OM vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win today.  The offense was un-stoppable, and the defense did not stop OM very often.  There was a combined 1370 total yards offense combined.  This is something I thought I would never see when it comes to a Bama defense.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 723 yards of total offense which included 417 passing yards and 306 rushing yards.  The offense only had 1 tackle for a loss, 1 sack, and 2 fumbles.  I will say here I do not think Harris’s was a fumble as his momentum was stopped in my opinion.  There were no 3 and outs.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, Bama had 17 passing plays and 12 running plays.  Bama got into the red zone 7 times and scored 6 touchdowns the other was the questionable fumble call.  Bama scored the other 2 touchdowns from outside the red zone. 

QB:  I thought Jones played an outstanding game.  He completed 28 of 32 passes which averages out to an 88% completion rate.  There was one drop and one pass that was thrown a little behind.  However, he puts the ball where it needs to be for the receivers to make a catch most of the time.  The average per completion was 14.8 yards.  What I really liked about this performance was he took what the defense gave him and didn’t let his ego get the best of him since he had been throwing the deep ball for so much success in the first 2 games.  I also thought Jones did a good choice going to secondary receivers at times.

RB:  Harris had a great game scoring 5 touchdowns.  He rushed for 206 yards on 23 carries.  He also added 42 yards on receptions which means he accounted for a total of 248 yards on 26 touches.  He averaged 9.5 yards per touch.  Robinson also had a good game as he rushed for 76 yards on 10 carries. 

Rec: The receivers were led by Smith who had 13 catches for 164 yards, Waddle had 6 catches for 120, and Metchie had 4 for 75.  This means the top 3 averaged 15.6 yards per reception.  Forristall had 2 catches and got his first touchdown for the year.  This group also did a good job blocking.

OL:  I think the OL played a good game except for a bust on the only sack.  They got to the 2nd level in the running game and got a push up front.  This is evident with the few negative plays.  The only question is can they do it against a solid defense.  OM has one of the worse run defenses in the country.  On the sack, I think Leatherwood was thinking he was going to get help by the TE chipping on the outside rusher allowing him to help inside to out. This could be a communication issue or just a bust on Leatherwood since it looked like the TE was going to release to the other side on a route.

Def:  Bama gave up a total of 647 yards of total offense which included 379 passing yards and 268 rushing yards.  Two backs ran for over a hundred yards.  As for negative plays, Bama had 5 tackles for losses and 2 sacks which did not happen until the 4th quarter.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, OM had 17 passing plays and 8 running plays.  OM got into the red zone 7 times scoring 5 touchdowns and kicking 2 field goals.  They scored 1 touchdown outside the red zone.  There were huge issues on the defense.  First, I counted at least 24 missed tackles.  I will say I grade them hard here.  Second, they did not play good assignment football.  They continue to allow the running back or QB to get outside of contain.  I do not understand how the end man on the LOS cannot keep the offensive player on his inside shoulder.  This has happened since the beginning of the year.  Third, how do you continue to allow backs or TE to get lost or not cover?  Fourth, Bama must be more disciplined and get lined up. 

DL: The play of the DL was unimpressive to me.  The do not use their hands well enough and get off the blocks.  They had too many attempts at arm tackles many which were broken.  As I said above, how do you keep allowing the RB/QB to break contain?  Also, they rushed to far up the field a couple of times to allow running lanes for the QB.

LB: The LB’s were some of those who also took bad angles and allowed the RB/QB to get outside.  I would love to see someone hit a crossing receiver.  They must do a better job getting people lined up when teams get in the hurry up.

DB: I think they need to be more physical.  I have yet to see a receiver get jammed on his release when running a slant.  I guess they just teach it different.  A few times they were in phase as they call it, but just did not make the play.  I will say, the best thing that would help the DB’s is a better pass rush.

Special Teams:  Bama did not handle all the pooch kicks well, but they were not hurt because the offense was so effective.  All extra points were good.  I do not understand why the other team does not try to return some of those short kickoffs.  They handled all the onside kick attempts and gave Bama short fields.
Penalties:  Bama had 8 penalties for 76 yards.  The most important ones were a pass interference that helped OM on a touchdown drive.  The one that will probably hurt the most was the targeting by Battle.  The other safeties just are physical enough in my opinion.

Finally, this was a game where Bama had to come back, and they did. It also showed how out of sorts the defense was.  They must do a better job with assignment football and tackling.  That alone would make for great improvements with this team.

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17 and Counting

                                                                                                            A&M vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win today.  Bama looked unstoppable when they wanted on offense, but had a tough time stopping A&M on defense.  I will go into that later.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 544 yards of total offense which included 435 passing and 109 rushing.  The rushing game really didn’t do much until the 2nd half.  For negative plays, I credit Bama with 1 sack, 3 tackles for losses, and 1 pass interception.  Bama also had 2 three and outs during the game.  They got into the red zone 4 times and scored 3 touchdowns and kicked 1 field goal, 3 touchdowns were scored from outside the red zone and the other touchdown came from the defense when they got a pick 6.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 14 passing plays and 3 running plays.  All of the running plays came in the second half.   
QB:  I thought Jones played a good game as he completed 20 of 27 passes.  He did have one interception and I think he probably should have changed the protection as the OL was outnumbered on the left side of the LOS.  He completed 74% of his passes and averaged almost 22 yards per completion.   He continued to make throws that were right on the money and hit the receivers on stride.  One of his incompletions was an overthrow which would have been a touchdown if caught.  This was also on of the times Bama went 3 and out.  There was also one time where it looked that Jones could have gone to Waddle for a touchdown but threw to Forristall.  I think Bama went ahead and scored on that drive, so it really didn’t hurt them.

RB:  Harris ran hard and had 43 yards on 12 carries.  The average is a little less than 4 yards.  A&M did a good job getting off blocks and not allowing the OL to get to the 2nd level early.  Robinson came in and did his damage in the 2nd half as he had 60 yards on 10 carries.  He had all the carries of 10+ yards.  Sanders came in and had a 9-yard run only to have it negated by a bad snap which caused a big loss.  Harris did have a big blitz pickup which help Bama complete a 35-yard pass.  He also had 2 catches which added 26 yards to his total offense.

Rec: This game shows other teams if they concentrate on Smith and Waddle, Metchie is a threat.  He averaged 36 yards per catch.  The ball was spread around as Metchie and Waddle each had 5 catches while Smith had 6.  Forristall added 2 catches.

