SB Nation User Blog: CSon

East-West Shrine Game

CSon — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:30:17 -0000

East-West Shrine Game

The East-West Shrine Game is on today at 3:00 PM CST on ESPN 2. Only interest for Bama fans would be that Nick Walker is playing for the East Squad and Coach Gene Stallings is coaching the West Squad.

Some more bad news...or is it?

CSon — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:37:41 -0000

And the news everyone has been waiting for (being sarcastic of course), Tebow is returning with Harvin "leaning toward coming back".

I don't know if i should be happy because we get a chance at redemption (probably not likely though considering we'll have a revamped O-line and a new QB) or if i should be upset because the gators will be even better (although we'll have to what effect losing Dan Mullen has) and we'll have to endure another year of ESPN/ABC and CBS drooling over him.

well, hopefully we get some good news out of the recruiting front after the big weekend.

Florida is #1, not SUC, Utah or Texas

CSon — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:57:52 -0000

Florida is #1, not SUC, Utah or Texas

interesting read for SEC fans. if you're a Gator Hator, then you probably won't care.

Smack Dat Azz

CSon — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:26:10 -0000

Smack Dat Azz

thought this was pretty funny

Big 12 and the BCS

CSon — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:38:12 -0000

well...i just finished watching the Fiesta Bowl off my Tivo. i have to say that was a great game to watch. i have to feel for tOSU fans though. what a heartbreaking loss. it eases my pain just a bit. not because i enjoy seeing other people suffer, but because i feel whatever pain we may feel as Bama fans is three times worse for tOSU fans. and it'll be 5 times worse for Spooner fans after they lose their 5th BCS bowl in a row Thursday.

but we've now seen 3 of the top 4 teams from the Big 12 South play and i have to say that it is confirmation once again that the Big 12 is more about having no defense rather than having explosive offenses. Oklahoma State gives up 42 points to Oregon and Texas Tech gives up 47 points to Ole Miss. and yes Texas only gave up 21 points to tOSU tonight, but that was more of OSU not having an explosive offense. OSU didn't score any TD's against SUC or Penn St this year. combine that with the fact that Texas (who averages 44 pts/game) only scored 24 on OSU's defense (we all know about OSU's "vaunted" defense) and the Big 12 is OVERRATED!

and SUC can cry all they want about deserving a title because the Pac-10 went 5-0 in bowl games, but we all know that doesn't prove anything. for one, the Big East went 5-0 in '06-'07. does that mean they were the best conference? NO. two, the 5-0 doesn't justify a conference that includes Washington and Washington State along with only having 5 of their teams make bowls. not to mention, they were something like 1-4 against the Mountain West. and third, all the Pac 10 bowl games excluding SUC's were tightly contested, being decided by 11 pts or less.

S-E-C!

Post game thoughts

CSon — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:57:49 -0000

man...i am so distraught after yesterday that i just need an outlet. i just need to vent and get some thoughts out. like Todd mentioned on the front page, this was definitely a what if game. but watching the SECCG and last night's BCS game, it makes me think about what we need to fix for next year. i'm sure it's obvious to everyone here, but i just need to put it out there.

starting with the offense, to simply put it, we need better pass protection and a more balanced, explosive offensive. not just for situations in which we have to come from behind, but also for situations where we should be putting teams away early. it's great when we have physical, time consuming drives that result in TD's. but when they don't result in a TD or we only get a field goal, it kills us when we have to come from behind. a lot of our games this season should have been blowouts or walks in the park if we just had more big, explosive plays that resulted in quick TD's. obviously if we had better pass protection (and i'm not just talking about last night. the pass protection has been sketchy all year even with the starting O-line), JPW would have more time to throw and would be less prone to mistakes. but at the same time, if we had a QB that was better overall, less prone to mistakes and able to throw the long ball with more accuracy, the opposing teams' defenses wouldn't be able to take as much risks blitzing. i guess they kind of go hand in hand.

as for the defense, to simply put it, we need a better pass rush. our run defense is great obviously. but Florida and Utah just killed us through the air. our lack of sacks and lack of pressure on the QB is obviously a big part of it. but we obviously need more depth or ability at CB (marquis johnson comes to mind. i watched this guy get burned deep multiple times against both Florida and Utah). but in the end, better pass rush improves secondary play.

as heartbreaking as last night was, a 12-2 record, the SEC West title, a BCS bowl bid and being in contention for the MNC all year is still far beyond what was expected for this year. i can't wait to see how much better we get when our overall ability, skill and depth improve. it already started last year with a #1 recruiting class, and there's more coming this year and beyond. ROLL TIDE!

Another award for Coach Saban. They just announced CNS as the winner of the Liberty Mutual Coach...

CSon — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 22:18:16 -0000

Another award for Coach Saban. They just announced CNS as the winner of the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award.

Halftime report of the Music City Bowl on ESPN

Saban - Coach of the Year

CSon — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:59:38 -0000

Saban - Coach of the Year

CNS wins Coach of the Year honors. Is there any surprise? Definitely a job well done.

the BcS system and REMATCH!!!

