Wishfull thinking on Bama, but we whooped on Buffs!

I ain't much for UW, but I have to hand it to the coach. Peterson has built a hell of a team and seems to do it the right way.

I'd take him over Urban Meyer or Pete Carroll any damn day.

"We"...so you play gridiron?

I think Peterson is one of the top two or three coaches in college football. I absolutely love his bag of trick plays. And you are right; he does things the right way.

They ain't gonna beat Bama

After watching Coach Pete for years, I wouldn't entirely rule that out. He's won some damn big games.

They won't be playing 'Bama, at least not in the 1st round.

Committee will drop tOSU to 4th, Clemson & Washington will be 3rd & 4th in the final standings, assuming Clemson wins.

tOSU won't beat 'Bama either though...........Clemson might scare them but their defense isn't strong enough to last the whole game.

MM

I'd like to see Clemson lose today.
UW moves to 3rd and Michigan moves to 4th.

Bama
tOSU
UW
MI

If you are a Huskies fan, that is the best case scenario.
And with no dawg in the fight, that would be good playoff.
Maybe it's me, but those Huskies look under-sized at some positions.

Time to play the game.

I think everyone else is just wating for their turn to get rolled by Bama. The good news is it will be settled on the field. Should be fun to watch.

Clemson can beat any and all of those teams.

However, not all of those teams can best Clemson!

You're right, but they won't...............not enough defense to beat 'Bama, maybe not enough to beat tOSU.

MM

It’s a tradition amongst the school’s alumni. Just because you’ve graduated, it doesn’t mean you’re not still part of the family. Once a Dawg, always a Dawg! It’s just the way we do things. We like it! And we did whoop on Colorado last night! Boy howdy!

But, if we draw ‘bama, then I think we will be the ones getting whooped on…

Oh well. We still had a great year no matter what happens going forward. Go Dawgs!

The last time a team scored a touchdown against the Bama defense, Trump wasn't elected yet and kids were still debating what to be for Halloween.

Dang right - woof woof

Class of '85 - Civil Engineering myself. Came down for the Oregon State game this year, and Oregon last year.

Muskegman: As the parent of a UW graduate with honors (and a WSU graduates parent also), and as a LEO type who put more UW athletes in jail than just about any other human being - I will be rooting for the DAWGS myself!
Fully realizing how great a team Alabama has this year I will still say this GO (MUSH!) DAWGS!
Win this one for Jim Owens!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

L
Small world - class of '86 Civil Engineering here. We probably sat in some of the same classes...

I believe with the current crop of large, superlative athletes Sabin somehow convinced to attend Alabama and play football on his team, Alabama could make the NFL playoffs.

They might beat the browns.

Relatives graduated the university of washington?

My aunt and her husband
My uncle
My father
My cousin
My second cousin
My cousin's wife
My wife and her cousin
My brother and his girl girlfriend
My sister and her husband
My son and his wife
My daughter and her boyfriend

and me

If Bama plays the game they are capable of, they will win going away, but that said, I was not impressed with the Quarterback play against Florida the other night, nor the the defense at first. The defense got it going, but the freshman quarterback did not impress. I have seen Him play better, but do not know if this is normal or not. miles

If that list was University of Arkansas it would be actually only 3 different people total.

Agreed...Alabama has moments when it looks like they may fold. But, true to any championship caliber team, they have always rallied and begin to look like a well-oiled machine, absolutely decimating the team they are playing against. The quarterback is a freshman. He is going to be a Heisman winner at some point in his Alabama career. His natural gifts are very impressive. There are no weak spots on the Alabama team. I don't believe any of the other three teams in the playoffs can beat them on their best day.

That is very true, but decision making can hurt you bad against a good opponent. I would put my money on them if I were to bet, but just saying a freshman quarterback can be a bad thing in a championship game. miles

After the Huskies turn around 3 times they'll be behind 21-0. The Tide score more ways than just offense. powdr

Hurts will be fine. He enrolled early, has won 13 games and the SEC Championship in dominating fashion. He learns exceptionally fast, especially from his own mistakes. He fully understands "the process". Now he has a full month for some fine tuning. Sure he will make some mistakes as we have seen throughout the season, but overcoming adversity is the capstone of the process.

Roll Tide!

Alabama coaches are looking at the 60 min game. If you notice, they run sideline to sideline early. Sure, they hope the play gains some yards, but they are trying get the defense winded. No team has the depth that Bama has, and Coach knows this.

Second half, boom....things start breaking open, and we start running down hill with men who should not be running as fast as they can for how big they are.

Florida did not want any part of the Bama offense at the end of the game

That said, Hurts has missed his read many times, which should make non-Bama fans more nervous, because he will get it all figured out.

Roll Tide!

LOL!

Give Nick Saban & co. a month to prepare the defense and UW is going to find themselves smothered. Whatever they do, the Tide's defense will be ready. I'll be rooting for the Dawgs, but I don't hold out much hope.

Hurts is a unique individual; yet surely a freshman at times. His composure and calmness is almost "strange" to watch in the midst of all the emotion around him. His upside is tremendous as he only turned 18 in July. He is also a deceivingly strong athlete. He squatted 570lbs, which is more than any teammate other than lineman. And, he did that when he was 16.
And a "hateful" defense to back him up.

It does look like Alabama is the top dog among the four teams that will be in the playoff. I am pulling for Washington or Clemson to pull off an upset. OSU can lose 90 to nothing for all I care.

