When is everyone going to quit blaming Bama's loss to Utah on not respecting Utah and not being prepared to play?
I think our guys were as prepared to play as they could have been. Maybe some of the guys on the team were shocked at how good Utah really was, especially after Utah's fast start and after all that they had heard about Utah, but I think they were ready to play.
Losing Andre Smith from the offensive line was devastating to the offense's performance, and then to have another lineman go down early during the game with an injury certainly hurt Bama's chances to be successful on offense. But Utah has a real good defense, certainly SEC caliber, and it wasn't going to be an easy task even if all things had gone perfectly for Bama.
Utah plays the spread like Florida, but they play a more passing scheme spread than Florida's and one that Bama's defense didn't match up well with in hindsight. The best chance Bama had at beating Utah would have been to have success offensively, which they didn't.
I don't think Bama's players and certainly not the coaches disrespected Utah. I think they were shocked at how good Utah played to start out, and it took them by surprise, but I don't think Bama ever disrespected Utah.
I know what some of the players said in the postmortem, but I doubt they really disrespected Utah. I think a lot of what they said was just making excuses for the shock they were in for being beaten as they were. Remember, these players are basically kids in grown bodies.
Yes, teams have off nights, and Bama sure didn't look ON! But you would think that they would be ready to play a game in such an environment after such a long layoff and after having suffered a defeat in their last outing. I mean, football is a game, and what kid doesn't like to play games? They were ready to play, I promise you!
Maybe they were a little rusty, I don't know—but anything other than saying that they got beat by a better team is just making excuses and in my mind demeans Utah's win more than anything that was said before the game was played.
They fought hard in the game though and did all they could to come back, but it just wasn't good enough to make it happen with that big a hole that they were in. Bama was out of their element when they had to play catch up from that far down, and I knew it was probably game over at the end of the first quarter for that reason. But they never quit!
I have read and heard Saban's comments before and after the game, and frankly, if you want to you can take them just about any way you want. But I doubt coach Saban would ever disrespect another team, even one that Bama is clearly better than, on purpose. And Bama clearly is not better than Utah! Maybe had they played earlier in the season they could have beaten Utah, especially with their offensive line intact, but not with their best team unit depleted as it was in the Sugar Bowl.
I don't think anything said prior to the game by coach Saban or the media had any effect on the game either. I really think Utah would have been highly motivated to play Bama regardless of what was said one way or the other. This was their chance to prove to the world how good they really are.
I suppose it's a shock that the second-best team in the SEC could be beaten by an undefeated MWC champion, especially with all the SEC hype that's been going on lately, but it shouldn't be. Bama, for Christ sakes, lost to UL-Monroe just over a year ago. Bama is one season removed from a 7-6 season counting the bowl win against Colorado.
Alabama's Loss to Utah Not on Account of Disrespect and Lack of Preparation!
Today's Must Reads
Track this Article on My B/R
Share This Article
About the Author Damon Wildman (scribe)
- 6 articles written
- 148 comments posted
- 9 fans
Want to write for Bleacher Report
We are a community of fans who write about sports. And we're growing.
24 comments Last one added 6 months ago — Leave a Comment
Kreskin Annihilation 6 months ago
Roll Tide.
Edit Comment Cancel
J. Robert Byrom 6 months ago
Great Article.
Bama may have not deseved to be a #1 team this year but they made great strides and were a huge improvement over last year. The team and fans definitely have nothing to be disappointed about. Give Saban another year or two and you will be on the same level as Florida, USC, OU, Texas and Ohio State as far as being in the mix all year, every year.
Edit Comment Cancel
Damon Wildman 6 months ago
Thanks for reading J.Robert! Yeah Bama was just fortunate to have things go the way they did and being ranked #1 for a while was just pure dumb luck. I wanted to believe Bama was that good but in the back of mind I knew they probably weren't. They had a great season though and beat some teams that they hadn't beaten in a while. It was a great second year under Saban. I sure hope he sticks around for several more seasons if his second season is in indication at what he can do at Bama!
