It’s funny how narratives can change sometimes. Three years ago, Nick Saban was hailed for running a modern offense, while folks questioned whether Georgia’s ceiling was limited due to Smart’s reluctance to go down that same road.
Now? Here’s Ian Boyd:
After their 2017 National Championship I called Alabama the “default champions.” Essentially, if there was a team who had a lethal pro-style passing game and a complete overall team they’d win the title, but if no such team existed it was going to Alabama.
The Crimson Tide were always in the mix with their defense and talent stacks in the trenches and defeating them was going to require that you had a dimension they didn’t.
That proved to be the last season this was true.
The departure of Daron Payne (and Minkah Fitzpatrick) left the Tide no longer able to dominate the middle of the field the same way on defense. From then on they didn’t field dominant big bodies but tended to rely on athletes in the box. On offense they kept moving toward more of an aggressive attack before ultimately landing on Bill O’Brien’s pro-spread system in 2021 and 2022. They became the sort of team Alabama would have worried about, while ceasing to be Alabama as we knew them.
Meanwhile Georgia replaced them. Under Kirby Smart the Dawgs have consistently recruited huge, elite athletes on the offensive and defensive lines and the program is defined by this fact. If you don’t have an elite space force or the tactics to beat a team with skill, and it just comes down to trench play, Georgia will whoop you.
Interesting. Of course, if Metchie and Williams were healthy…
Get The Picture 
And they are still hanging on to Metchie and Williams. Do not waddle in other’s pain; but have to admit there is some enjoyment watching Tide Fans talk about ‘shoulda coulda woulda’ moments. Their spring game did not go as planned on the QB side. They feel it slipping.
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Everything starts with the line on scrimmage. For the last 2 years and currently, Georgia has much more depth on both lines than Alabama.
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SEC speed has always been that our fat people are faster than their fat people. That gap between SEC teams is interesting and if Kirby keeps this up we at least have a shot every year.
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No matter what people like Ian Boyd have written about spread passing, basketball on grass (7 on 7 with 11 players on the field) offenses as the future of the sport, none of this can be successful without line play. The fact that Alabama had to take a starting LT from Vandy of all places this past year is an indictment of Saban’s philosophy.
Am I saying Bama under Saban is done? Nope. What I am saying is changing culture, instilling physical toughness and building line depth aren’t things that happen overnight.
Has anyone checked on Eric with a K and a smoke shop recently?
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Would Williams be suspended if he had place bets from the UA football facility?
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Post of the day
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Just looking at Bama’s presence in game compared to their title teams of years past, and they don’t even look the same physically; how they walk and act even. I don’t see the swagger.
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Man, you ain’t lying about size. The Colorado spring game was on at at a restaurant yesterday afternoon and at first I thought I was watching a pee-wee game.
Before the Natty this year my wife asked me how I thought it was going to go. I told her that nothing was guaranteed, but ‘TCU has never seen the combination of size and speed they are about to go up against.’
These are the glory days folks. Don’t sweat losing recruits because of NIL. That just means they’re too scared to go against the baddest mo-fos in thr valley day after day at practice.
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Saban is in his seventies. He is still a great recruiter. But he is in his seventies and as someone who is a few years older than Saban you lose a step or two as you get older.
Sure they could win it all again. But it is becoming less likely
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Only a step or two? Dang you’re in good shape. What is dangerous is not knowing that and acting like you’re still 30. My wife keeps pushing herself and nagging me to do the same. Meanwhile, she is keeping both a chiropractor and a massage therapist in business and is lying in bed right now in pain. I’m enjoying coffee and waffles and posting on the internet.
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You are definitely doing the right thing with coffee and waffles. Me too. You are right I am in good shape for my age, but unfortunately that is damning me with faint praise. Father time catches up with all of us and Saban is no exception.
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Good dawg porn right there sir…
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Extra-large athletes with speed and COACHING leads to, ain’t it great to be a GA. BULLDAWG.
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He’s dead on about the effect an interior DL like Payne can have. With Davis, Wyatt and now Carter gone, we need somebody to step up. We have multiple experienced DLs returning. The question and concerns is whether anyone we’ve got turns into a stud.
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The guy from Jacksonville sounds like the real deal.
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