A few random thoughts after rewatch

After being there live on Monday and rewatching here are a couple rambling musings from the game:

-Bryce is incredible, probably the best bama QB i've seen. When tua left i thought "ok, at least it can only go downhill from here". Even though mac was extremely accurate, he never really struck fear in you, and of course having 3 or 4 all universe receivers could make anyone look good. But Bryce is different. We were in his face CONSTANTLY but he still found a way to get the ball out and put it exactly where it needed to be. It's irritating that we're going to have to see him several more times. We had pressure in his face all night yet he still somehow found a way to put the ball in very catchable situations, and most of the night until the game was in hand was able to elude being sacked.

-This was a very un-bama like game as far as game-changing plays go. Typically when we (and most anyone else) plays bama there are a handful of plays they make at extremely opportune times that turn the game. Monday they were THIS CLOSE to making those typical bama plays they always do..but they didn't. Perfect example: in the '17 title game tua comes int he 2nd half and we rattle him and he throws a pick. We've got all the momentum. Our very next play, fromm's pass is tipped and bama recdovers and basically sucks the air out of the room. Now look at monday. Bama's first possession of the 2nd half bryce throws a pick and we've got the ball in bama territory. What happens? Bennett's pass is tipped..but is missed by bama's defense. Those are exactly the kind of plays bama usually amkes but didn't. On one of our first possessions bennett is rolling out and throws a desperate pass to mcconkey that he tips and a bama guy ALMOST picks it off, which would have deflated us out of the gates. Late in the 3rd bryce throws an absolute dime to #84 on our 5 yard line that hit him in the middle of both of his hands but he dropped it. Plays like that that normally go bama's way didn't.

-Officiating...eesh. One thing I will say, they let WRs and DBs do their thing. In today's game I hold my breath anytime a ball is thrown along the sideline more than 15 yards downfield since it seems like PI is the default. But there wasn't a single one of those called unless they were absolutely egregious. The grounding and fumble calls on stetson were both horseshite. As was the call early on bryce. Latu spiked the ball directly into a ref with no call, and they somehow didn't get a single holding call all game. But whatever, ultimatley it doesn't matter. But I guess that was probably as unbiased as you could hope for from a title game. I don't think there was any kind of agenda or anyting nefarious like that, I think that referees by and large are mostly just pretty bad.

-You could ask 10 different people their thoughts on game changing plays and get 10 different answers. The drop by #84 which I think led to teh blocked FG was obviously major especially upon rewatch. But one of hte more unheralded plays to me was with about 7 minutes left in the game and bama had the ball deep in their own territory. We had just gone up 1 and they had the ball back. Latavious Brini has been a starter all season for us. The only game he didn't start and get most of the reps was the SECCG against bama, because supposedly the backup william poole was better in coverage. William Poole is an upperclassman that has barely had any PT his whole career up to the SECCG in which he got absolutely torched. Bama has a 3rd and long and poole is in coverage against bolden and bryce throws a perfect first down ball but poole plays the most perfect coverage you could possibly play to knock it down. Bama would punt and we would score on the next possession to practically put it away. Biggest play of poole's career that practically anyone will remember.

-Maybe bama fans are just getting tired of winning all the time, or maybe the sidewalk bandwagon gumptards don't actually make the trip out of birmingham, but all the bama people I saw in Indy were great. Very little shite talking, not a lot of bravado, just a lot of good folks with good natured banter. I imagine Atlanta being only ~2 hours away means more of the riff raff goes to that venue, but I was really surprised at the level of fan I encountered compared to normal.

-After ringo scored I wish there was a video of the big screen in teh stadium of fan reactions. Totally cathartic. To a person everyone they showed on the screen was in tears. They showed one girl that was young enough to still be sitting on her dad's shoulders that was beating her chest like a caveman or a gorilla. It was just so primal, the only thing her brain could tell her body to do in that moment was to jsut scream and gyrate and beat her chest. But thousands of others were doing the same thing. It was an incredible experience.

-That game bought about 10 yeras worth of goodwill for anything else that happens. I dont' care if we lose to tech, auburn, and florida the next few yeras all by large margins. There's nothign that can erase the high of Monday. And the fantastic thing is that, unlike LSU, Auburn, Florida, and Tennessee, we aren't going to have years of going .500 or losing records. We're going to be competing for it all pretty much as long as kirby is here. It's a wonderful feeling.