OL:  The OL played well but I think they need to improve their run blocking.  They only gave up 1 sack and 3 tackles for losses, one which was caused by a bad snap.  It seems to me, and this is my opinion, they are not sustaining their blocks long enough or they don’t get to the 2nd level when they have a chance.  The pass blocking was solid even when A&M brought and all out blitz. I know on the interception the left side was overloaded and either their needs to be a call from the tackle or the quarterback needs to make a protection change.  I don’t know what they do in this case.  I will say, when Bama is in the red zone the run blocking has been solid and they have gotten a push. 

Def:  Bama gave up a total of 450 yards of total offense, 335 passing and 115 rushing.  I have Bama with 1 sack, 4 tackles for losses, and 2 interceptions, one which was returned for a touchdown.  I know the stats above won’t match the official stats, but I think they called the sack a tackle for loss.  Bama only had 1 three and out for the game.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have A&M with 14 passing plays and 3 running plays.  A&M got into the red zone 4 times and scored 2 touchdowns, a field goal and missed a field goal.  They scored one touchdown outside the red zone.  Here is am going to give some stats I wanted to see.  They won’t match up with the official stats because some of the plays were negated because of penalties.  I have Mond throwing the ball 43 times.  26 of those throws were under 10 yards and he completed 17 of them.  17 of them were thrown over 10 yards and he completed 8 of them.  What this shows me is they wanted to get the ball out quick with hopefully what they considered mismatches.  It also shows the downfield coverage was pretty good.  There was rarely a pass that wasn’t contested down field.  Battle actually got his hand on one ball, but the catch was still made.  The interception was a ball that was thrown right at the sticks but looked to be under or right at 10 yards.  Something else I wondered is if Bama may have underestimated the speed of a couple of these guys. 

DL: The play of the DL was spread around but most of the big plays it seems were made by Anderson and Allen.  There were a couple other plays made, but I’m not as familiar with the names of these players.  I do know Anderson may have prevented a competition if he had gone to the QB instead of the ball fake.  He works hard, but allows the QB to get to his outside shoulder.  I do think they need to do a better job using their hands to get off the blocks.  It will be hard to get sacks with the ball being thrown that short that often.

LB: The LB’s were the leaders among tackles.  Harris led with 10, 8 that were solo.  I thought Bama ask a lot putting Moses on the quicker player from A&M when they scored their last touchdown.  I also am not sure who had the bust on the touchdown where the player didn’t go out of bounds.  I know the LB to that side blitzed so I would think it had to be a DB or the OB on that side.  On another touchdown the TE used the slam release.  When he looked like he was blocking the coverage was not there.  Again, I don’t know their coverages/rules so I don’t know who was supposed to have him.

DB: I thought they played well.  They challenged plays downfield and made some plays.  I thought Moore played well and I think Wright has his moments.  I don’t think Wright is a as physical as he needs to be.  There were a couple of times I noticed on man coverage the players looking back into the backfield which causes separation from the rec.

Special Teams:  Bama was solid in the special teams except for the 26 yard punt that gave A&M great field position and it led to points. 

Penalties:  Bama had 6 penalties.  Bama had their usual false starts.  A holding by the DB, an illegal shift, and an offsides on the kickoff cover team.  Overall, Bama overcame most of these penalties.

Finally, this was a good win where Bama actually had to fight to the end.  I do think the absence of spring ball is evident as some assignments are busted.  In my opinion, they need to get better in the running game as well as stop these unforced penalties.  I do think this team has some promise and could improve as the year goes on.

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17 and Counting

                                                                                      UM vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win today.  Obviously, some improvement needed in areas, but not a bad start.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 414 total yards which included 303 passing and 111 rushing yards.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 7 tackles for losses 2 sacks, and one fumble lost.  Most, if not all of these occurred in the 2nd half.  Bama had 2 three and outs one which was on their first possession of the game. For plays that covered 10+ yards, Bama had 14 passing plays and 4 running plays.  As far as scoring drives, Bama got into the red zone 5 times. They scored 4 touchdowns and fumbled once.  The other scores came from outside the red zone with a touchdown pass and a field goal. 

QB:  I thought Jones played a very good game.  After starting out 5 for 10, he went 13 for 14 the rest of the game.  The one incompletion was a drop.  He put the ball on the mark where the receivers were the only ones able to make a play on the ball.  Many passes hit the receivers in stride.  There were a couple of throws that had to be perfectly thrown and he did it.  Young had a decent day for his first game in college football.  He was 5 for 8 and showed some poise in the pocket.  He did make a bad throw on his last pass but thankfully it wasn’t in a crucial situation.

RB:  Harris ran the ball well and had over 100 total yards when combining receiving and rushing yards.  The other running backs didn’t find the openings that was provided for Harris.  I do think most of this was the fault of the offensive line.

Rec: As expected this year, Waddle and Smith were the main targets coming in.  They both had 8 catches and Waddle had 2 touchdowns in those 8 catches.  Metchie looks to be a good complement to the receiving core.  Also, they throw in a ball or two to the tight-end every once in a while.  The backs, except for the drop by Robinson, also have the ability to make plays in the passing game.

OL:  This game really didn’t impress me with the offensive line.  Bama did run for over a 100 yards and most of it was done in 3 quarters.  I say this because they were not dominant in the closing part of the game.  The good news is there were few negative plays in the first half, but almost all, if not all came in the second half.  I did notice the OL chasing the wrong way a couple of times which allowed the Tiger’s LB to shoot the gap and make the play.  If the OL hadn’t been chasing back, then he may have gotten to the 2nd level to make the block and spring the runner.  I also, saw a missed stunt pick-up which led to a sack.  I don’t know they just looked lazy to me in the 2nd half.  If
could be they need to be in better game shape.

Def:  Bama gave up a total of 322 yards which included 253 passing and 69 rushing.  Of this yardage, 187 came on the last 3 drives when there were some back-ups in.  This is also where most of their points came from.  As for negative plays, I have the Bama defense with 5 tackles for losses, 5 sacks (officially it shows up as three in the stats), and 2 fumbles recovered (one on special teams).  As for plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Missouri with 8 passing plays and 2 running plays.  They got into the red zone 3 times and scored 2 field goals and a touchdown.  One touchdown came from outside the red zone.  The touchdown at the end of the game was where the DL lost their lanes and allowed the QB to walk into the end zone. The biggest flaws I saw on defense was missed tackles.

