He may miss some, but he was the leading tackler this last game with 11 and 6 were solo.  He does lower his head, but most of the time, he is going for the legs. 

That should not cause a problem.  There is plenty of depth there.

Congrats to this young man, well deserved.

More at the 2nd level.  They seem to be reaching many times instead of bringing their feet if that makes sense.  I have also noticed a few bad angles that lead to the reachimg.

There could be a technical problem as little as grip on the ball.  It could be pointing the ball too high or too low,  I really can't determine what it is.  I really don't remember it being a problem in other games.

 

                                             UM vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches for the victory over Southern Miss.  This was a highly anticipated game because of all the expected offensive fireworks.

OFFFENSE:  First, the offense had the perfect game plan for the defense presented by Ole Miss.  The 3-2-6 is just begging you to run the ball.  The offense put together 451 yards of total offense which included 241 passing and 210 rushing.  Bama scored touchdowns on 4 out of their first 5 drives.  I will be honest here and say Lane helped them by going for first downs on 4th down and gave Bama good field position. For negative plays, I have Bama with 4 tackles for losses, 3 sacks, 1 fumble, they recovered, and 1 interception.  I may be wrong, but I think all the negative plays came in the 2nd half except for 1.  Bama had no three and outs in this game.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 12 passing plays and 6 running plays.  Bama got into the red zone 7 times and scored 6 touchdowns.  The other time, Young threw the interception. Bama actually had not touchdowns outside the red zone.  

QB:  Young played a good game hand still does a good job finding secondary receivers as well as stepping up in the pocket to create time and passing lanes.  He was 20 for 26 for 241 yards which equates for 77% competition rate.  I think the interception could have been prevented if the receiver had worked back towards the QB and to the sideline.  I don’t put all the blame on the receiver as it looked to me that the ball was thrown a little behind him.  One of his most impressive throws was when Bama was on the left-hash and he threw a pass that probably traveled 35 yards on a rope.  He did miss a wide-open receiver on a third down and 3. This was on the only drive Bama didn’t score on in the first half.  I think he has an open receiver on a shorter route, but if he hits the big ball it would have probably been a touchdown.

RB:  The running backs had a big day.  Combined they averaged about 4.8 yards per carry as they had 214 yards on 45 carries.  Robinson was the workhorse with 36 carries for 171 yards.  I really thought he showed his vision and footwork in this game.  We already know he is a tough/hard runner, but I noticed his agility more than once in the game.  With McClellan out for a while, it seems, Sanders should get a chance to show what he can do.

Rec:  Again, this game, there were 7 separate receivers with catches in the game, 8 if you count running backs.  The main targets were the seems to be coming to be the main 4 were Williams (5), Bolden (4), Billingsley (4), and Metchie (3).  I think 3 of Boldens 4 catches were for 1st downs.  

OL:  I thought they played well, especially in the first half.  I do know that 1 2 of the negative plays were on the TE’s.   Once they missed the block on the sack and another time, they missed the block on a running play.  What I also saw was some great combo block that were worked to perfection.  This also should have been a game they excelled in because of the defensive front they were playing.  The major problem in this game was the errant snaps throughout the game.  The other major negative, was the inability to gain 1 yard on the 4th and 1 which probably would have allowed Bama to run out the clock and maybe keep that last OM touchdown off the scoreboard.

Def:  Last year, the defense gave up 647 yards of total offense.  This year they gave up a total of 291 yards which included 213 passing yards and 78 rushing yards.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 6 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, and a caused fumble which was recovered.  I have OM with only 1 three and out.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have 10 passing plays and 2 running plays.  Both running plays came in the 2nd half.  OM got into the red zone 4 times scoring 3 touchdowns and turning it over on downs once.  On the stop in the red zone, Battle came up big as he actually stops the running backs momentum which allowed the DL to finish the tackle pushing him back instead to falling forward for the 1s down.  I don’t know if this is true, but it looked like the defense was simplified and allowed the athletes to play and make plays, which they did.

