We are set to conclude the 8th edition of the College Football Playoffs this Monday night live from Indianapolis as the powers-that-be finally decided a place outside of a warm weather region could host the National Championship Game. Too bad Notre Dame couldn’t have made the trip down south in their own state for this game.
The first playoff back in 2014 started off really freaking fun. That was also the last time at least one SEC team didn’t make the title game. For me, it feels just like yesterday but that Alabama-Georgia overtime thriller for all the marbles was 4 years ago. Now, they meet again for league, regional, and national supremacy.
Georgia (-2.5) vs. Alabama
AT&T College Football Playoff National Championship
Lucas Oil Stadium
Indianapolis, Indiana
Date: Monday, January 10, 2022
Time: 8:00 PM ET
TV: ESPN
For Nick Saban this improves his ridiculously stupid and mind-boggling run for the Crimson Tide, without question the greatest run and dynastic era for any coach at a single program. Saban made one BCS Title Game with LSU, appeared in 3 more BCSNG’s with the Tide, and is entering his 6th College Football National Championship Game.
He’s played 9 do-or-die games for a championship and won 7 times. Absurd.
Ahead of our Rose Bowl meeting in the semi-finals last year I noted this about Saban and his players:
His players have won the following individual awards: 2 Bednarik Awards, 2 Biletnikoff Awards, 1 Nakurski Award, 3 Butkus Awards, 2 Doak Walker Awards, 3 Maxwell Awards, 4 Outland Trophies, 2 Rimington Trophies, 2 Walter Camp Awards, and 2 Heisman Trophies.
You can go ahead and add another Maxwell, Davey O’Brien, Nagurski, and Heisman to that list from 2021. And this is supposed to be a down year for Alabama, so they say.
Following 9 years under the tutelage of Saban, we’ve witnessed Kirby Smart successfully take over and thrive as the head coach at Georgia now coming off his second SEC Coach of the Year honor. As he closes out his 6th season in Athens, Smart is comfortably the winningest coach in school history (minimum 2 years) and is currently winning at a clip of 0.821 compared to Vince Dooley at 0.715 and Mark Richt at 0.740.
Yet, Georgia is 0-4 against Alabama with Smart as their coach suffering a somewhat shocking 17-point loss to the Tide in the SEC Championship just 37 days ago. It’ll be that recent history, plus the decades-long stench of futility in the biggest games that Georgia looks to overcome Monday night for their first title in 41 years.
Most Talented Championship
It’s a strange time. For the casual fan this is probably the biggest “no-name” Alabama team in a number of years. They’ve dealt with injuries at running back and wide receiver, plus even Bryce Young’s Heisman run* never truly felt special in any way, sort of winning by default. Defensive end Will Anderson should be a household name but many of the defenders for the Tide aren’t huge national stars…yet.
*Young’s passer rating (173.69) is 5th best in the Saban-era behind Tua 2019 (206.93), Jones 2020 (203.06), Tua 2018 (199.44), and McCarron 2012 (175.20).
Speaking of no-name, that was basically the moniker for this Georgia defense whose most high-profile player Jordan Davis is a nose guard with nose guard statistics. Their best receiver has been hurt and barely played all season, their backfield is missing sure-fire NFL future starters like they’re accustomed to using, and their quarterback is a former walk-on who left Georgia only to come back and eventually win the starting job.
However, in terms of blue-chip ratio this may be the most talent-packed National Championship Game, perhaps ever. For the last 5 recruiting cycles (2017-2021) Alabama has finished 1st, 5th, 1st, 2nd, and 1st nationally while Georgia has finished 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 1st and 4th.
I suspect once many of these younger players make it to the NFL we’ll be looking at this game a lot differently in terms of how much talent was on the field.
Dawgs Enough on Offense?
Georgia’s defense was so good during the regular season–and their schedule not particularly compelling enough–that no one really needed to criticize the Dawgs offense too much unless you wanted to project things to the highest level of the sport. That high level came in the SEC Championship and while Georgia’s offense did some nice things they looked a lot more ordinary than you’d hope.