CSon — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:56:43 -0000

i know there's a 24 hour rule, but i'm still reeling from that loss. i'm sure many of you still are too. it definitely was a "heavyweight fight" as people would like to call it. i, like many of you, believe that if we played UF 10 times, we would win 5 out 10. but this whole thing reminds me so much of the giants and patriots last year. if there was a playoff system in college football, i see it playing out like the NFL did last year. i don't know how many of you watch the NFL, but last year, the giants lost to the patriots (who were favored by more than a touchdown) in the last game of the regular season. pretty much the same way we lost to the gators in the last game of the regular season. the giants had the lead through the 3rd quarter only to lose in the 4th quarter (new england's offense was simply too much to handle with only 1 week to prepare. i think you could say the same about the gator's offense simply being too much to handle with only a week to prepare). but as many of you know, they met again in the super bowl with the patriots again being favored by more than a touchdown. however, this time, both teams got extra time to prepare.

the patriots were very much like the gators. they were considered the best team by everyone and their mom. they had arguably the most prolific offense (which was a spread offense) in NFL history. they had an MVP in tom brady (remember him from the orange bowl back in 2000? i still can't believe we lost that game against michigan. i'm sure if Chris Samuels played, it would have been a different story), very much like the gators have a heisman winner in tebow. they also had a solid coach in belichick (like the gators have meyer), a solid defense and solid special teams. the giants on the other hand were very strong on both the o-line and d-line. they had a maligned qb in eli manning (very much like JPW), a tough hard-nosed coach in coughlin (very much like CNS), a solid running game and solid defense. they were very much like bama except their offense was probably a bit more explosive.

anyways, all this to say...i still believe that the big games are won in the trenches and that defense wins championships. in the rematch at the super bowl, the game was won in the trenches with the giants dominating at the line of scrimmage on both sides. with the giants having extra time to prepare, they held the patriots to only 17 points and pressured brady all day. i have no doubt that if there was a playoff system in college football, bama would meet florida in a rematch in the title game. and this time, with CNS and the staff having extra time to prepare, bama would win in very much the same way. dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides and containing tebow and that gator offense. which is why it's so painful that bama doesn't get a rematch.

the competitor in me, in CNS, in our players and i'm sure in many of you wants a rematch more than anything else. it kills me that bama goes undefeated the entire regular season, only to lose a tightly contested SECCG, and gets stuck with a sugar bowl against utah (no offense to utah, but they should have lost that game to tcu who is a significantly better team. the mountain west is arguably the best non-BCS conference this year, and tcu is the best team in that conference. tcu should handle boise st in their bowl game. and with extra time to prepare for an inferior team, not to mention being pissed, bama should roll over utah. that would mean that there would be no more undefeated teams left in Div 1-A or the FBS). meanwhile OU and big game (if it's not a BCS bowl) bob stoops get to be in the title game with their one loss because their loss was earlier in the season and because everyone is so enamored with their offense.

people forget how pathetic their defense is. they give up almost 400 yards a game (359.08 ypg to be exact, 65th in the country) and they surrender over 3 TD's a game (24.54 ppg to be exact, 57th in the country). not to mention, their special teams is very shaky as well. they've also lost their last 4 bcs bowls (stoops is no where near the level of saban and meyer). bradford will probably win the heisman much like jason white did back in '03. but just like in '03 when they ran into a great LSU defense (that was coached by CNS and was #1 in the country in scoring defense), their heisman trophy qb and their "prolific" offense will get shut down by a solid gators defense. and just like in '04 when they ran into an SUC team that had just as good an offense but a much better defense, they'll get blown out. i have no doubt in my mind that OU will get throttled by the gators. the gators' offense is just as explosive, but their defense and special teams is a notch above OU. i'm sad for the nation that they have to witness the sooners lose their 5th straight BCS bowl and get blown out in a title game, again, instead of a true championship game - a rematch of Bama and Florida.

anyways, i'm thankful to this Bama team and CNS for a great year. my heart is still torn and i probably won't get over it until next year, but i definitely have lots to look forward to with this year just being the beginning. ROLL TIDE!

PTI - Bama equal to Boise State, Ball State

CSon — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:45:37 -0000

So Dan LeBastard and Mike BonBon had the audacity to compare Bama to Ball State and Boise State on PTI the other day. According to these geniuses, since Bama's schedule turned out to be weaker than expected, they said if you take away the tradition and the hype and consider that the SEC is in a down year, Bama's basically like Boise State and Ball State going undefeated. Umm...last time I checked, Boise State and Ball State didn't have to play at Georgia, at Tennessee, at LSU and at Arkansas. I mention Arkansas because they managed to knock off Tulsa who was one of those non-BCS schools that were undefeated. Yes, Georgia, Tennessee and LSU weren't as good as expected. But there's no way Boise State and Ball State beat all three of them on the road. Throw in Clemson on a neutral field, and I'm sure they would still be undefeated. Gimme a break. These guys are douche bags. I've lost all respect for them and PTI.