First:   First congrats to the Bama team for the victory.  This was the most dominant performance I can remember in a long time.  They dominated on both sides of the ball. 

Offense:  The offense did whatever they wanted to.   Bama rolled up 602 yards of offense.  They only had 3 negative plays, 2 tackles for losses and 1 sack, in the game and those did not come until the fourth quarter of the game.  Bama also had only 3 three and outs.  The offense score on 8 straight possessions and had scoring drives of 72, 84,64,80,24, 60, and 57 yards.  They had 30 first downs in this game.    They had 8 runs for over 10 yards, 6 of those were in the first half.  Bama had 11 pass completions for over 10 yards and 9 of those were in the first half.  They got into the red zone 5 times and had 4 touchdowns and 1 field goal.  The other 4 touchdowns were scored from outside the red zone.  Bama scored on 8 of their 13 drives.   The other factor to me was Bama running the ball with 7 to 8 in the box and many times they did this with what we use to call our Ace formation, 2 tight ends and 2 wide out with 1 back.

QB:  Sims had a very good game.  He did make one bad decision on the throw on the first drive that should have resulted in an int and probably 6 points for A&M.  On that play I think the outside rec was too wide as it looks as if Bama was trying to run a rub route to get the ball to AC.  Sims made good quick decisions the rest of the day.  He did underthrow OJH when he checked down and went to the backside.  I thought he checked down well and didn’t force the ball.    As far as Coker he has the tools.  It looks like he tries to guide the ball on those short quick throws and it slows the play development down.  One of the best throws of the day was his TD pass to the TE for the last touchdown.  At times the looks to methodical when he is throwing the ball instead of letting it go.

RB:   TJY was a beast this game.  He totaled 159 yards of offense and averaged 9.9 yards every time he touched the ball.  He only touched the ball 16 times, but it seemed like more.  The only negative about TJY was he didn’t work toward Sims when he was scrambling once.  DH also ran hard and totaled 111 yards on only 11 touches.  The biggest knock here was a missed block by DH.   I thought JF should have expected the run when he was knocked off his routes and looked to block for Sims on the scramble. 

REC:  AC had a good game an probably his best catch was on a 3rd and 10 when Sims found him on a scramble and he snagged it out of the air for a first down.    I know it has been effective, but I would love to see more recs involved in the game.    They blocked well downfield when the running back/QB broke the LOS. 

OL:  From the worse game to their best game of the year.  The sustained their blocks and moved to the 2nd level.  This is the best I have seen them come off the ball this year. They ran the ball effectively even when they had 7 to 8 in the box.  They did not miss a beat when Hill came in for the injured Shepard.  They got a push on running plays and pass protected well.  This is evident by the low number of negative plays all day.    They were able to run the ball to both the left and the ride sides of the LOS.   

Defense:  This was another very good game by the defense.   They dominated the spread team like no other.  A&M had 172 total yards on 55 plays and 98 of those came on 6 plays.  This means they gained   74 yards on the other 49 plays.  A&M had 14 drives.  Now take out two for right before half and the end of the game.  Of these 12 remaining drives, Bama had 7 three and outs and 4 four and outs.  As far a negative plays, Bama’s defense had 3 tackles for losses, a year high of 6 sacks in the game, they caused a fumble, and intercepted one pass.  Their longest drive was 9 plays and the ninth play was a fourth down play to get a first down.  They only had 8 first downs all day.  They did have 6 pass plays for over 10 yards.  This was the best tackling game for Bama this year.  There were very few yards after contact.  It seems that they were flying to the football and there were always numerous players around the ball. 

DL:  They played a great game.  The pressure put on the QB all day was done by 4 only most of the time.  It looks like Ragland is doing what Hightower use to do by putting his hand on the ground.  Maybe this is their new rabbit package.  Again, I can pick out Anderson who played a good game. Let me put it this way if the DL didn’t do the job they did the LB would not have been able to make the plays they did.  I thought this was one of their best efforts on keeping the ball inside and not letting A&M get to the perimeter.   

