Alabama 27 Cincinnati 6 (CFP Semifinal)

[Tigerpride94]

 

[Walter]

 

[Walter]

35 minutes ago, Tigerpride94 said:

 

#9 will go down as the best QB in UC history @Tigerpride94

Bearcat fans are extremely grateful for every sacrifice he made to better the UC program both on and off the field during his 5 years.

[bugatti]

Congrats to the Bearcats on making it to the playoff and for their season… it was a success! They did what they had to do make it, but if we are being real, 27-6 doesn’t paint the picture on how much they were dominated. No clue why Alabama insisted on throwing the ball more than five times. They took themselves off the field (or left themselves with FG attempts) multiple times despite Cincinnati not having any answer up front. Bama is not a great rushing team by any metric, but that was like stealing candy from a baby. 

[Voice of Reason]

27 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

I’m not sure if UC would have won, but I would have liked to see how this game would have turned out if this game was played with only one week to prepare. When you give a team three weeks to prepare, especially when they have a great coach. The team that has the overall better talent will usually win.  If this game was like a normal football game with a week to prepare, I think UC would have had an even better shot. 

Agree on this.

Yes, Bama had more dudes. However, the schemes on both sides of the ball by Bama were a big difference.

On offense, Bama found the soft spots in UC's defense. They used their power o-line to find openings against UC's 3 man front and Robinson especially running the ball was tough to tackle. In the passing game, Bama found a soft spot in the short middle passing game. When they needed a big play pass, it happened in the middle of the field. They schemed to get different receivers into the middle to exploit that throughout the game. Bama saw some opening there, it worked and they continued to exploit it. UC wasn't able to stop that short middle passing game. The red zone pass completion for the first TD was all play design. Bama made that TD completion look easy. All scheme and coaching. The UC defense did a great job handling Bryce Young overall with pressure, their own defensive schemes that often confused him and NFL quality personnel that matched up well in the secondary. Bama had an edge up front running the ball against UC's defense and built the game plan off that, with the big back that UC had trouble tackling and then specific pass plays schemed in that worked. I found the Bama offense vs UC defense strategy and planning great to watch by both teams. Bama had a few more concepts that provided just enough edge to control the ball. Bama put up a lot of yards. The UC defense had trouble getting off the field. But the Bama offense versus UC defense was a battle all night with just a slight edge to Bama, much of that attributable to a few good game plan strategic wrinkles.

On the other side, I don't think the chess match was quite as even. UC's offense had one play design that I thought was effective - a rollout pass option with the pitch man actually downfield a few yards in front of Ridder. The pass play to Pearce at the goal line that was deflected would have been a TD. I did like the second half opening drive. Ridder ran the ball once by design in the first half. He had two runs in that drive. Everyone expected Ridder to run more. Running QB's are one of the things that have had some effectiveness against Saban defenses over the years. UC should have tried more Ridder runs and PPO. They ran Ridder twice in that opening drive of the second half and it resulted in a field goal. But overall, it felt like UC was looking for something the whole game that they never found and they didn't have anything game planned scheme wise. It was too much of a line up our guys against yours and try to beat you mano a mano. That isn't going to work against Bama. Not enough Ridder running. Not enough game planning/strategic design. UC's failure to sustain drives put too much pressure and too many Bama possessions onto the UC defense. 

Overall, I felt like UC belonged in the game. I agree that Bama outschemed UC during the three weeks between games played. Add in Bama's overall superior personnel across the entirety of the two rosters and the result is Bama ploddingly, not overwhelmingly, working their way to the win.

 

[HoopJunkie]

This thread is too long to read through, so if someone has already said this, I apologize. I think the difference in the game was so simple. The trenches. Cincinnati couldn’t keep Bama’s D-line out of the backfield, and their D-line couldn’t get any type of push to disrupt the run. I love the way the secondary, outside LBers, and special teams played. And hopefully Coach Luke can keep building. Overall, Alabama is the most talented team in the country. But there wasn’t a massive gap anywhere except on the lines. Pierce had that drop in the end zone on a ball that he usually comes down with. That was a momentum killer. But other than that, Ridder never had time to let any type of play develop. 

[theguru]

29 minutes ago, HoopJunkie said:

This thread is too long to read through, so if someone has already said this, I apologize. I think the difference in the game was so simple. The trenches. Cincinnati couldn’t keep Bama’s D-line out of the backfield, and their D-line couldn’t get any type of push to disrupt the run. I love the way the secondary, outside LBers, and special teams played. And hopefully Coach Luke can keep building. Overall, Alabama is the most talented team in the country. But there wasn’t a massive gap anywhere except on the lines. Pierce had that drop in the end zone on a ball that he usually comes down with. That was a momentum killer. But other than that, Ridder never had time to let any type of play develop. 

