Comments on: 2009 SEC Preview: Alabama http://gate21.net/2009/07/28/2009-sec-preview-alabama/ Life, the Universe, and the Bounce of the Ball Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:03:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Tidefan http://gate21.net/2009/07/28/2009-sec-preview-alabama/comment-page-1/#comment-4392 Tidefan Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:37:26 +0000 http://gate21.net/?p=3632#comment-4392 He gets no credit for Arkansas. He has been more than vocal about how that wasn't his offense. And honestly, I think he deserves points off for wanting to do anything BUT hand the ball to McFadden and Jones. At Tulsa, sure, and I'm a little shy to say "that will never work in the SEC" after being wrong about both Saban at LSU and Meyer at UF, but he openly admits that his offense does his defense no favors, and if one excels to the detriment of the other, it kind of offsets the benefit of the system. Plus, for all the talk of that, he's only done it at the college level for three years, one of which he disavows and the other two at Tulsa. Kragthorpe had a pretty successful offense at Tulsa, too. How's that working out for Louisville? He gets no credit for Arkansas. He has been more than vocal about how that wasn’t his offense. And honestly, I think he deserves points off for wanting to do anything BUT hand the ball to McFadden and Jones. At Tulsa, sure, and I’m a little shy to say “that will never work in the SEC” after being wrong about both Saban at LSU and Meyer at UF, but he openly admits that his offense does his defense no favors, and if one excels to the detriment of the other, it kind of offsets the benefit of the system. Plus, for all the talk of that, he’s only done it at the college level for three years, one of which he disavows and the other two at Tulsa. Kragthorpe had a pretty successful offense at Tulsa, too. How’s that working out for Louisville?

]]> By: Home Sweet Home http://gate21.net/2009/07/28/2009-sec-preview-alabama/comment-page-1/#comment-4387 Home Sweet Home Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:05:38 +0000 http://gate21.net/?p=3632#comment-4387 very good points. it will be interesting to see how the Malzahn offense runs this year. Gus was coaching high school football in Arkansas, what, five years ago? Sure he did well at Arkansas, but he had McFadden and Jones, and Tulsa plays in a league that has some pretty porous defenses. UT may be more likely than Auburn to beat Alabama, but I still doubt it, unless McElroy is still struggling by then and our offense improves a ton and stays healthy. I do think UT is going to be better than Auburn this year and hopefully we can take care of them when they visit - I just can't imagine the possibilities of losing at home to Gene Chizik in his first SEC road game. very good points. it will be interesting to see how the Malzahn offense runs this year. Gus was coaching high school football in Arkansas, what, five years ago? Sure he did well at Arkansas, but he had McFadden and Jones, and Tulsa plays in a league that has some pretty porous defenses.

UT may be more likely than Auburn to beat Alabama, but I still doubt it, unless McElroy is still struggling by then and our offense improves a ton and stays healthy. I do think UT is going to be better than Auburn this year and hopefully we can take care of them when they visit – I just can’t imagine the possibilities of losing at home to Gene Chizik in his first SEC road game.

]]> By: Tidefan http://gate21.net/2009/07/28/2009-sec-preview-alabama/comment-page-1/#comment-4384 Tidefan Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:48:46 +0000 http://gate21.net/?p=3632#comment-4384 Apologies. I thought I had formatted that as an unordered list. Apologies. I thought I had formatted that as an unordered list.

