First off, of course I am pissed and humiliated to lose to Bama yet again. I’ll be staying far from the national media this week. That said, I do feel oddly optimistic this morning. Hear me out:
After the Kentucky game and at the end of the first half last night, I was very much worried. It felt as if we were witnessing the downfall of our short-lived dynasty. I was questioning everything from Bobo, to our culture, to our talent, to our leadership, to our level of want and desire. It was bad. But then we came back and looked awesome. The defense held Bama in check for long stretches. The offense looked dynamic with playmakers galore and Beck, when not turning it over, was throwing beautiful passes. Honestly, at halftime I really thought we would never see that team emerge. But then there it was, fighting tooth and nail until the end.
One reason I think we didn’t see it before is because we discovered ourselves to some extent last night. Adversity will do that. Beck isn’t perfect, but he did have that Dawg in him in the second half. The last pass wasn’t ideal, but we never should have even been in that position having trailed a top 4 team by 23 on the road. He put the team on his back for stretches and got us there. I think that experience will pay dividends all the way through the playoff.
In the new era, teams shouldn’t peak too early. There should be impetus for further growth and improvement at this point in the season, and a tough loss provides that. We have a few more weeks now to keep growing. We absolutely need to beat Texas now, but I do think we will round into form with this game under our belt and we’ll have a great chance. We’ll get better, healthier, and more cohesive. We just need to start faster, but I’m confident we’ll work on that, as well.
Never like to lose and there are no moral victories, but I’m very thankful that we finally glimpsed the team we know we can be last night. In the end, we were only a play away.
After the Kentucky game and at the end of the first half last night, I was very much worried. It felt as if we were witnessing the downfall of our short-lived dynasty. I was questioning everything from Bobo, to our culture, to our talent, to our leadership, to our level of want and desire. It was bad. But then we came back and looked awesome. The defense held Bama in check for long stretches. The offense looked dynamic with playmakers galore and Beck, when not turning it over, was throwing beautiful passes. Honestly, at halftime I really thought we would never see that team emerge. But then there it was, fighting tooth and nail until the end.
One reason I think we didn’t see it before is because we discovered ourselves to some extent last night. Adversity will do that. Beck isn’t perfect, but he did have that Dawg in him in the second half. The last pass wasn’t ideal, but we never should have even been in that position having trailed a top 4 team by 23 on the road. He put the team on his back for stretches and got us there. I think that experience will pay dividends all the way through the playoff.
In the new era, teams shouldn’t peak too early. There should be impetus for further growth and improvement at this point in the season, and a tough loss provides that. We have a few more weeks now to keep growing. We absolutely need to beat Texas now, but I do think we will round into form with this game under our belt and we’ll have a great chance. We’ll get better, healthier, and more cohesive. We just need to start faster, but I’m confident we’ll work on that, as well.
Never like to lose and there are no moral victories, but I’m very thankful that we finally glimpsed the team we know we can be last night. In the end, we were only a play away.