For certain, there should be plenty of criticism of Georgia’s defense, too. They gave up 14.8% of their season yardage and a crazy 30.3% of their points allowed in the loss to Alabama!
Still, when you close your eyes it’s so hard to see this Georgia offense coming up big and winning this game. In this day and age when it seems like a non-starter to win a title without an elite quarterback and receivers they don’t have either piece in place. Although, their tight end Brock Bowers is legitimately better than Michael Mayer.
Too Much Rat Poison
If I was Kirby Smart and Georgia I’d be livid that we’re favored in this game. They were 6.5-point favorites in the SEC Championship and Alabama covered easily with a victory. Now, Vegas is still riding that black and red wave keeping them solidly 2.5-point favorites.
My gut instinct is that this is crazy but it’s so crazy it smells fishy.
In Georgia’s favor, I like that they have a full game of scouting to come back with a much better defensive effort and frankly I’m sure many, including Vegas, are banking on just that. Also, the Tide have to be pretty worried that receiver John Metchie (97 yards, 1 TD in the 1st meeting) got hurt late in the SEC Championship and isn’t playing.
You could argue Alabama was doing whatever it wanted on the ground against Cincinnati but through the air they were really struggling at times to free up receivers against the Bearcats terrific top 2 cornerbacks. I’m figuring Georgia will scheme up something to bother Alabama’s offensive line that, first meeting aside, has looked shaky for most of the season. Add in the loss of Metchie and there’s a recipe for a really bad Bryce Young passing performance.
The bar has been set so high and for so long that it’s hard to judge this Alabama team. It seemed like this year was finally one of those seasons where they were on cruise control and complacent far too many times. Then you look up and here they are in the title game again with the No. 2 SP+ offense and No. 10 SP+ defense.
Their defense especially hasn’t looked up to snuff at times this year. Traditionally, Saban’s defense have struggled against mobile quarterbacks and if you don’t have that you’ll need weird things like turnovers or the game to be shortened dramatically with long drives and field goals. Georgia doesn’t have a mobile quarterback and can’t be too excited at how their vaunted defense matched up with Alabama’s offense in the first matchup.
I cannot in good conscience bet against Nick Saban in this spot. But, I think this will be a very close game.
Where does Saban stand on the list of best coaches of all time in any sport? I know it’s difficult to compare different sports, different eras, etc. But his degree of dominance, plus the fact that he built it from the ground up, and has maintained it for so long, has to put him in the top 3. He’s got to be considered the best college football coach of all time without really any question.
In other sports, Red Auerbach’s Celtics had an even more impressive stretch, along with John Wooden’s Bruins. Casey Stengel’s Yankees in the 50s. Phil Jackson. Belichick.
That’s all I’ve got. I can’t think of anyone else with a comparable amount of dominance for as long a period of time. Notably missing of course, is European soccer, which I know nothing about. Any other thoughts?
A few others you could throw into the conversation:
Geno Auriemma – UCONN Women’s Basketball – 11 National Championships, including 3 in a row and 4 in a row. .884 all time winning percentage. Only teams I’ve ever heard people complain about being “too dominant” outside of Belichick’s Patriots and Saban’s Crimson Tide.
Skip Bertman – LSU Baseball – 5 National Championships, 7 Conference Titles. Made the College World Series in 11 of his 18 seasons (and Regional or Super Regional in 5 of the other 7 seasons). Made the postseason in his final 13 seasons. .754 Postseason Winning Percentage.
Mike Kryzewski – Duke Basketball – Never had a stretch as dominant as Saban, but he made the NCAA Tournament 11 years in a row…which is 13 years shorter than the longest streak of his career, 24 straight years.
Of those 3, only Auriemma had a level of dominance at or above Saban. What Saban has done, and the various ways he has done it, is unbelievable. From a stifling defensive coach who leaned on the ground game, to scoring 52 points to win a title, his ability to adapt has been unbelievable.
Scotty Bowman in the NHL and either Alex Ferguson or Pep Guardiola in European soccer are in the conversation.
