OSU vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches for the National Championship victory.  Honestly, I think this may have been Sark’s best called game of the year.  Also, I think this team displayed a chemistry that many people don’t understand how important this is when you have a championship run.  Let us also give a shout out to the new strength and conditioning coach for keeping the players ready to go.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 621 yards of total offense which includes 464 passing and 157 rushing.  The total offense breaks down to 389 in the first half and 232 in the second half.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, and a lost fumble.  On the fumble, Billingsley was supposed to block the edge, but the OSU player timed the blitz well and Billingsley didn’t adjust his angle to get to him well enough to get a chip on him.  Bama had 1 three and out and it didn’t come until late in the 2nd half.  There was 1 other, but it was a 3-play touchdown scoring drive.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 20 pass plays and 7 running plays.  Fourteen of the pass plays came in the first half and there were 6 in the second half.  For the running plays, 2 were in the first half and 5 were in the second half.  Bama got into the red zone 6 time and scored each time.  They scored 5 touchdowns and kicked 1 field goal.  They also scored 2 touchdowns from outside the red zone.  Bama also ran 83 plays during the game.

QB:  Jones had an outstanding game by going 36 for 45 for 464 yards which equates to an 80% completion rate.  He averaged 12.88 yards per competition.  He also scrambled at the appropriate time.  His only negative play was his fumble, which as I stated above was due to a well time blitz and a missed block.  If my stats are correct, he only had 2 what I consider bad passes.  Young got to come in and finish up the game, which hopefully fuels a fire to add his name to the quarterbacks that have won a National Championship.  I will say right here, there were many people who didn’t give Jones a chance to be the starting QB this year as they anointed Young to be the starter coming in.  Jones not only started but had a banner record breaking year.  This includes national records, SEC, and Bama records.  Congrats to him and good luck in your future.

RB:  Again, Harris had an outstanding game.  His rushing average may not have been his best, but he ran hard and was hit hard.  He had 22 rushed for 79 yards and 7 catches for 79 yards.  This totals up to be 158 yards on 29 touches.  One thing I did notice was he was telling Jones to get down when he scrambled once.  Robinson came in and also had a good game.  He only carried the ball 10 times for 69 yards which breaks down to 6.9 yards per carry.  Again, this was a tough game when it comes to hitting, however, the RB’s looked like they gave just as much as they received.

Rec: As we know, Smith had an outstanding game.  He caught 12 passes in basically a half for 215 yards.  His total yards were more than the combined yards for all OSU receivers.  Metchie had 8 catches for 81 yards.  He also was credited with a pass interference call against him that help move the ball closer in the goal line on one touchdown drive.  Waddle had 3 catches for 34 yards.  Billingsley only had 2 catches for 27 yards, but one was huge as he performed the scramble drill to perfection and allowed Jones to complete a pass on third down and kept a touchdown drive alive.  Bolden had 3 catches for 16 yards and scored his first touchdown for the year.  William, who should be a force next year had 1 catch for 12 yards.  The only knock I had about the receivers, was they got blown up a couple of times on blocks.  I spoke about Harris’s catches above.

OL: I will be honest here, after watching Clemson/OSU, I was worried about OSU’s DL.  They had an outstanding game as you can see by the negative plays above, 6 negative plays out of 83 plays.  This means there was positive plays or at least a stalemate on 99.928 offensive plays.  They were playing against 7 to 8 men in the box a lot of the night which allowed for blitzes from different angles and positions.  They handled them most of the time.  It was outstanding that Saban allowed Dickerson into the game to get the last couple of snaps.  Don’t know if you noticed, but the first snapped looked like it was dropped by the Young.

DL.  They had an outstanding game as you can see by the negative plays above, 6 negative plays out of 83 plays.  This means there was positive plays or at least a stalemate on 99.928 offensive plays.  They were playing against 7 to 8 men in the box a lot of the night which allowed for blitzes from different angles and positions.  They handled them most of the time.  It was outstanding that Saban allowed Dickerson into the game to get the last couple of snaps.  Don’t know if you noticed, but the first snapped looked like it was dropped by the Young.

Def:  Overall, the defense played a good game.  It helps when the offense keeps you off the field for most of the night.  Bama had the edge in time of possession, 37:26 to 22:34.  This means the defense basically had a quarter off during the night.  Bama gave up a total of 341 yards which included 194 passing and 147 rushing.  For negative plays, Bama is credited with 4 tackles for losses and 1 sack.  I also looked at what I considered pressures and I credit Bama with 10.  They may not have gotten the sack, but they had an effect on the play.  For 3 and outs, I have OSU with 4 three and outs.  OSU had 10 passing plays that covered 10+ yards and 3 running plays that covered that distance.  For a breakdown, 4 pass plays were in the first half and 6 in the second half.  This could be because Bama looked to be playing more of a two shell to make OSU work the ball down the field and use clock.  For the running plays, 2 were in the first half and 1 was in the second half, most on scrambles by the QB, if not all.  OSU got into the red zone 5 times and scored 3 touchdowns, 1 field goal, and turned it over on downs once. 

DL: The D line had a good game.  OSU did average 5.1 yards per rush, but as I mentioned above, they had numerous pressures on the QB.  They only averaged 5.9 yards per pass attempt.  They did average over 11 yards per completion but remember the 2nd half Bama looked to play the 2 shell which will allow for some completions.  Barmore had a very good game and was one of the leading tacklers which is rare when most of the year the safeties were the leading tacklers.  The only knock was the couple of times where they lost their lanes and allowed the QB to escape on the scramble.  Also, on one of the touchdowns they lost the edge.  They may have been misaligned because it looked like there was a tackle and a TE in a wing position and it looked like the end man on the LOS was inside to head up on the tackle, easy to get the edge here.  Allen did make a good tackle on a play where Fields broke contain and tackled him for a short gain, where he had room to run.

LB: They played well and it looked in the beginning that OSU was going to attack them in the passing game but the success was limited.  They did hit one play to the TE for, I think, 36 yards.   Now what was good here is that Harris and Moses were among the top 3 tacklers along with Barmore. 

DB: Overall, I think they played well.  There were a couple of plays where OSU had the right play call for the defense.  They gave a high low on the outside where the corner looked to be in zone and the safety would have to overlap the outside deep receiver as the corner has the short receiver.  Jobe was called for called for a PI, but it looked to be he thought he had help from the safety and had to play catchup.  Also, on one play the safety was looking back and allowed for separation the by the receiver.  On the touchdown where Jobe was blocked, I think he was playing an inside technique because of man coverage, which gives the blocker an advantage on plays to the outside, especially when there is a short distance to run.  Wright came in for Battle and played well. 

Special teams:  Special teams were solid.  Reichard was again perfect, which made for a perfect year.  He also kicked the ball deeper on the kickoff than he has in the past.  Scott only punted twice and averaged 38 yards but allowed no returns. Smith did have one punt return for 19 yards to help set Bama up in good field position.

