BCS title game postgame thoughts

[Irish YJ]

From my Bama buddies....

 

[PANDFAN]

Interesting take on the game

https://www.profootballfocus.com/bl...mson-tide-vs-fighting-irish-bcs-championship/


This is how they grade

https://www.profootballfocus.com/about/grading/

For those debating Zeke's performance:

the 1st breakdown was excellent!! puts to rest a lot of the couch coaches here

 

[AdmiralBackhand]

From my Bama buddies....

Typical Alabama fans by misspelling "Cheat" as P-l-a-y.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Pipe was in the way.

 

[irishpat183]

Where are the Zeke defenders?


Bueller? Bueller??....

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Low blow, but it's funny.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Interesting take on the game

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blo...-championship/

I read the article; thanks Golden! You get the greatest stuff!

I think that my hypothesis has been far from disproven. I think the game plan was so poor, (i.e., predictible) that all night long Alabama has superior force on force. I can see this in these stats. I believe Zeke's poor angles came from flying to where he was supposed to, correcting course, and trying to make a play . . . And so on. And so it goes. So on and so forth.

 

[Irish Houstonian]

Where are the Zeke defenders?


Bueller? Bueller??....

They're breaking down the Miami film to try to prove Motta was -11.0 against the run in that game

 

[ND NYC]

go and watch the game again.
zeke was busting his *** out there all friggin night. half the time when he "missed a tackle" was because he had to bail out half the team who didnt do their jobs. kids stock went up with me after that game. he had fire and courage and was all over the place doing whatever he could. in fact id say he was the harrdest hitting guy we had out there for us in this game. he did all he could out there. till the very end. shocked focus is being put on this kid of all kids for poor play mon night.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

I am telling you, his coach put him in a bad spot for the game. The defensive coordination for this game was falling down drunk. It was stupid with no excuse. Alabama put the ball where they knew we wouldn't be.

 

[NDhoosier]

Where are the Zeke defenders?


Bueller? Bueller??....

You think this guys is going to change our opinion of Zeke? Not real bright there.

Zeke played his *** off and went above and beyond his duties as a Safety. irishpat, you are consistent naysayer on this site, its not a surprise to see you bashing one of our players, but dont act like this verifies your point or something.

 

[chicago51]

Don't see how one game should change people's opinions of a guy the played his butt off for Notre Dame for 4 years.

 

[gcashwell]

I am telling you, his coach put him in a bad spot for the game. The defensive coordination for this game was falling down drunk. It was stupid with no excuse. Alabama put the ball where they knew we wouldn't be.

Amari Cooper said so himself. I can't find the article now, but basically he said they found a consistent hole during film study. They were able to exploit it.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Amari Cooper said so himself. I can't find the article now, but basically he said they found a consistent hole during film study. They were able to exploit it.

It was our soft zone defense, I believe. I don't recall the exact article either, but I know what you're talking about. The whole defensive strategy was a mess, IMO. The poor angles and poor tackling only made things worse.

 

[RubberSoul]

Does anyone remember BC pushing our lines around a bit? One of the bama players said that they were confident fhey could push us around because a team like BC was.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Does anyone remember BC pushing our lines around a bit? One of the bama players said that they were confident fhey could push us around because a team like BC was.

BC had one down lineman that caused some disruption . . .

 

[mobilehomer59]

ND is off to a great start with BK. The first step is a great coach. Good recruiting and teaching your own "process". We have been pretty dominate the past few years but had many not so good years pre-Saban. ND did well this year and can only get better. Roll Tide!

 

[North Buffalo Irish]

Motta plays hard and flies to the football, but he was atrocious during the NCG. An elite safety makes a large majority of those plays. When facing a rushing attack like Alabama's, your safeties are going to have to step down into the box and make plays. Getting to the ball and missing the tackle, or taking a terrible angle and taking yourself out of the player does not constitute a free pass just because you play hard.

 

[chicago51]

Motta plays hard and flies to the football, but he was atrocious during the NCG. An elite safety makes a large majority of those plays. When facing a rushing attack like Alabama's, your safeties are going to have to step down into the box and make plays. Getting to the ball and missing the tackle, or taking a terrible angle and taking yourself out of the player does not constitute a free pass just because you play hard.

Players have crap games it happens i acknowledge he played poorly. You want hate his guts because he played a poor game cause you need to blame someone fine. I would just say thanks to Motta for his 4 years and not drag a graduating senior that achieved beyond his God given talent name through the mud.

 

[yankeeND]

It's funny every Bama fan I know praised Motta. He's a great player and will be missed! Thanks for everything Zeke!

 

[PJWhitfield]

Assuming Manti was and is innocent, then he had to be under a lot of emotional pressure when he learned of the hoax. Catastrophe theory in sports says a certain level of pressure helps an athlete perform. Once the pressure goes beyond that, everything crumbles and it's very hard to get it down because failure adds to the pressure. Perhaps that's what happened. This certainly wasn't the team I watched all year. And I don't think it was all Alabama's doing.

