Bama vs. ND: TIFWIW

[carl childers]

Take it for what it's worth:
I go to church with and am good friends with a former Auburn player - great guy. He has a former teammate who is a coach at Ole Miss, who happens to be playing Pitt in a bowl game. They have been watching lots of film, including the Pitt/ND game. He told my friend that after watching ND and comparing them to Bama, it is a mismatch - Bama should kill ND. Again, TIFWIW.

[Marshal Dillon]

I expect to see a Notre Dame team that is a full step slower than Bama on defense & offense. Kinda like Michigan State in 2010.



 

[ricky023]

I am wondering how we are that much better than ND? Now don't get me wrong I hope we are a mismatch for them. When I see a team that through a college football season with any slip ups, mind you not one loss, that is hard to do. I just have to think they might be pretty good, or how me where I am off. Thanks, RTR!

[SUPERCOACH]

The Oklahoma win was impressive.  The others are not that impressive.  They got a W against Stanford, but I would not say they beat Stanford.  That Stanford player was clearly in the end zone for a TD.  If not for that bad call then Stanford would have beaten them.  The other teams they beat were mediocre at best.

Oklahoma has two losses, one to Kansas State and one to Notre Dame.  However if you look at the 10 teams they beat, those other teams are not that good.  So Oklahoma is probably overrated too.

It will be interesting to see how Texas A&M and Oklahoma play in the Cotton Bowl.  If aTm stomps Oklahoma pretty good, then I think Notre Dame is going to be in big trouble.

Talent-wise I think Alabama has a big advantage.  The biggest thing that concerns me is that Notre Dame finds a way to win even when they aren't supposed to.  So being in another game where they aren't supposed to win doesn't bother them at all.  They've been there and done that all year.  They just find ways to win, and teams like that are dangerous.

Fortunately for Alabama, we've overcome a lot of adversity ourselves.  We know how are team responds when we get hit in the mouth.  I have no doubt that we will fight to the very last second if it comes to that.  Bama has been known to find ways to win too, when the ball is not bouncing our way.

This game could be a 98-0 beatdown, or it could end up being a 10-9 last second FG.  I just don't have a good feel for it yet.  We will have all of the other bowl games to help us see how the conferences stack up against each other though, so we should have a better idea of what to expect by game time.  I am particularly interested in the Cotton Bowl and the Rose Bowl since those games involve the two best teams that Notre Dame played.  If some of the little teams they squeaked by get blown out in the bowl games, that is telling too.

[SUPERCOACH]

I watched that Pitt game by the way.  I believe Pitt had an easy 30 yard FG at the end to win the game but they missed it and went to overtime.  If Ole Miss blows out Pitt, that may be telling as well.

[pmull]

Pitt was beating ND bad and got conservative and let them come back and tie the game. Pitt missed a chip shot FG in the first OT that would have won the game.

ND would be favored to loose to LSU, A&M, UGA, Florida and USCe if they played. I think we will be more than a 10 point favorite by game time.

[Marshal Dillon]

27-6 Tide.



 

[Catch Prothro]

You guys cannot just take one game, like Pitt, and use that as a yardstick to measure a team.  That's because you get a different team every week, and the competition is different too.  Being ranked high gets you the opponent's best shot.  Getting that best shot, week after week, also impacts your team's ability to rise to the occasion every week. 

I hope the Bama team we seen against ND will be more like the team we saw at the start of the season against Michigan, instead of the tired team we saw towards the end of the season.  There have been some valuable players lost, and Bama went from a team that got a quick start to one that played from behind.  AJ lost some of his confidence, and started throwing interceptions.  He was so stressed he cried after the LSU game.

The month-long rest might be a good thing.

I think the worst thing that could happen is the players getting overconfident, listening to the media, looking at the point spread, and thinking they can just dial-in a win.  They will be getting ND's best shot, which I don't think we have seen yet. 

ND has played a tough non-SEC schedule this season, including victories against Oklahoma, USC, Stanford, Michigan, Michigan State, Pittsburg, Miami, BYU, Purdue and Navy.  They probably played their best against OK, winning 30-13, or Miami, winning 41-3.  Their worst games were against Pitt (the game after OK), or Pudue (back from Ireland after playing Navy).

The Cotton Bowl probably will give the best picture, though it will be incomplete.

Anyway, Bama is playing a hungry team in Notre Dame, one that ignores predictions and point spreads and focuses on winning.  Bama has better talent, they just have to work hard in preparation, and go out and execute on gameday.  I do think Bama wins, but I'm not ready to predict the score.

[Old Tider]

The only comparative scores were against Michigan. We beat them worst, 41-14 while ND got just by with 13-6. However, Michigan scored two TDs on Bama and none on ND. Of course all this was a long time ago.

[hscoach]

Too me, AJ has got to get right.  He did't have a good A&M game, the only good thing about the LSU game was the last drive.  AU was horrible so he played decent, and he missed throws in the SEC Championship game.  I don't know if the int against A&M shook his confidence that much, but he hasn't been the same since.  I was watching the SECCG again and I notice on the first drive he missed an open rec on the inside route on the 3 and 7 play where he tried to throw the crossing route.   Also, he just doesn't seem to have the confidence to stick the ball in there.  When they showed the wide view in the SECCG, I thought he should have gotten a couple of those throws off and completed them.

[Marshal Dillon]

Too me, AJ has got to get right.  He did't have a good A&M game, the only good thing about the LSU game was the last drive.  AU was horrible so he played decent, and he missed throws in the SEC Championship game.  I don't know if the int against A&M shook his confidence that much, but he hasn't been the same since.  I was watching the SECCG again and I notice on the first drive he missed an open rec on the inside route on the 3 and 7 play where he tried to throw the crossing route.   Also, he just doesn't seem to have the confidence to stick the ball in there.  When they showed the wide view in the SECCG, I thought he should have gotten a couple of those throws off and completed them.

I think he may have some type of nagging injury they won' talk about.

 

[SUPERCOACH]

Maybe so.  G-Mac had broken ribs and they kept it secret until after the Texas game.

[McBaman]

I'm looking for AJ to snap out of it.  Last year I thought he was so-so all season, missing a lot of open receivers and such.  Then after the layoff he came out in the NCG vs LSU and played lights out.  So again, this year I think the layoff will be good for him.  I also wonder about some nagging injury.  Wouldn't surprise me.

[Catch Prothro]

I'm looking for AJ to snap out of it.  Last year I thought he was so-so all season, missing a lot of open receivers and such.  Then after the layoff he came out in the NCG vs LSU and played lights out.  So again, this year I think the layoff will be good for him.  I also wonder about some nagging injury.  Wouldn't surprise me.

True.  Looking back, AJ has played much better this year than last year.  More has been demanded of him this year because Bama's defense, especially the secondary, isn't as good.  I think the layoff will do him some good.

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