DL: The DL, as no one really stood out to me they played a solid 3 quarters. I guess this could be expected when not really knowing what to expect from a new coach and team.  Also, I don’t know how long Bama had to really prepare when Missouri was added to their schedule.  I am sure they had to scramble to get video on them.  I do think Anderson with be a star if he can remain healthy.  I also think the long touchdown on the wheel route may have been a bust on the freshman outside backer Sanders #16.  I say this without knowing their coverage and responsibilities.

LB: It was great to see Moses back on the field.  In my opinion, the defense didn’t seem to be moving around as much.   I thought he showed the speed he had before the injury.  I also thought Harris looked like he was freed up to play with less responsibility on his plate.

DB: They really weren’t challenged much downfield as most of the passing game by Missouri was in the short to intermediate parts of the field.  The quick passing game by Missouri also help take away from the pass rush.  It also seemed they like to throw the ball were the inside backers vacated. 

Special Teams:  Bama’s special teams were solid.  They hit all the extra points and field goals.  There was only one kickoff return that went for 25 yards and that return was aided by a penalty.   Punts were decent and covered well where they even recovered a fumble that led to a field goal.

Penalties:  Bama had 7 penalties.  Many of them unforced.  There was an unsportsmanlike conduct on the kickoff return that gave Missouri good field position.  Fortunately, didn’t hurt them.  They had a holding that negated a sack.  Three false starts by three different OL.  There was an illegal formation on the extra point which didn’t hurt, and finally a delay of game.  These, as usual, need to be cleaned up.

Finally, this was a good way to start the season. Bama has some areas to clean up, tackling/penalties.  Also, there is some blocking assignments that need to be fixed.  I will say, the commentators kept saying that Missouri had a solid defense, so that may be part of the problem.  It wasn’t a good look to the start of the game when Bama had a player coming on late as well as going 3 and out.  The good news is there is plenty of room for improvement.  I also think the defense played very vanilla, but they must clean up tackles and assignments.  By assignments I mean coverage responsibilities as well as rushing lanes and responsibilities. If you are playing on the end of the LOS, you have to keep the offensive player on your inside player.  This hurt Bama a couple of times yesterday.

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17 and Counting

                                                                                                    UM vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win today.  I think I heard that was 9th straight 11+ win seasons by Bama. Hopefully this trend will continue.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 480 yards of total offense which included 327 passing yards and 153 rushing yards.  Many of these yards came in the second half and 91 of them came on a crucial drive when Bama was backed up near their own endzone in a close game.  As for negative plays, I have the Bama offense with 5 tackles for losses.  I credit them with only 2 three and outs, one in each half.  I guess you could have a 1 and out on the first drive since Bama scored on the play that went 85 yards for the touchdown.  As for plays that covered 10+ yards, Bama had 9 passing plays and 7 running plays.  This is a total of 16 plays that covered 10+ yards and 10 of those came in the second half.  Bama got into the red zone 2 and scored 2 touchdowns, while 3 touchdowns came from outside the red zone.  I don’t know if you saw it, but  Jones had his choice of receivers on the first play that went for the touchdown as Ruggs was also open. 

QB:  I thought Jones played a very good game.  He completed 64% of his passes and had no turnovers.  The reason I think he played a very good game is because several times it looked like the pocket was collapsing around him.  It did look as though he was fooled on coverage once when he threw an out route into coverage.  One of his big throws was a 14 yard completion that came on a 3rd  down and 11 near our own goal line on the drive that went 91 yards for the touchdown.

RB:  Harris had a good day running, but also blocking in pass coverage.  He carried the ball 24 times for 136 yards.  He was key in the end of the game when Bama was running the ball and UM knew they were running the ball.  Not only did he gain big yards, he also protected the football.  One of the biggest plays he caused to happen was the touchdown to the tight end.  The RB rail out of the backfield was covered by 2 defenders which left the tight end wide open for the score.  Robinson only carried the ball 3 times, but gained 16 yards. 

Rec: Jeudy as you saw had a huge game as he had 6 catches for 204 yards which breaks down to 34 yards per catch.  Smith and Forristall had 3 catches apiece and all of these three had a touchdown catch.  Waddle had 1 catch and a drop.  On the drop, he felt he was either held or interfered with.  There was one other completion to Billingsley which ended in a loss of 3 yards.

OL:  Too me this was a game of two halves for the OL, especially in the running game.  Early in the game it was tough going in the running game for Bama.  The 2nd half was better as they got a better push and even got to the 2nd level.  The pass protection was good enough that they didn’t give up any sacks.  Par of this was because of Jones getting rid of the ball as well as movement in the pocket to avoid the rush. 

Def:  This was also a game of two halves.  Bama gave up 16 points in the first half and zero in the 2nd half.  The defense gave up a total of 395 yards which included 233 passing and 162 rushing.  Most of these yards came in the first half.  Bama gave up yards, but came up strong the red zone since they only gave up 1 touchdown and 3 field goals.  As far as negative plays, Bama had 3 tackles for losses, 3 sacks, 2 interception, and cause 1 fumble which they didn’t recover, however, it moved UM way back for the next play.  I credit Bama with 1 three and out and 1 one and out because of an interception.  The 3 and out was huge as if came right after a big kickoff return.   For plays that covered + yards, I have UM with 8 passing plays and 5 running plays.  None of the 10+ running plays happened in the 2nd half.  Um got into the red zone twice and scored one touchdown and kicked one field goal.  The other two field goals came from outside the red zone.  The defense made the same mistakes in the first half like they have done in all other games this year.  They missed tackles, they didn’t get off blocks, they lost contain, and they didn’t secure their gaps.  A few times it looked like they would freelance and go where they wanted instead of staying in their gaps.

DL: The DL looked to be manhandled in the first half.  They also were not getting off blocks and losing their gaps.  They were allowing the OL to turn their shoulders and open up the holes for the running backs.  The second half they did a better job.  They were not getting a lot pressure on the passer either in the first half and this also improved in the second half.  I think one of the big telling stats I mentioned above is they had not 10 runs in the second half.

LB: The inside backers played ok as they missed some tackles but not as many in the second half.  They were put in difficult situations in pass coverage a few times as they had to cover the backout and even cover some wide receivers at times. 

DB: I thought the DB’s played pretty well.  They had some PBU’s and had to come up and make some tackles.  I didn’t see as many busted coverages.  I will say they UM QB helped out by not making accurate throws.  The passes that were completed were when the D didn’t get much of a push on the pass rush and the QB had too much time.   I thought Jobe came in and did a good job as a replacement for Diggs.  Early in the game they went after him and he was beat, but he did the right thing by not looking back for the ball and closed in on the receiver and knocked the ball away.

