In case you missed it, you can catch the entire CBS broadcast — sans commercials — in the video below. Roll Tide.
Category: College Football
CFP: How it Should Be
Here are the four teams the college football playoff committee should select:
- Alabama – Enough said.
- Clemson – Last year’s runner-ups are back again.
- Penn State – The Big 10 champs only lost to Michigan and Pitt (who also beat Clemson).
- Washington – The Huskies have only lost to Southern Cal, who happen to have played like one of the country’s top teams the second half of the season.
Possibly the Worst Play in Bama Football History
You might have heard the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals making a high-pitched sound this week:
[Bruce] Arians, told SiriusXM NFL Radio that officials wanted player leaps on field goal attempts made illegal but the NFL’s competition committee decided not to change the rules.
“The competition committee went through that play, and officials wanted it taken out,” Arians said in the interview. “The committee left it in, but it cannot be officiated. Whether he touches, whether it was leverage, was his foot within the framework of the defensive lineman’s feet before he jumped, all those things that go into that call, I think it’s bad for football.
“Because what you’re going to have to do now is start having centers raise their face up and get kicked in the face and things that are just dangerous to the players. I think it’s a dangerous play as it is and should be taken out of the game.”
Well, I don’t think I could care less about whether the Arizona Cardinals play football or not. But I do care about this:
You know what this is? It’s a snap shot right before the play that caused Alabama to lose the 1997 Iron Bowl. How did they lose? Well, the offensive coordinator called a pass play on 3rd-and-8 with, as you can see, 51 seconds left in the game. Bama quarterback Freddie Kitchens threw a screen pass to Ed Scissum who promptly fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Auburn.
Auburn then took possession of the ball and eventually kicked a field goal to win the game.
The offensive coordinator who called this abomination of a play is none other than the aforementioned Arians.
What makes this play call so bad? Several things. First, Auburn had stopped us on first and second down and it was a long eight yards to go for a first down. We played it safe and ran the ball on first and second downs, which is consistent with the line of thinking that we’d simply punt the ball back and drive a long way if they were going to win the game.
Auburn recovered the ball with about 42 seconds left. Had we simply run the ball, then we could have run the clock down further before finally punting the ball back. Auburn would have likely had the ball well into their own territory with under 20 seconds left. They still could have won, but the task would have been much larger.
Sure, the play call is a fairly safe one at other times during a game, but consider again that we weren’t living and dying on getting first down, and if the pass had been incomplete we would not have been able any additional time off of the clock. At the time, you’ve never beaten Auburn in Auburn and you’ve already locked up a losing season. Make Auburn go the long way if they are going to beat you in the last minute.
We should have done the smart thing and simply run the ball. I don’t blame Scissum for the fumble as he should never have been put in that spot. I do assign some of the cost to Kitchens, he could have audibled, scrambled or simply thrown the ball at Scissum’s feet. He should not have run this play.
Bruce Arians has gone on to have a great head coaching career in the NFL, but unfortunately I can’t hear his name without thinking of this play.
College Football’s “Best Opening Weekend” Ever
The college football world billed this past weekend as the “best opening weekend” ever and while, that may or may not be factually true, it was pretty darn good.
To me, the best part of the weekend was obviously Alabama’s 52-6 demolition of Southern California.
The next best part was Clemson’s win over Auburn.
However, the most entertaining game was most likely Texas’ 50-47 win over Notre Dame. And speaking of that, check out Eq St. Brown’s somersault catch into the end zone. This is amazing.
After only one game in, LSU fans already have their hopes dashed and the late hit below put an exclamation point on a bad weekend for Les Miles.
The football was good. There was lots of it and the games were indeed really good. The best part, though, was being with Sweet Wife, the kids and Sweet Wife’s parents for a nice relaxing weekend fill with good conversation, good food and love.
Thursday Tide Thoughts: Payback
The “hurry up no huddle” (HUNH) offense was a good bet for today’s Alabama football thoughts, but at the last minute, something else caught my eye:
Eight years later, Alabama will get another crack at Louisiana-Monroe.
The Crimson Tide added the Sun Belt Conference team to the 2015 football schedule, UA confirmed Wednesday afternoon. TideSports.com was the first to report the arrangement.
