After two years...

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I've seen enough to say CKD is not going to be able to build a national championship level program here.

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Dude has maybe the worst Oline in the SEC...and got his team to SECCG. Hes got a #2 recruiting class with players that fit better with his system. At least let the dude get his players in first

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At least let the dude get his players in first

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That's such an excuse... he inherited a more talented team than Curt Cignetti did at IU. And IU just won the Big 10 in year 2 and will be the #1 ranked team tomorrow. Instead we are relying on a committee to let us in the back door again this year.

Go look at CKD and Grubbs historical rushing stats at Washington and Fresno St. They are pass first. And their offense is what you see. They are usually towards the bottom of the NCAA in yards per game and yards per carry. This isn't just we don't have a good OL or group of RBs. And yes, I know this is probably the weakest RB room since the days of Ken Darby. And the OL is as bad as anything Bucket Step Bob put on the field.

They had a 1,200-yard rusher who ran for 16 touchdowns the year Washington went to the championship game, and had 800- and 700-yard rushers their last year at Fresno State.

We can do it guys. Let’s band together. Dork.

I wont judge him until I see Keelon Russell start

UW ranked 106th nationally in rushing in 2023, averaging just 118 yards per game. Dillon Johnson had a solid season, but the team as a whole was still clearly pass-first. And in Grubb’s last year at Fresno State, they were 91st in rushing at 137 yards per game—again, against much softer West Coast defenses.

Just ask Seahawks fans how the run game looked with Grubb as OC. The running game tonight was the same story: anemic. After the opening drive—where we actually ran it three times—they basically abandoned the run. I think we had maybe 7–8 rushing attempts the rest of the game.

I’m not saying we need to clean house. But if the running game doesn’t improve over the next year or two, the heat is going to get turned up...

I am on record here multiple times as saying improving the running game has to be a major if not the major priority, mic drop.

But we’re never going to be a run first offense with these coaches.

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Well let me tell you about the team DeBoer inherited at Washington and what he did with it. He even embarrassed a team that blew Saban out at home...

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Honest question then — if that’s the standard, explain what’s happened at Alabama:

Lost to Vanderbilt.

Lost to Oklahoma twice when it actually mattered.

Lost to Florida State after a full offseason to prepare.

Lost to a Michigan team missing a huge chunk of its roster in the bowl game.

People love pointing out that he’s 2–0 vs Lanning, 2–0 vs Sark, and 2–1 vs Kirby. Fine. But that doesn’t change the reality that he has underperformed in his first two seasons at Alabama relative to expectations and the talent on hand.

And anyone who watched Washington in 2023 knows they weren’t some flawless juggernaut. They struggled with Arizona, Oregon State, and Washington State, among others. That’s not slander — it’s just saying fans should expect closer games than they’re used to, because that’s how his teams have played historically.

I never said Washington’s 2023 offense wasn’t elite overall. It was. But they were also the 106th-ranked rushing attack, averaging just 118 yards per game — and that was across 15 games to get to those 1,700+ total rushing yards. That’s the definition of a pass-first offense. The run game was clearly secondary, and when your offense leans that heavily on the quarterback, it’s absolutely fair to call the rushing attack sub-par.

None of this means DeBoer is a bad coach. It just means the pattern is real, and Alabama fans shouldn’t be shocked when the run game struggles — and the game margins are close and some don't go the way we expect.

We became a QB-centric offense, maybe not a fully pass-centric but a QB-centric offense, when Saban was still here. I think that still rubs some old-school people the wrong way. I am old school, I am pushing 70. I don’t care if the offense is pass centric as opposed to run centric. I just want it to be effective and it isn’t right now.