Crimson Red Sports

                                             Ark vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the win. This game has all the symptoms of being a route early on, but things changed drastically.  Mistakes were made on all phases of the game.  In my opinion, Bama could have been up, at least 38-7 by halftime.  The 3rd quarter was a disaster, but Bama was able to overcome.  Missed tackles and penalties again were a factor.  Bama probably let 6 to 10 points on the field.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 555 yards of total offense which included 317 rushing yards and 238 passing.  This total could have been better had there not been some dropped passes.  This was the best job, as far as a rushing attack that Bama has had in a while.  Especially when Young went out and many times it looked like Ark loaded the box.  They also wasted good starting field position when they started at the Ark 49-yard line.    

Negative plays:  3 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, 2 fumbles (one on special teams) and an interception.

3 and out: 2 three and out

10+ plays:  7 passing (all in the first and early 2nd quarter) and 4 running plays.  All running plays were in the 2nd half.

Red zone:  Bama had 5 trips in the red zone and scored 4 touchdowns and threw an interception.  Three touchdowns came from outside the red zone and 2 were running plays, each 70+ yards, and 1 was a passing play.

QB:  Before his injury, Young played better than his stats. He was 13 for 17 which equates to a 76% competition rate.  However, I saw at least 3 to 5 ball that were catchable that were dropped.  Also, one drop was on a hospital ball that was hard to hold on to.  On his interception, I have seen holding called on plays like that before which would have negated the interception.  Milroe came in and did what he had to do.  If he is going to be successful, he will have to improve in the passing game. He completed about 44% of his passes, and he had what I consider a drop.  Also, he underthrew a pass that if on target probably would have been a touchdown.  The next game, with the opponent not knowing if Young can play, they will have to account for the running ability of Milroe.  

RB: This was Gibbs coming out party. He looked great and the plays he made were huge in a critical moment.  The other running backs ran well, but Gibbs did show some speed and power.

Rec:  Prentice, seemed to be on pace for a huge game as he had 3 catches for 92 yards.  Five other receivers had catches and it was good to see Earle back for the year, his first catch was a touchdown.  What I like about this group is that you can say we have to stop one because the others are capable of making plays.

OL:  This may have been their best game.  They got a push many times and allowed the RB to make yards.  Also, early on Young was on pace for completions for a big day.  It seemed to me they kept their feet moving better than they have in the earlier games this season.

Def: The defense had to play 85 plays and at one point they were almost on the field for 3 straight drives as Ark scored a touchdown, got an onside kick and then Bama went 4 and out with the bad snap on the punt.  Now part of the many plays they had to play was because of their missed tackles as well as the stupid penalties.  That being said they made the big stops when they had to. There seemed to be some missed plays on the QB read which allowed positive plays for Ark.  In the first half, Ark doubled their yards for the half with the TD drive.

Negative plays:  I have Bama for 8 tackles for losses, 4 sacks and a fumble recovery.  

3 and outs:  4 three and outs

10+ plays:  9 passing and 7 running plays.  After one play went for 10+ yards Bama forced and recovered a fumble.  

Red zone:  Ark got into the red zone 6 times and scored 3 touchdowns and kicked 2 field goals.  Bama did stop a 2-point conversion and stopped a late drive on downs.

DL:  For as many plays that they played they played fairly well.  However, there were times they were pushed back.  They also got out of their passing lane and ran pass the QB to open up running lanes.  They did miss some tackles like the rest of the defense.  I don’t know if you noticed, but on one play, the coach is telling the defensive player he was supposed to go outside on the play where they lost contain.

LB:  Again, they played well, but missed some plays that could have been made.  On one touchdown, To’oto’o was just outside of the passing lane that may have prevented a touchdown.  Someone missed the assignment on the back out which ended up going for a first down and this happened on a 3rd and 10.

DB: Overall they didn’t do a bad job, except when coming up to make some tackles.  On the long plays, most of the yards were made after the catch. I thought they were in position to make an interception or 2 but didn’t come up with the ball.

Special teams: This was the good, the bad, and the ugly.  The good, was the punt returns by McKinstry, the deep kickoffs, and all the extra points.  The bad was the missed field goal which left points on the field.  The ugly was allowing the onside kick and the horrible snap on the punt that basically gave Ark a touchdown.  They said the snap hit a player, but it was so far off target it would not have mattered.  Mckinstry leads the nation in punt return yardage and added to his total since he added 77 more yards.

Penalties: Bama back to being bad on penalties.  Officially there were 10 for 101 yards, but really there were more as some were declined.  As far as penalties, I have the offense with 4, special teams with 2, and the defense with 5.  Bama should have been off the field on the last field goal drive, but a stupid penalty by To’oto’o gave them a free first down.  There was also a PI on the same drive.

Finally, Bama actually looked like they progressed in some areas, running the ball because of blocking and digressed because of the penalties as well as missed assignments and missed tackles.   They need to correct this before A&M comes to town because emotions will be high and sometimes emotions causes mistakes.
Feel free to comment:

18 and Counting

Great job as usual, Coach. I give a lot of credit to Arkansas having a big, physical team. Once they put together a long drive, they gassed our D. Credit to Milroe making the long run that changed momentum.

Coach, why do you think the team did such a poor job of tackling at times?

Yes, indeed, excellent assessment by you, Coach.

At first I thought the screwy punt snap was an attempted fake; snap to the upback.  But no, just the worst snap by an Alabama center in history.

I looked at the QB Ratings.  Believe it or not, Milroe's rating was higher than Young's.  Clearly the ratings count interceptions more than efficiency.  And I agree, Coach, there was holding of our receiver that led to the interception.  As Holden made his cut the DB grabbed him around the waist, slowing him.  All Holden could do was reach and tip the ball as a result.  INT.

Thanks again.  Now get ready for a ferocious A&M and a crazed Jimbo.   :stars: :stars: :panic: :panic:

Thanks Coach.  I don't know anything about the healing time for AC sprains but I hope Bryce is able to play Saturday.
If our O-line keeps playing to their potential we will be hard to beat regardless of who plays quarterback.

Roll Tide!

Thanks hscoach that was a great write up. I agree with all and the penalties should start costing some of that NIL money and they will stop. RTR!

Thanks for the game notes coach.  Looks to me that we have all the tools and, if it ever comes all together we will be unbelieveably good.  ROLL TIDE!!!

And the team wouldn't move after the play is called, so the QB gets the penalty.  :lol2: :lol2:

(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/01/17/sports/HUT-PROMO/HUT-PROMO-articleLarge-v2.gif?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)

Great job. Milroe has the look of a good QB - tough spot to come in. He gives a dimension that Bryce doesn't with his running ability. His throws weren't awful except for the deep ball that should have been a TD. I feel like the play calls were tampered down when he came in. IMO let him run the offense. I think he can play and Bama still win against A&M. Bryce needs to be back for UT.

I really don't know why the tackling was worse this game.  Many times the got to the player, but didn't seem to drive thru the offensive player.  Maybe a few time, they didn't take the proper angle which leads to reaching for the player.

It seems like there is a lot of diving at the legs and in college that won't tackle. We were coached you had to stay upright and run through the player. RTR!

One thing I wonder about tackling. Are they so worried about targeting that they are arm tackling? 

A couple of things I left off:

Also, why are there so many facemask calls, why are the hands up around the head.  I know sometimes the offensive player ducks down and this causes problem, but many of the calls I seem to see are with the offensive player upright.
Moody is quietly having a good year. He always seems to be around the ball and makes some big plays.

Well I believe the game notes explains all of the useful stuff. I just wish we could get our penalties down. RTR!