Crimson Red Sports

First let me say thanks to all of you who sent me the get well wishes and prayers.  Second, congrats to Bama players and coaches for the victory over a tougher than normal GS.  Finally, Iowa State for help put Bama in a great position for a rematch and another national championship.

Offense:  The offense gained 462 yards and did not punt.  Basically they could do what they wanted, run or throw.  It is a shame Bama could not put this team away and get the backup opportunities to play.
1.    Early focus was obvious with the early penalties.  Four false start penalties.
2.   The OL did a great job getting a push against and undermanned DL.
3.   Great throw and catch on 3rd and 17 to keep a drive going.
4.   All Bama running backs making yards after contact.
5.   Bama does not really take advantage of 2nd and 1 and try to throw the ball.
6.   Before the half Bama didn’t seem to work the middle of the field with 2 timeouts.  Also on the play where AJ threw the ball away there could have been busted routes as two players were in the same area.
7.   Third quarter the corner comes off and makes the tackle in the backfield.  Why line the wide rec up so tight so he is able to do this?
8.   Good job finding BS after a scramble to throw for the TD.
9.   No turnovers by the offense.
10.   I guess Bama thought they needed the last TD for the polls since I have seen them kneel down in the same situation before.
11.   Why do you never see PS on the side lines with head phones taking in every play?


QB:  Played pretty well.  Threw some good balls and made some good decisions on the check down. 

RB:  All ran hard and well.

REC:  The Rec caught the ball well, used their hands and block well when the RB broke into the open field.

OL:  Did a good job getting a push on an undermanned DL.  Maintained blocks and combed pretty well.

Defense:  The D gave up 341 yard and 302 of it were rushing.  The DL did not like the OL getting on their legs.   It looks like Bama made a bit of an adjustment after the first series and had at least 4 down linemen or 3 down lineman with the 2 outside backers walked up.  Also, if I remember correctly, the 50 defense was designed to help stop the triple option. 
1.    The 82 yard TD should have been a 1 to 2 yard gain. 
2.   Really didn’t look to be playing inspired football.
3.   Missed a few tackles.

DL:  Inconsistent at times.  No one really stood out to me. 
LB:  Look to take bad angles at times.  No one really stood out here either.

DB:  They were cut numerous times. 

Penalties:  Most penalties were focus penalties and fortunately were able to overcome them.

Special teams:   Scored a TD with the FG block and gave up a TD with the kickoff return.  CF did hit the long FG attempt well, just missed.  Where has #3, #33, #6, and #91 gone on the kick off cover team?  They use to be around every tackle.  #3 did make the first tackle on the kick off.  On the TD return the cover team got bunched up and the contain man had too much field to cover and needed to squeeze down more.

Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll

Good notes coach.  I'm glad you are feeling better.

Based on the twitter eruption that happened from the players, I would guess that they were all pretty hyped up after that Oklahoma State loss on Friday night.  They probably had a hard time getting any rest.  I know I couldn't sleep much after watching that game.

The part about the 50 defense is interesting.  I hadn't thought about that.  In high school pretty much everybody ran the triple option, and the 52 defense so they could stop the triple option.  I guess it is hard to totally change your defensive scheme for just one game at the end of the season, so they had to just tweak their normal 34 the best they could to handle it.

GS executed well on offense.  I was amazed at how quickly the plays developed, especially at the beginning of the game.  I had a hard time keeping up with who had the ball at times.

Good job hscoach. One thing I saw with our DL - they along with the mike seemed to play off the LOS a little more than usual. Do you think it was to get a better read on the option? Also, I have to say this: I loved watching the GS offense - a thing of beauty. HS coaches should sit up and take notice. This offense does not require great athletes or huge OLinemen. A lot of cutting, which anybody can do. Just takes a heady guy to run the point at QB.

Thanks hscoach. Now, my one thought is will our young WR's ever become consistent? I notice we didn't use our punter, but we are going to need him against auburn to flip the field at times. I hope Malzahn does not run the Option. RTR!

Glad you felt like sharing your notes.  As I've said before, I look forward to reading your insights.

Did you (or anyone else) see what happened on the Will Lowery injury?  I saw this afternoon that it is an ACL and he's done.

Follow the doctor's advice!