Edit Comment Cancel
Dave Chapple 6 months ago
Great Article .. utes fan .. props to Alabama
Edit Comment Cancel
Damon Wildman 6 months ago
Thanks for reading Dave! Utah has a very fine football team! Hopefully they will get some love from the AP pollsters. They deserve it as much as anybody.
Edit Comment Cancel
Damon Wildman 6 months ago
Thanks for reading Dave! Utah has a very fine football team! Hopefully they will get some love from the AP pollsters. They deserve it as much as anybody.
Edit Comment Cancel
Ric A 6 months ago
Stopping good spread offenses have been a nightmare for many coaches. For me it is interesting to see how Saban handles good spread offenses (the likes of Florida and Utah) in future.
Edit Comment Cancel
Damon Wildman 6 months ago
Thanks Ric for reading! Bama certainly needs work on defense against the spread. One problem is that Bama needs some good defensive ends who can put pressure on the QB without having to blitz the linebackers and defensive backs. That has been a problem all year long for Bama. They are great against the run but just don't have the ability to get to the QB in a hurry from the front 4 like Utah did.
I am afraid that problem will only be corrected through recruiting.
Edit Comment Cancel
Bernie 6 months ago
Good article Damon. And good point about the offensive line personnel changes and how that affected their game. I believed Bama would win convincingly because I thought they would be able to control the clock, therefore making it easier to defend against Utah's passing spread. Hard to gain yards and score points when your offense is on the bench. But as you said, losing Smith and the injury (I forget the player's name) really hurt.
Edit Comment Cancel
Damon Wildman 6 months ago
Thanks Bernie for reading! There was a number of things that contributed to Bama's loss and number 1 is the offensive line being mauled the whole game. You can't lose the best offensive lineman you have and not be affected. JPW does not have the talent to carry the offense when other aspects of the offense is not performing. If we had a Colt McCoy back there then we might could have gotten away with some of the line play or even a Pat White not to mention a Brian Johnson!
There again we need to recruit better talent and I hope we have that in red-shirt freshman Star Jackson. JPW did a commendable job managing the team this year but honestly he was not a real threat to burn a defense on his own. He was an average passer and runner. If he was a big time threat at either of those aspects it would have given the defense more to worry about and to respect. Utah did a great job defensively against our offense especially after their offense got them a big early lead and took our offense out of their game.
And as I said in a comment above our defense does not have the ends that can put pressure on a QB without blitzing from other positions.
Edit Comment Cancel
Greg 6 months ago
A very well written article explaining all the excuses why Bama didnt embarrase the SEC?
Is this a joke?
Excuses are great,, lets write 3 pages why the 'coach of the year 'wasnt really unprepared,, it must be something else ,right? I know,Maybe its Auburns fault?
I have never seen a game were one team was so NOT prepared than Bamas , please.
O yea roll tide great article, bla bla bla---------hommers
Edit Comment Cancel
Damon Wildman 6 months ago
You are cracking me up Greg. Thanks for reading! Do you not think a month is long enough to get prepared to play a football game? How much more time did Bama need? They only had a few days between games during the regular season and won each time till....Yep when they finally played better teams than they were.
If you don't want to give Utah credit for being the better team then thats your choice. Where's Auburn in this discussion? Rolling Toomers corner after Bama's loss to Utah?
Edit Comment Cancel
Cameon Shiflett 6 months ago
Damon,
I think Greg was saying your article was reinforcing the excuses you said didn't need to be made.
Then apparently, his spell check didn't work. And then, his keyboard went all crazy asking random questions with crazy punctuation. Plus, the use of the wrong "where."
And I think his "o yeah roll tide" had a slight hint of sarcasm in it.
Just my deduction though.
Edit Comment Cancel
Damon Wildman 6 months ago
Cameon...."Reinforcing the excuses you said didn't need to be made"?
