re: Why is this problem unique to Alabama ?

Looking at this from a human nature standpoint, at one point in the not so distant past we were the baddest dudes on the block regardless of opponent. We could talk shite because we were going to go out there and dominate- that ability didn’t come from putting on a crimson jersey, it came from their natural talent and the work they put in

Over time it’s almost unavoidable that eventually the kids coming into the program just have an expectation that they’re joining the best. Maybe the effort and intensity in the preparation wanes a little bit. In your mind you’re still the best, you’re still going to talk shite on the field, but you aren’t dominating anymore. It’s frustrating to run your mouth and get whipped. Now we’ve got a lot of players out there chirping that haven’t prepared well enough or aren’t talented enough to back it up. A hungry dog will fight harder for his food. Teams don’t hate playing us anymore because we just aren’t the angry, physical, intimidating football team that we used to be. That was always inevitable and it started under Saban. You address that in recruiting. You want the most talent but they need the right makeup.

I think this is why you see the hyper focus when we play Georgia. They’re pretty vocal about being the top dog in college football, so naturally we are going to get up to play them. Well, the “Bama” name still carries the most weight for all these kids. They all grew up watching Alabama dominate. We are the team circled on everyone’s schedule, but we just aren’t good enough anymore to handle everyone else’s A game when we’re a little off. Even as flawed as this team is, their A game beats anyone. They just don’t have the mindset to bring it every week


I played for a major high school baseball program in the early 2000s and saw this phenomenon first hand. The year before I got there we won state. We had multiple draft picks left, including a first round pick. We were good, but we fricked off a lot and weren’t as good as we could’ve been. We lost some games to inferior teams. Russell County came to town ranked #1 in the country though and we jumped all over them. When we really got up and dialed in we could beat anyone, but we had a lot more talent than work ethic and coasted by on that