CFP National Championship: #11 Ohio State vs #1 Alabama

nutsnbolts said:
The only person I keep seeing harping on possible delay is John Talty (sports editor and SEC insider for Alabama Media Group).
tOSU (Gene Smith) and Alabama (Greg Byrne) ADs, along with CFP chairman (Bill Hancock) all stating no reason to delay the game as of now (Jan 5) - in the very article John Talty posted claiming a risk of delay.
https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/...-threaten-to-disrupt-national-title-game.html
Click to expand...
Dan Patrick seems to believe that the Bucks are "very close" to the availability limit right now. And arguments to the contrary would simply confirm that if this were even remotely the case, the facility would not have remained open and the team practicing all week.
 
utsherman said:
Dan Patrick seems to believe that the Bucks are "very close" to the availability limit right now. And arguments to the contrary would simply confirm that if this were even remotely the case, the facility would not have remained open and the team practicing all week.
Click to expand...

Nor would they have OSU President Johnson attending/tweeting pictures of practice yesterday.
 
bigkat said:
maybe because they have played so few of games this season... and practicing.....he played like that last season, if i recall
Click to expand...
Or maybe playing another 4 games he gets hurt? He does run alot and has been dinged up. I certainly respect the Ohio State program, but I'm not buying the narrative that playing 6 games is somehow a negative for them. I'd say 6 games is just about right to get enough games in to get in a flow, yet not begin losing a bunch of guys to injury and just "wearing down". Alabama played 6 straight weeks, had a two week break, then played 5 straight weeks, a week off then ND last week.
Ohio State played 3 games, took a week off, played, took a week off, played, took two weeks off, played, took two weeks off and beat Clemson. They are about as fresh as a team could be. Bama has played nearly twice the season Ohio State has, and some would argue a much better schedule.
 
The lack of schedule helped Ohio State in the simple fact there were many less weeks to have a let down and a bad game and take the L.

Simple as that.
We have seen it over the years, by many teams, that even in their best years go out and lay a collective egg.
 
The lack of games means fewer reps to get things right. Kind of a miracle they went from struggling with Northwestern to pantsing Clemson
 
thavoice said:
The lack of schedule helped Ohio State in the simple fact there were many less weeks to have a let down and a bad game and take the L.

Simple as that.
We have seen it over the years, by many teams, that even in their best years go out and lay a collective egg.
Click to expand...
They just beat the crap out of the second best team in the country, who cares how many games they played. Playing more games isn't particularly impressive. The ACC went 0-6 in bowl games. So even though they played more games, seems it didn't really prove they were all that worthy.
 
Hammerdrill said:
They just beat the crap out of the second best team in the country, who cares how many games they played. Playing more games isn't particularly impressive. The ACC went 0-6 in bowl games. So even though they played more games, seems it didn't really prove they were all that worthy.
Click to expand...
Just sayin, less games gives you a less likely chance you will have a dud and lose one that ya shouldnt.
They will always get up for the big time teams, but maybe an also ran in the conference gets by them on a week where they just dont play well.

Has happened before...
 
thavoice said:
Just sayin, less games gives you a less likely chance you will have a dud and lose one that ya shouldnt.
They will always get up for the big time teams, but maybe an also ran in the conference gets by them on a week where they just dont play well.

Has happened before...
Click to expand...
Sure it happened, when Urban was the head coach. He isn't the coach anymore. And that just shows you how tough the BIG is, compared to the SEC or ACC.
 
Hammerdrill said:
Sure it happened, when Urban was the head coach. He isn't the coach anymore. And that just shows you how tough the BIG is, compared to the SEC or ACC.
Click to expand...
That wasnt that long ago when U-M was the HC.......
I was at that Iowa game.......
It was glorious, but they have laid enough eggs to know that most teams can trip em up on a bad day...
 
thavoice said:
That wasnt that long ago when U-M was the HC.......
I was at that Iowa game.......
It was glorious, but they have laid enough eggs to know that most teams can trip em up on a bad day...
Click to expand...
Right, but those losses are on him, not Day. If Day had done the same thing, you might have a point.
 
14Red said:
Or maybe playing another 4 games he gets hurt? He does run alot and has been dinged up. I certainly respect the Ohio State program, but I'm not buying the narrative that playing 6 games is somehow a negative for them. I'd say 6 games is just about right to get enough games in to get in a flow, yet not begin losing a bunch of guys to injury and just "wearing down". Alabama played 6 straight weeks, had a two week break, then played 5 straight weeks, a week off then ND last week.
Ohio State played 3 games, took a week off, played, took a week off, played, took two weeks off, played, took two weeks off and beat Clemson. They are about as fresh as a team could be. Bama has played nearly twice the season Ohio State has, and some would argue a much better schedule.
Click to expand...
sorry, more you play... the better you get.....and also not sure how many practices they have missed because of COVID, but they have missed a bunch....and I think after this past weekend, the buckeyes might have had a tougher schedule...
 
Last edited:
14Red said:
Or maybe playing another 4 games he gets hurt? He does run alot and has been dinged up. I certainly respect the Ohio State program, but I'm not buying the narrative that playing 6 games is somehow a negative for them. I'd say 6 games is just about right to get enough games in to get in a flow, yet not begin losing a bunch of guys to injury and just "wearing down". Alabama played 6 straight weeks, had a two week break, then played 5 straight weeks, a week off then ND last week.
Ohio State played 3 games, took a week off, played, took a week off, played, took two weeks off, played, took two weeks off and beat Clemson. They are about as fresh as a team could be. Bama has played nearly twice the season Ohio State has, and some would argue a much better schedule.
Click to expand...
or maybe another 4 games and he gets BETTER!!
 
