When these two were at LSU, I was fortunate enough to go to a clinic there.  We were breaking up in meeting and I was going to Coach Fisher's meeting.  I got in there early and he and I got on the board before the rest of the coaches came in talking about pass routes.  Before I knew it I turned around and the other coaches had come in.  I apologized to them and they told us no you guys go ahead.  That is my Jimbo story.

We pick up a good win to start the SEC season. This is not your typical Vandy team. They are not very good this year but they play hard and are well coached. Any SEC win is a good win.

Alabama started the game slow and finished a little tentative but the middle 20 minutes was excellent basketball. We shot the ball well and had a little better ball movement. Releford had 16, Hale 15, Obasohan 15, Randolph 11 and Jacobs 8. That is good scoring distribution. Hale is getting better each game. We out scored Vandy 30-26 in the paint.

We played good defense most of the night. Our defense leads to offense. We had 17 points off turnovers to Vandy's 8. Vandy turned the ball over 16 times to our 8.

Vandy is the worst free throw shooting team in the league but they come to our place and go 15-17. We continue our recent trend of struggling from the line going 12-19. We are still the SEC's best free throw shooting team.

Somehow Vandy out rebounded us 32-25. It could be because we took more shots than them due to turnovers. Some of their rebounds also gave off missed free throws. During the game I thought we were killing them on the boards so I am happy with our rebounding last night.

Overall this was a good team win which we needed very bad. We get a chance to pick up a road win this Saturday when we travel to Athens to play Georgia. This is one of our best chances to get a road win. UGA is in a down cycle and their coach is on the hot seat.

 

First:   Congrats to Bama on a very good year.  I, like most, was hoping for more.  However, the cards don’t always fall in your favor. 

Offense:   The offense moved the ball effectively at times.  However, they made too many mistakes at crucial times.   They had 12 negative plays which included 2 fumbles, one returned for a TD and the other was in the red zone where Bama may have been able to take a lead into half time, 2 interception, on which led to a TD right before half time, on tackle for a loss with 7 sacks.  They wasted good field position in the second half where Bama could have mounted a comeback. They had 5 runs of over 10 yards and Derrik Henry had 4 of them.  They had 9 pass competitions for over 10 yards.  Bama left too many points on the field.  They had a 1st and 10 on the 10 in the red zone and settled for a field goal.  They fumbled in the red zone which Ok took the drive and went for a TD.  They fumble with the scored tied and a chance to run more clock and score and maybe take the lead going into the half.  I really don’t know why the coaches didn’t help the OL and use a back or TE to chip the rusher that was giving them so much trouble.  Bama had 3 three and outs and all were in the second half.

QB:  AJ made some good throws, but was pressured especially in the second half.  He forced a ball after Bama got an int. and gave it right back.  On the next int., I think Cooper stopped on his route.  After the pressure got to him and the int, I think he was hesitant to throw the ball into a small window as well as looking at the rush.

RB:   Henry ran hard as did Yeldon.  As I stated the fumble was big.  Bama runs clock and scores and possibly go in leading by 3/7. 

REC:  They caught the ball most of the time and many different players had catches.  A big drop by Cooper in the second half led to a 3 and out when Bama started with good field position.

OL:   I have hot and cold feeling here.  There were times they looked great and other times they didn’t get the push they need on running plays.  I think have of the sacks came from the left side of the OL.  I don’t think CK needs to leave for the NFL

Defense:  Oklahoma came out with an outstanding game plan and stuck with it.  They attacked Bama with the short passing game and continued to move the chains.  They rarely had a long 3rd down play.  There is a time when Ok had a 1st and 30 and converted and ended the drive with a TD.  I think this is where they went up 38- 24. OK also had Bama getting lined up late or not at all at times.  They were torched early and came back the second half and had stops on 5 out of 6 possessions.  They gave the offense a chance to come back in the game, but they didn’t do it.  They had 8 negative plays and forced 2 three and outs in the third quarter to give Bama a chance.  They gave up 3 runs over 10 yards and 9 passes for 10+ yards. 

DL:    They would have played a good game if it had been a running team.  They just don’t have a dominant pass rusher.   

LB:  They had to play sideline to sideline all day.   They were put in a bad position because of the offense Ok threw at them. 

DB:  Almost all CB’s got burned for a big TD.  They did not press the rec as they got free releases many times.   

Penalties:  The biggest penalty of the game was when Bama lost the TD on the punt return.  After this they went 3 and out.   

