The Look

Be afwaid.  Be vewy, vewy, afwaid.

Bryce Young has had the look.

His dad, Craig Young, knows it well. He’s witnessed it before. Several times, in fact, throughout the Alabama football quarterback’s life. And it’s back this offseason.

“I can see that look in his eyes where he’s been so motivated,” Craig said.

… The look appeared again in 2021 when Young strived to take advantage of the open Alabama quarterback spot. He ended up winning the Heisman Trophy.

“This,” Craig said, “looks very familiar to those times.”

Young is fresh off a season that ended with a 33-18 loss to Georgia in the College Football Playoff championship. It was only Young’s fifth loss over his past four seasons of football.

Now, the quarterback who seldom loses has the task of responding to his greatest loss yet.

“He’s hungry,” said Taylor Kelly, a long-time QB trainer for Young. “It’s the hungriest that I’ve seen him.”

So, you’re saying he wasn’t hungry to win a national title?  Maybe he just lost his appetite after Metchie and Williams went down.

Mailin’ it in

This Dawg Post piece compares the Alabama and Georgia offenses in garbage time (defined as when a team is leading by more than 38 points in the 2nd quarter, 28 points in the 3rd quarter or 22 points in the 4th quarter) last season.  I don’t think it’s any real surprise that ‘Bama kept its foot on the gas longer than did Georgia.

In 2021, in the 12 games that Stetson Bennett started, approximately 33% of the game time was played in garbage time. Not surprisingly, during this “throttle down” time, Bennett threw only 2 of his 29 touchdowns, while throwing another 2 touchdowns late in games when Georgia was leading by more than two scores, but not yet in garbage time.

In contrast, Young’s Alabama team played in garbage time for less than 20% of its season. Those forgetting (conveniently or otherwise) are reminded that Alabama struggled in wins over Florida, LSU, Arkansas and Auburn and lost to Texas A&M. Moreover, in 2021 Alabama was much slower to throttle down its offense when a game was in garbage time or approaching garbage time. This is not an opinion.

Alabama and Young often continued firing the ball down field in garbage time. In fact, Young threw nearly a quarter of his touchdown passes (11 of 47) when his team was either in garbage time (6 TDs) or nearly in garbage time, where he threw 5 touchdowns while Alabama was up by three or more scores. Simply put, Georgia played significantly more of its 2021 Season in garbage time than Alabama. And when Georgia went into garbage time, it was less likely than Alabama to have its starters in the game and to continue passing the ball.

This is proposed as an argument that the gap between Bennett and Young isn’t as large as many people argue, something I don’t care much about.  What I do think it’s an argument of interest for, though, is it being a good reason why Jermaine Burton left Athens for Tuscaloosa.  Pad those stats, young man!

I may need a new rule.

I’ve already broken my rule about not following commitments closely once this week, but they keep pulling me back in.

Shot.

Chaser.

BREAKING: Georgia beats out Alabama for commitment from kicker Peyton Woodring https://t.co/WJV9Yqy5TZ

— Dawgs247 (@Dawgs247) June 18, 2022

Leave the rest of the bottle on the bar.

When Saban retires, these folks will all be screaming for Kirby to come back to Tuscaloosa.

(h/t)

Who you gonna take?

Believe it or not, I actually think this fit of pique over at Roll Bama Roll might serve to kick off an interesting debate.

Last, Brad Crawford at 247sports has three college football position groups ranked ahead of Alabama’s linebackers this year.

College football’s most-talented position groups in 2022, ranked

4. ALABAMA’S LINEBACKERS

Let’s face it — this group could’ve been ranked No. 1 nationally in this position ranking without much of an argument. That’s how elite the Crimson Tide’s set of outside linebackers are this season with two future top-10 selections leading the way in Will Anderson Jr. and Dallas Turner. The duo combined for 26 sacks and 41 tackles for losses last season. Anderson is college football’s best defensive player and Turner is a rising superstar. And if he wasn’t playing behind two pass-rush monsters on the outside, Chris Braswell would likely be receiving similar praise heading into the season. BamaOnLine reports coming out spring that Nick Saban will likely use all three on the field at the same times in spots this fall.

I don’t know what Brad is smoking, but this group is hands down the best in the sport. He didn’t even mention freshmen Jeremiah Alexander and Jihaad Campbell, both freaks themselves who flashed in the spring game.

Now, it would be silly to pretend that Alabama’s linebackers aren’t the best in the country at their particular position group, but over any position group in the country?  Well, here’s who Crawford ranks numero uno:

1. Georgia’s tight ends

(Photo: Getty)

There are not enough footballs to go around for this group in Athens, the most talented collection of tight ends in college football. Brock Bowers was 247Sports’ Freshman of the Year last season after setting several program records at the position, including a team-best 13 touchdown receptions. When another number was called, it was usually Darnell Washington, a red zone and third-down threat whose freakish frame made it difficult on opposing secondaries. And while Georgia’s tight end room was a man down this spring thanks to a labrum injury for Bowers, former LSU transfer Arik Gilbert — 247Sports’ highest-rated tight end recruit, who has worked at wide receiver as well — made the most of his extended reps, including two touchdowns in the spring game.

Gilbert may have the highest upside of the trio and will play a role in several multi-tight end looks this fall within Todd Monken’s offense, ahead of Oscar Delp and Brett Seither on the depth chart. So with Bowers being the obvious favorite to win the Mackey Award, Washington starring as the Bulldogs’ most physical blocker at the position and preferred red-zone threat and Gilbert stretching the field as a tight end-wideout hybrid, Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett has a vast group of options in the passing game that will produce in a big way for the defending national champions. There’s at least three future early-round picks at the position, perhaps more when Delp develops.