Special Teams:  Bama gave up a couple of kickoff returns which they have done a lot of this year.  Waddle had one punt return for about 13 yard that help set Bama up in good field position.  He had a kick return for 23-yards but didn’t get to the 25.  All extra points were good and all punts were good enough.  UM did return a pooch kick late in the game but it was all for nothing.

Penalties:  This was one of Bama’s better game with only 5 penalties for 25 yards.  There were 3 false starts, one defensive offsides, and a delay of game on a punt.  Even though they hurt themselves a couple of times they didn’t do the damage to themselves like they have in other games this year.

Finally, this was a good way to end the season.  The sad part is Bama wasn’t really beat by others as much as they beat themselves this year.  It is frustrating because of what could have been because of all the injuries and self-inflicted mistakes made by Bama this year.  However, we have high standards and must realize this was still a good year with 11 wins.   

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17 and Counting

                                                                                        AU vs Bama

First, this game, like the LSU game, could have been won.  However, Bama made too many mistakes offensively and defensively to win.  There were assignment bust as well as penalties which hurt Bama throughout the game. 

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 515 yards of total offense, against what is supposed to be one of the best defensive teams in the nation, which included 335 yards passing and 180 rushing.  However, the mistakes overshadowed the positive the offensive output for the Bama team.  As for negative plays, I have Bama with 8 tackles for losses, 1 sack, and 2 interceptions which resulted in 2 touchdowns.  I credit Bama with 3 three and outs and one of those was because of the first interception.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 11 passing plays and 6 running plays.  Bama got into the red zone 5 times and scored 3 touchdowns, threw and interception, and missed a field goal.  In other words, Bama left anywhere from 6 to 11 points on the field.  They scored 2 touchdowns and a field goal from outside the red zone.  The other touchdown came on the Waddle kick off return. 

QB:  If you could take away the 2 huge interceptions, Jones had a heck of a game.  He was 26 for 39 for 335 yards and equates to 67% completion.  He did miss a couple of throws, but he also threw a couple that should have been caught.  I know the biggest interception was throw on the goal line and Jones should have thrown the ball away because of pressure.  However, there was a missed block, in my opinion, by Kaho who was in the backfield with Harris and did not pick up the rushing defender.  On the first interception, I don’t know why the ball sailed on him.  It almost looked like he wanted to go deep but changed his mind in mid-throw to check down. 

RB:  Harris had 146 yards on 27 carries which is 5.4 yards per carry.  He was impressive finishing run and delivering punishment.  He also added 26 yards on 4 receptions.  The times he was called upon to block he did a good job.  Robinson was not much of a factor running the ball, as he carried the ball 2 times for -1 yards.  He did have 1 big reception for 7 yards.  Bolden came in and ran the wildcat for a 3-yard gain to give Bama a first down on a 4th down play.

Rec: The ball was distributed pretty evenly among the receivers. Ruggs had 6 catches for 99 yards and 1 touchdown.  Smith had 5 catches for 80 yards and Jeudy had 5 catches for 26 yards.  Waddle had 4 catches for 98 yards but also had 3 touchdown catches.  AU also did a good job on open field tackles which kept the Bama receivers from gaining extra yards on many short passes.

OL:  Overall, I would say, except for the penalties, played well.  You can’t rush for that much yardage and give up only one sack against a tough defense without playing well.  They got to the second level more than once.  They also picked a few stunts.  They were also blocking 2 potential first round draft choices on the AU DL.  The bad part of the OL was the penalties which I will discuss later.

Def:  It is hard to say the defense had a good game because of the busted assignments at crucial times.  They gave up a total of 354 yards which included 173 passing yards and 181 rushing yards.  As for negative plays, Bama only had 4 tackles for losses and a fumble recovery.  I also credit Bama with only 1 three and out.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, AU had 8 passing plays and 6 running plays.  AU got into the red zone 3 times and scored 3 touchdowns.  They kicked 4 field goals from outside the red zone and the other scores came from the interception returns. 

DL: The DL missed opportunities to make plays by not getting off blocks.  They also opened up running lanes for the QB on the rush as well as not containing the QB especially on crucial plays.  There was one time where it looked like Bama was running a stunt but the one player didn’t come inside to replace the player going outside.  This opened up a huge hole for the QB draw which happened on the final touchdown drive for AU. 

LB: The inside backers player a pretty good game, however Lewis was a  non-factor as he totaled 1 tackle.  Jennings, on paper, had a decent game, but he is one of the players on the edge that allowed AU to break contain in crucial situations. 

DB: They made some plays, but also missed some plays.  One of the big plays was just and outstanding one-handed catch.  On the same drive the defense allowed the QB to escape outside and complete a pass to Hastings for 11 yards and a first down to keep the chance of a TD alive, which they scored. 

Special Teams:  The big items from the special teams are the missed field goal and the TD return on the kick-off by Waddle.  AU did have a big punt return which help lead to a touchdown. 

Penalties:  Bama had penalties but only 13 counted.  They were spread around as they had 7 offensive, 3 defensive penalties and 3 on special  teams.  If my count is correct, about 7 of these penalties were in the 4th quarter.  There were several big penalties, holding on the first touchdown drive which negated the touchdown and Bama had to settle for a field goal.  This was 4 crucial points Bama lost.  A face mask penalty on the drive after the punt return moved AU to the 7-yard line.  They later scored a touchdown.  The pass interference call came on a 3rd and 10 which kept a scoring drive alive.  Offsides on a 4th and 4 gave AU a first down.  A false start took away the opportunity for Bama to go for 2 after a touchdown.  AU was helped by a questionable roughing the passer call on their last touchdown drive.  Finally, the big one where Bama had and illegal substitution when they were going to force AU to punt giving them a chance at the end of the game.

Finally, this has been a frustrating season because of the defensive mistakes and mistakes/penalties during crucial times.  The most frustrating is they had chances to win every game.  I keep mentioning Bama losing the edge on defense and here are some examples.  First, Lewis loses the edge and AU runs for 15 yards.  Second, Young, a freshmen, loses the edge and Nix walks in for the touchdown.  Third, lost contain near halftime allowing Hastings to make a 11-yard catch which gave them a first down on 3rd and 10.  This was on a touchdown drive.  Fourth, on their last touchdown drive, Jennings lost contain and AU had a 15-yard run.  Fifth, on this same drive, on 3rd and 5, Nix was able to escape outside and complete an 11-yard pass.  I know we should be happy with a 10-2 season with a chance to be 11-2 but we have become spoiled.  It makes it worse that you can see where games could have been won.

