Joseph Goodman: Bill OBrien’s criticism deserves attention

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If that’s it for Bill OBrien as offensive coordinator at Alabama, then hell will be the guy who didn’t win a national championship with Bryce Young at quarterback.

It’s probably an unfair punch in the face, and it’s holiday season, so it’s especially pointless to be overly critical of a guy the Alabama players love and is such a nice guy, but when has anything been fair, or even rational, about Alabama football critics? Alabama has lost two games this season on the last games of the game, and by Alabama standards, that makes this season a failure.

On Wednesday in New Orleans, OBrien called this season’s record of 10-2 incredible, so it’s pretty easy to feel the jarring vibes between the current Alabama caller and the Alabama fans who want him fired. Extreme to want a former NFL head coach canned? Sure, but the Crimson Tide operates in a separate world from everyone else in college football. OBrien was a gift wrapped potential No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft at quarterback, or so everyone wants to think, and two seasons later Young leaves Alabama without a national championship ring as a starter.

Young was close too, and I think that’s what makes it so difficult for the fans. He’s been injured for a lot of the season, though, and I think that’s the easiest thing for fans to ignore.

In the end, we were very good for most of the season, OBrien said, but at certain points in the season we weren’t as consistent as we wanted, and I hope we really been working on it for the past two weeks and playing a very consistent and productive game of football well on Saturday.

Well, that wouldn’t be a good prelude to the college football playoffs.

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Michigan’s No. 2 takes on TCU’s No. 3 at 3:00 p.m. Saturday in the first national semifinal, then Georgia’s No. 1 takes on Ohio State’s No. 4 at 7:00 p.m. special Alabama brunch in the Sugar Bowl. .

Alabama plays Kansas State in New Orleans on Saturday at 11 a.m., and it’s hard to get excited about the game because, for the second time in four years, Alabama is not in the playoffs. college football. Saying it like that for the second time in four years sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? How kind of a worrying trend. Welp, this is the world that Alabama’s all-or-nothing wants to operate in, so it’s definitely not up to me to change the rules of the game.

I can’t wait to watch Young and defensive end Will Anderson one last time in the iconic Alabama uniforms, but playing in the college football playoffs would be a much more fitting send-off for their talents. Young won the Heisman in 2021, and Anderson has won just about every award but the Heisman in his three years punishing SEC quarterbacks.

The pair could go one-two in the NFL Draft, which would be another first for a college football team that doesn’t have many firsts left to give the game away.

Needless to say, playing Alabama in the Sugar Bowl will be the pinnacle of football for Kansas State. For Alabama, however, its Christmas ham leftovers.

Do you still love her? Shit, yes. His honey-glazed ham. Are you ready for something new? Well, let’s be honest with ourselves. We’ve been eating ham for five days in a row, and it’s getting a little old. New Year’s Eve is the last day to eat boneless ham, okay? But don’t throw it away. Lord no. Simply discard what’s left in a jar of black-eyed peas.

So this is Alabama football here before the big shebang. Sabans ready to throw everything in the pot and start over, and do something new, and boil the marrow of Hambone OBrien might be a questionable decision in reality, but sacrifices must be made to ensure supernatural good luck in 2023 .

It’s not that OBrien is a bad trainer, it’s just that maybe Saban needs someone he can yell at and yell at again like the good old days of Lane Kiffin.

OBrien made it look like he was training his last game with Alabama this Saturday, and he was already tied to the New England Patriots. He didn’t rule anything out when asked about his future, but said those are conversations for after the bowling game. Will he speak publicly to anyone after the bowling game? No, probably not.

Alabama fans would rather go into next season with someone else as their offensive coach at Alabama, and so that wish might be granted. Here’s my biggest concern, though, and it has everything to do with the quarterback position. Good quarterbacks are worth more than platinum or gold in modern football, and there isn’t a quarterback in football who doesn’t like working with OBrien.

This stuff matters whether people like it or not.

For the first time in years, Saban isn’t sure if he has a good quarterback for the 2023 season. The options are Jalen Milroe, Ty Simpson, and incoming freshmen Eli Holstein of Zachary, Louisiana, and Dylan Lonergan of Snellville, Georgia. The spring will be a battle, and whoever coaches the offense next season will have the toughest job as an offensive coordinator at Alabama since Kiffin.

Playing call in the final seconds of games will be the least of Alabama’s worries.

The way the quarters room is set up, even with Eli coming in, there will only be four stock quarterbacks when I get there, Lonergan told ESPN in July when he committed to Alabama. . So it’s going to be an open competition, that’s what I heard from the coaches.

Milroe must be considered the leader of the clubhouse. He’s arguably the most athletic player on Alabama’s roster and he’s comfortable with the current CO. Consider that too when looking at this Sugar Bowl that tastes questionable ham. Is Young a potential No. 1 draft pick thanks in part to OBrien, or in spite of him?

If you know football the way Alabama players do, then that’s not a hard question.

Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group and author of We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Sabans ultimate team. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.

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