Yeah, I think most of that was covered. 🙂

[HoopJunkie]

6 minutes ago, theguru said:

Yeah, I think most of that was covered. 🙂

I assumed such 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Voice of Reason]

47 minutes ago, HoopJunkie said:

This thread is too long to read through, so if someone has already said this, I apologize. I think the difference in the game was so simple. The trenches. Cincinnati couldn’t keep Bama’s D-line out of the backfield, and their D-line couldn’t get any type of push to disrupt the run. I love the way the secondary, outside LBers, and special teams played. And hopefully Coach Luke can keep building. Overall, Alabama is the most talented team in the country. But there wasn’t a massive gap anywhere except on the lines. Pierce had that drop in the end zone on a ball that he usually comes down with. That was a momentum killer. But other than that, Ridder never had time to let any type of play develop. 

A couple comments:

UC's defensive line and rush was effective getting to Young. It was the running game where Bama's o line had success. 

On the Pearce "drop", bad pass by Ridder. One of several throws that Ridder missed. Ridder's opportunities to make plays passing were spare and when they were there, Ridder missed them too often.

On UC linebackers, good point that I don't think has been talked in the thread. The linebackers did not do a good enough job tackling Bama's running backs and they didn't do enough to disrupt Bama's short middle passing game.

[futurecoach]

2 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Agree on this.

Yes, Bama had more dudes. However, the schemes on both sides of the ball by Bama were a big difference.

On offense, Bama found the soft spots in UC's defense. They used their power o-line to find openings against UC's 3 man front and Robinson especially running the ball was tough to tackle. In the passing game, Bama found a soft spot in the short middle passing game. When they needed a big play pass, it happened in the middle of the field. They schemed to get different receivers into the middle to exploit that throughout the game. Bama saw some opening there, it worked and they continued to exploit it. UC wasn't able to stop that short middle passing game. The red zone pass completion for the first TD was all play design. Bama made that TD completion look easy. All scheme and coaching. The UC defense did a great job handling Bryce Young overall with pressure, their own defensive schemes that often confused him and NFL quality personnel that matched up well in the secondary. Bama had an edge up front running the ball against UC's defense and built the game plan off that, with the big back that UC had trouble tackling and then specific pass plays schemed in that worked. I found the Bama offense vs UC defense strategy and planning great to watch by both teams. Bama had a few more concepts that provided just enough edge to control the ball. Bama put up a lot of yards. The UC defense had trouble getting off the field. But the Bama offense versus UC defense was a battle all night with just a slight edge to Bama, much of that attributable to a few good game plan strategic wrinkles.

On the other side, I don't think the chess match was quite as even. UC's offense had one play design that I thought was effective - a rollout pass option with the pitch man actually downfield a few yards in front of Ridder. The pass play to Pearce at the goal line that was deflected would have been a TD. I did like the second half opening drive. Ridder ran the ball once by design in the first half. He had two runs in that drive. Everyone expected Ridder to run more. Running QB's are one of the things that have had some effectiveness against Saban defenses over the years. UC should have tried more Ridder runs and PPO. They ran Ridder twice in that opening drive of the second half and it resulted in a field goal. But overall, it felt like UC was looking for something the whole game that they never found and they didn't have anything game planned scheme wise. It was too much of a line up our guys against yours and try to beat you mano a mano. That isn't going to work against Bama. Not enough Ridder running. Not enough game planning/strategic design. UC's failure to sustain drives put too much pressure and too many Bama possessions onto the UC defense. 

Overall, I felt like UC belonged in the game. I agree that Bama outschemed UC during the three weeks between games played. Add in Bama's overall superior personnel across the entirety of the two rosters and the result is Bama ploddingly, not overwhelmingly, working their way to the win.

 

Agreed on all accounts! 

[9068]

5 hours ago, Walter said:

Fick leaving is the last of my worries right now. Need to get better on the lines, regardless of who the head coach is. 

OL recruiting is improving (taking less projects with kids coming in with legit size and other P5 offers) and they have two 4* DL coming in next year with Shepard and Eugenio so hopefully things continue to trend up with the 23 class. 

Easy to point out the weaknesses and areas of improvement but I think we also need to take a moment to respect how great Bama and that program are right now under Saban 

UC has 2 losses in two seasons to programs that are going to play each other in the national championship next Monday. Tough loss but the program is still in great shape moving forward.

Totally agree. Great year, and will just keep getting better. They will be fine in the Big 12.