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17 and Counting

                                                                                            WCU vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaching staff on the victory. This was a good game to get healthy with some players.  It was also a great game to work on technique and assignment football.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 541 yards of total offense which included 310 passing and 231 rushing.  I only have Bama with 2 types of negative plays, which are 1 tackle for losses and a fumble which they lost in the endzone.  The tackles for loss came in the first half when the QB was under center and almost dropped the ball throwing off the timing of the running play. I only have Bama for 1 three and out which was aided by the snapped that was almost dropped by Jones.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 10 pass plays and 4 running plays.  Bama got into the red zone 7 times and scored 5 touchdowns and kicked a field goal.  Three other touchdowns came from outside the red zone and the other came from an interception return.  Overall, the offense could do what they wanted against an undermanned team.

QB:   Mac was 10 for 12 for 275 yards.  The big thing is he made no real mistakes.  He did miss and the TE for what could have been a touchdown, and it would have been a tight throw, but could have been made.  He was a little off on a couple of throws, but that could be expected because of the start and him being a little pumped up.  Taulia was 2 for 3 for 35 yards and really wasn’t asked to do too much other than hand the ball off.  Tyson came in and got the last few snaps only to hand the ball off.

RB:  Harris had 66 yards on 14 carries along with 12 yards on 1 catch.  This breaks down to a little over 5 yards per touch.  I thought he ran hard and got what he could in a couple of tough runs.  Bama also used 5 other running backs in this game.  Overall, the running backs averaged 5.8 yards per carry.  The one that also was impressive was K Robinson who had 8 carries for 92 yards.  I know it was late in the game, but this guy has a burst.

Rec: The receivers only combined for 12 catches, but they averaged over 25 yards per catch.  It was obvious, in the game, WCU couldn’t match the speed of the receivers. 

OL:  I thought they played well.  Again, as I said above, this was a great game to work on assignments and techniques.  They got a big push against an undersized DL.  They protected the QB in passing situations and gave him time to find the secondary receiver a couple of times. 

Def:  The defense gave up a total of 179 yards which included 112 passing yards and 67 rushing yards.  For negative plays, I have the defense with 3 tackles for losses, 4 sacks, 4 interceptions and a fumble recovery.  I also credit the defense with 5 three and outs and could have been more if you add in the series that had turnovers.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have WCU with 5 passing plays and 2 running plays.  One of the running plays was when Bama allowed the QB to break contain and gain yards on the scramble.  WCU never got into the Bama red zone, but they did kick a field goal in the second half from outside the red zone.  Also, I have Bama only have 4 missed tackles for the game.

DL: The DL played a good game, especially with all the starting players on the sideline.  They should have had a good game because like I have mentioned above, they were playing an undermanned team.

LB: They played well.  This is also a game that could have been tough on LB’s because of the offensive scheme run by WCU.  They had to contend with, as many call it, eye candy and sometimes hard to decide where the ball is going.

DB: I thought they played pretty well, especially McKinney.  There really were not a lot of balls thrown down field.  Most of the completions were short and underneath.  The TE’s were the ones who made a few catches were isolated on LB, not the DB.  Plus, they had 4 interceptions, 2 by both Mckinney and Mayden. 

Special Teams:  The biggest thing about special teams was the return by Waddle that was wasted because of the fumble in the end zone.  All PAT’s and field goals were made.  WCU returned no kick offs.  Bama only punted once.     
Penalties:  Bama actually had a good day penalty wise since they only had 4 for 45 yards.  There was a facemask, a false start, a holding and a blindside block on a punt return.  They were able to over all of these penalties.

Finally, it was great to see Tua at the game.  Bama needs to get healthy with the DL and receivers for the AU game.  Jones won’t have to win the game by himself if he allows his playmakers a chance to do the job. 

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17 and Counting

                                                                                             MSU vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaching staff on the victory.  Many times, teams allow a close loss to turn into 2 losses.  It was obvious Bama was ready to play when they came out of the dressing room.  However, they still made mistakes, especially penalties, that need to be cleaned up.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 510 yards of total offense which included 350 passing and 160 rushing. As for negative plays, I have Bama with 4 tackles for losses, 1 sack, and a fumble which wasn’t lost.  I only have Bama with 1 three and out the whole day.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 14 passes and 6 running plays.  Basically, Bama ran the ball and threw the ball very effectively.  I’m not sure, but I think the only time Bama didn’t convert on a 3rd down in the first half was when Tua was injured. Also, on tackles for losses many of them were close to the LOS which means there wasn’t a whole lot of penetration. Bama got into the red zone 5 times and scored 4 touchdowns and kicked a field goal.  They did score 1 touchdown from outside the red zone.

QB:   Tua was 14 for 18 for 256 yards and 2 touchdowns.  He started the game extremely well as I think he was 8 for 8 before throwing and incompletion. One of his best throws was to Jeudy on the first drive for 37-yards where he had to lay it over the dropping linebacker and under the safety.  When Jones came into the game, he was 7 for 11 for 94 yards.  He made some very good timing throws

RB:  Again, Harris played very well as he rushed for 88 yards on 17 carries which is over 5 yards per carry.  He also added 51 yards on 3 reception which brings his total yards up to 139 on 20 touches. The equates to just under 7 yards per touch.  Robinson 56 yards on 8 carries which is an even 7 yards per carry.  Maybe he didn’t like standing on the sideline watching Harris last week.  There was once when I saw Harris probably miss a block on a blitz.  I don’t know if he thought the TE was going to release on a route.  This allowed the inside blitzer to come and pressure the QB.

Rec: Jeudy led the receivers with 7 catches for 114 yards and Smith had 6 catches for 92 yards.  Bama continues to utilize their receivers and spread the ball around.  I know Billingsley only had one catch, but he looks like the could be a force at TE in the future.  I say this because he is a freshman that is 6’4” and weighs 228lbs.  He sort of reminds me of Irv Smith. 

OL:  I thought the OL played well.  There were no real glaring mistakes that just killed a play from the start that I remember.  As I mentioned earlier, the tackles for losses were very close the LOS and some of them were because they were outnumbered at the LOS.  I know one of them came off of a bunch formation where they came off the receiver.