The two last met in 2007 in one of the more infamous losses in recent Alabama history. The Warhawks came to Bryant-Denny Stadium to take a 21-14 win in Nick Saban’s first season with Alabama.
Yep, it’s time for a little payback.
When you are part of the Alabama football program (coach, player, fan, etc.) there are some things you have to know. One of those things is that your opponents will most always be up an ready to play you. That means if you are ranked No.1 you get every opponent’s best shot, but it also means that if you’re struggling teams still want to beat you – bad. It means if you’re struggling, like Alabama was in 2007, other teams want to beat you just as bad as if you’re No. 1.
In Nick Saban’s first year at Alabama, 2007, let’s just say “the process” wasn’t in full swing. Yes, it was talked about in some foreshadowing way, but in reality, the changes brought about by the true “process” were too drastic to enact in one fell swoop. So, let’s just say some players were around and contributing that year that should not have been. Saban, in my opinion, walked a fine line that year. And in the end, he did just enough to squeak out a bowl game and salvage a winning season. Sure, “the process” isn’t supposed to be so much focused on the win-loss record, but we all know what kind of squawking would have occurred with a losing season.
I’m guessing that since the 1920s, other teams have always played Alabama a little tougher because of who they were playing. And sometimes, teams like ULM (and Central Florida and Northern Illinois and a few others) have won. It’s because of those wins, that I love to hear news like the Warhawks rolling back on the schedule. They deserve the true Bryant-Denny Stadium experience: getting beaten by the Tide.
5-Star Perspective
Auburn High School football star Rashaan Evans recently committed to play his college football at Alabama.
Obviously, that’s a very difficult choice to make and one Nick Saban and the gang had to help the Evans and his family work through:
“We had lots of conversations with his family, because they were concerned about their circumstance of being where they were and the decision they were going to make and how people would to react to it,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “I said, ‘however many people you think you’re not going to make happy there you’re going to make a lot more people happy here, and that’s exactly what happened.”
In Evans’ case, given where his family lives, the opinion of others, well, more precisely the reaction of others, was something to consider. In this state, we take football pretty seriously and you never know what sort of nutty reaction you might receive.
In Evans’ case, he also took the difficult road. With family – parents, grandparents and others, this isn’t a decision where the reaction comes, goes and is then finished. No, it’s a decision many folks will be left to deal with for many years. If you live in Auburn and your son or grandson plays for Alabama – that’s not something that will go away any time soon. If he does well, the best thing you could expect is for people to just ignore you. If he does poorly, well, you won’t hear the end of what-might-have-been.
Some might say that Evans’ decision was selfish and short-sighted. Some may say he should have considered the needs of his family and those close to him. He has obviously made their lives more difficult. I can somewhat agree with this. As the parent of a high school junior, I can tell you, we haven’t just given free range to a still-maturing student. No, we think we know our daughter and because of everything involved – from maturity level to money – this isn’t simply her decision. We want her to find the right place to go, but it has to make sense to mom and dad.
On the other hand, Evans is an extremely talented football player and he’s also making a business decision. Business, as in which school can best prepare him for a professional career. When you look at the dollars involved for some NFL players, it’s a little easier to see how a person switches from orange and blue to crimson and white.
Did Evans make the right decision? Time will only tell. For his sake, and his family’s, I hope he did.
As an Alabama fan, perhaps my opinion is clouded on this subject. I’m obviously glad he chose
Kiffin Nepotism Accusations Mostly Absurd
One of the things about media is that controversy, over-the-top and in-your-face is what sells (those things plus sex, actually). For me, those things are hard to do. I (thankfully, I suppose) have two problems with the above things:
1) I try not to write stuff about people that I wouldn’t say to their face; and
2) Jesus tells us that we’ll be held accountable for every word we utter.
Those things, for the most part, tend to keep me in check.
Not so much for Greg g Doyel when he writes. Recently, he’s gone after ‘Bama’s new offensive coordinator, Lane Kiffin and Mike Shanahan’s son, Kyle:
It’s offensive, the way this guy gets great job after great job, and the same goes for Kyle Shanahan, the second most notorious Daddy’s Boy in football coaching. (Hey, Lane, you’re No. 1; and that’s not my index finger I’m raising.) On the same day Kiffin was announced as the offensive coordinator at one of the best football schools in America, Kyle Shanahan interviewed for the offensive coordinator position with the Dolphins.