Came here to say SAF as well. Pep is also an interesting thought. It is tough to look at different sports in different generations and compare, although fun.
Bowman’s a good call, if only for the famous (paraphrased) quote “364 days of the year you hated playing for Scotty and then the 365th day you get to pick up your championship ring”. Everything was always like pulling teeth for him, and he had an antagonistic-type relationship with a lot of his players (including the stars!) which I don’t really know how that would have translated with millennials/zoomers in other generations…But no doubt he was brilliant for his time.
Good call on Bowman. I was thinking for NHL examples, but didn’t think that the Islanders or Oilers 4 year runs were as impressive as the long term dominance of Saban. I honestly didn’t realize that Bowman had won 8 cups with 3 different teams as a coach. I only remembered him from the Wings in the 90s
The sense of inevitable victory Bama has under Saban is very Man U under Sir Alex. Plus one rages about “rat poison” when his team wins and the other threw shoes at his star player’s head for being too into his branding, kinda the same. Here’s hoping it also falls apart when Saban retires. Who is the CFB David Moyes?
Probably Steve Sarkisian.
The only funnier answer would be Lane
Great call on UCONN. Muffet might have added a couple more championships if not for that juggernaut.
Auerbach and Wooden certainly had more dominant runs in their day, but I think it’s hard to compare basketball in the 60s with football in the 2000s. First, way smaller roster sizes means that acquiring and keeping the best talent is less of a challenge in basketball than football. Clearly it’d be a mistake to say that the Celtics or the Bruins were about one or two players during their runs (impossible in college hoops, even) but still, you only have to get the 12 best players instead of the 85 best. (Also, Auerbach could keep his players on contract for more than 4 years, since it was the pros).
Then you compare across time, and now, every team is on TV, whereas back then a few teams (doesn’t matter if we talk FB or BB) got to be on TV. Just comparing football from that era (not relevant to Wooden or Auerbach), scholarship limits spread out talent such that I don’t think you can even compare Bryant or Leahy to Saban adequately. Across both sports, the time was unregulated in ways that allowed juggernauts (47 ND’s second string all being NFL players, etc) in ways you just can’t do anymore.
And yet, Saban has. He’s done different things, and when they changed the rules (eliminating gray shirting) he changed and found another advantage. The vast majority of rules changes (plus just the way the sport has grown) has prevented the type of Wooden-level dominance, and to be fair that was pretty much impossible in football even at that time. So, it may not seem like it if you just count championships as the only metric, but I think what Saban has managed to do, IN THIS AGE of football, is at least as impressive, and possibly moreso, than Wooden.
Imagine going back to January 2006 and telling someone who just watched the Texas-SC Rose Bowl that, in 16 years, the national title game would be mid-January Monday night rematch between Bama and Georgia in the Colts’ stadium.
I feel like Smart built a team (AWESOME defense, power run game) that is like trying to compete with Saban circa 2012 style of team.
And now Saban has adapted and morphed his offense to an even more ruthless level that now has 1st round QB talent to throwing the ball around to his choice of 2-3 future 1st round WR talent (in most years, anyways), which is pretty much the opposite of the typical old school SEC-type offense.
So that’s Smart’s problem, he probably built a better early 2010’s team than Saban could, but Saban went all Roddy Piper and changed the questions just as soon as Kirby got the answers.
Bama 31, Georgia 21.
Can’t remember which of the podcasts I listen to it was, might have been Split-Zone Duo or the CBS sports guys, but someone brought up the point that UGA went into the SECCG making zero adjustments to play Bama, just playing them straight up the same way they’d played the entire season. Basically, they didn’t look at the game film from aTm or Auburn and implement the things those teams did to slow Young and the rest of the offense.
The idea was that they wanted to see how their D matched up without making adjustments, and they had the leeway to get into the playoff with a loss (and that was true). This then put a game on film for Bama to prepare for, but UGA would then come back tonight making all sorts of adjustments, ready for the rematch.