Def:  The defense gave up a total of 270 yards which included 82 passing yards and 188 rushing yards.  Thirty of those passing yards came off of a TE delay where he showed blocking and then released.  Almost half of the rushing yards came from the QB as he had 96 rushing yards. Part of these were again caused by the rushing lanes being lost and allowing the QB to escape.  For negative plays, I have the defense with 5 tackles for losses, 1 sack, and 1 interception.  The interception led to Bama’s second touchdown and happened on the first defensive play of the game.  Bama is credited with 3 three and outs.  The defense also only gave up 3 pass plays that covered 10+ yards and 5 running plays that covered that distance.  MSU got into the red zone once and scored a touchdown on that trip.  This would not have happened if it hadn’t been for a penalty earlier in the drive that kept the drive alive.  I may be off, but I have Bama with 11 missed tackles for the day.  The defense did lose the edge a few times, but not as many as they have in earlier games.

DL: The DL played a better game this week, especially with injuries that have occurred.  They need to do a better job using their hands to get off the blocks.  The other problem, which led to a couple of big gains, was their gap discipline.  They allowed themselves to lose their outside gap which opens running lanes.  When they lose their gap responsibilities on pass rush, they create running lanes for the QB to escape.

LB: They played well.  They were hurt a couple of times when they motioned the RB out and ran the QB. 

DB: Since they only gave up 82 total passing yard they played pretty well.  They didn’t seem to bust coverages today, but they weren’t facing a complex passing game. 

Special Teams:  The special teams were good today.  They made all field goals and extra points.  They only punted twice and one of them wasn’t returned basically no yards and the other was pinned around the 10-yard line.   MSU kept the ball away from Waddle and others on the kick-off return.  Waddle was able to return a couple of punts and gained 2 on one and 26 on the other. 

Penalties:  I know this sounds like a broken record but, Bama again hurt themselves with penalties.  Bama had 7 penalties for 86 yards.  The ones that hurt the most was a facemask where Bama lost a sack on third down which turned into a first down on MSU’s touchdown drive.  There were 2 more stupid personal fouls.  Also, an illegal motion took away a 46-yard gain on the pop pass which put them in the red zone.  There was actually 1 more penalty, but it was declined because MSU accepted the outcome of the play.

Finally, all prayers go out to Tua as well as the other players who were injured.  Hopefully, it won’t be something that will keep him down for an extended period of time.  There will be questions about if he should have been in the game.  I can see all sides and it is the coach’s decision. 

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17 and Counting

                                                                                                     Ark vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama coaches and players on the win.  I thought the offensive staff had a great game plan to allow Jones to get comfortable early in the game and progressed from there. 

OFFFENSE:  The offense was the beneficiary of great field position given to them by the defense.  They gave Bama the ball in the plus territory at the 14,48,48, and 25-yard line because of a fumble recovery, 2 interceptions, and a 3 and out where the punter had to punt from inside his own endzone.  The Bama offense put together 459 yards of total offense with included 280 passing and 179 rushing.  Since Bama played a lot of backups in the 2nd half, most of the yards were made in the first half, 275 total yards.  For negative plays, Bama only had 3 tackles for losses and they had one 3 and out.  However, that 3 and out could have been avoided if there had not been a hold on the play.  This negated a 30+ yard pass play that would have put Bama in Ark. Territory.  I credit Bama with 10 pass plays that covered 10+ yards and 5 running plays that covered that distance.  Bama got into the red zone 7 times and scored 4 touchdowns and kicked 2 field goals.  On the other instance, they turned the ball over on downs.  They did score from outside the red zone once on a long pass.  The other touchdown came from the defense when Diggs returned the interception for the score. 

QB:   I thought Jones played a very good game.  Jones completed 18 of 22 passes for 235 yards.  This equates to an 82% competition rate.  He did miss a deep ball and also missed an open Robinson when he threw to the tight-end.  However, on that throw he had to contend with a high snap which probably threw the timing off.  He did a good job getting rid of the ball on a couple of throw aways when there were no open receivers.  I also thought he did a good job finding the secondary receiver at times.  Taulia played pretty well and connected on 6 of 8 throws.  He did make a mistake when he almost threw and interception.  He was looking at the receiver the complete time and never came off when the guy was double covered.  Taulia stats were hurt when the holding call I mentioned above took away a 30+ yard competition. 

RB:  Harris and B Robinson combined for 154-yard rushing on 26 carries.  This breaks down to 5.9 yards per carry.  K Robinson added 29 yards on 9 carries.  I thought they all did a good job getting up the field and running hard in traffic.  I really like this K Robinson, sort of reminds me of K Drake.

Rec: Not counting RB’s 6 different receivers had catches.  Jeudy led the way with 7 catches and was the receiver who was overthrown on what could have been a touchdown.  Waddle was second with 5 while Smith and Ruggs had 4 each.  Smith didn’t play as much after his injury which gives others and opportunity to make plays.  They did a good job blocking downfield for both the running backs and when passes where thrown short.  The negative was the holding call which negated a 30+ completion and enable the only 3 and out for the day.

OL:  The OL, in my opinion, played one of their better games.  I think this because they had no offensive penalties called on the OL.  This is unusual when you have a change in QB’s.  Second, I rarely remember the running backs having contact in the backfield or behind the LOS.  Third, there were no sacks.  Fourth, they got a push on the DL in short yardage situations and got to the second level on other plays.  Finally, I saw them getting downfield on the running plays looking for another block.

Def:  I thought the defense played a pretty good game and really helped the offense by giving them great field position, which I mentioned above.  They still made some mistakes, however, they didn’t hurt them as much as they have in the past.  The defense gave up a total of 213 yards which includes 107 passing and 106 rushing.  Two drives accounted for 136 (85 and 51 yard) of these yards.  However, the one drive of 85 yards should have been a 3 and out but the offsides call on the punt allowed a first down.  This drive led to the only touchdown for Ark.  As for negative plays, I have Bama credited with 4 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 3 interceptions, and a fumble recovery.  These turnovers led to 3 touchdowns and a field goal.  I credit Bama with 5 three and outs and it should have been 6.  One of the three and outs was because of an interception.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have 6 passing plays and 3 running plays.  Ark got into the red zone once and scored a touchdown.  They didn’t get into the red zone until late in the 3rd quarter and the score came early in the 4th quarter. 

DL:  I thought this was one of their better games.  They didn’t have many sacks, but Ark didn’t really drop back a lot of times.  Ark was getting rid of the ball quickly utilizing the short passing game.  They only averaged 3.5 yards per rush.  There were mistakes made when they allowed them to break contain, however, most of these where when Miller and Jennings were lined up on the LOS.

