This team felt like a fraud from the start

The hallmarks of a legit championship contender have always been strong team leadership, a good defense, and great QB play. You simply can’t win a title without a combination of those three.

This team has felt like it was lacking in all three areas, but there was enough window dressing to cover it up, until we ran into brick wall and the facade was torn down.

Strong team leadership: There were warning signs, particularly against USF, and the second half of the Georgia game. No one, not the coaches, not the players, got these guys motivated to man up and take back control of the game. Malachi Moore’s hissy fit at the end of the Vandy game tells you all you need to know about the culture of this team. They’re charmin soft.

Good defense: The secondary is trash. The linebackers are lost. Jihaad Campbell is not an SEC-caliber LB. The tackling is atrocious. Attempting to punch the ball out instead of actually bringing the guy to the ground is a losing move. I’m not sure what’s to blame more, the scheme or the players, but our defense isn’t good. The fact that Vandy converted every single important third down ought to tell you something. Georgia’s fourth down conversions say the same thing: the defense has no chest.

Great QB play: Milroe is fine. He’s not as bad as some on here think, but he’s not great either. His decision making ability is lacking, and he’s fast but easy to bring down. He has a tendency to hero-ball, and has been bailed out on some inaccurate passes by great WR play. He’s probably a better passer than Jalen Hurts, but not as good running.

The signs were there that Bama wasn’t legit. Penalties, the offense disappearing for long stretches, the defensive lapses. The explosiveness of the offense was covering a multitude of problems that all came to light yesterday in humiliating fashion.

Here’s the deal: it’s all out there now. The mask has been torn off. The warts, deficiencies, everything is out in the open. Where do you go from here? One thing about a loss like this; it can galvanize a team, cause them to take a hard look in the mirror and make the needed adjustments in preparation and attitude, and actually turn them into a good team. Or it can have the opposite effect, and they lock into repeating the same mistakes again and again because “you don’t know our team like we do, these guys bring it every day, LANK” and so on…

They were frauds. Not anymore. We know who they are now, I really hope they do too.