Russell due to Relf's injury for USC and lose at home 12-14. 1 TD, 1 FG and a Safety. Tyler looked totally lost.

That 5 game stretch was some of the worst football of the Mullen era. We somehow beat Kentucky, then torch UT-Martin, then have the Bama and Arkansas stinkers (shown on that list) back to back. Then we are blessed with a 2-10 Ole Miss to get bowl eligible.

This was under a coach in his 3rd year. With a roster full of returning NFL talent. And we sucked.

I'm not trying to say we don't have issues right now. Ray Charles can see that. I am trying to illustrate that SEC football has a lot of variables. Some years, it doesn't matter how much talent you have, how hard you work, how prepared you are, how good everyone thinks you are going to be, you have a shit season. It happens to everyone. This belief that we were entitled to a 10-2 season, or that we "have too much talent" to have this happen ignores so much it's comical. Changing coaches and systems creates a huge amount of room for error - and most of us ignored that believing the "upgraded over the Country Club" narrative. "17 returning starters!!" ignored the long term recruiting holes we have at WR, OL, DB that didn't instantly get solved. Believing Fitz would magically turn into a QB far better than he is ignored the fact he was injured, missed a lot of prep time, and was unlearning the only real system he has known as a QB. Believing we were superior in talent to UK ignores that our recruiting profile is so similar to them it is separated by about 3 players - if that. The belief that Florida was down and out ignores that their issue last year was mainly off-field turmoil and a lame duck coach that had lost the team. Their #13 5-year recruiting average probably means that they have a whole lot more talent. They have 3x the 5* and 2x the 4*s that we have.

And yeah, I'm rationalizing. It gives me hope that a season is more than a game. It's more than 2 games. It's more than 5 games. We need to let the season play out.

Say what you want, this season is over.

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