Crimson Red Sports

First: I want to congratulate the Bama coaches and players on the win.  After a mistake laced 1t quarter the coaches didn’t panic and, as they say, righted the ship for a dominant victory.

Offense:  Again the O did whatever they wanted in this game.  They had 668 yards of total offense.  The only problem with this is Bama had close to 140 yard in the first quarter and no points.  The only reason drives were stopped was because Bama stopped themselves.  They did this by fumbling twice with one being in the red zone.  Bama also had a dropped pass that would have given them a first down and kept the drive alive.  Bama only had 3 negative plays last night.  Two of the three were fumbles and the other was a tackle for loss.  There were no three and outs for Bama’s offense last night.  The Bama offense had 24 plays of 10 plus yards.  Fourteen of these were pass plays and 10 were runs. Two other pass plays for over 10 yards were negated by a step out of bounds and the other a penalty.   If my stats are correct the Bama RB’s only got hit 3 times behind the LOS and 2 of these, I think, were attributed to the TEs.  Bama got into the red zone 7 times.  They had a fumble, 2 field goals, and 4 touchdowns.  Two touchdowns came from just outside the red zone.  Too me the biggest concern was the 5 drops last night. I thought for a while the team was not real focused and it looked like they knew they were playing an inferior opponent and was playing not to get hurt.   Finally, I am really surprised the starters were left in as long as they were.

QB:   AJ had a good game.  Officially he was 21 for 35 which is 60%.  However, there were 5 legitimate drops that would have pushed his completion rate to 74 %.  He also had two receptions negated by a penalty and a catch out of bounds.  What I like most was how he recognized coverage and where to go with the ball quickly.  The only knock on AJ was the underthrown deep balls a couple of times.  BS did a nice job cleaning up and leading a touchdown drive. 

RB:  They ran hard and did a good job pass blocking.  The knock you have to protect the ball, cover the ball up, in the red zone and not leave points on the field.  KD had 4 of the runs for 10+ yards while TJ had 3.  KD also had a couple of catches which gained more than 10 yards.  He also had one of the drops along with TJ.  JF was used mostly as a blocker this game, but he did have one of the drops.
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REC:  Overall they did a good job.  KB had 2 drops and was the only wide rec to drop the ball. Again, my big complaint here is the lack of effort when AJ is scrambling.  They is a perfect example on a couple of plays where you can see potential recs watching as AJ is scrambling.  We use to incorporate the scramble drill in our pass hull sessions even in high school.  I hate to keep harping on this, but it is something that is important and keeps drives alive.

OL:   I thought they played well.  They seem to communicate better and it seemed as though the LOS was always pushed, not driven back.   GH got a lot of playing time and others may have also, I just didn’t notice.

Defense:   The defense played well.  They only gave up188 total yards.  They had 5 negative plays which included 4 sacks and 1 tackle for loss. The defense had 3 three and outs and 2 four and outs.  What I mean here is there were a couple of drives where they made 1st downs of the first play, one by a pass and one by a penalty, but then went 3 and out.  Also, I didn’t count, but it didn’t seem like UK really put together more than a couple of 1st downs all night.  They gave up 2 runs for 10+ yards and 3 passes for 10 plus yards.  I don’t know what others thought, but I thought Bama played a lot of base defense.  I include nickel in the base package.  Here I mean I didn’t see a lot of stunts or blitzes.  There were a few, but not a lot.  The defense played very good assignment football most of the night. 

DL: They did a good job putting pressure on the QB with a 4 man rush many times.  They kept the OL from getting to the 2nd level allowing LB to make play.     

LB:  This is another game that showed the way CJM plays.  He gets people where they need to be.  He not only got the DL in place, but did you see him tell VS what he was supposed to do when he almost didn’t blitz.  Right after this you see CKS talking to VS on the sideline.  I would like to see everyone play with the fire/passion of CJM.

DB:   I have the DB’s for 5 pass break ups.  The only negative what the TD, which I couldn’t see on TV, but the announcers called a rub route.    This basically means the DB got picked off of his rec.   I really like the way VS breaks on the ball.  I thought JW play a good game.  One thing that really stood out in the 4th quarter was when LC comes down hill and filled the lane and made a play for a short gain.

Penalties:   Bama had 7 penalties which needs to be cut down.  They are lucky that AK didn’t get a spearing call on that one play.

Special teams:  They gave Bama good field position on a couple of punt returns.  Also, they didn’t allow any real big returns.  I feel like CF is kicking the ball better this year than he has in the past.  If I remember correctly Bama only punted once the whole night. 

Finally:  Bama seems to have made strides to improve.  Again, they played a vastly inferior team.  Hopefully, they can continue to improve.  One other thing Bama has been able to do the last couple of games is get some valuable playing time for those who may be needed in the future. 

Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll 
15 and counting

Many thanks, Coach.
I noted one Kentucky reporter howling about Bama running on 4th and 1 with the a 41-7 lead. But someone commented that this is known as a gift to the defense, giving them a chance to make a stop. In other words, Bama didn't kick an easy field goal instead.

Excellent job hsc. Many times the people complaining don't even know what they are complaining about. RTR!

plus that we were resting Cade's leg   :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

great job HSC !   :clap: :clap: :clap:

Good job as always hsc.

I like what I see from A'Shawn Robinson. He is turning into the dominate pass rusher we have been missing. He got his 4th sack of the year last night.

Going into the year I was concerned with Cade Foster as our place kicker. However, he has looked very solid so far. I guess anyone would have a low percentage if they only kicked 50 plus yard field goals. I think kicking extra points and shorter field goals helps him get in a rhythm. His kickoffs have been good. His kicks are so high that they are rarely returned past the 20.