Maybe getting him another TD catch on Senior Day? The BCS formula itself makes teams do this. Some teams/coaches are worse than others. I'll cut the stupid questions down since you're not tip-top. RTR

Glad your feeling better HS. The triple option is tough to defend. We will need some of those principles against Aubies goofy offense. Backside defenders will need to stay at home and pursuit guys will need to account for everyone.

Being at the game, this is what I observed. I was a little apprehensive the way things were going. I never felt the game was ever really in hand until midway through the 4th quarter. It was obvious that GS had a great offensive game plan and executed very well, and I mean very well. It was also evident that Bama did not prepare for the triple option as well as they should have. I realize the short time frame they had, but I really expected better. The intensity wasn't there either. You could see it on the sidelines, you could see it in the game. I felt better after Bama scored the 45th point, because, at the time, I thought we would need it to have a chance at #2 in the polls. Little did I know that the events of the evening would make that situation a non-factor. I'm very proud of the team, never the less. This late in the season it is very easy to have a letdown, and lucky for us, the right teams did. Bama did what they had to do to win and now it's time to get ready for Auburn.

I played golf in Malbis, Al. today and most of the people I encountered there were Auburn fans. Listening as a bystander, people with tickets to the IB are trying to unload them. Being the ever vigilant eves-dropper, I could see that the consensus from the barners is that Bama is going to kick major azz next week, and they want no part of sitting in the stands to watch the massacre. I hope every single Bama player focuses on the task at hand during practice and the game, and they take out Auburn early.......and this time FINISH!!!

Roll Tide!!!

It probably was the reason they played a little deeper.  I still think the were slow to react sometimes.

I am sure they will some day.  Right now they are catching the ball well, but sometimes I wonder about their routes.

I didn't see what exactly happened.  Also, another thought, was his replacement may have been the one who went too far inside on the TD return.  Just a thought, nothing positive.

Maybe you are correct, or maybe he just didn't want to get TR hit again.  We will never know unless CNS decides to tell us. 

I know I am no college coach, but I would have like to see Bama try this.  Play a true nose, with two DT on the guards.  Then walk the outside backers up to the LOS.  You still have DH and NJ in the middle.  Then I would play the secondary in a roll type coverage.  Basically 4 across with the safety filling hard to the side the Quarterback open too.  The other safety would move to the middle of the field and the backside corner would play man to man.

Great stuff !! I'm glad that game is over and Bama got a win. I'm kind of puzzled why Bama wanted to play a team that runs the option, can't see where this benefited the team in any way.

This contract may have been signed years ago.  They may not have run the option then.

That could be.

Watching GS warm up before the game, the first thing I noticed is the speed of their RB.  Once the game started, it seemed pretty clear that Bama's D was not well prepared to defend the option, which is assignment football.  Too many times the RB was allowed to get the edge, a few times the QB was left alone.  And GS made yards up the middle as well.  It was the worse I have seen Bama D play in a long time, but you have to give GS credit for great execution.  I'm wondering if Bama used the time to prepare for Auburn, because they weren't well schooled in defending the triple option offense.

There was still plenty of time left when Bama got to 45, so I don't see that as a running up the score situation.  Pundits questioned Les Miles after LSU kneeled down with 5 minutes left against Ole Miss, and their game was a lot further out of reach.  I do think the 45 points scored looks better, for BCS purposes, but I think kneeling down in that situation would have been premature, and perhaps insulting to GS given how well they played.  It did not seem to be a running up the score situation; Bama was not throwing the ball down the field, just running clock, but under the circumstances you have to go for the TD when you are that close to the goal line.  There was still time for GS to run the kickoff back for a TD, get another score with an onsides kick, and make a game of it.  So, GS really wasn't put away for good until that TD.

One thing we are overlooking here is that the scout team could not possibly have given our D a good full speed look that matched the level of execution that GS has mastered over the course of their season.  Those guys were recruited to run the triple option, and they probably have been running it since they were in peewee.  Our scout team had to basically go out there and start running the triple option on the first day of practice with no time to prepare in advance.  There is no way the scout team executed anywhere near the level of GS.  It took us a little while to get used to the speed of their execution in the first half, then we began to play much better on D as the game went along.

Also we were way down the depth chart on D-Line because of the suspensions and sickness.  I don't think the dive play would have been that successful for them if we had our normal lineup in there.  I believe a freshman was in there and missed his assignment when they broke the long run.  Mark Baron fell down on the pass TD.  So overall I was happy with how we played.

Very good point about the scout team.  Looks too me some of those Fres need to lose a little and gain some muscle.