SB Nation User Blog: Bamagrad

Forde's take on Bama vs. Texas

Bamagrad — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:53:21 -0000

Forde's take on Bama vs. Texas

The most interesting bit of information in the entire article is below:

Texas has played two teams in the Sagarin top 30. Alabama has played seven.

Heisman Pundit.com picks Ingram as the Heisman

Bamagrad — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:05:37 -0000

Heisman Pundit.com picks Ingram as the Heisman

Heismanpundit.com has picked Mark Ingram as the next Heisman Trophy winner.

FINAL HP HEISMAN POLL (12/7)
Total Pts (and 1st place votes)

1. M. Ingram--46 (4)
2. T. Gerhart--43 (2)
3. C. McCoy--36 (1)
N. Suh--36 (4)
5. K. Moore--11 (1)

Awards

Bamagrad — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:11:04 -0000

I know the popular mantra at Alabama is that we're all about winning championships instead of individual awards, but I am seriously rooting for Mark Ingram to win the Heisman and for some of our other players to win the awards they're in competition to win. I think Coach Saban could and would use this to help recruiting. Despite hiring Coach Saban and our accomplishments of late, we're still making up ground nationally with recruits and there's no better way to gain exposure than to win championships and to have high profile players. I know some of you will disagree with me about Alabama needing to make up ground nationally, but I think it's true. While we've come along way since 2006--we are recognized as a monster program again--we're honestly only two years removed from being a team that most teenagers outside of the Southeast knew nothing about, and a team few teenagers outside of Alabama knew nothing about. We were knocked for promoting our tradition, which is why Coach Saban said the focus was not on what we've done but what we're doing to prepare to be champions in the future.

So I say, Go Ingram! Win the Heisman. Let's get some hardware, increase our exposure, and attract even more recruits than we're already attracting. It will only help the Alabama program.

"He's a great player," Alabama receiver Julio Jones said, "but man, we're tired of him."

Bamagrad — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:34:56 -0000

"He's a great player," Alabama receiver Julio Jones said, "but man, we're tired of him."

Pete Carroll says no apologies necessary for celebrations

Bamagrad — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:44:35 -0000

Pete Carroll says no apologies necessary for celebrations

Well, I think we can all agree that Pete Carroll is just about the most obnoxious asshole on the West Coast.

Alabama and Florida Scouting Reports

Bamagrad — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:04:06 -0000

Alabama and Florida Scouting Reports

I don't think this coach was very impressed with us, but whatever.

The SEC Championship Game

Bamagrad — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:57:26 -0000

When Tennessee and Auburn played earlier this season many Alabama fans really struggled with picking a team for which to root. For us, Tennessee and Auburn represented a "Meteor Game", and looking at this Saturday's SEC Championship in Atlanta, I'm sure Tennessee fans probably feel similarly. Many of you hate the Gators and will normally root against them, and many of you hate Alabama so much that you always root against them regardless of the opponent. I am curious to know, though, which team will you guys (as well as Tennessee fans) be rooting for Saturday?

Florida? Alabama? Or would you rather see a gigantic meteor crash into the stadium and wipe out both teams?

Bruin Feedback after Carroll's Classless Call

Bamagrad — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:39:04 -0000

Bruin Feedback after Carroll's Classless Call

I doubt many of you watched the USC and UCLA game last night, but if you missed it Pete Carroll made one of the most classless calls I've ever seen. Up 21-7 with about 50 seconds remaining, USC took a knee on first down. Rick Neuheisel then called timeout, which caused the Coliseum fans to boo. Pete Carroll then called for a Play Action Pass on second down. UCLA was shocked by the call and the throw went for a long touchdown. Anyway, check out the link to Bruin Nation to see their reaction.

I think that sometimes when you don't play well and win, guys have to be smart enough to learn from...

Bamagrad — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:58:31 -0000

I think that sometimes when you don't play well and win, guys have to be smart enough to learn from that. We didn't have a lot of emotion. We didn't play with a lot of passion. I can't really understand that. I am not sure if it is because of the short week, if we were tired or the distractions, but it was a difficult preparation. It says a lot about their team but I will say that I am most proud of my team and the way our guys competed in the game to overcome the adversity. We expected a tough game. We got a tough game and we overcame what we had to to win the game. I think this is the first team in Alabama history to win 12 games in two regular seasons in a row, so we kind of made history out there today. There was nothing that I could say. Only the strong survive, but the strong still get their ass whipped and that was my message to the team. I shouldn't use that kind of language but we did survive because of our character and resilience. You have to win games like that and I am proud of our team the way they did it."

