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

Just think, if Ohio State wasn't down to their 3rd string quarterback, they could be undefeated too. Although, Braxton Miller would have still been been behind a very inexperienced OL in game 2 vs VT.

Ah, the what if game ...

btw, I'm not trying to be confrontational. What if Woody Hayes ... ok, I could write a book and several have been written.

We now return you to Ohio vs Alabama.
So, knowing what you know now, would you have rather had Miller or Barrett? They both have pros and cons. Barrett looks like he is a little more dynamic vs. the experience of Miller.
 
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He's ok. Nothing special.
Oh, I was thinking of Nick Perry... Nobody talks about Nick Perry, but he makes plays.
Re: Ironbowl Defense Trey DePriest led the Tide's defense with 14 tackles. Nick Perry wasn't far behind with 13 stops and an interception. Geno Smith had 10.

Corey Grant has 4.2 speed. Geno did a pretty good job with him. They use Corey more for jet sweeps than passes downfield. Geno's not the guy you want in coverage a lot, but he is fast and makes solid tackles. He has improved though and has been playing his best ball as of late. I was hoping they would have Tony Brown looking good enough to be on the field a bit for the bowl. In coverage I like Sylve a lot. He lost his job early in the season for not knocking the ball away from Kevin White enough, but that guy is a beast and I think the move was a little premature. We'll have to see whether Eddie Jackson or Bradley Sylve start the sugarbowl

oh, and physical.
 
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Oh, I was thinking of Nick Perry... Nobody talks about Nick Perry, but he makes plays.


Corey Grant has 4.2 speed. Geno did a pretty good job with him. They use Corey more for jet sweeps than passes downfield. Geno's not the guy you want in coverage a lot, but he is fast and makes solid tackles. He has improved though and has been playing his best ball as of late. I was hoping they would have Tony Brown looking good enough to be on the field a bit for the bowl. In coverage I like Sylve a lot. He lost his job early in the season for not knocking the ball away from Kevin White enough, but that guy is a beast and I think the move was a little premature. We'll have to see whether Eddie Jackson or Bradley Sylve start the sugarbowl

oh, and physical.
Yeah, it seems every year we have a player breakout that we are not familiar with. Nick Perry has certainly stepped up this year. So has Xzavier Dickson.
 
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So, knowing what you know now, would you have rather had Miller or Barrett? They both have pros and cons. Barrett looks like he is a little more dynamic vs. the experience of Miller.

Good question as I would have to go w/experience. The whole mindset of the team would have been different w/Miller as opposed to Barrett. Bottom line, everyone Meyer and Saban recruit can play or they wouldn't be on the team. There are rare exceptions when a 5th round draft choice like Brady goes in to replace Bledsoe and leads NE to the promised land. Kurt Warner comes to mind also.

hmm, can Cardale Jones lead the Buckeyes to the promised land after a brief appearance on center stage. I digress. Was kind of amazed how Texas kept the game relatively close against Alabama after Colt McCoy went down in the 2009 BCS. Don't even remember his replacement's name. That was also the game where Saban went for a fake punt early ?!? Only mention that because I don't think there will be a lot of gimmick plays on Jan. 1.

Remember the year after Chicago won the Superbowl, McMahon got hurt and Chicago went 14-2 basically w/no experienced qb, but they still had that hellacious defense. As the football coach at my hs mentioned once ~ It's amazing how many games you win when the other team doesn't score!

btw, this post took me over (2) hours as I got interrupted by lunch and Obama's press conference.
 
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So, knowing what you know now, would you have rather had Miller or Barrett? They both have pros and cons. Barrett looks like he is a little more dynamic vs. the experience of Miller.
Both. I'd pick Miller out of loyalty but Barrett out of efficiency. That said I'd like to see the ludicrous numbers Braxton would put up with these options. They barely had an h back. Devin was not this consistent and I'd argue EzE is more versatile than hyde. Also, the unthinkable has happened and this line might be out playing the nfl packed line from last year. It is rare to see them give up a sack and the run blocking keeps getting better each week.

So to answer your question, Barrett 14 over Miller 13 without hesitating. I wish we could have seen Miller 14.
 
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hmm, can Cardale Jones lead the Buckeyes to the promised after a brief appearance on center stage. I digress. Was kind of amazed how Texas kept the game relatively close against Alabama after Colt McCoy went down in the 2009 BCS. Don't even remember his replacements name. That was also the game where Saban went for a fake punt early ?!? Only mention that because I don't think there will be a lot of gimmick plays on Jan. 1.
I think his name was Garrett Gilbert. He made some big plays to Shipley. Alabama was basically unable to pass in that game due to Texas having great D and McElroy having broken ribs.
 