Penalties: Bama had 6 penalties for 44 yards.  The first was the PI for Jobe in the end zone and help set OSU in the red zone.  Again, I mentioned above, I think he thought he had help over the top.  Battle was called for targeting and he was lost for over half the game.  Bama did end up holding OSU in the red zone and gave up only a field goal. Ineligible lineman downfield didn’t hurt because Bama still scored on the drive.  Owens had a false start and Bama ended up punting on that drive.  Offsides by Allen which occurred on the 3-play drive for a touchdown.  Finally, Barmore roughing the passer but OSU ended up turning the ball over on downs.

Finally, Bama played an overall good game and won their 18 National Championship.  It was a record setting and strange year.  There were many doubts early in the year, especially with the defense and the idea that Jones would be the starting QB.  However, the coaches knew best.  I will say it again, chemistry is extremely important to the success for any championship team.  I noticed many times this year the players pulling for each other, especially when the backups went in.  Hopefully, this will continue.  However, again there are numerous holes to fill by both players and coaches. 
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18 and Counting

                                             ND vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on this big win that puts them in the National Championship game once again.  I will say, I thought ND gave them a tougher game than many expected.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 437 yards of total offense which included 297 passing and 140 rushing. For negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses and 1 sack, which really was an intentional grounding call.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 12 passing plays, 6 in each half and 4 running plays, 3 in the first half and 1 in the second half.  For scoring, Bama got into the red zone twice and scored touchdowns both times, while from outside the red zone they scored 2 touchdowns and kicked 1 field goal.  The ND defensive line put up a good fight and did pressure the QB.  However, out of 55 plays there were only 4 negative plays. 

QB:  Jones played a good game as he connected on 25 out of 30 passes for 297 yards and an 83% completion rate.  He could have gone 27 for 30 but there were 2 drops.  This would have been a 90% completion rate.  I thought he did a good job finding secondary receivers when he had too.  This is where one of the drops came from.  The biggest mistake he made was when he was called for grounding.  He averaged 11.88 yards per completion while averaging 9.9 yards per pass. 

RB:  Harris had a good game as he rushed for 125 yards on 15 carries which averages out to 8.3 yards per carry.  The biggest run was the 53-yard run where he hurdled a ND play in route to Bama’s second touchdown.  He also added 4 catches for 30 yards.  Putting the 2 together he had a total of 155 yards and averaged 8.1 yards per touch.  He did have one of the drops as he took his eyes off the ball and was looking up field to see who was closing on him.  Robinson in very limited duty had 3 carries for 10 yards. 

Rec: Six different receivers had catches not counting Harris.  Smith led all receivers 7 catches for 130 yards.  He was targeted 8 times and had a drop.  This drop was big as it would have given Bama a first down, which they got on a roughing the passer penalty, but the penalty would have been added on to the catch which would have put the ball in ND territory.  This may have allowed Bama to either score or take enough time off the clock and not allowing ND enough time to score their last touchdown.  Metchie had 3 catches for 53 yards, Billingsley 4 for 39 (he had one of the best catches of the day with a defender draped all over him), Forristall had 3 for 31, Bolden had 2 for 22, and Williams had 1 for 0 yards.  Again, the did a good job blocking downfield especially on the wide receiver screens. 

OL:  The OL played well against a quality DL.  As I stated above there were only 4 negative plays all day.  They were challenged all day and was called for only 2 penalties.  I thought Owens did a good job filling in at center and hopefully it will be even better next game. 

Def:  As they showed on TV, ND had the edge in the time of possession.  They also had an edge in plays as they ran 80 while Bama ran 55.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses, 2 sack, and a forced fumble, with pressure when the ND quarterback threw the ball behind the receiver and it went out of bounds.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, they had 9 passing plays and 4 running plays.  A couple of these plays were scrambles by the QB when he was pressured.  ND got into the red zone 3 times and scored 2 touchdowns and turned it over on downs once.  They missed a field goal from outside the red zone.

DL: A lot of what I judge the DL on is the yards per average on rushing plays.  ND averaged 3.7 yards per rush.  They didn’t always get to the QB, but they put pressure on him several times.  I also judge this group on allowing the offensive play to escape on the edge which happened a few times in this game.  It is also where they had their big running plays.  They didn’t read the screen well the one-time ND really ran it.  If I had to select one guy that stood out as a DL, I thought Barmore had a good game as well as Anderson who in reality is an outside backer.

LB: They played well and made some big open field tackles.  The only interception came from the LB spot as Harris made the interception. 

DB: I thought they had a pretty good game.  They were a times they must have had coverage, TV didn’t show downfield angle very well, because the QB had to take off or throw it away.  There QB was 27 for 39 which is about a 69% completion rate.  He averaged 5.6 yards per pass attempt and 8.7 yards per completion.  These guys were the leading tacklers again, Hellams was in on 12 tackles and 6 of those were solos. 

Special teams:  Specials teams were solid except for 1 play.  The tone was set on the opening kickoff where Jobe hammered the returner who fumbled.  ND got on the fumble but made them start the drive on the opening drive.  After that they decided to fair catch the rest of the kickoffs.  The biggest mistake was the inability to handle the onside kick. I also thought Smith was close to breaking another punt return.

Penalties: Bama had 6 penalties for 59 yards.  The biggest on, in my opinion, was the unsportsmanlike conduct which came on ND’s second touchdown drive.  Instead of the ball being on the 40 with a 2nd and 10 it was first and 10 at the 25 going in.  With that being said, I also thought it was a terrible call.  Saban was, according to what I read, was yelling at a LB about the wrong drop he took and not at any official.  He did take a couple of steps on the field, but what coach hasn’t. 

Finally, Bama won and gets another shot at a NC.  It is not going to be an easy game if OSU can put together another performance like they did last night.  If they lose the edge on the OSU backs and QB, they have the ability to make big plays.   Their DL posed problems for the Clemson OL.  They looked like they were more physical than Clemson.  It will take a great performance by both the offense and defense.
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17 and Counting

                                             UF vs Bama
First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on this historic win.  I don’t think any SEC team has won 11 SEC games in a single year.  Great offensive game plan by Sark and pretty well carried out by the offense. I don’t know all the records broken last night, but I’m sure there were a few.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 605 yards of total offense which included 418 passing and 187 rushing. As for negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, and 1 interception which was given right back as Metchie made a huge hit on the FL safety.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 18 passing plays and 5 running plays.  Bama got into the red zone 6 times and scored 5 touchdowns and kicked 1 field goal.  It would have been a lot less stressful if Bama had converted on the red zone visit where they settled for a field goal after Bama recovered a fumble near the 10-yard line.  Bama only had 1 three and out which came when they were trying to run out the clock at the end of the game.  They were running the ball basically against 11 men in the box and it is also where they got one of their tackles for a loss.  Bama did miss on a couple of screens that looked to be set up pretty well.  On the first one, Harris didn’t get out clean, but if he did there looked to be plenty of blockers and running room.  Also, on the other, it was a WR screen where the ball was tipped.  Again, it looked like there were blockers and space for the play to be successful.

QB:  Jones played a good game where he connected on 33 of 43 passes for 418 yards which is a 77% competition rate.  In the beginning I did think he had what I call some happy feet, however, FL was doing a pretty good job with the pass rush, but not just quiet getting there.  I do know he missed an open Metchie on the crossing route when Bama went for it on 4th down and threw to Smith who was tackled short of the line to get.  On the interception the ball was sightly behind the receiver and it enabled the defensive player to make a play.  I did think Mac settled down in the game, but he did miss a couple of throws to open receivers. 