DL: I thought this was the most active and best game they have played.  Mathis seems to be getting better every game and becoming a force.  Again, and I know this is repetitive, but they are occupying the OL and allowed the tackles to be made by the LB’s and safeties. I do think one thing they could learn is, instead of running full speed at a skilled player in front of you, break down a little and not allow them to make one move and get by you.

LB: With the complexity of this offense with regards to LB responsibilities, I thought they played well. In this offense with concern to the passing game, they have to cover RBs, TE’s, and getting in passing lanes per the RPO’s.  Along with this, they have to be aware of the running game which includes running backs and QB’s.

DB: There was one competition for 42 yards where the TE got lost on a short QB scramble. Most of the passing plays were thrown underneath and yards were made after the catch.  I will give OM some credit they made a couple of outstanding catches and 1 counted.   Many times, they CB’s are in position and just need to make the play.  I have noticed a couple of time, and I think it is more safety, if they get beat they are looking back at the qb instead of the receiver.  You can’t run as fast looking back as you can looking at the target you need to cover.  

Special teams:  The only glitches in the special teams was when the return man didn’t get back and catch the ball when signaling fair catch and the kick off out of bounds.  Everything else was pretty solid.

Penalties: I have Bama with 7 penalties, but one was declined.  So, for the 6 penalties, I have on special teams a kick out of bounds and a targeting call.  On offense I have a false start.  On defense, there were 2 very questionable pass interference calls.  I call them questionable because I don’t think any of the balls were catchable.  There was also 12 men on the field call.  I think this is the lowest total penalties of any game this year.

Finally, I thought this may have been Bama’s best 1st half.  But I still see defenders not running all the way to the ball carrier and reaching too soon.  Saying that, I don’t think there were as many missed tackles as there were in prior games.
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18 and Counting

I really haven't seen them play.  However, I think they will be an improved team.  Got to clean up the mistakes.

                                             USM vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches for the victory over Southern Miss.  This was a game where the opponent was clearly out matched and a chance to correct some mistakes.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 606 yards of total offense which included 395 passing and 211 rushing.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 2 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, 1 fumble which they kept, and an interception.  I also credit Bama with 2 three and outs, where there was 1 in each half.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have them with 13 passing plays and 8 running plays.  Bama got into the red zone 4 times and scored touchdowns each time.  Three touchdowns came from outside the red zone while the other 2 came on kickoff returns.

QB:  Young had a great night with 20 completions out of 22 passes for 313 yards.  This equates to a 91% completion rate.  He did throw one interception.  This ball was a little behind the receiver, however many times that ball is caught.  Two of his best throws came on the first drive.  The first throw had to be thrown over the outside LB or Safety and he put it on target for a first down on 3rd and 13.  The second throw was the touchdown to Billingsley where the coverage was tight and a safety overlapping over the top.  Young also did another good job finding the second and third receiver in his progression.  In mop up duty with Tyson and Milroe they both made a couple of good throws and played pretty well with the backups. 

RB:  The running backs made some big runs.  Combined they ran for 219 yards on 28 carries.  Williams had 110 on 11 carries, McClellan had 97 on 12 carries, and Sanders had 12 on 5 carries. To be fair Sanders was playing more with the back OL.  Together they averaged 7.8 yards per carry.  I will say, and this isn’t a complaint, I thought we might see more Sanders without Robinson in the game.

Rec:  Seven different receivers had catches not counting running backs.  Numbers, according to catches the leaders were Metchie, Billingsley, and Latu.  One of the best catches of the night was by Latu but it was negated by a penalty.  Also, I thought they missed a couple of blocks on the wide receiver screens as they should have blocked the most dangerous defender in my opinion. On the fumble recovery Latu had for the touchdown, Latu had 2 blocks on the play prior to the recovery.  One thing I think this game did was tell other team, if you plan on taking wide receivers out of the game by defensive formations, Bama has no problem going to the TE.

