re: What the hell was Saban thinking not having his kicking team ready to cover the

Damn dude. I see somebody hasn't gotten over it yet

Defending a runback on a field goal kick is quite different than defending normal kickoff returns.

From the view of the end zone...

1. Compared to the NFL video in the OP, the hash marks are much wider and the field goal kick was on the far right hash. Very much an unbalanced field.
2. The kick was missed to the left side of the goal (wide side of the field).
3. Due to the earlier misses and block, Saban had a bunch of wide-bodies in the game - not the speed personnel you would normally see on a normal kickoff return. Basically there were several tired 300 lbers trying a 40-yd dash to get to the left sideline before the kick returner who had a head start on the left side.
4. Malzahn did a great job anticipating a potential return and got a great return man back with speed.
5. The kicker was the safety valve... he was actually going to make the play when one of his own men bumped him and changed his line.


The "one second" crap is just that, ANY coach in America would want the extra second for another play. Criticism on this point is frankly pretty stupid. But personally, I wish he would have A)thrown a Hail Mary, Bama had the QB and premium receiver set to have a good shot at it. Or B) used the kicker with the strongest leg, and he didn't. If you're gonna miss it, far better to miss it wide than short.

Honestly, I really don't see a bad decision here, only the wrong decision IMHO. Those are really two separate things. Saban made the call he thought had the best chance to win the game. That's not really a coaching faux pas to choose to try the kick. But to my mind, a bad outcome sometimes *just happens*. A combination of circumstances simply happened and Auburn took advantage of it. Like they should have. We opened a crack and it was exploited like any well coached team would do.

If someone wants to make fun of Saban for making a bad coaching decision, there are plenty of opportunities to do so in the Iron Bowl for this year because I think Saban was outcoached overall. I really don't think the final play is one of them though, just something that went wrong. Granted, my opinion plus fifty cents will get you a cup of coffee. Your opinion will probably be different.



Edit: To clarify...

Bad decision: nothing good will ever come of this

Wrong decision: not the outcome you intended, but it COULD have went your way
Remember that hindsight is 20/20. If the field goal had been made, no one would have ever thought anything about it being a "bad" decision.

That's just how a choke job goes. The whole thing stank of desperation, but I was not at all confident about Bama's chances to get it done in overtime had the game gone that route. Just too many mistakes, the game had a sense of impending doom for me after Amari Cooper dropped that pass in the endzone.

You just now watched the game?

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So much Bama butthurt in this thread. I love it. Saban looked like a buffoon. Great coaches are in the NFL, not in Tuscaloosa. Even goofy-arse Miles could not have come up with a more epic way to lose a game. Face it Bama, yall got a mulligan against LSU, a layup against ND, and the luck finally ran out. The most epic defeat in modern CFB is now owned by Bama.

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Epic? 21-0. Raise your hand next time y'all cross the 50, mmmmkay?

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There was nothing epic about this game. Just a serious arse whipping. But obviously you're still hurt from the iron bowl to be bringing this up.

You are ate up with gumption this morning don't you think? But please do not let that derail your operation here.