RB:  This was Harris’s game as he had 178 rushing yards on 31 carries and 67 yards on 5 receptions.  This is a total of 245 yards on 36 touches and averaged right at 8 yards per touch.  He also did a great job on pass blocking when called upon.  Robinson added 4 carries for 19 yards and ran hard when he got the chance.  In my opinion, Harris was an outstanding choice for MVP.  Harris also accounted for 5 touchdowns by receiving for 3 and rushing for 2. 

Rec: Smith led all receivers with 15 catches for 184 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Other than Smith, the ball was spread around to the other receivers as Metchie had 4 for 62, Bolden 2 for 40, Billingsley 2 for 29, Forristall 3 for 20, and Williams and Tennison each had 1 for 12 and 4 yards.  I already mentioned Harris’s contribution above.  One of the big plays by the receivers was Metchie’s tackle on the interception which caused a fumble with Bama recovered and went on to score on the very next play.

OL:  The OL played well.  Even though Jones felt a little pressure at times, the pocket was kept clean.  At least one of the sacks was a coverage sack and watching it looked like all receivers were deep and there really wasn’t a check-down option.  They got a great push on the defense which enabled Bama to run the ball so effectively.  It was again a game where you could see OL getting to the second level.  I am going to mention Billingsley here because he was one of the main blockers where Harris was able to make big yardage.  I don't know the extent of the injury, but Dickerson will be a huge loss.

Def:  I guess the best thing to say about the defense, is they got the needed stops to win the game.  They made numerous mistakes with missed tackles, again losing the edge on the run to the backup QB, losing receivers when dropping in their zone, and not finding the ball on a couple of passing plays.  They were also unlucky a couple of time when the defensive backs lost their footing on a couple of long completions.  The defense gave up a total of 462 yards which included 408 passing and 54 rushing.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 2 tackles for losses, 5 sacks, and 4 fumbles, one they recovered.  I thought they had another, but I guess the FL took it away in the pile.  There was another recovered fumble, but it was where Metchie caused the fumble after the interception and Smith recovered it.  FL had no three and outs but did have a 1 and out when the sack caused a fumble which Bama recovered.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have FL with 14 passing plays and 2 running plays.  FL got into the red zone 3 times and scored 3 touchdowns while they scored 3 touchdowns and kicked 1 field goal from outside the red zone.  I looked back and it seems that Bama only rushed more than 4 five times.  Out of those 5 times 4 of the passes were complete and one was defended.  I will say, FL did a great job with their offensive scheme against Bama as they put Moses out in coverage on the outside against a faster/quicker running back. I have said this before this is not a good matchup for Bama.  They also used the empty sets to move the LB’s out of the box and allowed the QB to run the ball for positive gains. 

DL: The DL did a great job, except for a couple of times stopping the running game.  As for the pass rush most of the time they were outnumbered by the OL because Bama only rushed 3 or 4 men.  The longest run was the 17-yard run by the backup QB.  This should have never happened but did for 2 reasons.  First, Anderson went inside and second, there was a missed tackle by the safety.  If there was a stunt called then that would have been the reason for Anderson going inside but no one replaced him.  I did think they did a good job going to the ball after it was thrown especially on the short passes. 

LB: They we put in difficult situations with the FL offensive scheme.  One of the biggest things I noticed was there drops to zones, but not seeing the receivers coming into their zone or allowing free access thru the zone.  Anderson, considered an outside backer and Moses were the leading tacklers in the game.

DB: They didn’t make plays today.  However, the lack of a pass rush didn’t help.  There were a couple of times when they looked to be in position but didn’t make the play.  On one touchdown, Sartain was in good shape until the ball was underthrown and the receiver slowed to get it and Sartain continued on.  I will say again, I thought there were a couple of times where they looked to be in good position but stumbled as the ball was in the air.  Also, it looked like a mistimed jump allowed the last touchdown to be scored. 

Special teams:  The highlight of the special teams to me was the last punt.  It was put in the perfect spot with hang time that allowed the overage team to get down and make a play.

Penalties: Bama had 8 penalties for 72 yards. Seven of those penalties were in the 2nd half.  The only 1st half penalty was a block in the back by Hellams on a kick-off return.   There were 4 pass interference calls, 2 against Moses, which probably saved touchdowns, 1 by Jobe, and 1 by Branch.  Jobe and Leatherwood both had holding calls.  One of the biggest was the offsides by Jobe at the goal line where Bama had recovered a fumble.  Six of the penalties were on the defense while the offense had special teams each had one.

Finally, Bama did what they had to do to win.  Fortunately, they built up a lead in the first half as they were outscored 29 to 17 in the second half.  There were huge plays all day by both teams.  A few were the fumble caused by Metchie, the drive right before the half for the touchdown with 1:03 on the clock right after FL had scored to close the gap and the fumble on the sack after Bama and FL had exchanged touchdowns in the second half.  I do think Bama is going to have to make some adjustment to how they play a couple of schemes.  First, you can’t expect to get a pass rush very often when you are outnumbered at the LOS.  Second, the LB out on the RB in the empty set is too much of a mismatch.  Third, the QB run in the empty set when the LB is moved out of the middle, even though they weren’t huge runs they moved the chains.
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17 and Counting

                                             Ark vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win today. This is the first time a team from the SEC won 10 SEC games in a season.  This was also a game where Bama got to get a lot of game experience for the backups in the 2nd half.  One question I do have is why was there so much slipping?  Wasn’t this something that could have been seen in pregame warmups therefore allowing them to change shoes? 

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 443 yards of total offense which included 227 passing and 216 rushing.  For negative plays I have Bama with 2 tackles for losses and 1 fumble lost.  The first tackle for loss was when Harris slipped on a cut and the second was not until the 4th quarter on a wide receiver screen where the other wideout missed the block.  Bama only had 2 three and outs and both of those came in the 2nd half with the backups in.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, Bama had 9 passing plays and 2 running plays.  Bama got into the red zone 6 times and scored 5 touchdowns while fumbling on the other possession.  Two scores came from outside the red zone on a field goal and the long run by McClellan.  The other score came from the special teams as Smith returned a punt for the touchdown.  I know this game was a little different because of no passing touchdowns and the lack of long passes.  However, there are benefits when you get to keep the defense off the field and keep the other teams defense on the field. 

QB:  Jones played a good game where he connected on 24 for 29 passes for 208 yards.  He connected on 83% of his passes.  Some people don’t know how frustrating it can be when you are used to throwing the ball down field on a regular basis.  Ark did a good job taking the deep ball away.  Even though I thought there were a couple of chances to throw a deeper ball Jones took the safe throw and kept the offense moving.  The only mistake he made was negated by the targeting penalty.  I really thought he had an early throw he didn’t take.  Young came in and did a decent job.  He really never threw the ball downfield, over 10 yards, and ended up with a total of 19 yards passing going 3 for 4. 

