Mich. State Grades: Report From The Tire Store

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Good grades, Commissioner.  The tail end of a bittersweet season has now gone, leaving a lingering question:  “Who were those boys and what have they done with University of Alabama varsity football team?”

I’m afraid the answer is that they were there all along.  Some were injured, some failed to play with the required focus, some were not as mentally or physically tough as was necessary to compete against the SEC, already a formidable group of opponents, but especially so when off dates were stacked against us like the deck in Tombstone saloon. (Note: only four of our opponents are off the week before they play us next year, twice as many as the next team.  Cue sarcastic applause for the SEC’s spineless commissioner).

MSU was the co-champion of the Big Ten (or however many they have now).  It won many games convincingly.  Spartan players and media talked a lot about how MSU deserved a better bowl with a higher ranked opponent.  They set out to prove something, and I think they did, just not what they intended.  Do not be misled, Alabama controlled the game from the beginning and could have named the score anywhere up to about 65 or 70 points.  After about the second series, the defense was suffocating, with possibly its best all around player sitting on the bench recuperating from surgery. 

It is hard not to reflect on the season after this game, however.  Alabama lost three games, all of which saw the team in a position to win in the second half.  We won 10 games again.  We will likely finish in or very near the Top 10 (compare that with the current standing of our opponent in last year’s BCS game).  This year’s recruiting class will be very, very good and could be the best we have ever had.  Even with some juniors (Dareus and Ingram, at a minimum) turning pro we still return numerous starters for the fall.  One hopes the returning players learned valuable lessons this season.

The measure of this campaign is how it was, at one and the same time, very successful and hugely disappointing.  In other words, the program is right back where it should be – full of lofty though justifiable expectations, stocked with athletes promising to make future seasons exciting, and under the control of a coach who is on everyone’s list of the top 5 in the business, and at the top of the list of those who know what they are talking about.

Roll Tide.  See you all at A-Day.  I’ll be the one trying to figure out whether to buy a Sims or McCarron jersey.

The Correspondent From The Tire Store