Crimson Red Sports

                                                                       OM vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama coaches and players on the win.  Bama played well in areas but seem to take a step back in other areas such as penalties, tackling, and defending the edge.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 573 yards of total offense which includes 418 passing and 155 rushing.  As for negative plays, I have Bama with 2 tackles for losses, 2 sacks and a fumble which they didn’t lose.  They only had one 3 and out.   For plays that covered 10+ yards, there were 16 passing plays and 6 running plays.  Bama got into the red zone 4 times and scored 2 touchdowns, 1 field goal, and missed a field goal.  Five of the touchdowns were scored from outside the red zone and one touchdown was scored on a block punt. 

QB:   Tua completed 72% of his passes.   There was a drop, but he also missed on a couple of wide-open receivers that would have gone for touchdowns.  He did make some defenders miss when he got pressure to make big plays.  I also thought there was opportunities for him to step up in the pocket or pull up on his scramble to make a more accurate throw.  It did seem that a few of his balls were thrown behind the receivers however they made the catch.  Jones came in and threw 1 pass which I consider to be a drop.  The catch would have kept the drive alive because it was on 4th down and had the yardage to gain the first down. 

RB:   Three running backs combined for 151 yards rushing on 24 carries with equates to 6.3 yards per carry.  I thought all of them ran hard and well.  They each made yards after contact and found the hole better.  It seems they have become more patient when running the ball.  I do think they could do a better job pass blocking as they got blown up a couple of times.

Rec:  It is no secret that Smith had a hell of a day.  He had 11 catches for 274 yards and 5 touchdowns.  Jeudy was the next leading receiver with 8.  What they did do a good job of was blocking downfield for receivers after the catch was made.  They also made some blocks on the running plays.  Where they missed a block was on the wide receiver screens which didn’t make a lot of yardage.

OL:  The OL did better job in the running game.  They did open some holes for the backs, but also got to the 2nd level especially coming off some combo blocks.  There were a few missed opportunities in the passing game.  On one sack, the OL is looking in the backfield and a player runs right by him.  Tua had had to step up because of pressure from and outside rushers but then had no time to get rid of the ball.  I can’t think of a reason the OL would be on the LOS and be looking back in the backfield.  They also missed and outside rusher which caused the QB to flush.  One of the pressures was because the tackle went for a cut block and missed giving the rusher a free track to the QB.  There is also the question to why can’t they get a 3rd and one, but are able to get the 4th and 1 with the wildcat QB in.  With all, I still think they made some positive strides here.


Def:  I thought the defense took a bit of a step backwards in this game.  I am very picky here, and could be wrong, but I have Bama a combination of 28 missed tackles with allowing the runner to get to the outside of the defense.  I didn’t breakdown which were missed tackles, and which were getting outside the edge. I also have the defense playing 87 (42 in the first half and 45 in the 2nd half) plays which doesn’t count the plays they had to play again because of penalties.  Part of this is because Bama scores so quickly.  Bama had 12 drives, not counting the last kneel down, and only 4 of them were over 3 minutes.  I put this in the defensive notes because the offense puts the defense back on the field quickly.   However, you can’t tell the offense don’t take the open receiver when you have them.  The defense also had to play back to back series twice because of the fumble on the 1st punt and the blocked punt for the touchdown, which was the first non-offensive touchdown this year.   OM had 476 yards of total offense which included 179 passing and 279 rushing.  For negative plays, I have Bama credited with 6 tackles for losses, 1 sack, and an interception.  They also had 4 three and outs.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, OM had 7 passing plays and 9 running plays that covered that distance.  OM got into the red zone 3 times and scored 2 touchdowns and kicked one field goal.  They scored 2 touchdowns from outside the red zone.  I will say Bama fumble of the punt help set up one touchdown and one touchdown was scored late on the backups.  The defense also helps extend some of the scoring drives because of penalties.  On a side not, I’m not sure they defense had seen this QB before so they may have underestimated his speed.  However, after a while you should be able to make the adjustment.