I think I said that we were beaten by the better team in the Sugar bowl. No lame, "we didn't respect Utah", or "We weren't prepared", excuses.
What part of my article did Greg not understand?
Maybe you know and can reiterate to me what he meant.
I am not going to buy into any excuse that says our coaches and players didn't do their best to beat Utah. I believe they did do their best but they were beaten. No shame in losing unless you didn't do your best. If that's the case I am ashamed.
Edit Comment Cancel
blackjackjackson 6 months ago
roll tide.
best of luck next year.
do you think this bad saban karma is b/c so many bama homers diss'd miles and lsu?
wow, after the season lsu had, don't you just want to kick 'em some more?
oop, except for the peach bowl win and the sugar bowl loss.
some bama homers were afraid lsu would embarrass the sec.
oops, that job belonged to saban.
the sec is great, the sec west is great.
don't support the homers that kick the sec, that piss in their own bed.
go sec.
Edit Comment Cancel
Damon Wildman 6 months ago
So sorry for Bama embarrassing the SEC blackjack! Thanks for reading! LSU looked great against Georgia Tech, where has that team been all season? By all rights the SEC was not at its best this past season. The fact that a building Bama team went through the SEC regular season unbeaten with the tough schedule that they looked to have had proves that.
This Bama team has been hampered by poor coaching, NCAA sanctions and less than stellar recruiting for years leading up to this year. And yet they still are the second best team in the SEC. Looks like a down year if you ask me.
Edit Comment Cancel
J Knight 6 months ago
Damon, I am an AU fan but I don't understand your point of view here. Clear it up won't you?
Surely you are kidding.
Poor coaching? Since when. You guys are paying Saban $4 Million and you have the audacity to state that this team (2008 bama football team) has been hampered by POOR COACHING?
If that is the case - FIRE SABAN now.
What sanctions are you talking about? The ones that plagued your last coach (Shula) and ultimately got him fired by the masses??? Or the ones that plagued the coach before that (Francione) and drove him to leave bama for Texas A&M?
Poor recruiting? Oh. What you really mean to say is that the guys recruited by Mike Shula didn't meet Saban's standards... you're right. He even ran some off during the Summer if I recall. But you really disrespect Mike Shula. Bama had top 20 classes in the last few years of Shula if I remember correctly. Only recently did they get in the top 5 under Saban - if that is what you are referring too... Francione and Shula were the one that had to struggle from the previous coach who was stooping his secretary... Dubose.
What are you "building"? Point of fact, your program has been all but non-existent for the last six years because of many issues. This year under Saban's leadership several factors brought you guys back to National prominence: good recruiting, good coaching and excellent luck. Before you blow a gasket - the luck refers to some key positions that you guys were pretty shallow in depth that were healthy all year long. Throw in some issues with your offensive line and the fact that the team is tired of Saban's constant hammering and you have the recipe for disaster. Which is why you were beaten by two touch downs earning less than 32 yards rushing.
Bama is just as human as anyone else in this conference.
BL: Bama got beat by a much better team that was obviously ready to play. Further, this team that beat you has been disrespected by not only folks in the SEC, but from around the Nation. That kind of disrespect (not just from bama folks) can do a lot in motivating for a good team...
Moral of the story - don't judge a team by the conference they are in... In most cases (Hawaii being the exception from recent memory) if the team has a good record - its for a reason...
Bama was taken to the woodshed and taught a tough lesson.
War Eagle
Edit Comment Cancel
Damon Wildman 6 months ago
J... being an Auburn fan I can certainly understand you being confused by my poor coaching comment. That comment was about the coaching that Bama's former regime, (Shula) had done. My bad, not my best choice of words no doubt! But Bama fans know what I mean, at least I hope!
The NCAA sanctions are still having an effect or being felt with Bama's talent level even on this years team. I mean it took 6 years for Bama to beat Auburn, enough said! How long has it been since Auburn had scholarship reductions from NCAA sanctions? Would you like to go through it again? I doubt it!