RB:  Bama played 4 different running backs.  Harris and Robinson got most of the carries.  They combined for 27 carries for 100 yards.  McClelland and Williams go the other 10 carries for 114 yards.  The biggest run of the day came from McClellan who ran for 80 and a touchdown.

Rec: Forristall led the receivers with 6 catches for 52 yards.  He was followed by Metchie with 5 (72), Bolden 4 (43) and Smith 3 (22).  The best part of this is that Smith didn’t pout by not being the main guy.  As a matter of fact, he and Jones were some of the leading cheerleaders for the backups on the field later in the game.  Overall, counting running backs 9 different players had catches.

OL:  The OL had another great game.  You can see there were a total of 3 negative plays and really none of them had to do with the play of the offensive line.  The got a good push in the running game and gave the QB time to survey the field and go to the 2nd or 3rd receivers when necessary. The backup OL also played well when they got into the game.

Def:  The defense played very well with all the different looks Ark gave them.  Bama gave up a total of 188 yard with 108 passing and 80 rushing.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 4 tackles for losses, 8 sacks, 4 fumbles (3 recovered), and 1 interception.  Instead of 3 and out, I am going with quick outs, because Bama had 6 three and out and 1 one and outs because of a fumble.  This happened on 7 consecutive drives after Ark had a little success on their first 2 drives.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, Ark had 6 passing plays and 4 running plays.  Again, all of these were on the first 2 drives in the game or the last 2 drives of the game.  Ark got into the red zone once and settled for a field goal.  Ark had 13 first downs and all of them came on the 1st two drives of the game and the last 3 drives of the game.  The only bad thing on defense was a couple of times they lost contain and allowed the QB to escape outside.  The frustrating thing about this is that they QB dropped short and the edge was lost quickly. 

DL: They played one of their best games. I say this because many of them were among the leading tacklers when it is usually the safeties who fill these slots.  They had the most negative plays of any game this year.

LB: The most glaring aspect here is how well Moody played when he replaced Harris in the game.  He was the leading tackler in the game.  Others didn’t have as many tackles as they were replaced with backups and the DL got the Ark players before they got to that level.

DB: They didn’t get tested much. As I have said in the past the best pass defense is a great pass rush.  This is obvious since Ark had only 108 total passing yards. 

Special teams:  The highlight of the special team was Smith’s punt return for the TD.  He was untouched 84 yards and seemed to pick up the Bama offense.

Penalties: Bama had 2 penalties for 23 yards.  The first was a defensive holding on Anderson.  Too be honest this was probably a good hold as Ark was running the rail out of the backfield and there was no one else there to pick him up.  This may have saved a touchdown.  The 2nd penalty was a roughing the kicker on a punt.  This gave Ark one of their 13 first downs.

Finally, Bama showed they don’t have to throw deep to win the game.  They controlled the ball and the lock.  Bama got great game experience for backup as they played for a quarter and a half.  Hopefully, they will finish punching their ticket to the playoff with a win over FL who will be very hungry after their loss last night.
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17 and Counting

                                             LSU vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win today.  This game was a tale of two opposite halves for the offense and defense.  The offense scored 45 points in the first half and only 10 in the second half.  The defense gave up 14 in the first half and 3 in the second half.   

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 650 yards of total offense which included 385 passing and 265 rushing.  The only thing that stopped Bama was Bama themselves.  In the 2nd half Bama fumbled to stop a drive and Metchie dropped a catchable ball that would have kept the drive alive and put them either in the red zone or close to the red zone.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses, 1 sack (which happened in the 4th quarter to the backup QB), and a lost fumble.  The only 3 and outs Bama had was when they scored on 2 three play drives.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 12 passing play, really 13 but Bolden fumbled on one and 9 running plays.  Three different backs had runs of over 10 yards.  Bama got into the red zone 6 times and 4 touchdowns and kicked 2 field goals.  They scored 3 touchdowns from outside the red zone.  As I said Bama stopped themselves in the 2nd half with the fumble and drop or the scored could have been worse.  One other thing I want to say, is I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses.  If my eyesight is correct, the first 2 losses were less than a yard and the 3rd one was about 2 yards.  The sack was a legitimate loss.

QB:  Jones played a good game where he connected on 20 of 28 (71%) passes for 385 yards.  There was one clear drop by Metchie and another that could have been a possible catch by Metchie so he could have easily been 22 for 28 which would have been a 78% completion rate.  I did think a couple of times he locked in on certain receivers and didn’t check down as well, but the TV angle didn’t show what was on the other side of the field.   Most of the time he does a good job moving up and around just a bit in the pocket, while still looking downfield, to find a secondary receiver.  Young basically handed the ball off except for 2 plays.  The first pass attempt ended in the only sack of the day and the other pass was thrown late and could have easily been picked off. 

RB:  Harris played very well vs LSU.  He ran the ball well and showed patience to find the hole.  He accounted for 148 total yards with 145 rushing and 3 receiving.  The reason the receiving yards are so low is because LSU sniffed out a screen early in the game.  They also did a good job covering him out of the backfield.  With his 145 yards rushing he surpassed the 1000 yard mark now totaling 1038 for the year.  His total yards stands at 1285 when you combine his rushing receiving.   Robinson ran well also accounting for 62 yards on 11 carries.  It looked like he was running a purpose and punished the tacklers when they got to him.  I also thought both McClellan and Williams ran well as they had 48 and 19 yards and combined, they averaged over 7 yards per carry. 

Rec: It sounds like a broken record, but Smith had a great game 8 receptions for 231 yards and 3 touchdowns.  That is an average of 28.875 yards per catch, not bad for someone who was supposed to be double covered most of the day.  Metchie and Billingsley both had 4 catches for 126 yards.  Bolden had one catch for 19 yards, but was negated by his fumble.  I think this is the second straight game he has lost the ball.  It is good that Billingsley is stepping up to be that 3rd receiver. 

OL:  The OL had an outstanding game.  As I stated above the only tackles for losses were close to the LOS and there were few of them.  The biggest tackles for losses were the sack and the screen which was read well by LSU.  There were a couple of things that really stood out.  First was the push the OL got which led to the OL getting to the second level.  Many times you could see the OL downfield on the big runs.  Second the blocking that literally took people completely out of the point of attack.  There was one where Leatherwood blocked his guy all the way to the sideline. 

Def:  Except for a couple of busted assignment/alignments that led to touchdowns the defense played a very good game.  I say this because I heard Saban talking about the bust.  On the touchdown pass, the corner didn’t get the call that called off the corner blitz.   At first, I thought the safety didn’t overlap properly.  On the long run, the force player lined up n the wrong side of the formation which allowed the lane for the long run with no force guy to turn the runner back inside to his help.  The Tigers had a good game plan starting out with the short passing game. With this type of game plan, the defense has a hard time getting pressure on the QB.  The defense gave up a total of 352 total yards which included 254 passing and 98 rushing   I don’t know the exact total, but Bama gave up about half as many yards in the 2nd half as they did in the first half.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses, 5 sacks, and caused 2 fumbles one which they recovered.  I credit Bama with 5 three and outs, with 3 being in succession at the end of the 1st half and the start of the 2nd half.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, LSU had 8 passing plays and 2 running plays.  They had no running plays that went over 10 yards in the 2nd half.  They got into the red zone twice and turned the ball over on downs both times.  They were huge defensive stands.  All scores came from outside the red zone on one long running play and one long passing play.  Each were caused by mistakes by the defense.  The other score, a field goal came from outside the red zone. I will say Bama did miss some tackles early but did a better job after the first 4 drives.  I may be wrong, but it also looks like Bama may be playing more zone than they usually do.