DL:  I thought the DL could have done a better job.  Too me it looked like they weren’t always covering their gaps and allowing the running plays to take place.  They also, lost contain as I stated above.  I think they can do a better job using their hands to get off the block as they didn’t get off blocks at times when the runner was going by them.

LB:  Again, they had a tough assignment with a running QB as well as an offense that can spread the field.  They made plays, but also missed some makeable plays.  There were a couple of times when it looked like there may have been some confusions on the defensive call.  This team again took the middle backer out into coverage on an outside receiver. 

DB:  They played a team that ran the ball more than they threw it.  They did give up some plays, but I will say they catches were made on some 50/50 balls.  There were opportunities to make plays, but the offensive player made the play.  They had a couple of penalties, one of which help keep a drive alive that led to ta touchdown. 

Special Teams:  The special teams had one bad play which set OM up on the 30-yard line going in.  The fumbled punt put OM in a good scoring opportunity which they took advantage of.  The only other hitch was the missed field goal.  To be quite honest this may have been the best kicked ball by the kicker.  The kickoff return team and cover team did well.  The punt return team gave Bama good field position which led to short drives. 

Penalties:  Bama didn’t help themselves here.  They had 10 penalties for 76 yards.  Offensively they were able to overcome many of these penalties but made it more difficult to convert.  I do know on one TD drive, the defense had penalties which helped the offensive and made the yardage easier to make or kept the drive alive. 

Finally, Bama only punted twice all day.  They had 12 real drives and scored on 8 of them.  They turned the ball over on downs once and missed a field goal.  This is points left on the field.  I also consider not getting in the endzone when in the red zone and having to kick a field goal leaving points on the field.  They have to do a better job with contain and not allow the defensive outside edge to be exploited.  Penalties again need to be addressed. 

Feel free to comment:

17 and Counting

Thanks Coach. Your assessment is dead on.

The D couldn't contain on the edge as you mentioned. I can understand the D underestimating Plumlee's speed, but they were getting gashed up the middle too. Been a long time since I've seen the D exposed like that. Why do you think the D line had so many problems getting off their blocks?

I don't know unless they are young and really didn't have to use their hands before know and revert back.  Like I said it looked like they were choosing a gap sometimes and that is when they made some big runs, 

Coach, Auburn and LSU have to be drooling after looking at Bama's defensive performance yesterday. It shows how a veteran OC can pick apart weaknesses like inexperienced LBs and gash them for chunks of yardage. If some things don't get corrected, I see losses to LSU and Auburn as a probability and not just a possibility.

Thanks hscoach. We are gonna find out our defense is weak when we play the rest of the schedule. RTR!

I really can't disagree with that statement.

Thanks for the analysis coach.  I really hope we can use the open week to get some guys healed up and others some reps, especially on D.

DeLong came in as a highly rated punter.  I know CNS has said that the problem is with the drop.  Can you give any guidance as to why he hasn't been able to correct this?  Mental?

I know you asked coach, but it appears to me he's thinking too much.

As Dave Hill (golfer) advised: “The golf swing is like sex. You can’t be thinking about the mechanics of the act while you are performing it.”

JUST KICK THE da#@ BALL.

He needs to quit worrying about the block you can see his head turn toward the rushers sometimes. Just kick and form it so it goes high and wherever. RTR!

Are you sure he wasn't talking about the punt returners?

 :-X

Sorry, I'll go stand in the corner now...

I would think a lot of it is mental. However, the drop is important.  Honestly I have never coached the nose down drop as they do now.  I would coach the regular drop and ask them to kick the ball to the back pylon across the field. 

I use to punt at Ranburne back in the late 60's and early 70's and Coach always told me to get high and let the length be whatever. If we could flip the field with no return we had done a good job. RTR!

Did you also use kicking shoes with a square toe?

At my high school in Jacksonville we had a punter who kicked barefooted and did it well.

Yes sir I have seen that happen. There was a kicker one time kicked FG and xp barefooted. RTR!

Tony Franklin was a barefoot kicker for aTm and then in the NFL.

He is the one I was thinking of. Thanks for reminding me. RTR!