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Population shift is one major factor, to be sure.

Desegregation is another. Here's a list of when the original SEC programs became desegregated:

Tennessee: 1967
Auburn: 1969
Florida: 1969
Vanderbilt: 1969
Mississippi State: 1969
South Carolina: 1969
Alabama: 1970
Georgia: 1970
LSU: 1971
Ole Miss: 1971

Now here's a list of players (perhaps incomplete) who were in high school in the deep south during the era of segregation, who went to historically black colleges, and who are now in the NFL Hall of Fame:

John Stallworth (AL) Alabama A+M
Larry Little (FL) Bethune-Cookman
"Bullet Bob" Hayes (FL) Florida A+M
Willie Brown (MS) Grambling
Buck Buchanan (AL) Grambling
Willie Davis (AR) Grambling
Charlie Joiner (LA) Grambling
Lem Barney (MS) Jackson State
Walter Payton (MS) Jackson State
Jackie Slater (MS) Jackson State
Art Shell (SC) Maryland-Eastern Shore
Ken Houston (TX) Prairie View
Harry Carson (SC) South Carolina State
Deacon Jones (SC) South Carolina State
Mel Blount (GA) Southern

That's just the Hall of Famers. Now add in star players like Ken Riley, Harold Carmichael, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Jethro Pugh, Raymond Chester, Claude Humphrey, Al Beauchamp, Barney Chavous, Ken Ellis, Isiah Robertson, Sam Adams, Henry Lawrence, Nemiah Wilson, John Gilliam, Otis Taylor, Rayfield Wright, Verlon Biggs, Essex Johnson, Gary "Big Hands" Johnson, Carl "Big Daddy" Hairston, Emerson Boozer, Dick Westmoreland, Glen Edwards, and Robert Brazile.

Now add in literally dozens more players who had careers in the NFL.

That's an awful lot of talent to leave standing on the other side of the schoolhouse door.

It's no wonder that the SEC schools in particular, and southern schools in general, developed more powerful football programs after desegregation.

Mostly agree w/your post, but would add recruiting wasn't high tech back then, meaning these great players weren't recruited by non-segregated teams either ie they weren't on anybody's radar back then or maybe wouldn't have qualified academic wise. IOW, things were a lot different back then on many levels.

Although, sadly there were a few cases like Super Bowl Champion Dexter Manley, who graduated Oklahoma State functionally illiterate. Maybe more than a few. hmm, Forrest Gump comes to mind lol.

Back in the day classic:

When Joe Namath signed with the Jets he did his first press conference in New York. A smart tailed writer asked him, "Did you major in basket weaving at Alabama"? Without batting an eye, Namath immediately responded, "No, I started out majoring in basket weaving but it was way too difficult. So I changed my major to journalism".
 
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hmm, can Cardale Jones lead the Buckeyes to the promised after a brief appearance on center stage. I digress. Was kind of amazed how Texas kept the game relatively close against Alabama after Colt McCoy went down in the 2009 BCS. Don't even remember his replacements name. .
Garrett freaking Gilbert, the first of many terrible Texas qbs. I wanted to say the beginning od the end of the Texas football program, but that was 3.5 years earlier :jt:
 
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Oh, I was thinking of Nick Perry... Nobody talks about Nick Perry, but he makes plays.


Corey Grant has 4.2 speed. Geno did a pretty good job with him. They use Corey more for jet sweeps than passes downfield. Geno's not the guy you want in coverage a lot, but he is fast and makes solid tackles. He has improved though and has been playing his best ball as of late. I was hoping they would have Tony Brown looking good enough to be on the field a bit for the bowl. In coverage I like Sylve a lot. He lost his job early in the season for not knocking the ball away from Kevin White enough, but that guy is a beast and I think the move was a little premature. We'll have to see whether Eddie Jackson or Bradley Sylve start the sugarbowl

oh, and physical.
interesting. Sounds like a good guy to defend the perimeter runs/sweeps but an iffy guy to cover Devin in the slot on his deep patterns.
 
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I watched a few youtube replays of Devin. Great speed and great hands. Judging by only few videos, his tackle breaking ability in space was somewhat average...true or false.

Definitely true. I'm very happy that OSU has cut way back on the quick-hitters and screens to him out on the edge. His first step was always backwards and he very rarely made people miss in traffic. He was just getting too cute out there instead of taking the easy 5-7 yards. A much better downfield receiver. In my IMO.
 
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