Somebody call Whine-one-one!

[Ryuko]

Nick Saban does what Nick Saban is wont to do, and complains about how hard it is for a small-time coach to succeed with the small-time resources of a small-time school like Alabama... Seriously. :snark:



The article I linked pretty much sums up my opinion on the matter, but what do you guys think about the hissy-fit one of the highest paid coaches in America is throwing? Is anyone buying the BS argument about satellite camps and graduate transfers (or the evils of the hurry-up offense, for that matter)?

If you ask me, denial ain't just a river in Egypt, and the man who profited from so many years of ESPN piling on BS about "SEC superiority" is having a hard time climbing down from the mountain of crap on which he lived.

Any guesses as to what the next year's excuse will be? I guarantee it won't be academic standards!

[Ryuko]

Alabama media days, and the excuse train is still running

http://www.elevenwarriors.com/college-football/2015/07/55992/nick-saban-says-his-nfl-bound-players-played-not-to-get-hurt-in-the-sugar-bowl

It seems like he's blamed just about everyone but himself so far. The list:

Satellite camps are unfair
The hurry-up offense is unfair
We didn't have enough tape on the 3rd string QB
Draft grades came out too early
My players didn't want to get hurt
My players got didn't take them seriously
Our last few games are too hard
The media is making me sound like I'm making excuses!

[Bengal Dude]

Did he really complain about not having enough tape on Cardale Jones?

[Ryuko]

(07-15-2015, 04:25 PM)Bengal Dude Wrote: Did he really complain about not having enough tape on Cardale Jones?

It was actually his DC  :snark:

http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/kirby-smart-opens-up-on-loss-to-ohio-state-was-bama-ready-for-cardale-070215

“So you’ve got one quarterback on tape (Braxton Miller), then you’ve got another quarterback on tape (J.T. Barrett), then you’ve got one game on the quarterback (Cardale Jones). And looking back, we have exit interviews with our players, and when you look in hindsight, I asked every kid, Landon Collins, Nick Perry, Jarrick Williams, the really smart seniors on our team, I said ... ‘Where did we go wrong? What did we do wrong?’

“All three of them said they did not respect the quarterback, and our job as the coaches was to make them respect the quarterback."

[bengal_fan_in_toronto]

thought you'd get a chuckle outta this Ryuko

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/25246797/gus-malzahn-sec-at-disadvantage-in-playoff-other-leagues-fresher

[Ryuko]

(07-22-2015, 11:44 AM)bengal_fan_in_toronto Wrote: thought you'd get a chuckle outta this Ryuko

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/25246797/gus-malzahn-sec-at-disadvantage-in-playoff-other-leagues-fresher

I saw that! I didn't want to share it, lest I be perceived as beating a dead horse (the irony that an anonymous internet poster has more scruples about posting the neverending stream of excuses coming out of the south than the coaches do should be noted  :snark:).

But since you brought it up, let's go ahead and dismantle this BS before a fresh batch gets shoveled our way.


The SEC had long reaped the benefits of inflated preseason rankings, which resulted in a perception that they were simply "beating up on each other" when many teams within the conference were simply overrated. This was exacerbated by other teams (especially Ohio State) underperforming in bowls while the southern teams usually enjoyed a pretty dramatic home field advantage (See: LSU playing for a national title within walking distance of their own campus) 

This "success" (aka the major failing of the BCS as a whole) created a vicious cycle of high-profile children who only know what they see on ESPN high school recruits signing with SEC teams, resulting in highly-ranked classes, resulting in inflated preseason rankings, etc.

All of this nonsense stopped with year one of the Playoff.

Take a second to read that again, and understand that if the BCS had been allowed to continue, Alabama would have played an undefeated Florida State in the 2015 NCG and we'd still be hearing about how amazing the SEC is.

Instead, we saw exposure on a massive scale. Alabama was trounced, in spite of being handed a huge lead and multiple turnovers. Auburn was beat by a team that was humiliated and shut out in their own CCG. These are the teams whose coaches are complaining nearly EIGHT MONTHS LATER. 

Saban said they had a difficult stretch to end the season. Malzahn said the conference beats up on each other too much. Both are obviously nonsense, as the teams all had a month to prepare for their respective bowl games (including an extra week for Auburn), but let's go more in depth...

Let's start with Chickenshit Saturday, that glorious weekend where SEC teams go out and trounce some poor FCS team looking for a paycheck. If you don't pay much attention, you'd probably expect that this game is some sort of early-season warmup. Y'know, like the sort of tuneup most teams do before conference play starts (except the B1G has refused future scheduling of FCS opponents). But no. Chickenshit Saturday comes in mid-November. And that's not even the worst part of it...


Every other power 5 conference is moving to a 9-game conference schedule. This provides more competitive games in an already short season, and basically gives fans what they want. The SEC refuses to join in. They're stuck at 8 because they need every opportunity to pound the hell out of Directional State University and inflate those stats.

And if damning generalities aren't your thing, let's get specific. Here are Alabama's final opponents for 2014:
Western Carolina (FCS)
Auburn (lost to Wisconsin)
Mizzou (lost to Indiana)

Ohio State's pre-playoff stretch:
Indiana (beat Mizzou)
Michigan (FBS)
Wisconsin (beat Auburn)

And so ends my rant.   The playoff should have done wonders to stop the "what-if" nonsense that once ran rampant through college football discussion, but I guess we all forgot we're dealing with people who still aren't over the Civil War...