I think this is a bit galaxy brain, as if UGA won potentially Bama wouldn’t even be in the playoff so why not just knock them off. So I’m not sure I buy it as intentional. But I do think UGA can come up with a better game plan, and contain the Bama offense a bit more than they did.
Of course, Saban’s going to know all of this, and going to anticipate, and so who knows what will actually happen. I think UGA could win but it’s really hard to bet against Saban, especially since it would mean UGA finally overcoming.
Jaxson Dart in the portal. Williams to USC?
Jaxson Dart is in the portal. Sounds like we’ll be playing Caleb Williams…
Welp.
Must have been the real sales pitch to CJ Williams. Dart was pretty mediocre.
Dart looked pretty good I thought. Just not Caleb Williams good.
I never watched him play, but statistically he is pretty underwhelming.
His best 2 games were his first 2. vs Wash St in Sep, 4 TDs, 2 INTs, buncha yards, good comp%. Second was Arizona at the end of Oct, with 18 attempts for 109 yds and 2 TDs, good comp%. Pretty OK.
His final 4 games, in Nov, he had the same number of picks as TDs, and never more than 1 TD.
BYU was a decent game, but 35 attempts for 248 yds and 1 TD is pretty meh.
Let’s put it this way: USC had as much reason to feel good about Jaxson Dart as we do about Buchner. And, unfortunately, they’re definitely upgrading from that.
He’s better than Jurkovec.
Lincoln Riley just moving the best parts of OU to USC. Will they play Boomer Sooner after TDs? Sheesh
USC’s rebuild is going to go a lot faster than we thought with Caleb Williams coming. He’s mobile so he can make up for some sins of the offensive line too.
Happy 36th Birthday, Coach.
Nice touch on the cake, ND staff.
https://twitter.com/Marcus_Freeman1/status/1480579416967335938
Honest question re: rooting interests tonight.
my natural inclination is to root against Bama, because of course it is.
I grew up in Jacksonville, FL, among mostly Gators and Noles with Dawgs a close third (and then some Canes and various SEC detritus). Because the Gators were so f’ing obnoxious (and it was the age of Spurrier destroying mediocre UGA teams) I tended to sympathize with the Dawgs some. They didn’t seem so bad, for SEC types. I’ve been to a game at UGA and had a lot of fun (2012 Tennessee game) and overall if I had to say “which team in the SEC do I want to have success, especially at the expense of other teams…or at least not burn in a raging inferno?” the answer is probably UGA.
BUT.
If Bama wins, nothing really changes in the CFB landscape. Ho hum, Saban’s the best ever, yet another NC. Life goes on.
If UGA wins…does it mean they’ve finally gotten over the hump? (I mean, yes, yes it would)
They already recruit #1-#2-#3 classes each year, and I don’t think a loss changes that in the near term. But a win solidifies it and could set UGA up to be the next Clemson if not the next Bama. A loss…do we start to have some doubt about Kirby, fair or not? Do recruits think “well, he had #1 classes and still couldn’t win, maybe I will think twice about going…”?
Is it better for ND to stick with the Saban we know on top (especially since he can’t possibly coach forever….right?) rather than the devil we don’t?
Interesting question. After thinking about it, is it bad I don’t think it really matters? Both should still be recruiting certainly top-5, if not both top-3 classes for the foreseeable future. I don’t really think the result one way or the other changes too much there.
Maybe UGA gets a small boost if they win on that front or just more prominence and general strength for the decade of the 2020’s (and Saban is 70, right? He’s not going to be there forever, even though it feels like he will be there forever).
So maybe longterm it would be better for Notre Dame if Georgia isn’t a national champ. Especially since ND likes to recruit down there. I think it’s like 2 out of 10 on importance though, probably some positives and negatives that about cancel out no matter the result.
Nah, I’m galaxy-braining it. It probably doesn’t matter at all.
It’s a worthy idea on a day like today!
Roll Tide.
(I really like Nick Saban).
I do too, actually. I moved well beyond the “god I hate how successful he his” stage long ago to a place of “that’s just amazing, I can’t even hate anymore.” And he’s evolved so much over his time that you can’t say it’s due to this or that or anything other than the man is the best coach in CFB history.