DL: They played well as they were able to put pressure on the QB when they tried to throw the ball downfield.  Counting Allen and Anderson, the DL accounted for 4 of the negative plays. 

LB: They played well also, as Harris was one of the leading tacklers.  I know people have talked about LB play, but he days of playing inside the box are basically gone.  They have to cover out of the backfield, like the play Moses made when LSU tried to run the rail by the RB out of the backfield.  Harris gets to line up on the edge and had a big play on the 4th and short. 

DB: They played well.  Most of the completions were short. The QB’s combines completed 56% of their passes.  Of the passes thrown 32 were thrown under 10 yards from the LOS and they completed21 of them.  The other 13 passes were thrown over 10 yards and only 4 were completed.  As I said above the days of LB’s playing and making tackles in the box are basically gone.  Many of the top tacklers for the game were Jobe, Hellams, Moore, Battle and Wright.  This is a combination of safeties and corners.

Special teams:  The special teams were solid except for the extremely short kickoffs.  I don’t know if that was the plan or what. 
Penalties: Bama, again, only had 4 penalties.  A roughing the passer after a completion happened on one of the touchdown drives.  The targeting call was also on a touchdown drive.  I did think Wright tried to go in with his shoulder, but the receiver lowered his head.  That play came on an incomplete pass and would have been 3rd and 10.  The other 2 penalties were a holding call and a false start by Brown.  I think Brown has at least one false start a game.

Finally, Bama wraps up the Western division championship.  They must stay focused and beat Arkansas this weekend.  Hopefully, they can get a big lead early and play a lot of backup.  One thing for sure they can’t look ahead.
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17 and Counting

                                                                                                                AU vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win today.  I thought both sides of the ball played well.  Also, Sarkisian did a good job running the team in Saban’s absence.  By the way, what a great day to have Sr. day.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 445 yards of total offense which included 302 passing and 143 rushing.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 2 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, and 1 fumble.  Bama also had 2 three and outs.  One of the three and outs was with Young in at QB and it was three straight plays with what I would call busted plays.  On the first play of that drive, D Brown went to block the wrong guy and left the AU player there to make the play.  If that block is made it could have been a very nice gain.  Play 2 looked like a RPO where the QB should have pulled the ball and dumped to the short receiver or the receiver should have blocked that guy who made the play.  On play three, Leatherwood allowed the AU player to come inside which is a short path to the QB, the other option was the RB could have been supposed to help.  For plays that covered 10+ yard, I have Bama with 8 passing plays and 5 running plays.  Bama only got into the red zone twice.  They scored a touchdown on the first trip and fumbled on the 2nd trip after the defense set them up after an interception.  Bama scored 5 touchdowns from outside the red zone, 4 on passing plays and 1 on a run by Harris.  Bama left points on the field as they fumbled in the red zone and lost a great opportunity on the first drive where a penalty brought back a first down throw.  There was also a missed open receiver that would have given Bama a first down, but Jones tried to force the ball to the deep receiver.  I will say, I thought Bama missed a great opportunity before half by just running the ball until they actually had to.  The made a couple of good runs, and probably could have thrown off of play-action.  I thought getting points right before half and then getting the ball back the 2nd half could have really put AU into know a deeper hole.

QB:  Jones played well again.  He completed 18 of 26 passes for a percentage of 69 percent.  I also thought there was one ball that was dropped that should have been caught.  That would have put him at 73%.  Also, on the first drive he tried to force one deep when it looked like Metchie was open in the middle which would have given Bama a first down and kept the drive alive.   People keep talking about what a great route Smith ran for the 66 yard touchdown, but it was the pump fake by Jones that actually made the safety step up on his move and enabled Smith to get over the top. Jones did a good job and the scramble where he got a first down by not trying to continue outside and turn up and got the necessary yards for a first down.  Young didn’t have much of a chance as you saw what I posted above about his series.

RB:  Harris played well as he ran the ball well, caught the ball and blocked well.  With his rushing and receiving he combined for 130 yards on 13 touches which means he averaged 10 yards per touch.  Robinson ran well and his only bad play was his fumble in the red zone.  McCellan didn’t have much of a chance as I stated above with the blown block.

Rec: This is becoming repetitive as it was the Smith show again.  He keeps adding to his SEC record for touchdowns.  Billingsley added a couple of catches and got his first touchdown. Metchie had a good game as he had 6 catches for 55 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Also, Forristall added a catch for 9 yards.  The only knock I have on the receivers is that a couple of times it looked like the route separation wasn’t very good and it led to incomplete passes. 

OL:  The OL had a good game especially if you look at the total negative plays Bama had in the game. They started opening holes for the running back and getting to the 2nd level with the combo blocks.  Also, most of the day the pass protection was very good.  On one of the sacks it looked like Jones may not have seen an open receiver.  That being said AU did get a good push at the LOS. 

Def:  The defense played very well especially in the first 3 quarters of the game.  In the first 3 quarters I thought that was Bama’s best job of tackling for the year.  Later on they missed a few tackles.  I think part of the reason they were expecting more passing plays and they got running plays. They gave up a total of 347 yards which included 227 passing and 120 rushing. Out of the 347 yards 96 came on one drive which was aided by a questionable PI call.  For negative plays I have Bama with 5 tackles for losses, 5 sacks, 1 fumble, and 2 interceptions.  I also have AU with 2 three and outs for the day.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have AU with 8 passing plays and 2 running plays.   On the passing plays, their QB completed 23 passes and if my notes are correct only 4 of those completions traveled further than 10 yards pass the LOS.  AU got into the red zone once and scored a touchdown.  Their other scores came on field goals from outside the red zone.

DL: I thought they had a great game.  It seemed all the players made big plays during the game.  It seems to me, Mathis is getting better every game.   Again, the job they did allowed the LB’s and safeties to come up and make plays.

LB: The LB’s played well as they had to sort out the motions and shifts that AU like to do.  They had to be responsible for both passing and running as well as the QB runs at various times. 

DB: They played well and as I stated above, AU only completed 4 passes that traveled over 10 yards pass the LOS.  Their big “go to” receiver had 3 catches that totaled 17 yards.  Bama was aided by a couple of big drops by the AU receivers.  I really thought all the Bama safeties had a big game and made some plays, especially coming up and making tackles.  One big play they made was when the AU receiver was jammed on the wide receiver screen and not allowed to get to the ball which was intercepted. 

Special teams:  The special teams were solid again.  They only allowed one kick return to get past the 25, however the kicks were not very deep.  Smith again did a good job on punts, both returns and fair catches. 