LB:  Ragland and Depriest had good game.  They played the pass and run.  The longest run all day was 9 yards.  They covered down field and jumped the screen.  Ragland has been a huge surprised to me this year. 
 
DB:  They played well by coming up and supporting the run as well as playing pass coverage.  ‘
The best thing that helped them out was the pass rush, especially pressure with 4.  One of the best plays was when JW got up from a block and still made the play for a short gain.  They could have easily come up with 2 more picks during this game, Collins and Perry could have each had one.   

Penalties: How about this no Bama penalties.  A&M only had 2 which show’s Bama’s dominance even more since they did not have to overcome their own mistakes. 

Special teams:   For the most part they were good on the kickoff coverage except for the last when a few backups were in.  I notice when Bama kicks off to their left they kick the ball higher and deeper.  Maybe this is because it is a more natural motion for a right footed kicker.  Foster made more big hits on special team.  I am glad Jones had a good day and his return help set up a Bama TD.

Finally:  This is the most complete game Bama has played.  I honestly feel they can play with anyone when they play like this.  They played with emotion and looked like they had fun.  The job now is to keep it going.   My congrats go out to the 7 Bama players who will graduate in December with their master’s degree.

Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll 
15 and counting

First:   First congrats to the Bama team for the victory.  They overcame many self-inflicted mistakes to win the game.  Bama’s defense won this game.

Offense:   This was the worse Bama offensive performance, 227 total yards, I have seen since the loss to LSU.  Bama had 7 three and outs.  They had 5 tackles for losses and 2 sacks.   The good news is the Bama offense did not turn the ball over.  They saved this for the special teams.  They only had 1 run of over 10 yards and 5 passes for over 10 yards.  They got into the red zone once and missed a field goal.  The scored their two TD’s from outside the red zone.  I don’t know why Bama kept running the ball to the right, but most of the runs were to that side.  In both halves they opened with 2 straight 3 and outs.  The bad part is Ark is ranked 51st in total D and averaged giving up 140 yards rushing a game. 

QB:  Blake Sims was a Jekyll and Hyde in this game.  He made some very poor choices on throws, but he made two good plays on the TD throws.  He tried to force the ball into AC a couple of time and fortunately Ark dropped the ints.  He overthrew some balls and I think he should have run the ball and gained a few yards instead of throwing.  On a third down play the Ark defense had 3 v 2 on the recs to AC side.  He had CJ crossing on a LB who may have had a chance to outrun him for a first down if the ball had been completed.  This is one play where he tried to force the ball to AC and was almost picked.     I would give this performance a C-.

RB:   The running backs were hit pretty quickly in the running game.  The big play that stood out to me was when TJY missed the block in the red zone on #86 and Sims was sacked.  He didn’t even have time to check the backside routes.  DH looked like he went the wrong way on a running play in the red zone which ended up being a loss or no gain. 

REC:  The recs looked like they couldn’t get away from coverage very often.  OJH missed the block on the first wide rec screen.   Other recs are going to have to get involved or the defenses are going to double AC and load up on the run.   

OL:  Worse game of the year so far.  At the beginning I wasn’t sure the RG was going to block anyone.  They did not dominant and get the push they did against what was supposed to be a better defensive front OM.   They did not sustain their blocks and when they did get to the 2nd level they didn’t block people. I am going to start calling AK, FSK because he gets at least one false start a game.  The tilted nose gave the G and C trouble.  He easily crossed the guards face when the center did not help. 