Coach Nick Saban after the game

Thoughts on Auburn and Florida

Bamagrad — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:32:26 -0000

If anyone saw Saban's interview on ESPN, he said the short week hurt the defensive game preparation and that the team had little to no intensity going into the game, which he couldn't understand. I hate to say it, but I think we probably have helped contribute to the lack of intensity. Of course winning 36-0 last year, combined with having Ingram on the cover of SI and Auburn losing four of their last six games (especially in dominating fashion to LSU) gave our players a false sense of security. They've probably been hearing about how great they are and how much better they are than Auburn and it almost really cost us today. I know we make a difference with our support, but maybe it would have helped the team if so many of us weren't so blase about the game. I'm not referring to anyone on here as much as I'm thinking of a couple of my friends who've been very vocal about how badly Alabama would beat Auburn today. I think this mindset might have permeated the team today because the intensity level was not what it should have been from start to finish.
Eryk Anders looked terrible a couple times (especially against the first reverse that went for a touchdown...if he'd stayed home he could have strung that play out for at most a minimal gain). I know Auburn's offense is tricky, but hey, there's NO NEED for an edge player to chase a wide sweep to the opposite side. He really needed to play more disciplined on this and a couple other plays.
On the onside kick, I was screaming at the funky huddle and trickery before the kickoff. It was different from how they'd kicked off before and it was obvious something was up. Our guys weren't ready for that and I was shocked.
I don't know if it was cover two or three, but Mark Barron absolutely bit and fell asleep on Auburn's third quarter touchdown pass. Arenas was hugging the flat and Barron let the receiver streak right past him. In either cover two or three, he can't let that happen.
Did anyone notice how much we were hurt by either our players or the football hitting the line judge? That happened a couple times in important third down situations and I found myself screaming, "Get out of the F'ing way!"

As for Florida...

A telling sign of our chances in this game will be how well Florida gets a push on Mt. Cody and our other interior linemen. Last year, after the Mi'ssippi game, in which Cody was injured, LSU and Florida both ran the ball effectively against our defense. Next Saturday we should have a very good idea of how well our defense will do based purely on what happens in the middle of the field at the line of scrimmage. If Florida gets a good push on Cody, we will probably not win the game.
Can we blow up Florida's option fake shovel pass play? I'm talking about the one where Tebow starts down the line like it's an option. His eyes are on the pitch man behind him, meanwhile either Hernandez or Demps slide in front and then catch the shovel pass. I think Florida burns somebody almost every game with this play and I'd really like to see someone read it, jump it, and blow up the receiver.
I think it's imperative that we DRILL Tim Tebow every zone or option play. I'm not talking about running up and giving him a little push, I'm talking about treating him like a running back because Florida uses him like a running back. When he runs the zone option, I think it would be worth a chance to have the first man through tackle Tebow. Against Florida, it's better for someone else to carry the ball IMO. I know teams are often told to make the Quarterback keep the ball on certain plays, but I think Florida benefits greatly from this because Tebow is such a great runner. Why not try to take him out of the game.
When tackling Tebow, it's best to hit him low. Teams have had success this season tackling him around the ankles in the open field. In the open field, we should do the same.
I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but we have struggled offensively when he try to run first. Today, we tried to pound the ball on Auburn and they had 8 in the box most of the game. They shut our run down for the most part, so I think we will need a gameplan similar to what we used against LSU if we are going to move the ball on Florida.
Finally, I don't know if our players looked past Auburn or just assumed they would win and didn't give Gus Malzahn's offense enough credit. I don't know if Auburn really exposed us or not (I don't think so because there were some very BASIC fundamental defensive errors on two of Auburn's long touchdowns and some huge reaction errors on Auburn's onside kick recovery). Anyway, I know this: Florida has had their time. They've won two championships in three years. They've dominated the conference. They beat us last year and ruined our season. They are probably responsible for the Sugar Bowl against Utah.

Beat them. It will take a tremendous game. They've got NFL talent at every level of their defense. Their offensive line is good. Their quarterback is legendary. Their skill players are faster than gnats. But WE ARE ALABAMA. WE owe these guys something. Win. This is the game we've wanted since we lost in 2008. We got our rematch. Now let's win it.