LB:   In this part I am including Jennings, Harris, Lee, Benton, and Miller.  They again led the team with tackles.  The short passing game didn’t allow many sacks, but they did affect the passer.  They had batted ball, especially by Jennings and Miller.  There was a busted coverage and on TV they blamed it on Jennings, because, according to the announcer, it was man coverage.  If this is true, then Jennings should have come off his rush and picked the RB up.  This allowed for a 22-yard gain on a 3rd and 7.  On the touchdown throw the inside LB, who I think was Lee, stumbled and allowed the separation by the tight-end.  Benton missed a tackle when he was just out of control and allowed the runner to make one move and get by him.  He had the sideline to help him if he just breaks down the runner either goes out of bounds or has to turn back into him.  This happened at least once a game and I think it is because they want to make the big hit.

DB:  The starting QB for Ark only had 5 completions and 3 interceptions.  However, many of the throw were underneath.  When they did got downfield the DB’s did seem to be in pretty good position.  Ark did miss a deep ball throw to an open receiver.  Carter allowed the running back to get on his feet before he opened up to cover the guy.  When this happens, he is beat. 

Special Teams:  The best part about the special teams was there were no missed field goals or extra points.  Also, the average per punt was 47.5 yards.  They had no punt returns.  Bama did make a mistake on one kickoff return where they caught it close to the sideline and stepped out of bounds. Bama did allow one return to get past the 25-yard line.

Penalties:  The good news is they cut down on their penalties.  They only had 6 for 60 yards this game while Ark had none.  They had 2 offsides, one by Barmore who lines up right in front of the ball and one by Davis which gave Ark the first down on a 4th and 1 which kept the drive alive for a touchdown instead of a 3 and out.  Jennings had a holding call and a hands to the face.  The hands to the face was iffy.  A holding by Jeudy negated a 30+ yard pass play, again this help Ark get the only 3 and out they had yesterday.  The other call was the unsportsmanlike conduct on the kickoff coverage team. 

Finally, Bama made some improvements on both sides of the ball.  They need to continue to improve in all phases of the game.  I was wondering if anyone knows why Mayden wasn’t in the game?  I thought he had played well the last game and I noticed Wright was in the game more.

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17 and Counting

                                                                                            Tenn vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama coaches and players on the win.  At this point, in my opinion, Bama has some huge improvements to make if they plan to be in the running for the National Championship.  This is on both sides of the ball, especially defensively after last nights performance. 

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 373 yards of total offense which included 233 passing and 140 rushing.  Since they had 259 total yards in the first half, this means they only had 114 yards of total offense in the 2nd half.  There are a couple of reasons that attributed to this stat.  First, Bama lost a possession when they returned the fumble for a touchdown and 2nd, UT had the ball on a very long drive which ate up over 8 minutes in the fourth quarter.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 4 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, and a huge interception.  I have Bama with 2 three and outs and would have been four if it hadn’t been for a penalty by the UT defense on 3rd down.  As for plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 9 passing plays and 6 running plays.  Bama got into the red zone 6 times.  They scored 4 touchdowns, threw an interception, and turned the ball over on downs at the end of the game.  The only chance of putting points on the board from outside the red zone was a missed 41-yard field goal.  The other score came from the defense when Diggs returned the fumble 100 yards.  It may be just me, but I thought Bama ran the ball better to their right side as opposed to their left side.

QB:   Tua completed 11 of 12 passes to his team, the other was a horrible decision that went for an interception.  Sometimes you have to just throw the ball away.  It was 1st and goal from the 2 when the interception was thrown.  This could be game breaker in a close game.  He has too much experience to make a mistake like this.  He also underthrew the pass to Ruggs that went for 48 yards and should have been a touchdown.  Jones came in and it was a pressure situation for him for the first time this season.  He did make a couple of bad throws, however he also made a couple of throws that should have been caught.  He was 6 for 11, but should have been 8 for 11 because of the drops.  Also, one of the drops looked like it could have been a nice gain.  He did look a little nervous and it showed when he didn’t do a good job with his footwork.  Hopefully, with a week of prep with the first team will be beneficial for him.

RB:  Harris and Robinson combined for 145 yards rushing on 28 carries which equates to around 5.2 yards per carry.  They both did a very good job on yards after contact.  I will also say here, Harris had one of the drops that should have been a nice gain.

Rec: The ball was spread around for the receivers.  Ruggs had 4 receptions for 72 yards to lead the way.  Jeudy and Forristall both had 3 and Smith and Waddle had 1 each.  Again, a receiver was called for holding, however they took the holding call on the right tackle instead. 

OL:  The OL, I thought had one of their Jekyll and Hyde games.  They looked great at time and at other they didn’t sustain their block.  They got to the second level then didn’t get to the second level.  They got blown up on 2nd or 3rd and short once or twice.  As I stated above, I thought Bama ran the ball from the middle to the right side of the OL.   

Def:  I thought the defense probably played better than I will give them credit for.  They did miss some tackles and other things I will address in positions.  They gave up a total of 231 yards which consisted of 117 passing and 114 rushing.  At the half, UT had 135 total yards which included 71 passing and 64 rushing.  This means they were held to 96 yards in the 2nd half, 50 rushing and 46 passing yard.  Fifty-eight of their total yards came on two running plays.  I think the penalties are what makes you seem the defense didn’t play as well as they did since they prolonged drives.  As for negative plays, I credit the defense with 4 tackles for losses, 3 sacks, an interception, and a fumble recovery which was returned for a touchdown.  I have Bama credited with 4 three and outs and you could count it as 5 if you count the interception on 3rd down as one.  As for plays that cover 10+ yards, I have UT with 4 passing plays and 3 running plays.  UT got into the red zone 4 times and scored one touchdown and kicked 2 field goals.  The other trip was when the QB fumbled which was returned for the touchdown and sealed the game. 

DL:  I thought at times they played outstanding.  However, there were times they didn’t keep the OL off the 2nd level.  They also looked to take the wrong path on their rush as the outside guy on the defensive LOS went inside with allowed the edge to be free.  There was no one there to take the outside gap.  They are times they don’t use their hands to shed block and allow the OL to lock on to them. 

LB:   In this part I am including Jenning, Miller, Harris, and Lee.  This group led the team with tackles.  However, they made some mistakes.  I noticed Lee taking blocks on with the wrong shoulder which enabled the running back to escape.  Also, they need to break down, especially on sack situations, where they are so out of control they allow the QB to make a move and escape.  This also means keeping the proper leverage where if they do escape the only outlet is back where the help is.  They still made big plays and I know they are young, but they must improve.   Also, there were times where the LB’s were put in coverage with a man that is very difficult for them to cover.

