Absolutely both.
We need better players, but if Mario had prepared the same group of players, we would have looked like we belonged physically.
Bama practices like the junction boys even though they have the best talent money can buy. We barely practiced live tackling, and by accounts from multiple sources, practices were easy.
Football is about emotion and mindset as much as it is physical talent. Even if we had the same talent as Bama man for man, they would have still pushed us around because we were developed to play soft and not ready for a driven, hard-nosed team.
The sad thing is there were many instances where we stood up in that game and you could tell we could play them much closer if we were better prepared. For instance, Bama couldn’t run on us when our front seven was balanced with there alignment. Only when we left a gaping hole running one of Manny’s goofy plays trying to overload one side did they run for significant yards.
It’s crazy. If there wasn’t a big hole in the defense that telegraphed to Bama where to run, our guys stood up and stuffed them.