I don’t feel the same about Bama fans, however.
One thing that hasn’t changed. When you have the best players, it’s a lot easier to win. He realized that early on and has prioritized and excelled at it in a way no other has.
Absolutely.
I mean, Leahy and Bear and Rockne and Bud Wilkinson and I don’t know pick any other great coach and they knew that too. Saban’s found ways to be the best at it despite all the rules shifting over the last 50 years to eliminate stockpiling.
I got to disagree with you all on Leahy. Father Hesburgh moved the goal posts on him brutally, and he found a way to come back. Should’ve had two more Nattys and left the cupboard absolutely stacked when health forced him to retire.
Absolutely disgree on Rockne.
They were all great in their time.
I absolutely believe it is harder now to be dominant in the fashion Saban has been than in any period before. Could Leahy or Rockne have been just as dominant in the 2000s? I don’t know. Yes, Leahy had Hesburgh come in and change things. That’s different than the NCAA rules as they stand now. I could absolutely buy an argument that both Rockne and Leahy were innovators who showed they could adapt then so there is no reason to assume they couldn’t now, but the game is so different that’s hard for me to just accept without question. We won’t get to time-port Rock to now to find out.
I was there with you Noise. I never forgave Hesburgh for what he did to us with Kuharich and Devore.
How much longer do you think he’ll coach?
What has been the oldest college coach recently? Bobby Bowden? I think he was 79 when he retired. But wasn’t he kinda propped up a bit by his coordinators at the end?
Saban doesn’t strike me as having his brain turn to applesauce like JoePa any time soon. But I also think he’s smart enough to retire instead of be forced out. I think he’ll coach out this contract (to 78, I think?) and then have a succession plan in place.
He’s looking mighty good for 70, I know that much.
yea, that’s what I’m worried about!
He’s been pretty mellow this year compared to previously. Maybe in it more now to enjoy the kids than to be as ruthlessly efficient as in the past.
Funnily enough, that new persona seems to resonate with the players.
Yeah, I started paying attention to them last year. I’d never rooted for any team but ND, but that team last year with Smith, Waddle, Jones, Harris etc was incredible to watch. They had 8 of the top 38 players drafted, plus others. And in addition to the awards Eric mentioned, they also won the Joe Moore award. Although maybe that doesn’t mean so much, after seeing how Michigan’s oline got trashed by GA and they were the Moore winner this season.
I started paying attention to Saban’s record and was blown away. He has a Thursday tv show called “Hey Coach” that you can find on YouTube that is pretty freewheeling, not much coach speak. Check it out f you’re interested. I don’t know if they do it during off season, but there are plenty out there.
I admire excellence.
I’m absolutely of the stance that I want Bama to continue to beat UGA. Mostly because Bama fans can’t get any worse, we should all be used to what the program and their fans are now. UGA winning makes their fandom way worse (i’ve got in-laws down there so it’s something of a live issue) and does nothing to help us recruiting-wise either.
Yep. There’s a bit of the crabs in the crab pot reaching up and pulling one back down just as it’s about to make it out of the pot. I’d kinda like UGA to stay in the pot of “losing to Bama” with the rest of us.
If UGA wins, it’s also then another team that’s won a title more recently than us. Pass.
The good news–been longer for Penn State and, uh, BYU!
And 111 years since my current school, which claims 14, mostly from the period when literally only Princeton and Rutgers played the game.
Open the roof in Indianapolis tonight, cowards
It almost feels weird that a team who dominated the season so thoroughly beat a not great Bama team exactly like they should have. This is what I was expecting out of the first matchup.
Tough year for Saban. To go undefeated against former assistants until you are 70 and then drop 2 in the same year.
Great game, real shame about Williams going down. I was watching the Jimbo feed on ESPN2, found it really insightful to see how coaches on that level see the game differently. Learned a lot about coverages and fronts and why specific routes on concepts were called and what they were trying to accomplish.
