Nick Saban's Tenure in Review: Season #7 - 2013 Alabama Crimson Tide

I never felt like this team really full came together but they had all the talent to do the 3peat. The VT opener was closer than it seemed if not for special teams touchdowns. Winning at College Station was great but Manziel and Evans torched the defense worse than 2012. The Ole Miss game was a sloppy game but Bo Wallace was overwhelmed by the defense. LSU was their first complete game against a quality opponent all season. Unfortunately, they played a sloppy game against MSU then basically begged Auburn to stay in the game the entire second half despite Auburn essentially falling apart on defense.

I have a sour opinion of this team. They seemed a bit too confident, to the point of hubris, and less focused than the 2011 and 2012 teams. They treated the LSU game like a coronation that would put them into SECCG and BCSCG.

quote:

---

I still don't know which Iron Bowl at the most Alabama mistakes that allowed Auburn to win, 2010 or 2013.

Alabama should have won both by double digits.

---

I'd say 2010. Ingram fumbling the ball 20+ yards forward into the end zone, and Trent Richardson dropping the an incredibly easy wide open 5 yard pass in the end zone are the two plays that come to mind. Just those two failures kept them just within reach to make a comeback. If Ingram doesn't fumble, and Richardson catches that pass, then the score would have at minimum been 31-0, and I just don't think that even Cam could've made up that much ground. However, I think that they did take the lead halfway through the 4th quarter, and that was with them gifting us a possession on a fumble, so maybe I'm wrong on that. Ugh that game is so frustrating to look back on.

Surprising with the seniors like AJ, CJ, Norwood, Bell and players like Clinton-Dix, Collins and Cooper on the team.

quote:

---

The scuttlebutt I heard around town in 2013 was that AJ McCarron was hit-or-miss in the leadership role.

---

I can definitely believe this. Dude tried to start something with one of my teammates while we were playing intramural flag football at the rec fields back in 2011. That isn't something you would expect from the starting QB of a major college football program.

The scores said blowouts in all these games but I just remember us being sloppy all season. Still would have won the Natty tho if Cade Foster makes one of his 30FG attempts at Auburn.

Discount the OU game, it was meaningless.

Look at the dominate scores same Texas AM away. IMHO, this was Saban's best team, barely over 2011.

The Auburn game was a complete shaft job, not one bad call but 20-25 AND a dumb decision by Saban probably cause by a first down not being given at the Auburn 7 yard line up 7 with 5 minutes to go Saban goes for the first down when 3 point clinches the game.

Auburn got away with three or four men down field call while passing, the roughing call on the kick was not called. The two guys in the end zone, their player hit our guy with a swing to the head, all out guy did was push him in the chest. First downs on multiple occasions was spotted short.

We would have crushed Florida St.in that tile game easily.

I think Saban was "heading to Texas" and imho, thats the only reason I can think he did not take the FG, he was not thinking clearly. The story goes Mack Brown was supposed to say hes stepping down at a banquet, but he announced he was staying and sent word via his lawyer he would make trouble.

Thats why I say 2013 was his best team, I think it was overall.

Something that doesn't get talked about enough is how even with Cade Foster putting on the kind of performance only he could, Bama easily would have won that Auburn game if they played Derrick Henry rather than Yeldon. It is extremely clear in retrospect that Henry should have been a day one starter. His first carry came up huge against Arkansas and was a long touchdown that looked just like his famous explosions against Oklahoma. Having Henry sit behind Yeldon for two seasons is one of the most inexplicable decisions of the Saban era, especially as Yeldon continued to struggle with ball security for his entire career at Alabama.

quote:

---

Something that doesn't get talked about enough is how even with Cade Foster putting on the kind of performance only he could, Bama easily would have won that Auburn game if they played Derrick Henry rather than Yeldon. It is extremely clear in retrospect that Henry should have been a day one starter. His first carry came up huge against Arkansas and was a long touchdown that looked just like his famous explosions against Oklahoma. Having Henry sit behind Yeldon for two seasons is one of the most inexplicable decisions of the Saban era, especially as Yeldon continued to struggle with ball security for his entire career at Alabama.

---

TJ Yeldon was pretty damn good in 2013. 6 ypc on the season. Against AU he had 141 yards on 26 carries. Henry and Yeldon had a similar amount of carries in 2014.

People forget after this season was when Saban almost called it quits. I think it was after the Iron Bowl loss that genuinely had him thinking about it. I was at the 2010 and 2013 Iron Bowl and 2013 was 10000000x worse given what we had at stake. Bama would've stomped FSU in the BCS Champ btw...

It can't be said enough, but Saban powering through after 2013 and winning 3 more nattys after that nightmare IB only shows the drive that man had. There will never be another CNS.

Bonus: It took me until we beat AU in 2015 at JHS the courage to watch the Kick Six again.