Special teams:   

Finally:  One of the main keys was the points Bama left on the field.  They took a field goal when they started with 1st and 10 on the 10 yard line going in.  They fumbled in the red zone.  They missed a field goal and they took points off the board on the punt return penalty.  The D put Bama in a position to win, but they didn’t.  That is the way the ball bounces some times. 

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll 
15 and counting

This Twitter message by AJ after the Sugar Bowl speaks volumes about the kind of person AJ is.

I have seen a lot of negative talk about the players & coaches, by our so called fans since last night. Oklahoma came out ready to play and I thought we did too as well. But when the turnovers started piling up because of poor decisions, poor ball security, and other reasons we dug a deep hole to try and climb out of. The TJ fumble and the pick six was huge!! And then miss a field goal at the end of the half did not help either. But the defense came out strong in the beginning of the second half and got some stops. The offense moved the ball too. But give credit where it's due Oklahoma did what they needed to due to win the game and we did not. We did see what needs to be addressed in the off season and I am very confident that it will be. Plus on the bright side we got a glimpse of the future with Derrik Henery running the ball! We all knew that we had issues at the DB position and the O-line as well. Both got exposed in some form last night. Again it will be addressed in the off season. We will have what may turn into the best recruiting class to date at Alabama coming in this year. Position competition will wide open and fierce in the spring. Yes I am very disappointed with the outcome of the game and in the way we played. But we did not roll over and kept fighting until the end. Bottom line is this; we have had a great run and I believe it will continue into the future. But you can not win every game every year!! It just does not happen. So if you want to be a FAIR WEATHER Fan then maybe you should think about supporting a different team. I have been thru the Great Years of Coach Bryant and the DARK years that followed. We have who is probably the best Head Coach in the game today in Coach Saban as our leader, and we have won more games in the last six years than ANY other college team in CFB History in that same time frame. So put on your BIG Girl panties and suck it up!! Life is not always peaches and cream and sometimes it SUX! But I am an Alabama Fan ALL DAY EVERY DAY no matter what sport is in season!!! Roll Tide!!

Just in case you guys haven't seen it yet in the Daily Thread, but we have lost Leroy. 

AJ McCarron won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and it was awarded to him last Friday at a banquet in his honor. The Unitas family said it was the best speech given in the history of the award. The video is about 10 minutes long and worth watching. AJ always handles himself well and represents the University with class.

Click here for link

Really cool story. Hadn't heard about this until I found this story...

After two weeks of agony since the Auburn game I'm still looking for the reason for the  lackluster play by the team in the last 5 games of the season. All at once easy passes were dropped, QB making bad passes, running backs fumbling the football, the opposing teams running back kicks for large chunks of yardage, and the defense making many more coverage mistakes than in the earlier games. Most of these things didn't happen in the earlier games and Bama made winning look a lot easier.

Today I was sitting with a group of friends discussing the team and how the team seemed so different in those past few weeks and something came to mind that I think played a major role in those performances. Vinnie Sunseri was injured against Arkansas and the team hasn't played up to par since. Sure they scored some points but still the team did not look the same since his injury. First of all, how could one player have that much affect on the team?

Sunseri isn't as fast and agile as most of the other defensive backs but he sure makes up for that with his knowledge of the game, which includes making sure the other players are lined up in their proper positions. How many times did the team get burned for players being in the wrong coverage since his injury? If you guessed many, you would be correct.

He was immediately missed on special teams as there were three long kick returns in the first game after his injury, something that hadn't happened all year. I just wonder would if the kick return by Auburn to win the Iron Bowl would have happened had Sunseri been healthy, somehow I think not.

Hindsight is always the right way after something bad happens and my rehashing the past games is no more than hindsight, but I think this young man would have made a big difference in the way the team performed had he been on the field and Bama would be playing for the BCSNG instead of the Sugar Bowl. Nothing can change the outcome of what has happened, but I hope the fans will realize just how valuable he has been for the team even though he is not an all-american at any position. Maybe we all can just consider him as a "playing coach" when he's on the field, not a real position on the team but one that he deserves to have it's name.

Having said all of the above I truly feel that when Vinnie's career is over at Bama he will rightfully have the name Coach, because I think Bama will be his first real coaching job. Anyway that is my wish because there's a fellow at Bama now that seemed to be the same type of player that Vinnie is when he played football, not great but good and he loved the game of football when he was a player. That person is Coach Nick Saban and I hope he takes Vinnie under his wing and developes him into a coach that is as good as he is. That's a lot to ask for but I think Vinnie is the person that deserves that chance and I think he will handle it well.