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Sweet 16.

Jackalope

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Not a pretty win for Alabama. Clemson poured their heart into that game and busted ass. Tons of respect for Clemson.

4 national title wins in 7 years! Expect to see them again next year because Sabin wants to tie Bear Bryant's record of 6 with Alabama.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1452599080.660953.jpg
 

bowhunter1023

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Now save your breath here homeslice, cause I know what you'll say! :smiley_coolpeace: This is just my opinion and I know you've heard it before...

I don't think Alabama is the most talented team in the country on either side of the ball. Exception being their d-line, which is arguably the best in the country. Where Alabama is most talented is on the sidelines. Their coaching staff is the best in the country from top to bottom. Their ability to create gameplans and get their kids to execute them is top notch. It'll be interesting to see how the D does without Smart. The players are certainly talented and their is a ton of NFL talent there, but those coaches are as good as it gets. And that's saying something cause I hate Saban!

I'll also say this, I have a lot more respect for Clemson now. I thought they were overrated. They're much better than I originally thought. I haven't seen the second half yet, but will watch it later. They came to play. Congrats to both teams for playing a game that lived up to the hype. Certainly better than last year's ass whipping...
 

Jackalope

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Missed it yesterday and I'm glad. Alabama must not have as many players going to the draft this year......

15 are eligible for the draft this year. They all elected to not open their draft letters until after the championship game. For 2015 they had 14 eligible with 7 picks. Last year the letters were delivered on Dec 15th and the team said that was some of the reason they didn't play as well against OSU. So many guys looking at the draft and playing not to get hurt. So this year they didn't open them.

Fun fact. Alabama has produced the most NFL draft picks 5 years running (Total of 37).
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
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I agree Clemsons coaches up in the booth weren't paying much attention! The two blown coverages were clearly evident before the ball was snapped and TO's should have been called beforehand. The onside kick was masterfully planned and executed by Bamas coaches and players because of the observations by the Bama coaches upstairs!

IMO, Clemson got out coached in this game like OSU got out coached against MSU.

I disagree with Joes assertion that draft letters being opened or left closed determined the better performance of the Bama players from this year than last. Everybody still wants to give their most to win the ultimate goal....the NC!!! The team playing it he best as a team at the end of the season usually wins and last year it was OSU. This year it was a toss up between Clem and Bama and Bama played a better game all around!

Congrats to them!
 

Jackalope

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I agree Clemsons coaches up in the booth weren't paying much attention! The two blown coverages were clearly evident before the ball was snapped and TO's should have been called beforehand. The onside kick was masterfully planned and executed by Bamas coaches and players because of the observations by the Bama coaches upstairs!

IMO, Clemson got out coached in this game like OSU got out coached against MSU.

I disagree with Joes assertion that draft letters being opened or left closed determined the better performance of the Bama players from this year than last. Everybody still wants to give their most to win the ultimate goal....the NC!!! The team playing it he best as a team at the end of the season usually wins and last year it was OSU. This year it was a toss up between Clem and Bama and Bama played a better game all around!

Congrats to them!

That wasn't my assertion. It was that of the coaching staff and players. They said their mind was on the draft and not on the game, Sabin said he noticed players playing not to get hurt instead of making the stop or taking the hit. I don't know how much of it to believe but if that's the coaches observation there must be some merit to it. This year they plastered the word FINISH all over Bryant Denny stadium and the lockerroom. Somewhat became their mantra.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
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Oh, I gotcha! Prolly does have some merit then. The speed of Bamas front 7 on D was really impressive! The front 4 for Clem was equally impressive! The Clem secondary was not much better than MSU secondary and was the difference in the game as well! I remember hearing Mel Kiper saying they were much better but they sure didn't play like it! Lol
 

Jackalope

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Oh, I gotcha! Prolly does have some merit then. The speed of Bamas front 7 on D was really impressive! The front 4 for Clem was equally impressive! The Clem secondary was not much better than MSU secondary and was the difference in the game as well! I remember hearing Mel Kiper saying they were much better but they sure didn't play like it! Lol

I didn't think the Alabama D did a very good job at all. I think they did well against the overall rush but they still let Watson rack up 73 personal rushing yards on 20 carries. The damn QB was the best running back Clemson had that night. There were 4 other clemson ball carriers for total of 72 yards combined. (145 yards gained for the game). I was aggravated as shit they couldn't put watson down. One thing Alabama has been very good at this year was collapsing the pocket and closing the gaps when the QB went from pass to run. Their ability to pressure the QB and either sack him or truck him in the gap was unmatched this year.. Get off the damn block and snag him as he comes by. They only sacked Watson twice compared to 5 times for Coker. Out of the 31 first downs I bet Watson had 10 of them on the run after his pass options collapsed. This shouldn't have came as a surprise to the Alabama D. Watson broke the ACC record for total run yardage in the ACC this year and was third in the Heisman voting.

It's one thing to be fast and blow up the offensive line collapsing the pocket. But what you do with that pressure matters. Letting the QB be the best RB of the game isn't capitalizing on that speed. There's no excuse for the Alabama D being ill prepared to kill his skinny ass on the run. If they could have stopped watsons run, the game would have been vastly different.