The game itself gave me conflicting ideas of having more hope and less hope for Notre Dame to ever win a title again. The difference in caliber btw the teams is pretty stark, how many ND players are in Georgia’s 2 deep?
Mayer and Hamilton, sure. Maybe Foskey? Maybe Patterson? Maybe Kyren? Maybe Fisher in the future? Georgia has like 19 5-stars, which means Notre Dame needs like 14-15 more players like Mayer/Kyle/Fisher to be closer to that level. Maybe not all future first round picks, but you get the picture. Pretty sobering thought.
Then again, Georgia won by building up an elite defense and didn’t really have Heisman-type offense. To some extent, I think you could imagine a best case scenario Freeman team getting on that blueprint, though it will be tough to be that deep and good in the secondary. And ideally ND would improve their offensive skill players.
I was watching the Jimbo feed too. I found it interesting but frequently hard to follow, because they were talking over each other a lot, and using a lot of coaching short hand when speaking. They were talking to each other, not to the camera. Also, Jimbo’s accent didn’t help.
When I could understand what they were talking about I found it enlightening. They always keyed on position groupings and alignments first, and frequently guessed correctly what the play would be or what the coverage would be before the snap. Also found their discussions of game management – going for it on 4th, kicking vs going for 2, etc interesting.
The final thing that stood out to me was the recruiting talk. “this is the kid from Orlando, basketball player” “oh yeah I remember him. Wow he’s gotten better” etc. I was impressed with the amount of recall about individual players.
Yeah, it would have been better with like Jimbo and his 2 most television friendly assistants there to be more focused. It did seem more like them chatting with each other more than making a good broadcast, but so it goes. Kinda part of the charm to me was it felt like you were a fly on the wall for a A&M team meeting/scouting session more than being polished or designed for TV like the Manning-cast was, which was also rough around the edges at times (and part of its charm).
I did like it. I think something splitting the difference a little bit would be nice. Did A&M pay for all that advertising? At one point the camera just sat on their “Texas A&M: Building Champions” sign at the top of the room for a full 60 seconds with no audio
SEC & ESPN deal. I didn’t watch it admittedly, but nobody promotes and protects their investments better than the Mouse. The NHL basically didn’t exist to them for 10-15 years, but now it’s back.
If you have the ESPN app, I’ve noticed that for sporting events that aren’t on there network you have to scroll down the app to find the scores or under the Scores tab you have to go over to find them. For example on NFL Sunday which the majority of the country would be searching for scores/stats on, they will highlight whatever is on ESPN that day CBB or Women’s CBB.
All in all, probably not a big thing to most, but IMO just a small little maneuver by them in controlling the messaging especially to casual fans.
the most egregious example of this was the fact that when ESPN didn’t have the NHL deal, Hockey basically ceased to exist on their platforms in any form, even getting minimal time on Sportscenter.
ESPN is the worst
Totally agree
Kyren will end up being drafted higher than any of those UGA running backs I suspect, so he would have played. Foskey would be rotational. Kevin Austin would start as their #2 WR.
But otherwise, yeah, fair point.
I’m encouraged by the LB talent coming in 22 and 23 classes. We’ve also done a good job of building solid depth along Dline. This, by the way, is an unheralded accomplishment of Kelly’s coaching era. We went from “no way we can get those kinds of guys to come to ND” to “well, of course we’re strong along both lines, but now we need skill players”
If you had said in 2016 that going forward defensive line would clearly be the best position on the team for the next five years nobody would have believed it. Folks thought that was the hardest position for ND to recruit to!
And yet. Big props to BK and Elston for that.
Yep. Big reason why I really hoped we’d keep Elston (but not promote him to DC)
Yeah, Elston seems to have really hit his stride right where he is.
From a quick check, I think UGA had three RBs ranked top 50 coming out of HS. Does Kyren even see the field after a slow start to his career? I mean, he is good, but I feel like he would be lost in the shuffle there. Maybe the junior version of him plays a lot, that’s probably fair, but I don’t think he would have been good enough to be recruited there in the first place.
Jermaine Burton and George Pickens are way better than Austin, no chance KA starts for them.
