Game Day: SEC Championship, Part Deux--uh, excuse me, uh, BCS CHAMPIONSHIP '12

[DRU2012]

This being a kind of "proof-of-concept" on the idea that there is the SEC--and then some other pretty good teams here and there among the rest of the conferences, in a sense a like-it-or-not we're-the-toughest-AND-the-best-until-further-notice match-up, it is fitting I suppose that it is so hard to separate these two teams in terms of talent and potential. Even the intangibles are fairly balanced: it's nearly a home-game for the Tigers, but "second-chance" meetings often go to the close-loser the 2nd time around, that seemingly favoring the Tide.
I don't have any particular feeling as to who will win it going in, and as teams I consider worthy-but-hardly-likable rivals from the West, I find it difficult to root enthusiastically for either. From an SEC-centric POV, we've already won: another SEC-based Champion, and the only way the rest could see one of ours beaten there was when they were BOTH from the SEC!
In the end, I suppose I'll root for the Tide--mainly 'cause of their RB, Trent Richardson, an alumnus of Florida's Escambia High, their last great contribution to the SEC and posterity being our own Emmit Smith. Not exactly a "rabid rooting interest", and mostly I guess I'll just sit back and enjoy a display of tough "D" (for a change--this Bowl season has been BRUTAL for those of us who believe that great football begins in the trenches, mano-a-mano) and two well-balanced squads with different approaches to moving the ball. Above all, I consider this both a scouting opportunity for next year's Gator team, AND a reminder of all the work we have ahead of us, how far we still have to go to re-attain that level of success.

 

[Escambia94]

Did somebody say Escambia? Here is my prediction for tonight. LSU versus Alabama. The winner is...Mike Slive! Yes! The commissioner of the best conference in football is the winner! Who else? All us jort wearing, mullet haired, toothless rednecks from the SEC can stand proud as you hold your Natty Lite beer in one hand cheering on your team of choice. Go SEC!

 

[DRU2012]

Did somebody say Escambia? Here is my prediction for tonight. LSU versus Alabama. The winner is...Mike Slive! Yes! The commissioner of the best conference in football is the winner! Who else? All us jort wearing, mullet haired, toothless rednecks from the SEC can stand proud as you hold your Natty Lite beer in one hand cheering on your team of choice. Go SEC!

Hell yes! WAAAAHOOOOOO!!!!

 

[DRU2012]

(Man, it's hard to describe the difference in watching a game like this one when neither team is one you either love or hate, particularly, with how it is and would be if/when the Gators are in it--I'm sitting back with a couple of friends, drinking and kidding around while we holler at the screen, but if this were a Championship involving our beloved reptiles it'd be a WHOLE different deal: I'd be tense, INtense, a completely different frame-of-mind, concentrating on every facet of every play--living and dying with every gain and loss by us or them...INTERCEPTION, 'Bama!--looks like the defender pulled up lame there...Anyway, this may be a lot more relaxing, less stress-inducing--BUT I'd trade it for us being there, back IN it, in a HEARTBEAT, right?!!)

 

[Escambia94]

I am just going to enjoy a good defensive game. Go SEC!

Pardon me while I grease my mullet...

 

[DRU2012]

Hey, America: see? "Strength on STRENGTH": This is what balanced teams with competent offense AND defense look like.

 

[DRU2012]

Here is Alabama's weakness once again: having too often to settle for FGs deep in the redzone--and after that 50-plus-yd INT-return, that is a small "win" for the LSU "D", really. With their own great defense, that would normally be OK for the Tide against a lesser (non-SEC) team--but here, it is a bad omen...

 

[DRU2012]

You see what the Alabama OC has done here? He hasn't made RADICAL changes, just adjustments in not only their tendencies, but in the timing of such plays. Instead of waiting 'til they "HAD" to pass, he's got 'em doing it on 1st and ten, 2nd and short--basically reversing the normal times they'd run such plays.
I'm not saying that White should have done exactly the same thing in the Gator Bowl, only that "breaking tendency" is a practical place from which to START in coming up with an imaginative and effective game plan--especially when you have a month or more to prepare.
(First Down 'Tide on the fake kick--by a HAIR...review/challenge on-the-way...)