Defense:  I thought the defense played well.  They played 27 snaps in the first quarter alone while having to play 80 snaps the whole game because of the ineffective offense.  They had 7 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 1 int, and a blocked extra point which turned out to be the game winner.  They had six 3 and outs.  Three of these came after Bama took the lead.  They did have 1 one and out as they caused a fumble on the first play of the drive.  They did lose contain on the QB a couple of times and I will talk about this later.   They gave up 3 runs for over 10 yards and 9 passes for over 10 yards.   I will say Ark had a good game plan with all the play action throws, but also the roll throw back scheme they used.  The only complaint was the few missed tackles.  The big missed tackles was right before half when they allowed the RB to gain a first down on 3rd and long when Bama had called their timeouts to get a chance to score and get the ball back at the start of the 2nd half.

DL:  I though they played well.  Ark was averaging 278 yards a game rushing and Bama held them to 89.  This was against an OL that is heavier than any in the NFL by average.   I thought Robinson, Anderson, and Dickson played especially well. 

LB:  Ragland had a very good game.  Probably one of his best plays was the pass interference.  Here is why. This was a misdirection pass.  The TE lined up on the left side and RR was on the right side.  The QB rolls to his left and the TE releases without much of a jam.  The TE runs across the formation and turns up the field.   Because of the action Ragland’ s read took him away from the play, but he caught up and had the PI call but it could have been a touchdown.  Dillon Lee would look good on a play and lost on another.   There was once where he rushed from the backside and came around and was almost on the tackle on a short pass play. 

DB:  Overall they played pretty good.  The problem was a couple of bust.   On one long completion C Jones was in zone and everyone else was in man.  His man crossed the field and made the catch.    There were times when they blitzed they are the ones who lost contain on the QB.  Early in the game Jackson does not jam and throw off the timing of the slant.  He had no other threat coming so he could have stayed with him.  They did a better job later in the game.  On the pass for the TD, Jackson took a bad angle and allowed the rec to get into the end zone.

Penalties: They only had 4 penalties for 30 yards.  One the PI saved a TD. Another big one was a short down situation and Bama breaks the huddle with 12 and this was after a timeout.  The false start put them in a long 3rd down situation.  I do think the refs made a mistake here.  I don’t think the clock was supposed to start after this penalty.  If so, then what is to keep a team from running the clock out with numerous false starts. 

Special teams:   What can I say here except Bama saved the game from the mistakes created by the special teams.  There were 4 special team fumbles and Bama recovered 2 as well as Ark recovering two.   Griffin missed another field goal and again it looked like an alignment problem because of how he finished.  Look where he is facing.  All but one punt was downed inside the 20 yard line. The kickoff coverage was very good.  I don’t know if you noticed, but Rueben Foster blew the Ark player up on the kickoff once.  I know Bobby Williams is a longtime friend of CNS, but they have got to do a better job on special team.  He is also the TE coach and they have been a weakness blocking this year.

Finally:  Bama’s mistakes should have cost them a game this time, but the D bailed them out.  We are still waiting for that clean game that we know Bama can play.

Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll 
15 and counting

First:   The first thing I want to say is my prayers go out to KD.  It will be a great loss for Bama going forward.  Second congrats to Ole Miss for their not giving up.  To Bama, this is a game you gave away by making too many mistakes at crucial time.

Offense:   The offense made too many mistakes in crucial time of the game to win the game.  They put up 396 yards of offense.  They ran the ball effectively but dug themselves holes too often.  They missed crucial block on 3rd and short D Ball as well as OJ Howard.  They had drops that would have kept the drives alive.  They only had 4 tackles for losses, one sack, and an int.  They only had 2 three and outs while having at least 3 runs for over 10 yards and 6 completions for over 10 yards.  There did seem to be a couple of blown opportunities when watching the replays, but they don’t show the complete field.   Some sad facts here, Bama had a first and10 on the 19 going in and had to settle for a long field goal because of penalties and plays.  They should have had a 1st on the 18 going in on the last drive, but a penalty negated this.  It also looks like the offense is giving the screen away too soon on some of the plays.  They had to waste 2 timeouts on offense which could have been crucial in the final drive.