OL:  Overall they played a good game. They should have against a smaller defensive unit.  I did see a few missed blocks.  There was a combo block where the player didn’t come off early enough.  However, it may not had made much of a difference on the play as a safety was filling in a hurry.  Also, on a sack a defender split a double team, this may have been a communication problem in the protection. They didn’t always sustain their block as log as I thought they could have.  When the backups came in there were a couple of bust when the OL was not reacting to outside pressure and basically tried to block the guy that was being blocked.  The great thing is I didn’t see anything that could not be corrected, and they weren’t overpowered.

Def:  The defense played better as far as assignment football than they did in the past games.  They still made some mistakes, but they reduced them drastically.  Overall, they were more gap sound most of the night.  They still missed a couple of tackles that allowed SM to make a couple of plays.   SM had a total of 213 total yards which included 131 passing and 82 rushing.   For negative plays, I have Bama with 4 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, and 1 interception.  Bama had 3 and outs on 8 of 13 possessions by SM.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, SM had 5 passing plays and 2 running plays.  They got into the red zone twice and scored touchdowns both times.  Of their total yards, 190 came on three possessions. 

DL: They play well.  But if you look at the stats they didn’t make a lot of plays.  What they did was kept the OL occupied for the LB and safeties to come up and make plays.  They did make a few mistakes with gap responsibility which allowed for a couple of big runs.  But like I said it wasn’t as many as in the past.  On one play, I saw one DL go inside where it looked like he was in the A gap, the other DL should have been in the B gap but his path was more towards the A gap which opened up the hole. 

LB: They played well.  They were put in a couple of bad positions in a couple of situations.  For instance, the throw to the TE for a big gain, neither guy banged the TE to slow his release and the cover LB was all the way over on the other side of the center.  Pretty hard to get there without a hammer on the TE.  The thing is there were two guys there where one could have done that.  On another play, late the LB didn’t scrap over the DL to get to the hole the RB was coming thru allowing for a bigger gain.  There was once on a swing pass that Moody didn’t take a good path to the RB.  He may not have made the play, but he actually took himself out of the play with his angle.  The TD was a bit of a fluke since that ball went off the LB and took the receiver away from his coverage.

DB: They made a lot of tackles.  No real deep balls were completed.  Almost everything was thrown inside of 10 yards.  The plays that went for 10 plus yards were thrown underneath and yards were made after the catch.  There were a couple of missed tackles that would have negated 10+ yard plays and one was the play that went down to the red zone where SM scored.   The didn’t wrap up and bring their feet.  One happened this way because the safety took a bad angle.

Special teams:  The good and they bad.  The good, was the TD’s from kick off returns.  The bad was penalties which negated good punt returns.  I also think we learned if the kick is going to kick to the right, he needs to move the ball over.   

Penalties: Bama had 7 penalties for 60 yards.  Again, Bama had a PI by Jobe on a drive that led to a TD.  That is his 3rd in 2 games.  I had Bama with 4 offensive penalties, 2 special team penalties, and 1 defensive penalty.  This is actually down from the last game.

Finally, the notes are a little late because I was watching the Ryder Cup followed by the Braves game.  I think Bama did make some improvement.  However, they still need to get better in all phases of the game.
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18 and Counting

He usually is more mad after the mistakes in a win than the mistakes in a loss.

I think a lot of it had to do with techniques on the OL.  I do think the crowd noise could have been a small factor.  On defense, the assignment football they played in the first game wasn't the same as the second.  I also think they went after 20 at times.  It seems there was some confusion at times.  But to me tackling was the big issue along with the penalties.  The D line didn't get off their blocks like I thought they could and they lost their lane integrity at times.  One of my questions I have had for a while, are they putting too much into the game plan and not allowing them to just be the athletes they are?

                                             UF vs Bama

These notes may not be completely accurate as I tried to watch the game on youtube, but there were parts left out.

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches for the victory over Florida.  This was a hard-fought battle that went to the end.  This game could have gone either way.