DB:  I really don’t know what to say here.  If you look at the stats, they played pretty well.  However, it looked to me like they played lazy.  There were 4 PI calls in the game. They didn’t use the best techniques all day.  With this being said, I thought Mayden played a pretty good game.  Also, Mckinney had a huge tackle at the 2 on the drive that Bama got the fumble in the end zone.  Diggs did make a play when he was beat.  However, the UT QB missed an open receiver that would have been a touchdown with a good throw.   

Special Teams:  The special teams had and up and down day, but the ups outweighed the downs. The down was the missed field goal.  It looks to me like the kicker just goes too much across his body on his follow thru.  The punt return team was solid.  The kick-off return was wanting to make something happen and probably should have taken a knee on a couple they decided to return.  Punting, after the first one, was pretty good, however, they did allow a return on one.  I want to acknowledge Kaho who always seems to be on or near the play especially on the kick-off cover team.

Penalties:  The good news, is they reduced their penalties from 10 to 8, really 9 because one was declined.  They hurt themselves on at least 3 drives that did or could have led to points.  On the touchdown drive, there was a holding call that put the ball in the red zone for UT.  On one of the field goal drives, they was a pass interference call that help move the ball down the field.  On the drive that ended in the fumble recovery, the was a pass interference drive on a 3rd and 10 that kept the drive alive.  They are making too many mistakes and helping the other team.  This being said, Bama was the beneficiary of some calls that help them during the game.  Probably none bigger than the one on 3rd down that allowed Bama to get a first down and later went on to score a touchdown.

Finally, Bama has work to do if they want to compete for the National Championship.  First, they have to get the defense playing better assignment football.  Second, they have to get the OL where they can consistently run the ball especially in close games where they can work the clock.  Third they have to eliminate the penalties, especially those that keep drives alive.  Also, they have to stop leaving points on the field.  This game, they left at least 6 to 10 points on the field because of the missed field goal and the interception in the red zone.  I know injuries have been a factor, but these guys have played enough games where they should not be considered freshmen anymore.

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17 and Counting

                                                                       A&M vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama coaches and players on the win.  Bama still made improvements, but they still are making defensive mistakes that will have to be corrected if they expect to win the National Championship.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 448 yards of total offense which included 293 passing and 155 rushing.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 5 tackles for losses, a sack, and an interception.  Bama had no three and outs because of the defense, the only 3 and outs they had was because they score in 3 plays.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, Bama had 12 passing plays and 7 running plays.  They made 5 trips into the red zone and scored 2 touchdowns, 2 field goals, and threw an interception, while they scored 3 touchdowns from outside the red zone. 

QB:   Tua completed 62% of his passes and was hurt by a couple of drops.  However, he did miss a couple of throws to open receivers.  I thought he did a good job finding the secondary receivers at times.  A couple of times, I thought he made his mind up where he was going with the ball no matter what the defense did.

RB:  Harris and Robinson combined for 165 yards rushing on 30 carries which equates to 5.5 yards per carry.  They were also effective being receivers out of the backfield.  Each had one touchdown where Robinson’s was a rushing touchdown and Harris’s was on a reception.  I thought they both did a good job on pass blocking when called upon.

Rec:  Smith again led the receivers in catches.  He had 7 for 99 yards while Jeudy was 2nd with 4.  Waddle had 3, Ruggs 1, and Forristall had 1.  The best part, as a group, they averaged over 15 yards per reception.  Smith, Ruggs, and Waddle all had touchdown catches.  They did a good job blocking downfield when the running backs broke a few runs.

OL:  The OL, I thought, had one of their better games.   They gave up only 1 sack and the 5 tackles for losses, most came in the 2nd half and late.  They did a better job on some combo blocks and picked up a couple of stunts.

Def:  I thought the defense played better today.  They did miss a few tackles and some of them were in traffic and some was where they reached instead of running thru the tackle.  Bama gave up 389 yards of total offense which included 264 passing and 125 rushing.  I will say here that most of the rushing yards came in the second half when Bama lost contain on the QB by not just losing the edge, but leaving gaps in the rushing lanes.  When this happened, Mond gained 86 yards on 4 carries.  As for negative plays, I have Bama for 3 tackles for losses, 5 sacks, and 2 fumbles, only one was recovered.  They had 4 three and outs, 2 in each half.  The did have a 2 and out when they recovered the first fumble.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have A&M with 12 passing plays and 5 running plays.  A&M got into the red zone 4 times and scored 2 touchdowns and kicked 2 field goals.  They did score once from outside the red zone. 

DL:  I thought they played pretty well except for the lost contain and gap control on a few plays.  They put pressure on the QB and help come up with 5 sacks.  You take those 86 yards off of the rushing stat for the Mond scrambles, then A&M rushed for 39 yards. 

LB:   I thought they played well most of the day.  There were a couple of times where I think they may have blown their coverage.  They also had to contain a running QB that could pass.   Harris made a big hit that many people may not have noticed.  On the fumble, Harris blew up the blocker which allowed the other players to make the play they did.

DB:  They had at least 3 bust today.  One led to a wide-open touchdown.  Mond only completed 57% of his passes.  I will say, I think they could do a better job going after the receiver’s arm on plays where the ball is thrown high.  I also think A&M could have been called for at least 3 offensive pass interferences.  On one of the busted coverages, I think Diggs thought he had help over the top, but when Mond scrambled, the safety started to attack the LOS and it left a rec open for a large gain.

Special Teams:  The special teams help Bama a hell of a lot more than they hurt them.  They did have and extra point blocked and it looked like the kick came out low.  They allowed one kick off return which was stopped inside the 20.  Bama gave themselves great field position all day with good kick-off and punt returns.  They scored when they blocked a punt.  Punting may not have been great, but it was effective. 

Penalties:  Bama again had more than 10 penalties.  They continue to hurt themselves and help keep drives alive.  A few of them are not hustle penalties, which can be more acceptable, but mental mistakes which are harder to live with.  I will say a couple of the penalties were questionable.  Also, I don’t usually talk about this, but the penalties were 11 on Bama and 5 on A&M.  Bama was called for 7 or 8 in the second half while A&M had 1. 

Finally, Bama had got to stop hurting themselves.  They also need to get back to scoring touchdowns inside the red zone.  They left points on the field when they settled for 2 field goals in the red zone as well as throwing an interception.  They also had the blocked extra point.  Basically, you could say they left 16 points on the field.  Hopefully, the OL will continue to improve as well as improve the red zone production.

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 17 and Counting