Haynes King, Alabama, Isaiah Spiller discussed on The Paul Finebaum Show
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So I think when you're Alabama and you go on the road, you get everyone's best shot. And it's tough to be the hunted, but Alabama, more often than not, the talent gap has been so significant that it hasn't mattered, even if they played their sea game, they would still come out and win the game comfortably. Now if they play their C game, teams could get them. And it's not that bam has gotten worse. I just think other teams have gotten better. And it just going to force Alabama to play a little bit more consistently throughout the course of their schedule, especially when they go on the road to insanely hostile environment. So I think that's why you go to Alabama. You welcome that challenge. And now it's up to the players to rise to that challenge when it's presented to them again. Greg, let me flip over to a and M and I know what they're doing from a recruiting standpoint, but what have you seen that would lead you to believe that Jimbo Fisher is going to get it right at the quarterback position and offensively because we keep seeing some of the same problems. Yeah, the quarterback position is an issue. I don't really know, I would love to try to put some silver lining on it, but at this point it's a little bit of an issue. We've now seen Haynes king in three games in which he's played all 60 minutes. All three against substandard competition. Now disrespect to app state, but they're not at the same level as some of the teams that Haynes king will see a little later in the schedule, so you see three group of 5 opponents. He has 5 interceptions and two fumbles and three and a 180 minutes of gameplay. That's just not good enough. It's not all on him though. We've been told all off season just how gifted Devon a chain is and now he's going to be the next best thing. Sure, he's got great track star speed and had a great kick return, had to touch down run, made some unbelievable plays in the game, but he also was destroyed in past protection and he's not a very physical runner. So he's not going to grind out the tough yardage like you were able to get the last couple of years with Isaiah spiller. He's not able to deliver the body blows the same way that some of the facts that they've had in the past could deliver them. So I think they're at a little bit of an identity crisis. It doesn't mean they can't get things solved, but I think they're going to need to be a little more creative. And I also think too, they're going to need to issue a challenge to every single player on that offensive side of the football. Every single guy's job needs to be up for grabs. After the performance last week, the inability to sustain drives, the inability to churn out tough yardage, the inability to get in any sense of rhythm whatsoever. They have a lot of soul searching to do after last week's performance. You could chalk it up, hey, were they looking ahead to Miami? Fine. But if you sleep on app state, that's on you. But we've all seen what app states done in college football in the last 15 years. That should have come as no surprise that that team was going to be ready to play. I thought ab state, I thought a and M's defense hung in there, but man, at some point, when you're on the field for 42 minutes, you're going to give up some runs late. So I felt bad for a and M's defense. I think it false falls squarely on the offense and they got to find something and find something quickly because it will not be it will not be an easy task to get the win this weekend against the quality my NE team that can score some points. Yeah, let me go there because what you know about Miami and we haven't had a great sample of them. But we have had a decent sample of a and M. Where is this game one or lost? Well, I think it ultimately, a and M can keep a clean sheet, which they've had a difficult time doing. I mean, they've kind of been a little bit of a mess as far as turnovers are concerned and just sloppy play. If they can keep a clean sheet and avoid negative plays and stay on schedule and all these other things, they'll be fine. But ultimately, that hasn't been the case for them. Defensively, I think they're going to be going against the best quarterback they've played so far. That should come as no surprise Tyler Van Dyke is the real deal. He's excellent as far as extending plays. He has good mobility and can create on his own. And he will put pressure on this a and M defense down the field. More so than chase Bryce did and more so than anything they saw in week one as well. So the defense will be challenged in a lot more ways this weekend because of the capability that Miami has on the perimeter with their skill and a quarterback. So I think this will be by far their biggest challenge and they can certainly raise their level just like they did last year. Paul, the problems with a and M have not been in big games. The problems are in games in which they should win convincingly. They seem to raise and lower their level to the opponent. And that to me is not the sign of an incredibly healthy culture. You play to your standard regardless of who the opponent is. That's a healthy culture. And we have not seen that all the time from AMM throughout the course of the last few seasons. Yeah, and on that last year, they had their moments, but after I think it was after the Arkansas law, they struggled against Mississippi state before the Alabama game. They struggled late a lot of reasons that happened. This is, we think about our team, but Jimbo was asked about this earlier yesterday about being the offensive play caller. I know that's easy to blame him, but he's a head coach and he's also known for his offensive prowess. So do you think that this is too much for him? Well, let's just get back to last year for a second, Paul. I mean, a lot of us chalked it up. Well, they lost their quarterback. You have your quarterback go down in week two. It's gonna be hard to manufacture offense. Well, now the quarterback that went down in week two last year is healthy in the offense hasn't gotten better if anything, it's kind of regressed. So you help me understand this. I mean, I know they're mixing in some new players. I know they have some new players along the front. I know they have some new players at wide receiver. I know Devon a chain's taken on a new role as the lead back. I know that the guys are doing different things, but last year there was a baked in excuse and saying, hey, you know, we lost our guy. You know, calzada is up and down. We're having a tough time with him. We all know where he is on the auburn depth chart right now. So they were able to get by last year by saying, hey, we lost our quarterback. We're doing the best we can with the guy we got. Well, now you got your starter and who won a good solid quarterback competition against a guy that's won in this league before and max Johnson, so there really is no excuse now. I mean, it's really about execution. And I don't think it's too much for Jimbo. He's done it this whole life. I also don't think he's going to give up play calling duties. But I also think too, if he were to give a play call in dudes, is that really going to make a difference?