SummerOfGeorge

The biggest underdiscussed thing about this game is the fact that Indiana has played 3 defenses in the same realm as Alabama : Ohio State, Oregon and Iowa.


They averaged:

19 PPG (7 vs Oregon was a pick 6)

334 YPG

5.36 YPP



They have a Tennessee bit to their game that they are ruthlessly efficient at their base offense, and if you can't stop it they are going to get 10 yards or more on every play the entire game. So against average to bad defenses they absolutely annihilate stat lines.

But if a team can stop that base play and make them do other things without bringing down a safety, they all of a sudden become a much less effective offense.

Scoring 56 vs Purdue, 56 vs UCLA and 63 vs Illinois mean absolutely zero to this game. The things they could do without any push back against those 3 teams do not exist in a game against us. It is entirely irrelevant.



Interestingly enough, that's basically what we averaged against Top 10 defenses this year. We just played almost all Top 17 defenses. The times we didn't - Vandy, Wisconsin, ULM, EIU, Tennessee - we averaged about 40 PPG. But we played a lot of "bad" teams overall (Carolina, Auburn, LSU) who weren't great teams but were EXCELLENT defenses.

I don't know what to think about Gates.

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Theyve earned the #1 spot...but I dont believe their stats tell us much. They padded their stats with some atrocious teams. They did beat OSU and Oregon...but their QB still threw picks in those games. If he throws a pick against Bama, I like Bama's chances a lot

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I don't think their stats against half their schedule tell us a lot as it equates to them vs Alabama other than they are extremely consistent. But rolling up 50 on UCLA tells me very little. Going into Eugene and winning by 10 and beating Ohio State in their championship game tells me a lot. You don't fake those 2 wins. They are legit.

Now, they aren't super power unbeatable or anything, but they aren't going to screw around and beat themselves. We have to match their execution for 60 minutes.

I see zero reason to dislike Indiana. Cignetti has built a great program that grinds teams into submission, plays with ruthless efficiency and gives max effort every second they are on the field. His teams look like Saban's early Alabama teams that had a burning desire to do everything right and in sync as a unit to win games, but maybe weren't blessed with Top 40 picks across the starting 22 (but still had a few).

If we play the way we did the last 3 quarters in Norman we'll give them all they want.

(a) Indiana has done way more than that Notre Dame team had (won @ Oregon, beat Ohio State)

(b) We are not the 2012 Alabama team in any way shape or fashion



Indiana has earned their pub. If we come out and play our arse off we got a chance to win, but we can't screw up for chunks of the game.

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Definitely feels like a game that LSU goes on like a 40-15 run to end the game and wins 94-78.

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PVAMU kept scoring some but LSU kept scoring more - maybe more like 100-86

It was 69-60 PVAMU. Now its 100-86 LSU. 40-17 run.

Comin into tonight Tai'Reon Joseph

- 22% 3PT
- 45% 2PT

Tonight - 5/6 3PT, 4/7 from 2PT :lol:

Lindsey has moved around about as much as any coach I can remember - even as a high school coach.

He and Pruitt missed eachother at Hoover by 1 year (ironically, Pruitt was DC for the 1st season of "2-A-Days" and Lindsey the OC for the 2nd).

He's been coaching since 1997 and he's only stayed a school longer than 3 years 1 time (Deshler HS assistant --- 2000-2004)

2014-15 : Southern Miss OC
2016 : Arizona State OC
2017-18 : Auburn OC
2019-2021 : Troy Head Coach
2022 : UCF OC
2023-24 : North Carolina OC
2025 : Michigan OC
2026 : Mizzou OC

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I’ve been here for hours

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Gimbo?

Unlike Notre Dame, Alabama has proven multiple times this season that at their best they can beat top 10 teams.

Hope that helps.

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A well coached g5 team like Petersen at Boise or frost in 2017 UCF can compete

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And in a reasonable setup where you have to be in the Top 12 they would have been in. G5 teams should have a reasonable path, but not an auto bid every year.

And those Boise/UCF teams best players would be on P4 teams by their 3rd year in 2025 football. Those G5 teams with solid NFL players and lots of old depth don’t exist anymore.