It’s disappointing, disheartening, even disgusting that people like Kiffin and Shanahan continue to find open doors and welcome mats after spectacular failure, when good men — men who didn’t climb onto Daddy’s back for their start in the football business, or any business — sit by the wayside, either unemployed or underemployed because they don’t have a father who was better at their job than they ever will be.
[Yes, you read correctly. In the piece, Doyel gives the proverbial middle finger to Kiffin. For some reason, that strikes me as terribly unclassy behavior from a big-time writer. Maybe it’s just me.]
This is mostly the same old stuff that we’ve heard before: these guys supposedly woke up on third base and thought they hit a triple. It’s the ageless accusation of nepotism.
Don’t get me wrong; the thought, related to Kiffin, has actually crossed my mind a time or two as well. That, plus he must be a tremendous interviewer.
But Doyel’s nastiness made me think twice about these accusations.
My first thought was, “what is Kiffin supposed to do?” So he grows up around football and wants to follow his dad into coaching. Is he supposed to change his last name and take a vow of poverty? Is he supposed to toil among the junior high ranks until he’s a tenured history teacher and then call it a career?
That’s ridiculous.
Most of America despises nepotism and I agree with them. But America also used to look fondly on fathers that had a positive effect on their children and children that wanted to follow their fathers into the family business (even if that business is football).
Most of America also understands that you can’t deny that relationships exist and that so much of what we do is based on them. And that isn’t, by definition, a bad thing.
So did Kiffin benefit from nepotism? As best I can tell, he’s never even worked for his dad. So there’s that. Did his dad get him a job as a graduate assistant at Colorado State or quality control guy with the Jacksonville Jaguars? Did his dad make Pete Carroll hire him as an assistant?
Sure, his last name probably didn’t hurt, and his dad may have even made a phone call or two, but at the end of the day, the guy has to get the job done. Coaches and their assistants aren’t tenured and there will be an accounting of their performance and they will be turned loose if the job isn’t getting done.
Did Monte Kiffin make Pete Carroll continue to promote Lane Kiffin? Did Monte Kiffin cause the late Al Davis to hire Kiffin to coach the Raiders? Did the elder Kiffin cause the Tennessee Volunteers to give Lane the keys to their kingdom? Did daddy cause USC to hire him back as their head coach starting with the 2010 season? And finally, did daddy cause Nick Saban to hire junior as his offensive coordinator?
The more you think about this, the more the idea is absurd. If you want to give Monte Kiffin credit, give it for probably opening the door back in the early days of Colorado State, Jacksonville and first being hired at USC. But after that, the family influence most likely ends.
Kiffin has shown questionable behavior that makes me question his character. To be honest, I’m not really sure what kind of human being he is. But what I think about that doesn’t really matter much. Right now, what matters in the coaching world, is what Nick Saban thought and Doyel even admits such:
Thing is, Nick Saban is a brilliant football coach. The guy knows how to put together a staff, and he’s not about to hire Lane Kiffin because Lane’s father is Monte Kiffin, one of the better defensive football minds of the last few decades. Saban hired Lane because he thinks Lane can help him, or because he likes the continuity Lane brings — Lane was on campus this past month as an “adviser” or “observer” or “village idiot” or something — or maybe because Saban fell under the same spell that people fall under when they talk to Lane. I fell under it in July 2012, and let me tell you this: Never again.
Is Saban simply trolling the entire football world or does he perhaps think Kiffin can do the job? You know the answer to that.
Kiffin might need to apologize for things he did at certain places or for how he didn’t get his job done, but he doesn’t need to apologize for getting hired. That’s absurd.
Thoughts on a New OC
Doug Nussmeier has left Alabama for Michigan, so I guess we’re in the market for one.
But first, a couple of comments on the last one…
* Nussmeier was able to come on board in 2012, take the offensive reigns from Jim McElwain and help the Tide win a national title. No matter what else has happened, you can’t take that away.
* Statistically speaking, for the most part, Alabama improved in each of Nuss’s two years and were better than McElwain’s last (2011). Yards per game increased to 454.10 in 2013 compared to 445.50 in 2012 and 429.60 in 2011. Scoring dipped just a bit in 2013 to 38.20 points per game, but was close to 2012 (38.70) and both years were better than McElwain’s last (34.80). [However, it must be pointed out that McElwain’s last year at ‘Bama was spent with a brand new quarterback (AJ McCarron) and he had the luxury of leaning on the top defense in college football].