14Red said:
Or maybe playing another 4 games he gets hurt? He does run alot and has been dinged up. I certainly respect the Ohio State program, but I'm not buying the narrative that playing 6 games is somehow a negative for them. I'd say 6 games is just about right to get enough games in to get in a flow, yet not begin losing a bunch of guys to injury and just "wearing down". Alabama played 6 straight weeks, had a two week break, then played 5 straight weeks, a week off then ND last week.
Ohio State played 3 games, took a week off, played, took a week off, played, took two weeks off, played, took two weeks off and beat Clemson. They are about as fresh as a team could be. Bama has played nearly twice the season Ohio State has, and some would argue a much better schedule.
Click to expand...

Lol, no you don't. You're the biggest SEC fan-boy on here. Let's not pretend you aren't incredibly biased.
 
Finebaum and others have been fawning over Alabama cleaning up at the awards last night, (and the Heisman), hell, they were only up against half the country this time with several conferences/teams getting only about half their amount of games in. They essentially won "The best out of a three conference field -ACC/BIG12/SEC" (No one with half the games but same or better average stats would be considered, agreed) Not that the PAC12 would have had any contenders, but the BIG, hell yeah, so seems to me they won against a handicapped field....asterisks all around for the whole damn season in my opinion...except for the Natty of course after the Bucks take this one.
 
14Red said:
Or maybe playing another 4 games he gets hurt? He does run alot and has been dinged up. I certainly respect the Ohio State program, but I'm not buying the narrative that playing 6 games is somehow a negative for them. I'd say 6 games is just about right to get enough games in to get in a flow, yet not begin losing a bunch of guys to injury and just "wearing down". Alabama played 6 straight weeks, had a two week break, then played 5 straight weeks, a week off then ND last week.
Ohio State played 3 games, took a week off, played, took a week off, played, took two weeks off, played, took two weeks off and beat Clemson. They are about as fresh as a team could be. Bama has played nearly twice the season Ohio State has, and some would argue a much better schedule.
Click to expand...
If playing less games is an advantage - then having no practices either should be a real advantage. Arbitrarily claiming some number of games to be 'ideal' is just plain silly.
Please feel free to notify me when Saban cancels spring practice because the reps make them worse.
Playing teams from other conferences is also an advantage - it typically helps you see a bit of a different style of play - which helps your overall readiness. tOSU didn't have that opportunity this year.
 
bigkat said:
maybe because they have played so few of games this season... and practicing.....he played like that last season, if i recall
Click to expand...
14Red said:
I think (whole season look back) it would be a pretty good matchup. The question for Ohio State, was Friday closer to the norm or the exception? Fields had not played like that all season. But he brought it that night for sure!
Click to expand...

I'd say closer to the norm??? Can anyone really say that this season was close to the norm for Fields and the Bucks, playing intermittently on and off the whole damn season (and practicing with and without starters on and off as well?)

2019 Stats ; exceptional....hello, it's not like he wasn't a proven commodity.


1610141396670.png
 
thavoice said:
That wasnt that long ago when U-M was the HC.......
I was at that Iowa game.......
It was glorious, but they have laid enough eggs to know that most teams can trip em up on a bad day...
Click to expand...
So who is your team of choice?
 
A lot of talk Jaylen Waddle is going to play. Can’t imagine he’ll be close 100%, but even at 70% he’s a huge difference maker.

I just don’t see OSU shutting down Bama’s Offense. The OSU Corners aren’t the elite players they normally have.

The only way OSU wins is throwing the ball deep (like Ole Miss & Florida) while also being +2 in TOs.
 
Omar said:
A lot of talk Jaylen Waddle is going to play. Can’t imagine he’ll be close 100%, but even at 70% he’s a huge difference maker.

I just don’t see OSU shutting down Bama’s Offense. The OSU Corners aren’t the elite players they normally have.

The only way OSU wins is throwing the ball deep (like Ole Miss & Florida) while also being +2 in TOs.
Click to expand...
Shut down the run, pressure the QB. Same thing they did to Clemson.
 
Omar said:
Clemson's WRs aren't close to the level of Bama's. Hard to stop the run when you can't leave your Corners on an Island in Man Cvg.
Click to expand...
All comes down to D line play. T Lawrence doesn't need great receivers. But like all QBs, if they are pressured, they quickly become average, regardless of how great your receivers are.
 
Hammerdrill said:
All comes down to D line play. T Lawrence doesn't need great receivers. But like all QBs, if they are pressured, they quickly become average, regardless of how great your receivers are.
Click to expand...
And we don’t even know who our D-line will be at this point. All the speculation would tell us that the whole position group was COVID-impacted. I’ll be interested to see who actually lines up Monday night.
 
utsherman said:
And we don’t even know who our D-line will be at this point. All the speculation would tell us that the whole position group was COVID-impacted. I’ll be interested to see who actually lines up Monday night.
Click to expand...
What I am seeing is that we will either be at full strength, or near full strength.
 
Wade unfortunately needs to be guarding the slot like in previous years as opposed to matching up on the outside. He's not in his best position, but the depth in the defensive backfield has been way too thin this year to move guys around much.

Regardless of what guys they have or don't have, the D-Line has to be big time for them to have a chance to win, especially if Waddle is in the lineup. Mac Jones doesn't have anywhere near the mobility of Trevor Lawrence, and in passing down and distance situations they have to be able to rush him regularly with 4 and no more than 5 guys. Have to win 1-on-1 matchups up front.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top