 

[DRU2012]

Oh oh--the same scenario developing here as last time for 'Bama: driving the ball, controlling the clock and spending a lot of time on their side of the 50--but not coming away with much in the way of POINTS. You watch--sooner or later here LSU will hit a long one for 6, and all that "dominance" will amount to very little...

 

[DRU2012]

(OK, I'm getting popcorn and pizza crusts thrown my way for posting on my laptop instead of jawing with "the group", so since I may very well be alone here online ANYWAY, I'll bow out for a while...)

 

[DRU2012]

2nd Half about to get under way, and HERE'S a big, out-on-a-limb prediction:
The first team to score a TD wins the game.
Yeah, that's why they made me a "Moderator", right?

 

[totenkopf13]

Bama and 2nd chances. This reminds me of the SEC Championship in 2009. Florida couldn't do it twice in a row. I know that was consecutive championships and not in the same season, but still relevant. I don't think LSU can do it back to back against Bama either. Lastly, if I hear "honey badger" from Brent's big mouth again, I am going to have to turn the sound off.

 

[DRU2012]

Memo to new Gator-OC: Take note of this trend in Alabama's offense, one that we were often guilty of this past season, and DO NOT FOLLOW. Ball-control, while important, is not the be-all end-all, not if it leads you AWAY from getting TOUCHDOWNS. Take shots downfield! Do NOT get too enamored of the drive itself, or all your good work, your control of the clock and the line-of-scrimmage, can end up for nought if/when the other team just hits one or two bombs themselves.
Alabama has dominated this game, yet two TDs could still put them behind...a mistake or bad break here, a bolt-from-the-blue there, and the epitaph won't be ""Good Guys Control Clock, Ball and Game", but rather "Other Guys Make Stirring Comeback". I'm not saying that LSU is going to win this thing after all (especially with poorly-timed dumb penalties when they could have pinned 'Bama deep), in fact the Tide is continuing to play smashmouth, wear 'em down football well into the 2nd half, AND continuing to make more and BIGGER big-time plays that may eventually allow them to pull away here--only that they've let the Tigers hang around here even while they've out-played them, and that there is time left still for LSU to wake up and come back. The Tide, whether due to a lack of imagination or skill, has NOT had that "right play at the right time", has either not called the quick strike when they should have, or hasn't had the tools to connect when it was there. THey may still turn out to have had enough--but there has GOT to be some way of turning this kind of dominance in practically every phase-of-play into major scores.
There's a mistake by Jefferson (I think I would have put in Lee by now, even before that play--and the fact that they haven't indicates that was never the plan unless Jefferson were knocked out of the game, so he got all the reps with the first team offense)--Ya gotta have McCarren take a shot into the endzone on this next play!

 

[totenkopf13]

10:49, sound went off.

 

[Escambia94]

Apparently I am the only one on Facebook that likes this game. What has the world come to where a good game equates to video game scoring and zero defense?

 

[DRU2012]

