[97fan]

If I'm not mistaken, twice in the first half of last night's game, Alabama had the ball around the LSU 30-yard-line and faced 3rd-and-very long. I think one of the situations was 3rd-and-18, and the other was 3rd-and-20. In both cases, the Tide attempted long passes near the first-down marker. In both cases, the passes were incomplete. And in both cases, the Tide went on to attempt and miss long field goals.

Wasn't the right call in both of those situations a short pass or a run that would likely pick up 5-10 yards and allow you to kick a field goal? Wasn't it already pretty obvious that the game was going to be a low-scoring affair, and that every field goal would be precious?

I raise this because I recently learned that Nick Saban's nickname is The Genius. Also, because I haven't heard any criticism of Saban's play-calling in the post-game chatter. (I only saw the first half of the LSU-Bama game, and even then I was in a bar where I couldn't really hear the announcers. So this may have been thoroughly discussed on the broadcast. And maybe I missed it in the post-game media coverage today.)

This would seem to be in contrast to the grilling that David Shaw took over the Wildcat call late in last week's SC game.

Redrum, are Bama fans displeased with Saban's play-calling last night? Or does he still walk on water?

[97fan]

If I'm not mistaken, twice in the first half of last night's game, Alabama had the ball around the LSU 30-yard-line and faced 3rd-and-very long. I think one of the situations was 3rd-and-18, and the other was 3rd-and-20. In both cases, the Tide attempted long passes near the first-down marker. In both cases, the passes were incomplete. And in both cases, the Tide went on to attempt and miss long field goals.

Wasn't the right call in both of those situations a short pass or a run that would likely pick up 5-10 yards and allow you to kick a field goal? Wasn't it already pretty obvious that the game was going to be a low-scoring affair, and that every field goal would be precious?

I raise this because I recently learned that Nick Saban's nickname is The Genius. Also, because I haven't heard any criticism of Saban's play-calling in the post-game chatter. (I only saw the first half of the LSU-Bama game, and even then I was in a bar where I couldn't really hear the announcers. So this may have been thoroughly discussed on the broadcast. And maybe I missed it in the post-game media coverage today.)

This would seem to be in contrast to the grilling that David Shaw took over the Wildcat call late in last week's SC game.

Redrum, are Bama fans displeased with Saban's play-calling last night? Or does he still walk on water?