Sisyphean Bills

One of the flags on him going into the year was his tackling technique. Savvy talent evaluators should be saying, "Hmm."

He's listed at 4.55. Eddie Lacy is listed likewise. OTOH, it looked like anyone wearing red and white last night had no trouble pulling away from him. Edit: ESPN's site has him listed at 4.8 in the 40.

He looked like a Will to me, but his lack of explosion, lack of coverage, lack of tackling, inability to get off blocks, poor pursuit angles, and lack of speed ... well, I wouldn't be writing a glowing scouting report.

Alabama and LSU split last season. I wouldn't equate the two games. Alabama totally shut down the LSU offense and broke a few big plays against an excellent LSU defense. Saban gets his teams ready for big games, no question. The game last night was all but over after the opening kickoff, by contrast. Alabama stormed down the field, and ND didn't show they even had a pulse until the game was out of hand.

OK, but a truly "dominant" college player should be able to make a play or two against better competition. Otherwise, the "dominant" label seems misapplied, no? He raised some serious question marks last night.

Let's be clear, Notre Dame did not play anyone from the SEC until last night. Saying they could beat everyone except Alabama, who lost to Texas A&M (so much for no other SEC team beating Alabama), is speculation at best. Let's look at their schedule. They blew out Navy and Wake Forest. They beat an overrated USC team that got stomped on in its bowl game and finished 7-6. Their quality wins against top 25 teams: Mich. St. (squeaked by TCU in its bowl), Michigan (lost to SEC), Stanford (won the Rose Bowl), and Oklahoma (got blown out in its bowl by Texas A&M). Purdue got blown out in its bowl game and finished 6-7. They needed 3 OTs to beat Pitt, and they finished 6-7 and got blown out by Ole Miss. Miami, BC, BYU? Those teams would've been akin to Kentucky in the SEC. PS: Saying they'd have finished 8th or 9th in the SEC is saying that they might be able to beat some SEC schools. There are 12 schools in the SEC. To be a top SEC team, they'd have to run through not just the 2012 Alabama team but Texas A&M, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, LSU, and Vandy. All of those teams would have beaten the Notre Dame effort displayed last night. Which is what I said before.

Explains why they were ranked #1 despite being a heavy underdog.

First, you could be right that Notre Dame is vastly better than the way they played last night. It would be an easier argument if they had shown any sign of that, of course. But, my comment was based on watching this game and not based on the final score or the point differential or a couple of bad breaks. The Irish got thoroughly dominated. They couldn't block, tackle, run, or catch. Their hyped defense was slow and, to quote Musburger, "roadkill". On offense, all they had was Golson to Daniels. They also lacked depth. In a way, I was being generous that they'd be a middling SEC team based on that performance. They proved they were nowhere close to beating the best of the SEC. It was men against boys in the trenches.

Speaking of SEC, where would Notre Dame finish in the SEC? I'm thinking maybe 8th or 9th, depending if they could beat Miss. St. or Ole Miss.

He was being a Southern gentleman and showing him to the right bus home.

And, if not, there is always that "quick first step".

Well, he does know what a blitz is...

I don't get it either, brother.

Isn't that kind of the point? If he looks like a slow, small guy that can't make any plays against NFL lineman, how is he going to be a stud in the NFL?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRjDVsw-eQU

Who? And who's Saben?

He's on fire ... dumpster fire.

Maybe they can turn him into a TE?

He does seem to be a real "talent" evaluator in that area. Jinx.

If you follow Musburger's thought, Alabama has 20 to 40 top 100 draft picks on the team... that's more than your average NFL team by far.

Where's that Deep Voice guy?

True.

Is he the small guy that got pancaked?

Well, it is true that posters were all salivating for the return of the 3-4 when Chan got here as it was high time to return to the defense that Wade Phillips had run in the past. I thought it was a big mistake, though.

You want to go back to the Tampa-2?