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Game Thread 2015 Sugar Bowl: (1) Alabama vs. (4) Ohio State, Jan 1st @ 8:30p ET, ESPN (civilized thread)

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Gcashwell said:
We were without depriest in that game. He is the brains of the defense, and we weren't in the proper set a lot of times. White also torched our secondary.
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Thanks, even the fairly mediocre Brian Griese was quick to point out the disarray of the defense.
It was a pretty ugly game all around by both teams. You could tell it was the first game of the season. You will notice a lot of inconsistency in alabama's play until after the Arkansas game. They kind of started to gel a little bit after that it seems.
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Which players/positions have really elevated their play since that game? Or is it more about cohesion and playing as a team? (this is the reason such a talented DL actually caused issues for OSU's less prolific back seven).
 
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jwinslow said:
Thanks, even the fairly mediocre Brian Griese was quick to point out the disarray of the defense.

Which players/positions have really elevated their play since that game? Or is it more about cohesion and playing as a team? (this is the reason such a talented DL actually caused issues for OSU's less prolific back seven).
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Everybody has improved as you would expect through the season. Sims is a different player than he was then. The chemistry has improved as well. They have started playing very well together and seem to like working for and with each other.

We had some issues mid season with OL injuries (ryan kelly especially). Kelly went out in the ole miss game and missed Arkansas. Our OL was terrible without him at center. That seems to be fixed. Cam Robinson has come on very strong.
 
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SECorBust said:
I wonder how much Rashaan Evans plays and how much tOSU will try to run read option plays with Jones? The coaches played the 5* true FR a lot the last two games and he seems to really have caught on late in the season. I like tOSU's chances better with play action/pass heavy in this game. I think that plays into Jones strengths better too. Before he was running an offense designed for JT.
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Don't see that at all. We went deep often with Cardale... wouldn't have done that as often with JT.
 
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jwinslow said:
Thanks, even the fairly mediocre Brian Griese was quick to point out the disarray of the defense.

Which players/positions have really elevated their play since that game? Or is it more about cohesion and playing as a team? (this is the reason such a talented DL actually caused issues for OSU's less prolific back seven).
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The speed guys at linebacker have all progressed. Tim Williams was in the dog house/suspended. Rashaan played in the first game as a true freshman which is extremely odd at Alabama. I'm pretty sure we still mainly just struggled with White. WVU ran the no huddle very well but could not control the ball/clock with the run game and that was one of the bigger keys to the game. Clint Trickett threw for nearly 3300 yards this year and came out of the gates looking good. It was a little bit of an unknown how well he would perform going into that game. This team has steadily gotten better at defending the no huddle. The last game Bama played before facing WVU was Oklahoma and Auburn who both used it. Fast forward to Auburn and Mizzou. Those QBs were under so much pressure. Both made huge plays under duress that were somewhat unbelievable. Some of that was luck some was skill. Both of those guys were veteran QBs though.

I think Blake threw the ball late to the TE on the pick. The DB covering Cooper broke off and picked the ball. That should never have happened.
 
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SECorBust said:
The speed guys at linebacker have all progressed. Tim Williams was in the dog house/suspended. Rashaan played in the first game as a true freshman which is extremely odd at Alabama. I'm pretty sure we still mainly just struggled with White. WVU ran the no huddle very well but could not control the ball/clock with the run game and that was one of the bigger keys to the game. Clint Trickett threw for nearly 3300 yards this year and came out of the gates looking good. It was a little bit of an unknown how well he would perform going into that game.
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Mr. Trickett went from prolific to trash as the season progressed. He was my safety valve for my fantasy football team.
This team has steadily gotten better at defending the no huddle. The last game Bama played before facing WVU was Oklahoma and Auburn who both used it. Fast forward to Auburn and Mizzou. Those QBs were under so much pressure. Both made huge plays under duress that were somewhat unbelievable. Some of that was luck some was skill. Both of those guys were veteran QBs though.

I think Blake threw the ball late to the TE on the pick. The DB covering Cooper broke off and picked the ball. That should never have happened.
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Thanks for the breakdown.
 
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SECorBust said:
Wisky was ready for the read option. I don't know what to say. Sure they threw downfield more with the big arm and the speed of Devin. He did stay in the pocket a bit more probably. They only had a week to put him in and they ran the QB a little, but it wasn't very effective. Largely the plays seemed designed around JT's strengths.
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People said the same thing when Barrett, the OL & WRs all played poorly vs VT. Many posters here trashed Herman's bad playcalling. Then the OL gelled, the WRs resumed catching the football and Barrett matured in the offense, and suddenly "better playcalling" was being used.

I think they may adjust what their bread and butter is a bit with a full month to prepare and a far more athletic Alabama defense coming up. I disagree strongly with the notion that the
Do you know what happened with Trickett? I saw his stats trickle off there against the later teams.
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Keep in mind that I was choosing between him and Connor Halliday, so my metric is a bit biased. There were a few good defenses but he also had pedestrian outings vs TCU and just an okay day against Ok St.
 
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A couple of things have been going through my mind in relation to what some are saying about this game.

One is what some ESPN personalities have said about Urban at the Bama-ND BCSNCG when he was their employee. He was noting what a fine looking football team Alabama had. Subsequently, Herbstreit said that Urban told him that he intended to build a team at Ohio State that could compete with that Alabama team. We have watched this happen. It would be interesting to know whether Urban thinks he is there. I, like many, felt like he was a year away. They do seem to need a little more quality DL depth. The red shirts seem to have the LB and secondary positions stocked for the next several years. The offense seems to be in great shape as far as QB's (a massive understatement) and skill players, although if Zeke would go down, I think we are still a little thin behind him. We saw an elite looking team look it's best in the B1G CG. Did a light go on, did that beatdown have as much to do with Wisky as it did OSU, was it an abberation, or was it the merging of ridiculous talent with experience and the right motivation? More importantly, can they replicate that performance on Jan 1? The answers to those questions is what really intrigues me about this game.

Another thing is the intangibles question: who has the greater or better motivation? Alabama feels like it should win the NC every year, and since it didn't last year, they are hungry. Ohio State is the slow big-oafy school according to our friends to the south, their conference is shit, they would have finished 4th in the SEC West, they are perennially over-rated, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah ad nauseum. Urban says he wants an angry team. I don't know about the players, but I have had my fill of it. There hasn't been anything to say because Ohio State and the B1G hasn't won games against those people. But here they get mighty Bama served up on a silver platter. They can undo all of that in a span of 3 hours or so. Here's hoping I see smoke coming out of their ears running onto the field, and that they treat Bama like they have been soiling their mothers, sisters, and girlfriends. Amen.
 
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