So: Chickensh*t reversion-to-type by conservative Head Coach--then the now long-shot miss-by-a-mile attempt at it--NOW a "miss" by the kicker...I'll say this clearly:
No matter HOW this particular game turns out, this was a really weak effort at "imaginative game calling" by BOTH coaches. I don't EVER want to see our Gator offense reduced to such an uninspired, "Let's just try not to LOSE it" offensive game plan, ESPECIALLY in a National Championship Game--even if we're winning it!
This isn't pro football, where all that matters is who'd ahead; it's emotional, go-for-broke COLLEGE Football, played by young men who are driven by passion, loyalty and the fire-to-win--that's what I LOVE about it!
This peck-away field goal-fest is an anti-climax that could have been so much different with some imagination, the willingness to take some true risks, and the intervening time for both staffs to prepare to do just that.
Yes, I enjoy good "D", and that is DEFINITELY being played here, but neither of them is the 2nd-coming of the '60 Packers, the '85 Bears or the '86 Giants--these are safes that COULD have been cracked, seems to me...
I'm just not sure if it's talent or coaching that's the problem here. What I think WE (as Gators) can take from this is that with our defense already well on its way back to dominance, if we CAN get the right OC and begin to both build anew AND make the pieces we already have on offense work in a balanced, dynamic mix, we are NOT that far from being able to challenge EITHER of these teams for SEC supremacy. Yes, I'm serious: I MEAN that...Oh, we've got a ways and a WHOLE lot of work to do, but watching this I am more and more sure that it is not beyond our grasp in the next, say, 2 years or so.
A lot of "ifs" involved, but they're almost all on offense--where neither of THESE teams are all that impressive, ESPECIALLY along the line, where we are stocking up to be deep and strong in the months and seasons ahead.
Look, it's not like any of those "high-flyers" we've seen in the also-ran bowls could have done much more with EITHER of these defenses--and either OFFENSE could probably done much better against their meager defenses (The Tide would have probably blown out ANY of those other BCS-pretenders in the first half here); I'm not overlooking OR forgetting that. Even after this, I doubt most of the fans of other programs outside the SEC grasp or recognize how much better defense is played at every level of the SEC than anywhere else, how much tougher it is to score and win against even the mid-pack members of our Conference. All the more reason I see hope for us in the seasons ahead, and soon--our "D" is close to being among the SEC-elite, so everything ELSE begins to become realistically possible with good choices, good fortune, good health and hard work...
Finally--Richardson, a TD! That'll do it for the Tide and their "Mythical BCS Nat'l Championship"--and DOINK! a missed PAT, of COURSE! No "7-pointers" allowed! The score MUST be divisible by "3", it's only fitting.
Only one issue left to be settled: LSU going after a score, ANY score, to break the shut-out--preferably a late quick-strike TD or two, if they can...unlikely, though, with the Tide "D" "pinning their ears back"...
I do NOT want to hear any more about LSU "sharing" the title by virtue of their "regular season record against superior competition" either--they were BURIED here, accomplished nothing EXCEPT keeping the Tide out of the endzone longer than it seemed they ought to have been, and I'm not so sure that wasn't ALABAMA'S screw-up, their Offensive-Staff's lack of imagination leading UP to the game, and/or lack of DARING IN-game that was at least SOMEWHAT responsible.

 

[DRU2012]

Apparently I am the only one on Facebook that likes this game. What has the world come to where a good game equates to video game scoring and zero defense?

I'm with you--but I still don't like to see an over-conservative approach to "BREAKING" such defenses--or, more accurately, FAILING to do so...offers a certain encouragement and hope for us, as I say.

 

[Leakfan12]

LSU offense play like well the Gators offense expect the Gators got a touchdown in their bowl game though credit to the the extra point crew for rushing before those nuts were able to challenge. Also Pat Moorer was an EHS alum with Emmitt and he played for the Gators

 

[Escambia94]

My final thoughts: this game went about the way it was supposed to. This was not your 1990s/2000s well-balanced USC, Texas, or Florida. Those powerhouse had top-10 offenses and defenses. Fast forward to today, and none of the top 4 teams are balanced. LSU is #2 in total defense, #74 in total offense. Alabama is #1 defense, #30 offense. Stanford is #28 defense, #8 offense. Ok State is #3 offense, but....wait for it...#107 on defense! Nobody in their right mind should vote Ok State as a #1 or #2 team if there are FCS teams that rank above them in defense. BEFORE this game, the analysts using predictors similar to the Vegas predictors called it 17-7 Alabama-LSU. Similarly it would have been 32-21 LSU-OSU, 21-14 LSU-Stanford. Everything here happened within the statistical norm, and within predictor formula. Some notes that come out of this: home field advantage does not mean much in national championships, but the revenge factor does.

It was a good game for those who love defense. It was a crappy game for kids who grew up on video game offenses. It was the closest thing to a balance offense and defense that we have in 2011. Do not take anything away from LSU on this one. Sure, their offense looked bad, but great defenses will make average offenses look bad (#1 defense on #74 offense). Keep in mind that this #74 offense did beat then #3 Oregon (#4 offense, #67 defense), and then #15 West Virginia (#15 offense, #33 defense). The two most balanced teams of 2011 were Alabama and Stanford, but Alabama was not the better team when they faced LSU (the kickers failed to give Alabama the win, but so did Alabama's supposedly better offense).

Team - Defensive rank - Offensive rank
Ala - 1 - 30
LSU - 2 - 74
OSU - 107 - 3
SU - 28 - 8
Ore - 67 - 4

 

[InkedAdrenaline]

Pretty crazy, I didn't expect lsu to get shut out....