The Most Overrated Thing Was …
Alabama beat Texas 20-19.
In this crazies of weeks, Bama files this under the Any Win You Can Walk Away From Is A Good One category.
Did Texas just expose a few massive problem with the Tide? Yup.
Start with this – where the hell are the wide receivers?
It somehow got totally glossed over this offseason that Bama didn’t reload at receiver like it normally does. It lost John Metchie and Jameson Williams, and it brought back a slew of young parts that in a just sayin’ sort of way got blamed by Nick Saban for not stepping up in the national championship.
The assumption was there that it’s Alabama – the receivers will rise up and rock once they get there. Georgia transfer Jermaine Burton caught two passes for ten yards.
Georgia Tech RB Jaymyr Gibbs led the way with nine catches, banged up tight end Cameron Latu came up with four big short-range grabs, and for the most part, all of the downfield targets were totally erased.
There was that, there was the inability to cover Texas star WR Xavier Worthy early on, there were the 15 penalties for 100 yards – and, really, the Tide could’ve and should’ve been called for at least five, closer to ten, more – and it took the reigning Heisman winner to save the day with yet another legendary game-winning drive. And …
Alabama won.
Texas A&M lost at home to a Sun Belt team – not to program shame, but Appalachian State is a Group of Five program, not Texas.
Notre Dame lost at home to a Sun Belt team – Marshall is terrific. It’s not Texas.
Who else out there looks the part of a College Football Playoff team? Georgia, of course, and Ohio State, but now that Notre Dame win doesn’t seem like anything special.
Alabama survived. Last year it got out of Florida alive with a close-call win that was this close to going into overtime, lost to Texas A&M a few weeks later, and almost won the national title.
In 2020 it survived an early shootout with Ole Miss and went on to win the national title. In 2015 it lost to Ole Miss in September and went on to win the national title.
Almost every Saban national championship season had a bump, a bad performance, or a moment that made it seem like the wheels might be finally coming off.
And then things get fixed.
There’s ULM up next, and then Vanderbilt before going to Arkansas. There are two weeks to get The Process in peak form, but for now …
Alabama is 2-0. It survived in a weekend when many teams didn’t.
– CFP, Bowl Ties Winners & Losers
– Sun Belt, Fun Belt One Really Big Thing
– Michigan’s roll: Most Underrated Thing
– This is going to be weird: What It All Means, Week 2
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