Penalties: Bama only had 4 penalties for 30 yards.  However, a couple were big.  First, they called an illegal formation on Leatherwood and it cost Bama a first down on the first drive when going into the scoring area.  They didn’t overcome it.  I thought this was questionable as I saw the AU tackle lined up deeper than Leatherwood with no call.  The 2nd penalty was an offside which instead of AU having a 2nd and 10 they had a first and 5.  This one didn’t really hurt as AU had to punt on that drive.  The 3rd penalty was a false start which put Bama into a 3rd and 3 to a 3rd and 8.  Bama overcame that penalty and scored a touchdown on that drive.  Finally, the PI on the 96 yard drive for a touchdown.  I really don’t think it was a penalty as the defensive player has a right to position as does the offensive player.  Also, the ball was thrown out of bounds.

Finally, Bama’s defense has continued to improve.  The offense missed some opportunities because they had good field position and missed some open receivers.  I think Jones, early in the game, tries to force the ball instead of taking what was open underneath.
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17 and Counting

                                                                                                            UK vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win today.  Also, congrats to Devonta Smith for the career touchdown leader title.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 509 yards of total offense which included 283 passing and 226 rushing.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 4 tackles for losses, 1 sack, and 1 interception.  Bama only had 1 three and out and it didn’t come until the 2nd half.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 11 passing plays and 9 running plays.  Of these running plays 5 came from the 2 freshman Williams and McClellan.  Bama got into the red zone 7 times and scored 7 touchdowns, they scored on touchdown from outside the red zone.  The other touchdown came on an interception return by Battle.  I did think the running game was a little slow getting started as the UK defense did a good job without adding additional bodies in the box. 

QB:  Jones played well, but he did try to force a ball and made a bad throw on the interception.  The interception was into good coverage and it was short and thrown inside.  That ball must be thrown to the outside with that type of coverage where the only one who can make a play is the receiver.  He completed 16 of 24 passes which equates to 67%, but I think there were 3 other balls that should have been caught.  This would have pushed his percentage to 79%.  Jones also did an outstanding job finding receivers when his first option was taken away.  This is evident on the TD throw he made to Smith when he was flushed out of the pocket.  Young came in and played well.  He was 2 for 2 and both were very good throws.  The throw for the touchdown was not an easy throw, but he put it in the perfect sport with a quick release.  Bama did not throw a pass in the 4th quarter.

RB:  Harris played well especially since the running game got started a little late.  Robinson played sparingly and only had 6 carries.  The end of the 3rd and all of the 4th quarter belonged to McClellan and Williams.  I thought both looked good.  They both showed a burst and some toughness.  As I said above, combined they had 5 of the 9 runs for 10+ yards. 

Rec: This was another Smith show tonight. He had 9 catches for 144 yards and 2 touchdowns.  The other receivers had a combined 6 catches, not counting Harris’s 2.  It was good to see Billingsley make and impact since I never saw Forristall on the field.  I do think someone else really needs to step up and be more of a factor.

OL:  After the first 2 drives the OL played a good game.  Early the UK DL was giving them all they wanted especially in the run game. The pass blocking was solid as the only sack didn’t come until late in the 3rd quarter when Young was in the game.  It looked like they overloaded the side where the TE released and got to the QB quick. 

Def:  Statistically this was the best game Bama’s defense played.  They gave up a total of 179 yards which included 120 passing and 59 rushing.  If my stats are correct, Bama only gave up 12 yards in the 2nd half.  UK had 12 first downs and 11 of them were in the first half.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 4 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, and an interception.  There were 3 fumbles, but not were recovered by Bama, however 1 did lead to a turnover on downs.  For 3 and outs Bama had 5 and 1 one and out.  UK had 7 possessions in the 2nd half.  Four of them were 3 and outs and 1 was a 1 and out because of the interception.  There was basically another 3 and out that ended the game.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, UK had 5 passing plays, all in the first half, and 3 running plays, 1 in the 2nd half.  UK got into the red zone twice and kicked one field goal, while the other field goal attempt was stopped by a bad snap.  The other attempt was outside the red zone and was no good.  I do think the defense started a little slow with some missed tackles as well as allowing the yards to be made by getting outside of the LOS.

DL: I thought the DL played after the first couple of series.  They made the running game difficult and kept the OL from getting to the 2nd level.

LB: The LB’s played well as they had the responsibility of the possibility of a running QB early.  They also were spread out by the formations and had to make the call adjustments with the shifts made by UK.   

DB: They played well, but really wasn’t tested very often.  There was a penalty for pass interference on one of the deep throws.  The sad part is the other DB was in position to make a play.  A majority of the passes completed, and there was only 10, were completed on short throws.   

Special teams:  The special teams were solid again.  All kicks were made.  The only downside was a kickoff return that got outside the 25.  Smith subbed in for Bolden on the punt return and had one for 42 yards.  Bama’s blockers did a great job of not taking blindside blocks which would have negated the return.

Penalties:  I think this was Bama’s best night for penalties.  They only had 4, 2 false starts, 1 PI, and 1 offsides.  Overall, they didn’t hurt Bama as they overcame them.

Finally, Bama got better as the game went on.  They also got some good game experience for the backups.  Some of these backups show some promise, especially the running backs in my opinion.
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17 and Counting

                                                                                                           MSU vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win today. I thought the defensive game plan was outstanding for the MSU offense. Bama line up in a defense that, if you count people in the box, you should be running the ball. I guess the arrogance of Leach would not allow it.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 499 yards of total offense which included 291 passing and 208 rushing.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses, 1 sack, and 2 fumbles which includes one that was loss.  That one lost fumble looked like his arm was going forward to me.  Bama only had 1 three and out the whole game.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, Bama had 13 passing plays and 9 running plays.  Bama got into the red zone 4 times and scored 2 touchdowns, kicked a field goal, and had that fumble.  They scored 3 times from outside the red zone kicking 1 field goal and scoring 2 touchdowns.  The other touchdown came from the pick by the defense.  Bama left points on the field tonight, by not cashing in on touchdowns in the red zone with the fumble and having to kick a field goal.  They also cost themselves when a 33 yard punt return got to the MSU 35 but was called back because of a holding.  Basically, I think they left at least 15 points on the field.

QB:  Jones had good game, but I thought he tried to force the ball on a couple of throws.  He started 4 for 8 but finished 20 for 23.  He did complete 77% of his passes which is still very good.  This also include what I consider a drop by Smith where Bama had to kick a field goal instead of getting the touchdown.  Young was a bit handicapped as Bama put their backups in and MSU kept their first defense in.  He was under pressure most of the time he tried to throw the ball.

RB:  Harris had another good game both rushing and receiving.  He had 119 rushing and 36 receiving for a total of 155 yards.  He also pickup a blitz on one of the deep touchdown throws.  He did get blown up on one blitz where he didn’t really attack the rusher.  Robinson only carried a couple of times. I understand he has a bit of a nagging ankle injury.  Sanders added 80 yards on 12 carries and had the two longest runs of the night for Bama, 21 and 25 yards.  He also showed a burst when he broke one of the runs outside.