I think you need to research Bama's recruiting history and if you want, add the numbers up. Yeah Shula landed some great recruits during his stay. But how many? Remember the lost scholarships from sanctions? How many scholarships did Auburn, Tennessee, LSU, Georgia, Florida, hell even Oklahoma, Texas, USC or Ohio State lose during that period? And you question our recruiting?
Building? You are right, our program has been all but non-existent for the last six years. Losing to Auburn 6 in a row proves that. Yes Bama had a lot of luck this year I admitted that in my article if you took time to read it. And thank you if you did! Do you think coach Saban and Bama reached the pinnacle of college football this season? I certainly don't so yeah Bama is in a building process to get there!
Everything you wrote in your comment after the "building" part I agree with with....so is there anything else you want cleared up?
Edit Comment Cancel
Mark Duckworth 6 months ago
SEC, Big 12, and MWC are the best conferences in college football. This is no embarrassment to lose the best of the MWC.
Edit Comment Cancel
Damon Wildman 6 months ago
I agree Mark! Thanks for reading!
Edit Comment Cancel
Steven Johnson 6 months ago
Nice article (from a Utah Grad and Fan who was at the game). It is nice to hear at least some give some respect to my Utes. As far as it goes, I must also say Bama has some of the classiest fans I have ever met. I went to a game several years ago in Bama only to have the team I was supporting lose, and the Bama fans were as gracious in their win as they were on Friday in defeat. True class. Good luck next year, no question your team is heading the right direction.
Edit Comment Cancel
Damon Wildman 6 months ago
Thanks Steven! I wasn't at the game but I am glad you had a pleasant experience...well other than the outcome of the game. ;)
We have all kinds of fans here in Bama just as everywhere else does also. Your UTE's were impressive! Good luck to you and Utah! Would love to visit your beautiful state some day!
Edit Comment Cancel
Jared Price 6 months ago
I too am sick of all the excuses. I am from Utah and have followed college football there pretty closely. Look, all that happened is the rest of the country saw something that should be obvious by now. Utah is a great football team. That's it. They got beat becuase Utah is better. Sorry. If those two teams met 10 times Utah would win about 7. They pass much more efficiently than Alabama, and quite frankly, Whittingham way outcoached Saban. The first 3 drives were almost certainly entirely scripted and worked to perfection. Anyway, the simple fact is Utah is really good. In 2005, Urban Meyer's last year there I think they were even quite a bit better than this squad. I would have bet on that 2005 squad to beat anyone including USC that year. I don't think a single team they played came within about 20 points of them including their BCS game opponenet. Granted, they were unlucky and drew Pitt that year, but they did beat them by nearly 30 points. Its not their fault they didn't get to play a top ten team in the BCS. The simple fact is that Utah plays good football and that should be obvious by now. They have won 8 straight bowl games! The longest winning streak in bowl games in college football.
Edit Comment Cancel
Damon Wildman 6 months ago
Jared thanks for reading! Couldn't agree more! Utah was very fortunate to have a great coach like Urban Meyer come through their program and what he left behind is just as impressive in Whittingham.
Coach Saban probably did get out coached but I really think the thing most people are missing is the difference in talent between the two teams. I will get blasted for this but Utah I think had the better talent on their team than Bama.
The Western states, besides California, that the MWC recruits from, I don't think gets the coverage, publicity, or recognition, whichever you choose, that we do here in the South. Its not that the kids are breed any better in the South it's because the money for the recruiting services is to be made is in the South.
Population numbers in an area determines as to more to choose from as well as more to sell to. But the NCAA mandate 85 scholarship rule cancels out the advantage for any one particular school over another if they have the right coach and the dedication by their school to succeed.
Utah seems to have hit upon the perfect combination to fit their program. Hope your success has many more years to come!!!
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.