The Rest of College Football

[WingsFan]

getting laid FIFY

LOL! Thanks Paul

[hack]

We'll see you shmucks Sunday. Looking forward to it.

[amaizenblue]

I have no love for either team but I'd bet Alabama could play close with mid to low level NFL teams; they'd beat the likes of the Lions.

Hoping this is hyperbole. No way any college team could run with any pro team. 8-)

[Dr. Strangelove]

Well count me amongst the Saban is overrated crowd. Giving up a TD right there was inexcusable.

[Da Geezer]

I'm a little slow here, but who is Gene Smith, Talent?

[Da Geezer]

Hey, break up the SEC

[WingsFan]

Gene Smith is the athletic director for The Ohio State University

[Pasadena Blue]

I'm a little slow here, but who is Gene Smith, Talent?

He worked for Jim Tressel, and now works for Urban Meyer, just like Gordon Gee.

[entropy]

Busted coverage has some impressive photos of SJ's mom too

[The Oracle]

Well count me amongst the Saban is overrated crowd. Giving up a TD right there was inexcusable.

Totally unforgiveable.

[iam416]

Alabama is just really, really good. It's not even an SEC-thing -- it's an Alabama thing. They destroyed LSU last year in the BCS Title game, too.

Now, Notre Dame fell assbackwards into this game. In reality, even with what turned out to be an easy schedule, it still took a minor miracle for them to go undefeated. Kelly did a great job doing that. But they were always nothing more than a very good B10 team -- for this season. OSU and Notre Dame would have been a good game.

The Nick is now 8-1 all-time in championship games (BCS + SEC). He's 1-1 vs UFM. I wish I could say a rubber match next season would go well for OSU, but there is still a significant talent gap. I can't imagine how OSU would move the ball with WRs that Alabama could lock down with any one its 2-deep CBs.

[Jeff Buchanan]

The Nick is now 8-1 all-time in championship games (BCS + SEC). He's 1-1 vs UFM. I wish I could say a rubber match next season would go well for OSU, but there is still a significant talent gap. I can't imagine how OSU would move the ball with WRs that Alabama could lock down with any one its 2-deep CBs.

Right ..... I think the key to the success of the Saban coached D at Alabama is the skill set of the back side defenders combined with a very stout set of athletic LBs. It is very hard to run the ball against this defense let alone throw it.

ND had some success on short outs but the coverage on anything else was nothing short of amazing on the few shots I saw of it. This even with man coverage.

While the talent level is pretty high in a comparative sense with most CFB teams, Saban is relentlessly meticulous in everything that has to do with game prep and, overall, building a power house; he gets more mileage out of what he puts on the field than most coaches in CFB do and he does this consistently. Without a major misstep in 2013, he'll be back in the NCG in 2014 as well, OL departures to the NFL not withstanding.

[iam416]

Yep. Saban is, obviously, fantastic. His teams are always, to borrow a phrase from OP, "pipe-hitting" hard. His teams always play really hard. His teams are always well-disciplined. In short, he takes great talent and gets them to play to their potential within the team concept. That's not easy.

Whatever else you want to say about him or Alabama, and there's a shit-ton to say, you can't deny what a fantastic job he does getting his team to meet or exceed expectations. And think about that for a second -- the expectations he has to meet are National Title. Going 10-3, losing an improbable heartbreaker to Cam Newton and then pounding the bejesus out of Dantonio = total failure season.

I, obviously, think about Alabama in terms of how OSU would matchup with them. But the larger point is that any fan of any team would have some matchup that would leaving them shaking their head. Alabama probably could have reversed its defensive two-deep last night (started 2nd stringers and rotated in 1st stringers) and won by 28.

Of course, I'm judging from watching roughly 15 minutes of the game. Heh.

[UMStan White]

Saban's bowl loss to Utah must have been quite the wake-up call. He's rolled ever since by having his bowl teams completely prepared and focused.

[iam416]

How many SEC schools would be on probation if the NCAA would just look for some violations?

This is from Rocky's post on the ND thread. To answer this question, probably one or two that are sloppy. Think about this, Rocky. The mass media descended on Columbus for months with one aim -- to dig up the next OSU cheating story. ESPN, in particular, sent folks with a specific objective -- don't come back until you have something. They called gads of players, dug around for weeks. And in the end, the only actual NCAA violations anyone unearthed were self-reported (Tressel + DiGeronimo). That's it.

My point -- and don't miss this -- is that it's very hard to find "cheating". I guarantee you at least some OSU players get "extra benefits" while they're playing at OSU. I also guarantee you the same happens at most schools (I'll say most so as to not suggest M does this in any way). But you can't really catch that.

What I've heard from "insiders" is this: the SEC is at an entirely different level. While OSU (and "most" B10 schools) surely have players who get the proverbial $100/$500 handshakes, the SEC flat out buys recruits. Brazenly. Briefcases full of money brazen. They said they're not aware of B10 schools doing that (a lot of this was discussed during the Jordan Diamond recruitment). So, at least to their mind, the difference between the SEC and others is that others (not M) break the rules in more mundane ways; the SEC blows up the rules.

I was reminded of that chat watching the 30/30 on SMU. An SMU assistant coach showed up at the house of a kid who was committed to A&M. He opened a briefcase up and showed him $20,000. The kid looked at it and told him, "Coach, you're not even close." I think those recruiting practices are still fairly prevalent in the South. Though, I should note that I think some SEC schools/coaches try to avoid it as much as possible -- so I probably shouldn't paint with a broad brush.

Incidentally, I wonder how much South Carolina paid to get Clowney?