Bama ain't gonna get beat. Texans couldn't beat them

I too believe that, but strange things happen in bowl games, after teams have been off for a while. Some seem to get better while others seem to lose focus.

miles

How can Alabama be so darn good year after year? ? Hell, they are a (very good) semi-pro team that just happens to be attached to a small college in the south.

Two words; recruiting and coaching

Hey Cruiser1. . . . . . My post was not intended as a slam against Alabama. If you look at graduation rates among division 1A school football programs, Alabama ranks very, very high year after year. Saban simply doesn't tolerate slackers.

Bugs4, no slam taken,all good. Bama fans just enjoying the ride, it won't last forever.

When you go on the field against BAMA......you aren't actually trying to beat BAMA!

You're trying to beat NICK SABAN!

And THAT....is VERY DIFFICULT!!

Saban has been a great asset to a program with a storied tradition.

When you beat Bama you have done just that, beaten Bama. I guess with Saban at the helm it may be an added bonus to some.

Everybody guns for Bama, always have and always will. When the great Saban is long gone the storyline will remain the same for Bama opponents. If we can only beat Bama...

And that will remain very difficult!

Coach Pete will give them a run but it's men against boys. Half the Bama team will be drafted into the NFL. Nobody else gets recruits like they do and until there is a rule change 'salary cap' then it will stay lop sided.

Lots of reasons, but one is that every stud around wants to play for Alabama. Used to be Notre Dame was that, when I was young. Every Catholic football player was automatically recruited. All they had to do was cull the ones they did not want. Another is that the players seem to stay longer at Alabama, and not go out early. That really hurts some schools like Arkansas. They don't have the depth that Bama and Florida has. Bama has more ranked players sitting on the bench than Arkansas even has. That is one very good reason that it is rare for another SEC team to beat Bama, not the coaching. Not knocking the coach but the game is rigged in Sabans favor from the start. miles

Maybe I'm missing something or just don't understand. How, exactly, is the game rigged in Saban's favor? Of course a bunch of studs want to attend Alabama. Alabama has excelled at building and sustaining a winning institution, not to mention a history of placing players at the next level.

You state that players wanting to stay for their full commitment hurts other schools. Some stay to improve their stock. Some stay because they feel it is the right thing to do. Some stay for a chance at multiple championships. What are we to do? Tell some players they are going to have to leave early, or tell them up front they should go to Ark. since we already have a good team?

The fact is Alabama has a competitive advantage. Some folks think that is unfair. If we start limiting those who excel, where do we end up? Participation Trophies?

College football pivots on the coaches (as it should be). Nick Saban will go down as the most successful college football coach in college football history, for a some time period. Is there any wonder that a large percentage of successful football coaches came from under Saban's coaching tenure?

There are others out there, like Harbaugh and Meyer, that are cut from the same cloth, but even they are bested by Saban at this point in time.

That's what we said about Urban Meyer's Utah team!

I am not saying that there is anything illegal going on, just saying that the mystique of playing for Alabama, even though you sit on the bench, gives Him an advantage in recruiting. Players will stay an extra year figuring on playing for a National title, again an advantage. Notre Dame, Penn State, Ohio State, Miami and some others have had it over the years and it leads to a run of great teams. Again nothing illegal, but an advantage in recruiting that is hard for opponents in your conference to overcome. Saban is a real good coach, but having better than average players helps a great deal. miles

Gotcha. I don't know if it will help your cause any, but we now have 3 quarterbacks who are transferring. I don't think they will be SEC eligible though.

http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2016/12/alabamas_inevitable_qb_exodus.html#incart_2box

Right now, Quarterback is not our problem. Defensive spots across the board, and our offensive line never was right this season. They kept shifting people around, but they never Jelled. Nearly every year depth is a problem at most spots, again a place that Alabama excels. One reason that they roll at the end of games. They are never easy, and seldom beatable. miles

Barnett to Arizona State

The guys on the line make a championship team. If you're beat upfront it's over. It doesn't matter how talented your backs and receivers are, the ball won't move forward when they're on their backs! Recruiting, strategy and discipline are the hallmarks of a master in the coaching profession, Saban is a step above the others at this moment and why he continually has a top tier team. It won't last forever, but still impressive none-the-less.

I've enjoyed Bama and SEC ball for awhile and can tell you that I can't help but laugh at the sports media who has their same darling teams every year and Alabama has never been one of them, that includes Saban. They perpetually kiss the ass of Ohio State, Auburn, USC (Cali) like no other teams out there and has been that way for awhile. Nothing's sweeter than watching Penn State, or Washington, or an Arkansas in your instance kick their asses. The only reason that Bama and several other top teams get their mention is because they have a winning program and nothing more. I can't tell you how many times I've watched a Bama game and they televise some damned highlights for Auburn 2 to 3 times a game from the past 10 years and they aren't even playing together in the game thats being televised. The sports press is as biased as the political pundits with a lot of crony horsescheeeit going on which pisses me off because it screws over those kids killing themselves on the field, while the fat bastards who are rigging it all at the top reap the rewards. Just look at the BCS nightmare, the only reason they threw in the 4 team play off was to ease the pissed off masses that eventually tire of it and watch something else. They need at least an 8 team (preferably 16) playoff to make it an honest system, but those fat bastards know they will lose the control they have over the programming, so, here we sit, stuck with a half-assed system in place. It all stinks and everyone (except tOSU fans) know it!