OFFFENSE:  The offense started strong then went into a shell for a few drives.  Then came back and scored when they needed too.  The big TD drive after Florida scored to open the second half was huge.  The offense put together 331 yards of total offense which included 240 passing and 94 rushing.  This is far below what they have done in the first 2 games.  I have them getting in the red zone 4 times scoring 3 touchdowns and kicking 1 field goal.  I do feel that they could have scored another touchdown if Young had run the ball in on the trip, they kicked the field goal.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 2 sacks, 5 tackles for losses, and a fumble they didn’t lose.  The other touchdown was scored just from outside the red zone.

QB:  Young played well considering the first real start in a very hostile territory.  He wasn’t perfect but didn’t really hurt Bama either.  He completed about 63% of his passes but had a couple of drops.  There were a lot of tight windows as well as pressure in his face on some big throws.  Another thing Young has done well is find the 2nd and 3rd receivers when the first read is covered.  There was also one RPO I thought the ball should have been given to the RB.

RB:  The one thing that stood out about the RB’s was the way they picked up the blitz and part of that goes to the communication on the pass blocking call.  They ran hard against a tough defensive front where holes were not open long.  They also have done a good job catching the ball as two of the touchdowns were catches by running backs. 

Rec: Five different receivers caught passes.  There were a few drops here, but there was also some good coverage. The longest gain on a passing play was 29 yards.

OL:  If you look at the total number of negative plays you would say they played well.  However, they didn’t seem to sustain their drive or get the big push on the initial block.  Also, they missed coming off a combo block to get the man that made the play a couple of times.  It did seem they communicated the pass blocking assignment pretty well since there were only 2 sacks.  The disappointing thing was they couldn’t push the ball into the endzone where they settled for the field goal.

Def:  I know the defense had a difficult job with the prep for 2 quarterbacks, but also because of the athleticism of the QB.  That being said I thought the defense would be more discipline and a lot better this year. Florida had a total of 446 yards of total offense which included 195 passing and 245 rushing.  For negative plays, I have the Bama defense with 1 sack, 6 tackles for losses, and 1 interception.  The biggest part of the defense is they came up big when they absolutely had too in the red zone, holding Florida to a field goal once and stopping a 2-point conversion.  Florida also used the TE and short passing game to help negate a pass rush.  I also think they need to be ready for others using the option against them.

DL: It was hard to tell how well/bad they played.  At times they didn’t seem to be able to get off their blocks.  They seem to be dominated by the OL at times and they seem to lose their lane responsibilities which allowed for plays to be made.  That being said, Mathis was one of the leading tacklers for the day.

LB: They were put in coverage against TE or RB during the game.  This usually mean quick throws.  It did look to me, a couple of times, the LB were out of position to make the play.  However, I don’t know their assignments for the defense called.  Florida does do a good job game planning against the opposing team.

DB: Again, it is hard to tell how well/bad they played.  The longest pass completion was 30 yards which was a catch and run.  They missed tackles and had some harmful penalties.  They angle of pursuit, like others was not great all the time.  On the 3rd down play when Florida was coming out of the end zone, I don’t know what Hellams was doing. I just don’t understand the path he took.  That being said, he was the leading tackler in the game.

Special teams:  Special teams were solid one both sides of the ball.

Penalties: Bama had 11 penalties for 81 yards.  Two penalties were on Florida’s first scoring drive.  Another big penalty was on a 4th and 6 the PI call on Jobe kept the drive alive and Florida scored a touchdown.

Finally, Bama had got to do a better job in certain areas.  They have to play sound assignment football on both sides of the ball.  Second, they have to tackle better and take better angles to the football.  Finally, they have to play the full 60 minutes on both sides of the ball.  Bama could have put this game away in the first half. 
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18 and Counting

Yeah, I had to work and didn't get home until after the game started so I was recording it.  Hopefully, I can find a way to get it.

Unless I can find a place to watch the game, there will be no game notes.  For some reason my cable had a glitch in it and I missed the 2nd until the middle of the 4th quarter.