CFP National Championship Bama-Clemson Act III

[AUChase]

I guess when you’re a fan of front running teams in their respective sport it’s a little harder to understand why people care about parity.

[GameBreaker35]

Quote: Originally Posted by thesportsguru11

Can't bring myself to ever root for Clemson but they flat out earned this title. Well done. I want to know where that guy is from several weeks back who said Bama wouldn't lose until Tua turned pro. Wonder what he's thinking this morning. How young and dumb we were in Week 4.

You would be referring to me, good sir, and I stand by my comments as odd as that sounds - in the sense that Tua is a rare generational talent that had the capability of running the table. I gotta eat a bit of crow today, but it’s not like I was completely off-base considering we were the favorite to win this game - which would have made it 15-0. Oh and my prediction was like two months ago.

[canes21]

Quote: Originally Posted by GameBreaker35

You would be referring to me, good sir, and I stand by my comments as odd as that sounds - in the sense that Tua is a rare generational talent that had the capability of running the table. I gotta eat a bit of crow today, but it’s not like I was completely off-base considering we were the favorite to win this game - which would have made it 15-0. Oh and my prediction was like two months ago.

What does the bold even mean? What does being picked as a favorite have to do with how wrong you were? Tua was not good and Bama lost by 28. Clearly Vegas was wrong as were you.

[GameBreaker35]

Meaning it wasn’t some inconceivable notion that he could have gone 15-0 in games started this year? This wasn’t David going up against Goliath here. It was at least a coin-flip chance or better of victory, and if Bama doesn’t get completely outclassed and out-coached on the other side of the ball, maybe I look a lot smarter this evening. Who knows?

The point I was making was that Tagovailoa was playing at, in my opinion, at a level among the best college QBs ever at the time. He finished the season with historical highs for Alabama, including a NCAA record for season passing efficiency of 199.4. Half of his highlights are him sitting on the bench in the 4th quarter after he had eviscerated some poor team. He was/is certainty good enough to win every game he played in college, but the odds get you sometimes.


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[rkwittem]

That was the lowest-rated NCG since the LSU-Bama rematch game and for obvious reasons. Unfortunately it doesn't look like there's an end in sight to the Clemson/Alabama rematches either. I'd prefer to see a lot more variety. How we can get there without straight up screwing Clemson and Alabama out of the playoff is the hard part. They've built up so much good will that the committee won't keep them out unless they have 2 losses in the regular season, which isn't likely considering how bad the ACC is right now and how many DIAA teams they both load their schedules with.

In my mind, the only solution that seems remotely plausible is for the big Florida schools to get their acts together, especially Florida State and Miami; Florida less so. I say that because there is reason to believe that a team or two (LSU/UGA/Auburn/Texas A&M) in the SEC can regularly push Alabama and beat them in conference play. A&M is a bit of a stretch for some, but I'm a believer in Jimbo and think he can get A&M over the hump that Sumlin couldn't. He's certainly recruiting just as well as Sumlin, if not better, so I think there is a chance they can realize some of that program's potential.

But I can't say the same for the zeroes in the ACC, however. That league is going to be unwatchable until someone actually challenges Clemson and the only teams that have shown any kind of historic ceiling to do so are Miami and Florida State. And that is a damn shame.

[saintrules]

Quote: Originally Posted by WaitTilNextYear

Wait, so you root for the Golden State Warriors and Alabama? That is...an interesting combination. Thought you were a Purdue fan for some reason.

Haha, my avatar is usually the team I'm using for whatever dynasty I'm doc'ing on the forums at the moment...had the Jags/Packers/Cubs/Warriors in the last few years... I get how that's probably confusing, but it gets me in the mood to play the game when I look at it every post.

Boiler Up & Roll Tide

[canes21]

Quote: Originally Posted by GameBreaker35

Meaning it wasn’t some inconceivable notion that he could have gone 15-0 in games started this year? This wasn’t David going up against Goliath here. It was at least a coin-flip chance or better of victory, and if Bama doesn’t get completely outclassed and out-coached on the other side of the ball, maybe I look a lot smarter this evening. Who knows? The point I was making was that Tagovailoa was playing at, in my opinion, at a level among the best college QBs ever at the time. He finished the season with historical highs for Alabama, including a NCAA record for season passing efficiency of 199.4. Half of his highlights are him sitting on the bench in the 4th quarter after he had eviscerated some poor team. He was/is certainty good enough to win every game he played in college, but the odds get you sometimes. Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Tua also had 7+ seconds to throw more often than not and had WR's getting 5 yards of separation. Against LSU and UGA when he was given a more normal time in the pocket and more normal windows to throw into he struggled. Him struggling against Clemson should not have been a huge surprise. He's an incredibly accurate QB when he isn't pressured at all, but there is a reason the talk late in the season was that if you made him get off his first read and made him move even a little in the pocket he fell hard back to earth.


The main thing is the SEC didn't really provide any competition to Tua. Most of the defenses are not near as good as they used to be annually, even LSU's defense is no longer elite even when healthy. The offenses and QB play in the league have been bad for years. Tua is a good QB, but every game that he didn't get all day in the pocket he struggled. Yes, QBs get worse the more pressured they are, but he fell off hard.