Mac is not the reason we lost to Auburn.

@ OP
Question, do you think we win that game with a healthy Tua?

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Question, do you think we win that game with a healthy Tua?

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Yes but I also think we would win if we had Derrick Thomas. We had neither so it doesn’t matter.

It was just a super fluky game. They somehow put up 34 with Nix 50% and 350 total yards. We dominated time of possession. Our postgame win expectancy was 94%. We should have won. But somehow we didn't. Just a bizarre game.

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Season died when Tua went down

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For the most part I agree. This is a separate topic but how do we tie our success to one person? There is too much dependency on one position. We can’t go back to go run and pound. That’s just outdated but I feel like we may have gone too far the other way.

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I keep seeing people say if it wasn’t for the two pick 6s we would have won.

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We’re saying that because it’s true. Even though Mac came back and did well enough that we could’ve still won, it doesn’t change the fact that if he doesn’t throw those two INTs, we win the game regardless of the defense...

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our defense failed us time and again.

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This is not the Bama defense of old. Attrition from early entries, recruiting misses, and especially the devastating injuries on the front 7, we were forced to start 6 true freshmen on D this year, up to 5 of ‘em at the same time. They’re very talented but most were not ready that soon. MLB was the position of least depth for us and Moses and McMillon getting hurt before taking a snap handicapped us severely and we never really recovered from it...

That being said, our defense should be very experienced next year and I think we’ll see big improvement...

He threw two pick six every time we had momentum to kill us. The 14 point swing on his last pick six was backbreaking.

He is a big part of why we lost.

Exactly.

Kid is mediocre at best and had an NFL receiving crew to throw to. Still missed open TDs and two pick six.

Heck if he was accurate on that throw to Devonta on the first drive we would have won.


Our QB was just as much a liability (even more honestly) as our DC.

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Defense played well enough to win, held Auburn below their season average by almost 100 yards.

Mac Jones is responsible for a 21 point swing in that game. Gave Auburn 14 points and took 7 from Bama. That last pick six happened on 1st and goal from the 2.

Mac Jones's pick sixes are 99% of the reason Bama lost that game. Without them Bama wins easily.

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Even using your math, the defense still gave up 27 points to a really suspect Auburn offense. They let Boobie Whitlow and Bo Nix rush for more yards than Najee on fewer carries. Don’t excuse the defense and don’t lay the blame at Mac’s feet. Those picks were crushing, but the lack of leadership and discipline on this team led directly to that loss. When asshats like Landon Dickerson are the type they look to for leadership, you get what you get. The upperclassmen on the team had a responsibility to keep guys focused and minimize the dumb mistakes. Instead, we had 13 penalties for over 100 yards. Penalties we couldn’t afford at crucial times. They were more critical in the loss than the pick sixes and most were just mental softness. It frustrates the hell out me the way we gave that game away in so many ways.

And in many ways I blame Nick Saban because of his history, dating all the way back to his days in Baton Rouge. He has shown a propensity for making poor decisions and choices whenever he walks into Jordan Hare. It’s almost like he’s intimidated down there. How many times have we taken an equal or superior team in there only to struggle to win or herp derp to a loss? He needs to find a way to approach that game differently.

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Heck if he was accurate on that throw to Devonta on the first drive we would have won.

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We had a TD from Mac to Jaylen that was called back due to a holding penalty on that first drive. That hold did not effect the play at all as it occurred just as Mac was letting the ball go.