Thank you, Commissioner, for a mighty summary of a mighty
beat down in Dallas.
It seems like just
a couple of weeks ago that we shut down the service bays a little early on a
hot August afternoon so we could get home in time to see the beginning of the
first college football game of the season, never mind that it was Peedunky
University against the Kansas College of Wheat & Straw. College football was back. And now, seemingly so quickly, it is all down
to one last game. That’s the bad
news. The good news is that with only
one game to go and two teams still playing, the Crimson Tide is one of them. What more could you ask for?
I’m sure Michigan State could tell you. Supposedly, the classical Spartans’ motherly advice to
their warrior sons was to come home carrying their shield or on it. The modern-day Spartans were decidedly more
of the riding variety on New Years’ Eve night.
Make no mistake about it, Michigan State was a talented football
team. More important (and not
surprisingly being coached by a Saban disciple) they were a resilient team. They won two games this season where they
never led with time on the clock. They
featured a solid defensive line, a good running back, as well as future NFL
players at quarterback and wide receiver.
The team came into the game relatively healthy and very confident. They won their conference championship in
dominating fashion. None of that seemed
to matter.
What struck us after the game is how surprised the Michigan
State players and coaches seemed to be.
They were confident, not just that they were going to be competitive,
but that they would win the game. In fact,
it was basically over when Cyrus Jones intercepted a pass near the goal line at
the end of the first half. He assuredly
put the xiphos between their ribs with a highlight reel punt return for a touchdown, but we
think the interception was what really did it.
Michigan State was only in Alabama territory four times in the game,
twice in garbage time.
Conner Cook, the Michigan State quarterback, was asked after
the game about a remark about Alabama’s defense that he made to the coaches which
happened to be caught by tv cameras (then displayed on the drive-in-movie-sized
screen at Jerry World). Lip-reading it,
he said, “they are *blanking* everywhere.”
Even one of the game announcers said, “You just don’t realize how big
Alabama’s defensive line is until you are standing next to them.” Coach
Dantonio, a good coach and leader, seemed perplexed and dispirited about what had
happened to his team. The Spartans seemed unable
to process what had just happened to them.
More or less all the post-game talked amounted to “we didn’t see that
coming”.
It was not the first time we had heard, at least this
sentiment, during the season. Opposing
teams and even their coaches, despite all the film they watch, are shocked by
what Alabama is when you are actually on the field in competition. Lots of opponents have said words to the
effect of “we didn’t see that coming.”
Before they play Alabama opposing teams and coaches do not
expect the defensive line to dominate their offensive line, to be so big, to
have such closing speed; they do not expect passes to get swatted back at their
quarterbacks like it’s a kill shot in Olympic-level volleyball; they expect to
take down Derrick Henry by hitting him around the ankles and then end up seeing
him stiff-arm one of their defensive ends
to the ground, rolling him like a tumbleweed; they expect to stand Shank Taylor
up at the line of scrimmage and rush the Alabama quarterback, whom they think
can’t run, and certainly can’t deliver a blow at the end of a run; they expect
their nose tackle to handle Ryan Kelly one-on-one, only to see him driving
their middle linebacker 20 yards down the field; they expect to sell out to
stop Alabama from running the ball and rely on Jake Coker’s inaccuracies to win
the day, only to find out he can zip it into small windows and deliver deep
balls in stride; they think Richard Mullaney is a slow, one-and-done from a
second-tier program and they find out he is the second-coming of Kevin Norwood;
they think Lane Kiffin is the brash idiot who was unceremoniously tossed off
the team bus at LAX, only to get caught in a scheme where their safety is
matched one-on-one with Calvin Ridley; they expect converted cornerback Eddie
Jackson to be weak against the run and too slow to cover receivers and he
manages both at creditable levels; they expect the “second string” of Alabama’s
defensive front to be slower and softer instead of considering them as
basically 1A and 1B at every spot, like our coaches do; they expect Alabama to
succumb to mobile quarterbacks and then end up seeing their quarterbacks run
for their lives; they expect Reggie Ragland to be so busy tackling that he
cannot call plays only to see him matching their offensive coordinator call for
call; they expect to throw over Cyrus Jones only to need their offense to
tackle him as he comes roaring at them in possession of the football; they
think our Defensive coordinator is so focused on his new head coaching job that
he will mail it in, then there he is laughing and celebrating along with the players
when the Alabama offense scores more points than they manage to gain in rushing yardage…. In short, they think they know what they are
up against until right after the game begins.
Oh, and our head coach is better than your head coach.
Perhaps it is like people who think they can jump off that
cliff into the lake or beat the train over the crossing. No matter how many people show it is a
foolish and questionable thing to attempt, they brashly talk about how they
will beat this edition of the Crimson Tide.
The simple truth is that so far, unless Alabama starts its back-up
quarterback, fumbles two kickoffs, gives up two miracle 60+ yard touchdowns, etc.,
at best you are still going to have to make a defensive stand in the last two
minutes to preserve a six-point lead.
We are not going to further comment on an already
exceptional set of Grades. We agree with
every one of them. The team played
excellently in every facet. And still. And still we do not think this team has
played its best game. That effort is
still out there, if they are focused enough to realize it. I think this team knows that fact. For example, late in the Cotton Bowl,
supposedly Eddie Jackson and Dillon Lee got into a shouting match over some
point related to preserving the shut out.
Others had to intervene. Shortly
thereafter, Lee intercepted Cook on the Alabama sideline to the cheers of all,
including Jackson.
We wondered above what more we could ask for. We’ll tell you -- a one-point win over the
Fightin’ Dabos from Auburn-with-a-Lake, leading to Championship #16, that’s
what. But we’d prefer to hang half a
hundred on them and leave them wondering how many locomotives were pulling the
train that just ran over them.
Roll Tide, everyone.
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