re: Tua would've transferred if kept on sidelines for last game

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Hell boy he missed 4 FG's from inside the 40 and one inside the 20 that would have put us up by 10 late in the 4th QTR! The Kick didn't F matter at that point because you were going to lose in OT.

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No denying he had a rough time, but the final kick wasn't his.

Also don't think we would have lost in OT, but we'll never know.

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momentum had swung totally against us

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Most overrated notion in sports. Momentum is not real. It doesn't matter, neither anecdotally nor statistically.

I have no problem agreeing with basketball or any other sport whose structure is "continuous play," but football isn't that at all. I was only talking about football.

If momemtum is a thing, we lose to GA a few months ago.

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momentum

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There is no way to win an argument or be right about "momentum" - it's just a discussion of opinions.

And my opinion is that "momentum" in football is a construct created by fans/spectators as a way to quantify/qualify the changing emotions while watching a game. My definition of spectators even applies to players on the bench.

But for players in the game, speaking as a former player, this "force" you call "momentum" literally doesn't exist. You are too busy trying to do your job to even think about crap like that. Sure, it's possible to get discouraged if you're getting your arse whipped, and it's possible to get amped due to success. Human psychology still applies.

But the idea that there's some intangible force called momentum that affects the next play is ludicrous, and as a matter of fact, it is often in the face of adversity that players dig deeper and find a loftier level of play, and the statistics bear out the fact that momentum doesn't exist.

There is no statistical significance that a team with more "momentum" is more likely to have a next successful play.

Simply put, Bama missing the FG to win to championship game had literally no negative bearing on the next set of defensive snaps, and as a matter of fact, one could argue that it could have the opposite effect.

Same thing with the Iron Bowl when cam newton launched the comeback. They came back on us because they played better, and were motivated by the absolute arse whipping they received in the first half. We had the momentum and they benefited. You can't have it both ways - you can't say that auburn won because of momentum in the second half and ignore the fact that we had all the momentum from the first half. Because momentum isn't a thing.

It's only real if you believe it's real. Literally.

It's just a word we use to describe a period of perceived success for one team.

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Saban talks about the importance of momentum in a game on a regular basis.

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Saban has repeatedly said that momentum only exists if you believe it exists.

And my above statement is not contradictory. Human psychological reactions to their environment very much exist. That still isn't momentum as most folks see it.

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It is something you can gain, keep, or lose, and I feel like most coaches would agree with that.

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I wholeheartedly disagree. You can keep playing well, you can stop playing well, you can start playing badly, or you can stop playing badly. That is all.

And the notion that the previously play or series or plays going your way affecting your ability to have a positive outcome of the next play or series of plays is simply not correct, and conversely if things aren't going your way, that has literally no bearing on what comes next.

Your result is tied to your performance, and your performance is a conscious decision.

Having said that, many player/humans in general are weak minded, and believe in the hokum known as momentum. And if you believe in it, it becomes real, just like a placebo pill. But it's simply because you believe your chances of success are lower/higher, you try less hard/harder. That's not momentum - that's being weak-minded and allowing your environment to dictate your mental and physical effort.

As a player and spectator, I have seen way too many games simply turn on a dime over, and over, and over again to believe in "momentum."

And when a coach wants his team to "keep the momentum", what he wants is them to keep playing well. And when he wants his players to "swing the momentum", what he wants is his players to play better.

Simply put, if a player is coached to do his job play in and play out regardless of environmental factors, just like Bama is coached, momentum literally ceases to exist. It only exists in the minds of fans watching the game.

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Is perception not reality?

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That depends on your definition of "reality."

If you are lost in a desert on the brink of death from thirst, and you see a mirage oasis a short distance away, do you experience the same biochemical reaction to seeing actual water? Yes. Does your outlook on life immediately change in the same way as seeing actual water? Yes. Do you have sudden increase in energy as you run toward "salvation?" Yes. Is your experience in the moment indistinguishable from seeing actual water? Yes.

When you run over there, can you drink it? No. Are you still going to die? Yep.

I think this has been blown way out of proportion.

I think the 4th Quarter Program before the Season,under Scott Cochran,had him questioning his decision.

His family had uprooted and moved 4,000 miles from Hawaii to Alabama.

His Dad told him to tough it out.

I think Tua is glad that he stayed.