The University of Alabama Football and Crimson Tide Sports Source
April 25, 2024
December 05, 2014
Can the Tide bring home a win from Atlanta?
Scrolling through the flotsam and jetsam of sports sites on the internet it appears clear that almost everybody is picking Alabama to win this game. Yet, there seems to be an uneasiness about the whole enterprise. The Alabama team that stumbled against Ole Miss or the one that went MIA in Fayetteville could show up.
Then what? Well, catastrophe for the SEC. Chaos for the first college football playoff and some excitement at the end of the season. If the Tide loses there will not be an SEC representative in the pool of four. There just won’t be Missouri will not more up nor will Mississippi State. That scenario would make a whole bunch of people quite happy, giddy, I’d say.
It could happen. For the second week in a row Alabama is playing a team with nothing to lose. Missouri can throw everything in their play book at Alabama tomorrow. If they watched the Auburn game, and you know they did, that’s exactly what they’ll do. The Tide defense will see formations that the Tigers have not shown all season, anything to get an edge. Missouri’s got a good defense and their pass rush is one of the best in the conference. Something will have to give.
This writer wrote this in September: For what it’s worth my take on it is this. Sims has a much better grasp of the offense than Coker. That was abundantly clear last Saturday. He has more playing experience than Coker and he’s been in Saban’s process for four years. He’s a team guy and the players to like him. Plus he has become a much better player than the guy we saw in the A-Day game.
I honestly expected that Coker would probably unseat Sims early on. After the Florida game it was simply over. Sims had seized the day – carpe diem as it were – and very much like the proverbial snapping turtle I don’t think he’s going to let go until it thunders. He had a bad quarter against Auburn and the clouds gathered and you thought you heard some rumbles, but in the end the coaches kept the faith and Blake Sims did what he did and Alabama won the game.
Nobody is going to say this is a typical Nick Saban Alabama team. It just isn’t except it is. This team isn’t going to take the ball and run it and run it until you cry uncle. It’s not going to strangle you with a smothering defense. What it does in the words of Commander Peter Quincy Taggart from the film Galaxy Quest is “Never give up! Never surrender!” Down three points to LSU with less than a minute left – no problem – drive down and kick a field goal. Down eleven points to Auburn early in the third quarter – no problem, you simply go on a 34-3 run and ice the game.
I want to give a huge shout out to Blake Sims. This has been a season to remember. No matter what happens tomorrow. The Tide beat Auburn and won eleven games with Sims under center. In all but one game that team, with him at the helm, found a way to win. Last summer – everybody wanted to hand the keys to Jake Coker. He may yet get the keys – but right now this is Blake Sims’ team. He has done all of us Alabama fans and alums proud.
Tomorrow with everything on the line – again, Alabama will face a very motivated Missouri Tigers squad. Expect the unexpected. I don’t think this will evolve into a shootout. I just don’t think Alabama’s defense will have two games like that in a row. Though, I could be wrong. I think Alabama will take a while getting used to Mizzou’s defense. It could be a very close first half. In the end I expect Alabama to pull away and win Saban’s third SEC championship at Alabama. My guess Alabama 35 – Missouri 17.
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