I was under the impression that the one thing we knew for certain was that the starter for this game would not be Hurts.
Has to be a smoke screen no?The big surprise from the press conference was that Saban indicated that Hurts won't play at all against USC
Has to be a smoke screen no?
That hasn't been Saban's MO in the past, so I doubt he's starting now. Like CrimsonK mentioned, he didn't shut the door on Hurts being the guy later in the season, just that he wasn't getting ready for this game. My guess is that it will play out exactly like the last 2 openers. One guy will play until the game is either in the bag, or is ineffective. In 2014 against WVU, everyone expected Sims and Coker to see action. Sims wasn't great, but he played the entire game except for Coker getting the last series to run the clock out. Last year, Coker played until the game was in hand and Bateman came in and handed the ball off basically for half a quarter. I don't think there will be a plan in place to bring a second QB into the game, will be an in the moment type thing. I think next week we're more likely to see multiple QBs play meaningful snaps
What's your thought on who will be the guy and also who do you want to be? BTW I gotta get that shirt in your avatar
I don't really have a preference as to who it is, I just want to win games. And I don't have any clue as to who the guy is that gives us the best chance to win at this point. I have read practice reports and heard from guys who went to the scrimmages, but those are just small glimpses as to what's going on everyday, so I will defer to the coaches. I know they want to win. And my guess is that we can win with any of the three. As to how it plays out, I think it will be Bateman. He gets a bad rap for the Ole Miss game last year. It is definitely concerning that he froze when given the chance, but I can't say it's indicative of how his career will go. I do worry that he lacks the arm strength to take full advantage of our WR corps, but if he is able to manage the offense and not turn it over, I think Saban will stick with him. He's more concerned with winning games than appeasing us fans with big stats at the risk of costly turnovers. Ideally Barnett or Hurts would be the guy since they possess the physical skills that Bateman doesn't
From a pure betting standpoint - I think Bateman getting the start (and even rotation of any sort) is best if you're holding an under ticket which my guess is will be popular.
Another game that has been grabbing me is UCLA/aTm. I've somehow in the past week convinced myself that aTm may have as much to say about the SEC and potential national title as any team in the country. Now I don't think they will win either but I just see them as a team that has the potential to trip everybody up this year. I'm really finding it hard to find many knocks on them. Clearly the biggest cause for concern to me is the OL. Everywhere else on offense they have talent in bunches but obviously that only gets you so far if you can't block. So maybe that's a legit cause for concern in this game but certainly the weakness of the UCLA defense is up front and against the run. Secondary looks real solid. I know that the Ags have been shockingly disappointing but what we've come to expect from a Chavis defense but in this game they get an OL that is without 3 guys with 30+ career starts, without an extremely under rated RB (although Soso looks nasty) and missing so many of their WR that were so good last season. I think the Ags have to be better against the run this year, their DL is full of future NFL starters and I think they get a nice warm up here considering it's a prestigious power 5 opponent. Couple that with the fact that Rosen is still young and the road environments he has played in are all pretty came except for the game in Utah where Rosen was very pedestrian (15/30 220, 1/0 - 17 points) and I think that number at 3 may be short. I'm leaning heavy to a combo of the Ags, Under or UCLA TT under. Current forecast is 28-25 - tough for me to see either side getting to that TT, especially UCLA. Any thoughts from anyone?
Also, Grovehard, if you read this.. In the games with Freeze vs FCS, do you feel like he has intended to run it up in those games or is it just getting in the 2's and letting them play hard and not putting the governor on? I'm already eyeing one of the absolute nastiest week 2 short week lookahead sandwich with the triple option team coming to Oxford.. Line will prob be between 5 and 6 TD and I have some major interest in the dog and there being some points scored