]]> By: Tidefan http://gate21.net/2009/07/28/2009-sec-preview-alabama/comment-page-1/#comment-4383 Tidefan Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:47:30 +0000 http://gate21.net/?p=3632#comment-4383 Ha. Can't wait. Now that I'm not typing on my phone, I'll explain why UT is the better team than Auburn, especially in this scenario. For all the talk of Auburn having a good defense, they couldn't stop the run. This is mostly due to the fact that they were running an offense they didn't have the personnel for, and it was designed to run as many plays as they could which kept the defense on the field and worn out by the second half. This season, they have a similar offense that places an even greater emphasis on quick play, has a history of putting more stress on the defense, and the defense has even less depth this season than last. UT on the other hand will be going back to the run and will do so behind an offensive line that won't be telegraphing which direction it plans to go. UT will also have a legitimately stout defense that will possibly take a step back from last year's top ten defense, but not by much. UT has the benefit of playing the Tide earlier in the season, so if UT's offense manages to repeat it's play from last season (it won't, but last year it did run fewer plays from scrimmage than any team in the league) it still gets the Tide earlier in the season than Auburn, meaning the defense won't be worn as thin from being on the field so much. Venue in those rivalry games means very little, but against this Alabama team even moreso. With Utah the lone exception, Alabama was a much better road team than home team. Squeakers against UK, Ole Miss, and Tulane were in Bryant-Denny. Blowouts of UGA, Arkansas, and Clemson were on the road and I would contend that Alabama played a better game in the loss to Florida than they did in the large win over Miss State in Tuscaloosa. Ha. Can’t wait. Now that I’m not typing on my phone, I’ll explain why UT is the better team than Auburn, especially in this scenario.

For all the talk of Auburn having a good defense, they couldn’t stop the run. This is mostly due to the fact that they were running an offense they didn’t have the personnel for, and it was designed to run as many plays as they could which kept the defense on the field and worn out by the second half.
This season, they have a similar offense that places an even greater emphasis on quick play, has a history of putting more stress on the defense, and the defense has even less depth this season than last.
UT on the other hand will be going back to the run and will do so behind an offensive line that won’t be telegraphing which direction it plans to go.
UT will also have a legitimately stout defense that will possibly take a step back from last year’s top ten defense, but not by much.
UT has the benefit of playing the Tide earlier in the season, so if UT’s offense manages to repeat it’s play from last season (it won’t, but last year it did run fewer plays from scrimmage than any team in the league) it still gets the Tide earlier in the season than Auburn, meaning the defense won’t be worn as thin from being on the field so much.
Venue in those rivalry games means very little, but against this Alabama team even moreso. With Utah the lone exception, Alabama was a much better road team than home team. Squeakers against UK, Ole Miss, and Tulane were in Bryant-Denny. Blowouts of UGA, Arkansas, and Clemson were on the road and I would contend that Alabama played a better game in the loss to Florida than they did in the large win over Miss State in Tuscaloosa.

]]> By: Home Sweet Home http://gate21.net/2009/07/28/2009-sec-preview-alabama/comment-page-1/#comment-4379 Home Sweet Home Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:14:15 +0000 http://gate21.net/?p=3632#comment-4379 appreciate the slight vote of confidence in the Vols, TF, but Alabama's probably gonna win both those games. as for my Vols fan-ness, I really tried to be as objective as I could with all of these previews. Alabama's going to have a great team this year and if I said anything otherwise would be the orange glasses getting in the way. and if this made you wonder about my fan-ness, wait til you see the nauseating love I gave the Gators... appreciate the slight vote of confidence in the Vols, TF, but Alabama’s probably gonna win both those games.

as for my Vols fan-ness, I really tried to be as objective as I could with all of these previews. Alabama’s going to have a great team this year and if I said anything otherwise would be the orange glasses getting in the way.

and if this made you wonder about my fan-ness, wait til you see the nauseating love I gave the Gators…

]]> By: Tidefan http://gate21.net/2009/07/28/2009-sec-preview-alabama/comment-page-1/#comment-4377 Tidefan Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:32:00 +0000 http://gate21.net/?p=3632#comment-4377 Very well done. I think UT has a better chance than Auburn but I'm really just looking for something to contribute to a well reasoned post. Are you sure you're a Vols fan? Very well done. I think UT has a better chance than Auburn but I’m really just looking for something to contribute to a well reasoned post. Are you sure you’re a Vols fan?

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