 

[phgreek]

Assuming Manti was and is innocent, then he had to be under a lot of emotional pressure when he learned of the hoax. Catastrophe theory in sports says a certain level of pressure helps an athlete perform. Once the pressure goes beyond that, everything crumbles and it's very hard to get it down because failure adds to the pressure. Perhaps that's what happened. This certainly wasn't the team I watched all year. And I don't think it was all Alabama's doing.

Yea...the hard part is we'll never know. I hesitate to take anything away from Bama. We did play a horrible game, but they played really well. We don't get to replay it due to fake girlfriend interference...although I wish we could.

...personally I think I'll dream about ways to kick the living hell out of the perpetrators of Fake Girlfriend gate.

 

[irishtrain]

Yea...the hard part is we'll never know. I hesitate to take anything away from Bama. We did play a horrible game, but they played really well. We don't get to replay it due to fake girlfriend interference...although I wish we could.

...personally I think I'll dream about ways to kick the living hell out of the perpetrators of Fake Girlfriend gate.

Sometimes when I teach my students on pitching principles I sound like a broken record. In other words the message is the same until they get it. Forgive my broken record for the next months leading to the 2013 season but here it is-EMBRACE THE PAIN AND LET IT FUEL YOU! Alabama won fair and square, they destroyed my Irish. As a former player in another sport I see only won recourse-EMBRACE THE PAIN AND LET IT FUEL YOU!

 

[phgreek]

Sometimes when I teach my students on pitching principles I sound like a broken record. In other words the message is the same until they get it. Forgive my broken record for the next months leading to the 2013 season but here it is-EMBRACE THE PAIN AND LET IT FUEL YOU! Alabama won fair and square, they destroyed my Irish. As a former player in another sport I see only won recourse-EMBRACE THE PAIN AND LET IT FUEL YOU!

Amen...

 

[chicago51]

Sometimes when I teach my students on pitching principles I sound like a broken record. In other words the message is the same until they get it. Forgive my broken record for the next months leading to the 2013 season but here it is-EMBRACE THE PAIN AND LET IT FUEL YOU! Alabama won fair and square, they destroyed my Irish. As a former player in another sport I see only won recourse-EMBRACE THE PAIN AND LET IT FUEL YOU!

Great post

 

[choo choo]

Sometimes when I teach my students on pitching principles I sound like a broken record. In other words the message is the same until they get it. Forgive my broken record for the next months leading to the 2013 season but here it is-EMBRACE THE PAIN AND LET IT FUEL YOU! Alabama won fair and square, they destroyed my Irish. As a former player in another sport I see only won recourse-EMBRACE THE PAIN AND LET IT FUEL YOU!

great post...do you teach pitching to any 13-year olds?...my son would benefit from someone like you i believe...

 

[stlnd01]

...personally I think I'll dream about ways to kick the living hell out of the perpetrators of Fake Girlfriend gate.

That's up to the Te'os. What's up to our football team is to kick the living hell out of Michigan and Oklahoma and USC and Stanford next season, so they can get another shot at a title.

 

[phgreek]

That's up to the Te'os. What's up to our football team is to kick the living hell out of Michigan and Oklahoma and USC and Stanford next season, so they can get another shot at a title.

...Dude, are you telling me my dream preferences are up to the Teos??? Whaaa

 

[stlnd01]

...Dude, are you telling me my dream preferences are up to the Teos??? Whaaa

They roll pretty deep.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

SBNation's Football Study Hall analyzes what passes for weakness in Saban's defensive scheme:

Well, it'd be an overstatement to say that the Aggies ran all over Alabama. While the Tide defense was overwhelmed early and gave up crucial big plays late, they managed to minimize big plays by A&M over the course of the game and at least held them under 30 points, giving the offense a great chance to win. The creases in the middle that A&M's spread sets created for their run game were not nearly as big as they had been against opponents with weaker linemen than 'Bama featured.

However, these games over the second half of the schedule at least revealed how Alabama can be vulnerable the same way every other defense is vulnerable (only, to a lesser degree), against an offense that can simultaneously threaten every part of the field. Unfortunately for defenses, spread tactics are increasing the total number of teams who can achieve that goal.

Nick Saban is going to have to adjust the kinds of players he targets and develops to maintain his system in the future. This is already evident in the development of Clinton-Dix, who is an upgrade over previous Saban safeties in athleticism and range. C.J. Mosley was also an athletic upgrade at linebacker and instrumental in limiting big plays by the Aggies.

Both return to play prominent roles for the 2013 defense.

However, the deployment of big and powerful DL by the Crimson Tide was instrumental in their success in not getting boat raced by the Aggies. As long as Saban is able to maintain a revolving door of massive nose tackles and physically dominant ends to cause pile-ups in the middle and set up the back seven to be whomever they need to be, they'll be amongst the game's greatest.

From physically imposing monsters like Dont'a Hightower to athletic freaks like C.J. Mosley, if Alabama can manage the middle they'll remain on top.