QB:  Sims made plays, but also missed on some plays.  It looks like on the drop by OJH that C Jones was open over the top for probably a TD.  Now this was not showing he complete field, so someone may have been over the top of CJ.  The 2nd was when he threw to Vogler, it looks like Cooper is open deep for the TD.  Again same thing as before could not see the whole field.  I also thought Sims feet got a little happy too early.  There is a play when Sims didn’t throw the ball away and I think this was because there was a screen called and he would have had men down field.  He would have had to throw it to the feet of the RB.  I do think if he had thrown the ball out to OJH left instead of a little behind he would have had a better chance for the ball.

RB:   TJY played well. He gained over 100 yards and this was against a tough D.  I wonder if Henry didn’t get a little banged up because he wasn’t used late.  It may have been just because of the way TJY was playing. 

REC:  AC was the main focus of stopping the passing game.  OJH had a big catch, but also made many mistakes, 2 holding calls.   Vogler missed a crucial block on a 3rd down and 1 play as did Ball when Bama had him at a TE position.  There were a couple of times when it looked like the routes by recs were not run hard and at times it didn’t look like they adjusted to the scramble very well.

OL:   By looking at the negative plays the OL had a pretty good game.  There were a couple of busted assignments one by the right guard.  This was a big 3rd down play before the half that could have kept a drive alive.  The new center put the ball low and makes the QB take his eyes away from the D which hurts in his reads.

Defense:  The defense made bad coverage mistake that hurt Bama in the game.  The defense had 10 tackles for losses, 1 sack, a blocked PAT, and a fumble recovery for a TD.  They had 3 runs of over 10 yards and 8 passes for over 10 yards.  In all honesty, the play should have been negated by the facemask penalty.  They had 1 three and out and 1 4 and out.  This is not counting the 4 play drive for a TD or 3 play drive for a TD.  The D did a good job on the first drive holding them to a field goal.  There were some missed tackles, especially in the 4th quarter that would have put Ole Miss behind the chains.   

DL:    I thought they did a good job stopping the running game.  Many times, and this is how DD got hurt, the DE came in and took on/out the pulling linemen and stuffed the play.  They were just a step short on getting to the QB, but many throws were quick. 
 
LB:  Both LB’s had some difficult times.  First, RR doesn’t adjust with the motion which should have cost Bama.  Second TD went too flat on the long pass to the TC for the long gain in the second half.  RR did have some big hits on the OM running back and QB. 

DB:   Here was a major problem.  They seem to be extremely confused on who had who on the trips bunch package.  This cost Bama the most in the game.  Ole Miss threw at least 5 back shoulder throws and completed 3 of them.  On the bubble screen Jones went inside and allowed them to get the edge instead of fighting thru the outside should and forcing the player back inside where his help was.

Penalties:  In my opinion this is where the game was lost.  For example Bama had a 1st down on the 19 yard line going in and ended up kicking about a 46 yard field goal.  They had a 1st down on the 18 going in on the last drive have a holding call and have then have a 2 and 13 at the 32.  They still had time and didn’t have to force the ball into coverage. There were also times when Bama would start 1st and 15 which is harder to overcome.  I am not sure, but I would bet most of the penalties where in the second half.  There were penalties on special teams.  A big one was the block in the back which negated a nice kickoff return by Cyrus Jones.

Special teams:   The first couple of kick offs hurt because of not giving the coverage team time to get down there.  When the ball was kicked high they covered well.  There were two missed field goals from 46 and 51 yards.  The big play was the fumble on the kickoff return when Bama should have had good field position because of the Ole Miss penalty. JK Scott did a great job changing field position and averaged over 50 yards a kick.  I know it is only 5 yards, but there was a penalty on delay of game on one punt.

Finally:  Bama mistake came back and caused them to lose to a good football team. These mistakes led to 2 touchdowns in the last 6 minutes.  They did give themselves a chance to win, but made more mistakes on the final drive. 

Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll 
15 and counting