I don't like the fumbles but when they hold on to the ball we have a good one-two punch with Yeldon and Drake. To me Drake has been very impressive. He hits the hole fast and gets up field. It seems like our # 2 RB every year is my favorite.

Kevin Norwood is having good year. He has made some outstanding catches in traffic. He did it again last night. I love this group of receivers. We are so deep Black rarely sees the field. Cooper looked a lot better last night.

CJ Mosley is having an All-American year. Besides making play after play he is doing a good job of making sure everyone is on the same page and in the correct place. Alabama has been fortunate to have some great linebackers but CJ is one of the best we have ever had.

Did anyone else get annoyed by the announcer calling AJ a game manager about 100 times last night?

I agree, very good points.

Excellent stuff hsc.  On the run when we were up 41-7.  What were we supposed to do there?  Seems like it is the job of the defense to stop the run!    #+

I was really annoyed when they put the game in a small window and talked to Todd McShay for so long.  Believe it or not ESPN, I did not tune into this game to hear why Todd McShay thinks AJ is a "3rd tier" QB.  I know it might be hard to believe, but I did actually want to watch the game.  When I want to hear Todd McShay I watch College Football Live.

>:( >:(

What I thought was great was AJ conducting a picture perfect drive while McShay was running his flap-trap about AJ not Being a first rounder. It actually seemed to fluster McShay.

I also don't think that CNS intended for us to score on that last drive.  After the game when he was talking to Stoops, it looked like CNS was motioning down the field and shaking his head.  It looked like Stoops said something like, "That's ok."  I was wondering if anybody else saw this or had seen anything written about it.

I don't think Saban thought they would score with the back up line in there.  It is hard to tell those guys,who don't get to play as much, not to play hard.  They all want to show the coach they deserve more playing time if they are any type of competitor.

Yes, on both of these points. I also got annoyed with Brock Huard at the end of the game running his mouth about how wonderful the Pac-12 is.

Yeah, it was pretty funny when they had to interrupt him to tell him that AJ just threw another touchdown pass.

:lol:

Look on the bright side.  This is actually progress.  Nobody even bothers to try to pump up the Big 10 or Big 12 any more.

:lol:

Thanks HSC. Always enjoy the Sunday read.

First, thanks much hscoach for a thorough and accurate review.  #+


Second, SC:

Just a simple fix that works for me: Eli Gold.  HTH.

It wasn't a perfect game against Kentucky, but I enjoyed it!

(http://imgick.al.com/home/bama-media/pgmain/img/alphotos/photo/2013/10/-4a6f892e3fab8090.JPG)

One more piece of the magical puzzle in place for the elusive 3peat. :clap:

One question I have for others, does it look like CF is in motion before the ball is snapped on FGs and PATs,or is it just me?

I noticed on the FG late in the 3rd qtr he almost beat the ball to AJ. I need to watch the replay to see if he did it on all kicks.

The audio is easily remedied, but how do you make the game full screen?  I record every game, so I will have his little diatribe preserved in my game archive forever.

>:(

On the other hand... you better believe I am going to whip that sucker out and post it on youtube if AJ goes on to win the Super Bowl.

:lol:

I did not notice that.  I will look for it when I watch again.

I have a rules question for you guys.  On one of the pass plays, I believe it was to Cooper, he caught the ball and his toe came down fully in bounds, but then when his heel came all the way down his heel was on the line.

They called it a catch out of bounds.  Does anybody know what the rules say about that?  I thought a toe in bounds was good enough to be a catch.  It certainly is when you are turned around the other way and heading out of bounds going forward and you drag the top of your toe.  But in this case he was backwards, his toe hit in bounds, then his heel came down out of bounds.  I can't remember ever seeing this happen in a game.

If any part of the foot was in bounds without any of it touching out of bounds at the point of catch, it is complete. I was yelling for them to appeal, but of course nothing happened.

That is what I thought too.

They ruled his heel and toe (entire foot) landed at the same time with the heel being on the line. I thought he got the toe down in bounds before the heel touched the line. If the game was close they might have reviewed the play.

You guys are all correct.  Cooper should have been ruled in bounds.
One of this morning's articles (that I posted in Quad) discussed that error by the refs.

I scanned thru the game looking at a couple of things and I want to add a couple of things.
First, I do think Cooper's catch could have been ruled a completion.
Second, I think you can call Cade for motion on almost every FG/EP.
Third, Grant Hill played almost as much as Shepherd did at RT.
Fourth, I think Black earned a little more playing time last game.
Fifth, AJ made two bad reads early in the game.  On the slant he tried to throw to Jones, the outside rec was wide open and when he tried to hit TJ on the back shoulder throw the underneath guy was wide open.
Finally, Bama uses many offensive players on Punt coverage and Kick off coverage.  This is usually a spot for defensive players.  The coaches must do a great job because at some point the guys have to go thru tackling drills.  I saw 2, 22, 1, 17, 28, and 7 on these teams at some point.

I can't recall a kicker ever getting flagged for motion on a kickoff or field goal. Have you guys?

No.  But I've noticed CF with his mouthpiece stuck in his facemask during field goals.  Some knucklehead ref could penalize him for that (and cost us a game).

(http://media.247sports.com/Uploads/Assets/725/97/1097725.jpg)

I notice that on more than 1 player.

hscoach,

Since the TAM game Bama has only given up one TD. Do you think that is because of the comp, or because the D has come along that far?

I think the parts are beginning to come together. We have good defensive players and coaches. You know they are going to learn the system and the process is going to grow on them everyday. RTR!

I actually think is is a combination of both.  I have noticed since Bama played one way against A&M other teams have learned from their game plan.   I think it is tough to go against such an offensive power early with a number of new players. I do think it was a great learning tool.


edit note: Chech fixed the quote.  :toast4: