From the "editor-in-chief" of Tidefans.com FWIW

Does this confirm that the Bama recruiting bump is real?

quote:

---

Does this confirm that the Bama recruiting bump is real?

---

I remember watching Arkansas control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball against bama in the first half early in the season. They are not on the 2011/2012 level they used to be. Georgia has caught up with them, Saban can’t coach forever. If you don’t count the Covid year I think their last title was 2017. Not saying they are in decline, but there is certainly a dip.

quote:

---

Jahmyr Gibbs

---

Without him, we probably beat them by 10+

They would also probably have 3-4 losses on the year, crazy how bad Bamas roster seemingly is with the amount of 5* they sign.

It was big of the writer to say Saban had earned the right to make changes.

Geez, what an arrogant SOB.

When the Texas run ended under Mack Brown, their recruiting classes were still ranked very high but the players that came in seemed entitled and didn’t pan out in the end.

A decline from 4.0 to 3.5 is still a decline and must be addressed. I admire them for demanding excellence. This wasn't supposed to be a rebuilding year for them.

quote:

---

Do these people take college football a tad too seriously?

---

Well, in Alabama there is college football and then there is... well that's about all there is.

quote:

---

Dude, my family in AL (big Bama fans) have taken to completely insulting me over nothing. They live and breath Roll Tide all the time. It’s sad.

---

Be empathetic. They have nothing to live for now.

When you have performed at such a high level for so long even a slight deviation from that level seems like a huge cause for concern. There were reasons for concern last year. The lost to an average A&M team and were pushed to the brink by .500 LSU and Auburn teams. Yet, they still won the SEC and went to the championship game.

The only difference between this year and last year is they were able to pull out close wins vs. LSU and Auburn whereas this year they lost close games to Tennessee and LSU. But even if they don't have all world WRs this season, a dominant OL, and more than one great RB, it's not as if LSU and Tennessee blew them out. They lost on the final play of each game.

Alabama is fine. But this also illustrates how being so dominant for so long can in a strange way suck the fun out of being a fan. Alabama fans expect to win every game, every year. That means there isn't a ton of fun in doing what you are "supposed" to do (win) and losses feel like cause for disaster.

It was like that for a while at LSU. Outside of the Alabama game each year LSU was almost always favored to win. Winning was more of a "relief" than cause for celebration. Losses were disaster.

But with the poor performances of the last two seasons has come a return of the joy of winning. This season feels a lot like the 2000 and (now) 2001 seasons. LSU wasn't EXPECTED to win every game this season. So whereas in the past too close for comfort wins over Auburn and Florida would have been viewed with more criticism that celebration, that has not been the case this season. Similarly, a mistake filled loss to FSU and blowout loss to Tennessee would have been seen as evidence the entire staff needed to be fired and the program was descending in the irrelevance.

Losing the last two seasons has made us appreciate the fun of winning again. So enjoy the rest of this season because the soul crushing expectations are going to return next year.

Our fans would be worse