Rec: This was the Smith show tonight as he had 11 catches for 203 yards and 4 touchdowns.  Bolden and Metchie added 3 catches each but their total was only 38 yards.  Forristall added one catch and was targeted once more, but there was a pass interference call.  As I said above, Harris had 6 catches and it made him the 2nd leading receiver for the night.  One side note here is Smith had a pass break up on a ball where he was covered. 

OL:  The OL played well except for about 4 plays.  There were a couple of times pressure came from the left side and I know they got beat on a stunt on the right side.  However, overall, they got a push most of the night.  One thing I really like seeing OL down the field when a running back makes a run of over 5 yards and I saw this numerous times.  One other disappointment I had was when Bama didn’t convert on a 4th and 1. 

Def:  Statistically this was the best game Bama’s defense played.  It looked like a simple game plan and allowed your athletes to go and make plays.  Bama gave up a total of 200 yards which included 163 passing and 37 rushing yards.  Bama only gave up 38 yards in the first half.  As for negative plays, Bama had 5 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, 2 interception (1 returned for a TD), and a fumble recovery.  For 3 and outs, I have Bama with a total of 7, 6 of those were in the first half.  There were also 2 four and outs.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, MSU had 4 passing plays and 3 running plays.  They got into the red zone once and Moses made and interception in the end zone.  I really thought Bama did a better job tackling and the players did a good job coming up and making tackles in space.  Something else big, not counting punts, Bama only played 63 downs on defense. A last note here, the MSU offense really didn’t pose a running threat so that makes it a lot easier on the defense.

DL: I thought the DL played well especially playing a lot with 3 down linemen.  It also helps when the defense gets off the field.  They may have only had 2 sacks, but again they pressured the QB and batted some passes down.  Players that stood out to me were Mathis, Anderson, Harris, and Barmore.  I also thought they did  a great job on redirecting on some of those short throws to the outside and getting in on the play.

LB: The LB’s played well as they had to drop in coverage and come up and make tackles.  They had to make open field tackles on some of the short throw and did a good job of this. 

DB: The longest completion of the night was 19-yards and it was in the middle of the field where it looked like the LB didn’t drop properly into coverage.  I thought they did a great job being physical when coming up and making tackles.

Special teams:  The worse part of the special teams was when Sanders tried to bring the kickoff out of the end zone.  If my counting was accurate, the hang time on the kick was between 5 and 6 seconds, plus it was in the end zone, you don’t usually bring those out unless the kick is lower.  Punts were good as was all the extra points and field goals.  The bad part of special teams was the holding call that negated a 33 yard return on the punt by Bolden. 

Penalties:  Penalties hurt Bama this game more than the others.  They had 10 penalties for 71 yards.  Holding call negates a 15 yard run, false start negates a touchdown, false start now makes it 1st and 15, holding turns a 10+ yard passing play to basically nothing, false start make it 2nd and 13 instead of 2nd and 8, unsportsmanlike conduct give them a first down when it would have been 3rd and 9, holding only cost about ½ a yard since if was right after Moses interception, false start goes to 1st and 15,  and finally offside on 4th and 1 to give them a first down.  These are mistakes that need to be cleaned up, especially false starts and offside.  The offside came from the guy right over the ball.

Finally, I think Bama benefitted from a simple game plan defensively.  There are still things that need to be improved, but I think they are on a good path and this week off could help.  There should be plenty of motivation from last years game vs LSU. 

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17 and Counting

                                                                                                UT vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win today. Tough luck on the injury to Waddle, prayers go out for him.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 587 yards of total offense which included 417 passing yards and 170 rushing yards.  The only three and out was where there was a fumble on the third play.  For negative plays, Bama offense is credited with 3 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, and 1 fumble.  For plays that cover 10+ yards, I have Bama with 20 passing plays and 6 running plays.  Bama had 12 possessions during the game and scored 5 touchdowns and 2 field goals.  The other touchdown was scored by the defense.  On possession was right before the half with little time on the clock and one was to run out the game.  Basically, what I am saying here is Bama really scored on 7 of 10 legitimate possessions.  Bama got into the red zone 6 times and scored 5 touchdowns and kicked one field goal.  The other field goal came from outside the red zone.  As I stated above the other score came from the defense.  I also want to mention Sark here.  Even with the loss of Waddle, Bolden stepped in and contributed.  Also, Sark seems to add a little wrinkle each week and they seem to be successful.  I think his game calling has been outstanding.


QB:  Jones had another good game. He threw for 387 yards and completed 81% of his passes. What really impresses me with Jones is his deep ball throws.  Many times, he puts the ball where his receivers are the only ones who will get it.  Two plays really impressed me in this game.  First, the fumbled snap where he picked it up and still made the completion.  He has to take his eyes off the defense and then regain his composure find the receiver and complete the pass.  The second was when it looked like was going to take off and run but pulled up in the pocket and completed the pass.  The announcers made a statement that and 8 yard average on passes attempted, how they measure it, is good.  Jones averaged 12.5 yards per attempt, and 15.5 per completion.  I guess the only negative I saw was he did miss Metchie who was wide open for a touchdown threw a completion to Smith.  Bama still scored on the drive.  Young came in and did a good job. He was 3 for 5 for 30 yards.  However, what impressed me was he didn’t try to force plays where mistakes are usually made.  He did take a sack near the goal line, but I think the zone defense confused him when they were expecting man in that area.

RB:  Harris had a good game as he had 96 yards rushing on 20 carries but added 61 more yards receiving for a total of 157 yard from scrimmage.  He also did a good job pass blocking when needed.  Robinson ran hard and actually had the best average per carry considering all the running backs. He had 4 carries for 29 yards which is about 7.3 yards per carry.  Sanders showed a little of what he could do as he had the longest run of the day which was 20 yards.  He carried the ball 7 times for 39 yards for a 5.3 yards per carry.  I also saw him step across and pick up the blitz on one of the passing plays.

Rec: This was the first time since I don’t know when Bama receivers didn’t have a touchdown.  However, they set ups many with catches that put Bama inside the red zone as well as inside the 10 yard line.  Metchie and Smith each had 7 catches.  Metchie had 153 yards and Smith had 73.  Bolden comes in and adds 6 catches for 94 yards.  The tight-end Forristall had 1 catch, but it was for 25 yards.   What I really like about these receivers is they go and get the ball, they don’t wait for it.  As they say they high point the ball and don’t mind catching the ball in traffic.  They also use their hand and don’t let the ball get in on their body.  I don’t know if anyone heard the talk with Smith, but he was ask about competition among the group and he told the interviewer it was more of a competition for knock downs/blocking than it was for who catches the most.

OL:  Too me the OL keeps getting better as they had another good game.  This is pretty evident when you only have 5 total negative plays.  I thought they got a good push on the defensive line and got downfield blocking.  They didn’t miss a beat when Brown went out and Dickerson moved over to left guard.  It did look that Dickerson was still making the line calls from the guard position.  I also think the OL is communicating better since I haven’t seen as many bust. 