I think UGA just proved that you can win a title with an Ian Book-level QB instead of a Trevor Lawrence/Tua/Joe Burrow-level QB.
You just have to have the best defense of possibly all time and certainly the modern era. Easy peasy.
And also the top two wide receivers have to be out for Bama, when Bama is also in a down year. Super easy.
Not too much to ask, is it? Sucks ND caught Bama last year with Mac, Najee, Devonta, etc.
That was the best offense I’ve ever seen in college, although LSU in 2019 is in the conversation.
So you’re saying there’s a chance!!!!
Plus their 3 best corners. 4th and 5th string CBs played the entire game for Bama.
And possibly only in a down year for offense. All of the 4 playoff teams fielded a subpar offense compared to recent years.
Your probably right re Kyren, although he may have punched through. That Cook kid is special though.
I totally agree re Austen. No way he’s in the 2 deep at GA IMO.
I mean, that’s why you take the big swing at a “recruiter” coach and see if we can change that.
Sure, but I think the word you used being “change” and not “equal” is a wise choice too. Change could happen but there’s a long, long way to go. UGA was at I think over 80% on the blue chip ratio, and if there was a blue, blue chip ratio they would blow Notre Dame away for top 50 prospects.
Nah, we’ll never equal it. Simply impossible.
What we can do is get closer to the Clemson model–Clemson never recruited (still doesn’t) in the Top 1-3 (see above). But they got the right guys at the right positions, closed margins, and had enough to compete and win. We’ll never get 15 Top 100 guys in one class, much less over 4 classes. But we can go from maybe getting 1 to possibly getting 5, close the margins, and have a chance.
Looking at Georgia’s defense last night I kept thinking all their D-linemen look like Stephon Tuitt.
That’s funny. Maybe not # 99 though? Tuitt looked more athletic, but would give up 50 pounds to Davis. The other GA guys, yep.
What I couldn’t get over was the lateral speed and just…violence on defense. Of both teams, really. I LOVE Foskey, and I think he’s a great DE. But watching Will Anderson and Dallas Whateverhislastnameis (#16) for Bama was just different. I don’t even necessarily mean “better” because Foskey gets results too, but they were SO quick to the outside or upfield, it was like watching jungle cats or Predators or something. That one stretch play UGA ran to the left and #16 ran it down at an angle, I shook my head and was like “no way I’m running laterally at these guys, ever.”
On the flip side, UGA’s D-line were bigger across the board but man they were fast too. And you had #88 block a field goal and then go be a lead blocker (with 99 as well) on the answering TD run, just blowing up fools. UGA’s edge speed was more in the linebacker corps with Dean and #41 but again, just flying. It was fun to watch. You can develop good players at any position, but some things you just can’t coach, the kid has to come with. We need more of that.
MOTS: As does pretty much every team besides Bama, UGA, tOSU, and aTm at this point. ND’s a really good team who recruits really well all things considered and certainly at the top of the next level down. But hard to beat the top level when they’ve got 9 Kyle Hamiltons starting on D.
Agreed. I was talking to my cousin who went to Pitt and he said “the speed and intensity of the game made it look foreign to me as a different sport from what I’m used to watching”. College football+ type game, incredible teams.
Agree on the “9 Kyle Hamiltons” thing.
I was going through one of ‘Bama’s juggernaut teams a few years ago (can’t remember which year) and was depressed to see that, by individual units our all-decade 2010-2020 team wasn’t as good as their team for that year, outside of O-Line (Nelson/Glinch/Stanley/Martin/Martin), and the all-Butkus Te’o/Jaylon/JOK linebacker corps.
Bama too. I was shocked how both team’s linebackers would blitz and then somehow turn around and make plays in the secondary.
That was Dallas Turner, number 15, KG. He’s a true freshman (!) and Anderson is a true soph.
After Williams went down, all of the Bama receivers who played were true freshman or sophs.
Two literal velociraptors at DE just ripping anything lateral or QBs dropping back to shreds. It was awe-inspiring.