Or, to put it another way…

On3's college football Impact 300 Top 10 TE's⭐️https://t.co/C1cwZ3DfFP pic.twitter.com/awbkkeDnFo

— On3 (@On3sports) June 9, 2022

Three of the top six is nothing to sneer at.  That being said, I do think this poses a good topic for a debate, a non-partisan one.  Which group is better, in your eyes, and why?  Which group has a greater impact on a game?

Have at it in the comments.  (Try to refrain from slagging ‘Bama bloggers, though.)

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Over at Saturday Down South, Connor O’Gara wrote something about the five SEC offenses he believes are bound to improve in 2022.  Putting aside my homer-tinted glasses, I thought there was some logic to thinking Georgia’s might be one of the five — continuity at both offensive coordinator and quarterback, insane talent at the tight end position, just to make a couple of points — but no.

Which is not to say he didn’t consider it.  Instead, though, he came up with this:

I don’t think Alabama or Georgia regress on offense. But let’s not forget that the Tide finished No. 6 in FBS while UGA came in only a few spots behind at No. 9. While I’m extremely high on the Tide’s skill-player additions via the transfer portal, I still have concerns about that offensive line. I wonder if that coupled with my belief that Alabama’s defense will be lights out prevents any significant improvement. Alabama might not need to keep its foot on the gas so late in games like last year, when it was in a 1-score game in 6 of 8 4th quarters in SEC play.

I’ll be honest. When I started this, I assumed I’d have UGA as 1 of the 5 teams. Returning Stetson Bennett matters, as does the fact that UGA should have the top tight end room in the nation. Todd Monken will create mismatches galore with Brock Bowers, Arik Gilbert, Darnell Washington and even true freshman Oscar Delp. On top of that, Kendall Milton and Kenny McIntosh have all sorts of potential to lead one of the SEC’s top backfields.

So what’s the holdup? I wonder how much last year’s group was boosted statistically by having that elite defense. In addition to the defensive scores, think about all the short fields that all-generation group created. UGA could actually become more explosive offensively and still end up finishing right around where it did last year.

If I understand that correctly, he believes Alabama’s offense won’t improve because Alabama’s defense will be so stout, it will choose to run the clock out late in games more than before, while Georgia’s offense won’t improve because Georgia’s defense won’t be as stout as it was last season.  Am I missing something here?  Does that make sense to anyone?

Life after you-know-who

From yesterday’s Mandel Mailbag ($$):

… We just assume at this point Alabama will reload at receiver, where it has produced six first- or second-rounders in the past three years. But Jameson Williams arguably saved the Tide’s season last year when he transferred in from Ohio State. We think Jermaine Burton (Georgia) and/or Tyler Harrell (Louisville) will fill that void this fall, but neither is a given.

Young is a potential No. 1 pick, but you saw what happened in Indianapolis when he was suddenly without both Williams and John Metchie. He still needs some help.

I’d like to think Stewart misspelled “when he was suddenly facing a Georgia defense that elected to show up and play like it had for almost the entire season” there, but even if he didn’t, it’s a point to consider — if indeed Metchie and Williams were all that, what are we supposed to think about ‘Bama this season if it turns out Burton and Harrell aren’t?

SEC stat of the day #2

SMDH ($$):

For the first time since 2011, Alabama won’t participate in a neutral-site game to begin the season. Instead, by visiting Texas, which is still a Big 12 member, it’s playing a true out-of-conference road game for the first time since traveling to Penn State that year.

I didn’t realize how addicted to Kickoff Classics Nick Saban’s been.  Good to see he’s got time for that road game shit now.

Eyes on the prize

This is something.

Hey @MummePoll, check out this stat about UGA v Bama https://t.co/1Oz0QS8EAh pic.twitter.com/YrnuNSg9mf

— Bourbon Dawgwalker (@bourbondawg) May 17, 2022

Seventy percent of the time?  Wowser.

The only thing I can’t figure out is why nobody in Montana watches ESPN.

The snark never gets old.

Athlon takes a look at the number of starters returning for every SEC team here, and I have a question.

(Nah, not about the sub-headers.  Athlon just fucked those up; they’re supposed to be offense and defense.)

If Alabama’s bringing back thirteen of their 22 starters from last season’s team that played for a natty, but none of them are Metchie or Williams, is that an overall plus or minus?  Asking for a friend…

“Even Saban, PAWWWLLL…”

The meme is complete.

Last week, during ESPN’s “First Take,” Stephen A. Smith told Saban he respected Smart and Georgia, but he picked the Tide to win the title. He said it was “a shame” Alabama wasn’t 100 percent. He asked the Alabama coach what did he walk away feeling most about the game.

“When we got down to the end (of the season), you always want to have guys at the skill positions on offense that the other people have trouble guarding,” Saban said during his appearance. “You always want two corners that can guard their guys.

“Well, unfortunately, for us at the end of the season, we lost both corners (Josh Jobe and Jalyn Armour-Davis), lost our two best receivers (John Metchie and Jameson Williams) and that changed the game for us. I think it changed the national championship game, too.

“Georgia had a great team, had a great defensive team. Kirby does a great job there. We had success against them in the SEC Championship Game, but we didn’t really have the same team and it changed the dynamic of the game tremendously.”

Nobody does injuries like Alabama.  Those four will be legends.  Just like Auburn’s 2004 season, nothing is more powerful than “what if”.