Everyone things that their code system is "unbreakable". (Both the Germans and the Brits thought their codes were unbreakable...and both were broken.)I don't buy #1. If you look at their wristbands they just have too many sections to easily pick pitches that way. Unless Alabama was dumb enough to only have 1 or 2 cards total (which seems impossible) It would just take so long to correlate numbers to pitches. Each card looked to have 10 to 12 sections with 25 pitches in each section if my brief glances were correct. I'd assume that they changed cards between innings at least once or twice a game and probably used the same numbers on each card so that "125" could have been a different pitch each inning. Not impossible if Alabama got lazy, but seems doubtful.
I see what you mean. But, FSU only needed to focus on picking the riseball.
It took a long time for Alabama's pitcher and catcher to be ready to throw the ball after receiving the sign. Look at the replay...the time delay between getting the sign from the dugout and throwing the ball is a very long time.
There was more than enough time to check the number against a cheat sheet and relay that to the batter--especially if they were simply trying to identify riseballs.
Also, the bonus structure for making it to the finals is signficant for the HC and the ACs. I can see someone spending some time with a spreadsheet going over the pitches and the pitch numbers to figure out Alabama's system.