And yet, I don’t feel bad for Bama at all losing because they didn’t have two all-world WRs. That’s how everyone else plays and they STILL were starting WRs that were more highly ranked than like anyone we’ve had in the last 10 years – 1 a 5 star and others super high 4 stars – probably top 100 players. They were just freshmen and soph and partly because their seniors are in the NFL. Tough life.
But still, who doesn’t think that if Williams was healthy it would have been a closer game and if they had their other WR they may have been the favorite.
Yeah, good points.
The way I look at it is that a game between both teams relatively healthy was played in the SECCG and Bama won by 17. This game, minus their best WRs and CBs, Bama led with 9 or so minutes left in the game.
Kirby called this year Saban’s best coaching job ever. Bama fans expected a 2-3 loss regular season and maybe a NY6 bowl.
Between them Bama and GA had 33 5 stars. More than the PAC 12 and Big 12 COMBINED.
Huge hurdle for us.
I guess somewhat interesting thought experiment: https://twitter.com/NDrecruiting01/status/1480985269998399490?s=20
I disagree – if we had beaten Cincy, we would have been playing Georgia and gotten ripped to shreds.
Lolz
That tweet is crazy, as if totally forgotten that Hiestand’s 2014 and 2016 lines weren’t fairly poor, especially relative to the good years. Unless he’s walking in the door with McGlinchey and Nelson there’s not a chance in the world he’s coaching up what they had this year into a playoff caliber line. OL play is cyclical for building chemistry and experience around a group that will ideally grow together and peak after 2-3 years with most the same pieces in place. (i.e what 2023 will look like with veterans Fisher, Spindler and Alt as the next peak).
Ditto the WR coach, unless he was hired 2-3 years ago and recruited like 3-4 more good players that stuck, the damage was already done for the 2021 season.
Cincinnati would be the only team ND would have had a puncher’s chance against in this year’s playoff and Cincy won @ND by double digits and pretty much coached and played circles around the Irish with superior QB play, so even that would be fairly iffy to beat. Either SEC team would have beaten Notre Dame by 20+, and probably emphasis on the “+”, regardless of assistant coaches.
Though I think we may have a playoff caliber line next year. Alt and Fisher have a ton of talent. If HH can coach them up and get Patterson playing his best that’s certainly 3/5 of the way to a playoff caliber line. What he does with the guards will be the difference between whether it actually is a playoff caliber line or not though.
Yeah, I agree there, the tweet was talking about this year which is just preposterous to think a position coach is going to make mediocre and/or green players into star level performers. I do believe the ND line could and probably should be strong next season with Patterson back, but even with J-Patt gone in 2023, that should be the next peak of the cycle due to the strengths of the other ascending players.
Though in 2024 if Fisher and Alt came back for senior seasons to go with Spindler/Schrauth, that line could be monstrous and Joe Moore quality, even though that’s a big projection 30+ months out..And from McGlinchey to Stanley to even Q, ND has had success in talking back star linemen to stay for a fourth year…
Accepting your premise re: 30+ months out, I think it’s pretty reasonable to expect at least Fisher to stick around. How many RS sophomore offensive linemen go pro? True junior is rare enough. Good chance both are on the 2024 line, which would be spectacular.
Oh gosh. Someone actually believes that?
Can’t keep track of what news was shared but Bauer and Wilkens announced they are coming back. Also Kia is taking his mission.
Also saw this report but an OSU beat reporter:
Andrew Lind
@AndrewMLind
·
5h
My sources indicated last week that Ohio State outbid Notre Dame for Frye’s services. The Buckeyes were also willing to give him a better title than the Fighting Irish, who hired Harry Hiestand instead.
Should at least be some high end audio in the Gug.
I’m sure tOSU gave Frye a ton of money, but it’s been reported that OL was going to be a Rees hire and reading between the lines it seemed like Rees was always focused on Hiestand (plus Watt) as his primary choice.
IMO, I’d bet both programs got their preferred candidate.
Another minor roster update. It looks like Kahanu Kia will be going on his mission, so that’s an extra roster spot for 2 years (or more if he doesn’t come back).