Def:  Bama gave up a total of 302 yards which include 163 passing and 139 rushing.  UT gained 165 yards in the first half which means they were held to 137 in the second half.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 9 tackles for losses and cause 1 fumble which was returned for a touchdown.  I credit Bama with 6 three and outs one of which was caused by a fumble.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have 5 passing plays and 4 running plays.  UT got into the 1 and kicked a field goal and scored 2 touchdowns from outside the red zone.  Bama defense has improved, but still makes correctable mistakes.  I have Bama with 10 missed tackles most of them in the first half.  A few of their running plays should have been stopped.  On one, a Bama player blitzed right past the runner.  On two others, the Bama players opened up a hole in their pass rushing lanes which allowed the QB to run for 10+ yards.  They did cut down on losing the edge as I only counted a couple of times this happened.  One thing I heard Saban say a couple of weeks backs.  We need to stop looking at the stats as far as yards rushing and passing and start looking at the stops or possessions that end in no points.  The defense also held the UT QB to a 54% completion rate. 

DL: I thought the DL played well as the 2 LBs were the leading tacklers.  It is their job to keep the OL off of them so they can make plays.  I thought they held their own again a pretty solid UT OL. There were no sacks they did a better job containing the edge.

LB: The two inside LB’s were the leading tacklers for the game.  Again, this has to do with the people in front of them.  However, it also means they were in the position to make the play. 

DB: There were positives and negatives here.  The DB’s came up and made some solid tackles and was involved with the tackles for losses.  However, Battle allowed the receiver to break his cushion and run past him for a touchdown.  He was not the only one.  The good thing is it didn’t happen very often.  On the touchdown over Sartain, Sartain was looking back and lost the receiver.  It would have been better if he was looking at the receiver and maybe not allowing the separation, then he could have played the arms of the receiver.

Special teams:  Overall the special teams were solid.  The biggest problem was the was the 2 kickoffs that went out of bounds.  One of those was just unlucky as it took a UT bounce that helped them out.  I know Waddle wanted to make a big play by making a good return, but and I have said this before, you have to consider the depth and height of the kick.  Height on kicks allow the coverage to converge on the returner.

Penalties:  Bama had 8 penalties for 45 yards (the official stats only shows 7 penalties).  Three were on the offense with 2 false starts and a grounding.  The defense had 3 for holding, roughing the passer and a substitution infraction.  The substitution infraction came on the field goal drive that helped UT go from a 3rd and 8 to a 3rd and 3.  The defensive holding call came on the first down of one of UT’s touchdown drives.  The defense did hold forcing the field goal.  Special team had 2 for kicks out of bounds.

Finally, I think this was the least amount of yards Bama has given up this year.  They still are making mistakes that against good teams could be costly.  Overall, I do think they are improving.  Finally prayer to Waddle for a speedy recovery.

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17 and Counting

                                                                                                            UG vs Bama
First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win today. This was a much better game defensively, but they can still do better.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 564 yards of total offense on the number 1 defense.  They threw for 417 and rushed for 147.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 1 tackle for a loss, 3 sacks, and an interception with was caused by a blown blocking assignment.  They also had not three and outs forced by the UG defense.  For plays that covered 10+ yards I have Bama with 18 passing plays and 4 running plays.  Bama got into the red zone 4 times and scored 3 touchdowns and kicked 1 field goals.  The scored 3 times from outside the red zone with 2 touchdowns and a field goal. I do think the points they got right before the half were huge, especially right after UG had scored.


QB:  Jones played a very good game.   He completed 75% of his passes and I thought I counted, what I consider, 2 drops.  If he was the one calling pass protection, he did a great job because UG brought pressure a lot last night.  He averaged 17 yards per catch, and 12 per pass.  Jones also did a good job finding the 2nd receiver when necessary.

RB:  Harris had a good game running hard against a solid defense.  With 152 yards on 31 carries, he averaged right at 5 yards per carry.  He had all runs of 10+ yards.  Also, I noticed him picking up the blitz in pass protection.  He added 1 catch for 10 yards which means he accounted for 162 yards of offense. Robinson had a bit of a tough day as far as yards gained.  He ran hard, but just didn’t have the hot hand Harris did.

Rec: The receivers were led by Smith and Waddle who both had over 160 yards receiving.  Smith did it on 11 catches, while Waddle did it on 6.  Those 90 yard receptions really help.   Both Metchie and Forristall added 3 catches to the total.  I also think these receivers do a very good job coming and getting the ball as well as scramble drill when the QB needs help. 

OL:  I think the OL played a good game except for the bust that caused the interception.  They got good push on the defensive line which allowed Bama to rush for the 147 yards.  They also picked up the twist and stunts that UG was throwing at them. 

Def:  Bama gave up a total of 414 total yards which included 269 passing and 145 rushing.  The good news is they gave up only 146 in the 2nd half.  For negative plays I have the defense with 2 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, 3 interceptions, and caused 1 fumble which UG recovered.  After each interception Bama put points on the board and one stopped the Bulldogs drive when the ball was intercepted in the red zone.  I have the defense with three 3 and outs and they were mostly caused by the interceptions.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have 10 passing plays and 4 running plays.  UG got into the red zone 3 times and scored 2 touchdowns and missed a field goal.  The other points came from outside the red zone where they scored a touchdown and kicked a field goal.  They didn’t miss as many tackles this game and played better assignment football.  The lost the edge a few times, but not as much as in the past.  They can still do a better job.  I also think the days of tight defensive games are a thing of the past.  It seems today if you can hold team to 350 to 400 yards, it may be a good defensive day. 

DL: The play of the DL was better today.  They did a better job staying in their lanes when pass rushing.  They got their hands up and batted about 4 balls.  The blitzing safety got the other.  There were only 2 sacks, but they did pressure the QB. One 12 yard run was caused by the end man on the LOS took on the block with his outside shoulder on the inside of the blocks.  This allows the runner to bounce outside instead of being forced back inside to where the help is.

LB: The LB’s were better today.  There were a couple of mistakes.  The biggest was the scheme that puts and inside backer on the running back when he motioned to the outside of the formation.  I can’t expect a LB to be able to run with this type of athlete.  What he has to do is drop and give him the space and try to keep him underneath.  They cannot allow the guy to get on their feet as they say because at that time they are beat.  Also, it would help the LB’s in coverage if they outside rusher would get a chip on the back releasing to their side.  Another mistake was when the LB overran the hole and the RB ran for 24 yards. 

DB: I thought they did a better job at the LOS.  I do think they are looking in the backfield too often and too long and that is where some separation is coming from.  I did think they were more physical this game and even though they had a couple of bust, they were as damaging as the one like the OM game.  I don’t know who they actually had filling in for Battle in the first half, but they did a good job.

Special Teams:  I have been waiting for someone to start returning the Bama kickoff since many don’t make it to the end zone.  UG did and gave themselves good field position, except once.  A short punt gave UG good field position on one drive where the scored a touchdown.  Bama lost good field position on a good punt return because of a penalty.  Bama was good on all field goals and extra points.

Penalties:  Bama had 6 penalties for 43 yards.  The two biggest were the block in the back on the punt return and an offsides on a 4 and less than 1. I have never seen so many defensive holding calls in one game.

Finally, this was a game Bama had to play well, not just to win, but to be competitive.  The made great strides this week on the defensive side of the ball.  They still need to continue to improve on that side of the ball.  I would double down on what that work on the week before the game. 

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17 and Counting