* Despite the statistical success, something just seemed “not quite right” this year. Arguably, this offense had more talent and more weapons than any team in Tide history. Though an offensive line was being re-loaded, McCarron, T.J. Yeldon and Amari Cooper, plus a ton of others, provided a lot of options for Nussmeier’s O.
* But the season started with a whimper offensively against Virginia Tech, and except for a shoot out with Texas A&M, was rocky until mid-season. Late in the season, the offense swooned as the play calling appeared out of sync. After a great second half against LSU, the Tide offense struggled against Mississippi State, Auburn and Oklahoma.
* And by “struggle,” I mean slow starts and predictable play calling, though gobs of yards may have been earned.
So, all that is said to say this: in this case, parting may not be such sweet sorrow. Nussmeier takes a lateral move that is described as such:
Lateral moves tend to get under his skin, but only if he really wants that coach to stay. Nussmeier is making a lateral move in name – from OC to OC – but he’s leaving the most stable program and best coach in college football to join a coach in Brady Hoke who’ll be on the hot seat next season at Michigan.
In other words, from the frying pan to the fire. I really do hope it works out well. As I said above, Nuss was a big part of a 2012 championship season and that’s a big deal.
But, now Alabama fans turn to the future. Who will the next guy be?
Some say this fellow. I’m not all that fired up about that option, although it would make life interesting for the next couple of seasons.
Day After Thoughts: FSU – Auburn
I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch much of last night’s game. As an Alabama fan, I just wasn’t in the mood.
Besides, heading into the game, for me, there wasn’t much doubt about who would win. Given how Auburn’s season went, I was pretty sure they would return a blocked extra point for two-points and a win (or some such nonsense as that).
The other thing was the Jameis Winston stuff. Sure, no charges were pressed, but it’s hard to pull for a guy involved in that type of situation.
So, with all that in mind, here are my few thoughts on the game:
* Florida State’s cushy season did little to prepare them for Auburn’s first half onslaught. The Seminoles were a more talented team than Auburn, but their soft ACC schedule did them no favors.
* Apparently Auburn forget their little one-second lesson from the Iron Bowl and forgot to play a full 60 minutes. No, I’m not just talking about the final drive. What cost Auburn the game was not putting away the ‘Noles in the third quarter. One more score of any sort would have done the trick.
* Tre Mason should turn pro. (Please.) All kidding aside, running backs have a short shelf life and he should be paid for his efforts. In this day and age, it really was unheard of for Mason to run the ball 40+ times like he did in the SEC Championship Game. Get the picture, son.
* Despite giving up 21 first half points, the ‘Noles didn’t have a bad game plan. A tip of the hat to Jeremy Pruitt is due. The Seminoles were aggressive, physical and pressured Nick Marshall. If the FSU offense could have provided any sort of sustained drives in the first two quarters, it sure would have helped their defense.
* Alabama – despite losing two games this year and not making the title game – still casts a huge shadow over college football. Nick Saban held court on the ESPN set – pre and post game – and everything either team did was compared to the Tide.
* Given Winston’s success this year – national title and Heisman – he’ll be easy for the public to root against next year. And mark it down, next year will be his last in Tallahassee. As a redshirt freshman, he only has to play one more year before he can enter the NFL draft. Enjoy him while you can, FSU.
* Maybe Winston did nothing wrong. Maybe. But given his legal troubles from earlier this season, Jimbo Fisher’s post-game comments about the character of his team rang hollow.
* Don’t be surprised if these two teams enter the 2014 season ranked 1-2. FSU is as talented as ‘Bama. With Winston coming back and given their easy ACC ride, they should definitely start No. 1. Auburn will probably lose Mason and a couple of offensive linemen, will get better talent on defense and Jeremy Johnson will push Marshall at QB. The schedule won’t do the Tigers any favors, but they are a good team and Gus Malzahn is a good coach, so they aren’t going anywhere for a while.
One final question to ponder. Does it hurt worse to lose to your bitter rival on the last play of the game – a fluke play – or does it hurt worse to lose the national championship in the last minute? I’m guessing the latter.
Roll Tide.
Husband Father Son 