Game notes: USM vs Bama

[hscoach]

                                                                        USM vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama coaches and players on the win.  Bama seemed to make some improvements and was clearly the better team.  One thing SM had going for them, they had 10 returning players on the offensive side of the ball.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put together 514 yards of total offense which included 338 passing and 176 rushing.   For negative plays, I have Bama with 7 tackles for losses, 1 sack and an interception.  I also have them with only 1 three and out.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, Bama had 12 passing plays with 8 in the first half and 6 running plays that covered that distance with 5 of these in the 2nd half.    Bama got into the red zone 4 times and scored touchdowns each time.  They also scored 3 from outside the red zone.  The offense had 10 drives and scored touchdowns on 7 of them.  Six of the drives were 6 plays or under, but one of those was right before the half.  That being said, they did have good field position and tried to move the ball.  Of these 7 drives, the longest was 2:19. 

QB:   Tua completed 81% of his passes going 17 for 21 which accounted for 293 yards.  I did think on one or two of the RPO’s he should have given the ball.  Also, he did miss a deep throw that probably would have scored if he had led the rec and throw it more away from the defender.  Even the long touchdown to Ruggs was a little underthrown.  Most of the time, he was right on target and allowed the receivers to make yardage after the catch.  Jones came in and threw some nice passes, but he made a bad throw for and interception outside the red zone.  Taulia came in and mopped up the victory.  He had one competition on a scramble.  He led the last touchdown drive.

RB:   The running backs combined for 169 yards rushing led by Harris with 110 yards on 14 carries.  Robinson added 39 yards on 8 carries and the youngsters finished it up with 19 yards on 10 carries.  I thought they did a better job hitting the hole as well as pass blocking when called upon.  They continue to be someone the defense must account for in the passing game as Harris had another receiving touchdown.

Rec:  Including TE’s, seven players had receptions.  Again, the big four were the leaders and Ruggs and Jeudy were the leaders in receptions and yardage.  Both had 2 touchdowns.  Missed blocks by the TE and the receivers accounted for a couple of plays where there were tackles for losses. 

OL:  The OL did look better this game.  They still missed a stunt or two, but they seem to get more movement on the LOS.  I don’t know how good the SM DL is supposed to be, but as you can see by the rushing stats, they did do a better job.  I do know Willis missed a block and almost got Tua beheaded from behind.  On one of the sacks the OL got pushed back into the QB, however, that may have been because the coverage was very good on that play.  Again, this game, 73 missed a block on a tackle for a loss where he was just beat off the ball.  I looked like he took a bad step from the beginning.


Def:  I thought defense played better this game especially considering they didn’t miss as many tackles.  The defense gave up 226 yards of total offense which included 174 passing and 52 rushing.  They gave up less yards in the 2nd half than they did the first half, 124 to 102.  As far as negative plays, I credit Bama with 6 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, 1 interception, and a caused fumble with the recovery.  They had 2 three and outs for the day.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, they had 6 passing plays, 3 in each half, and 2 running plays.  They got into the red zone once and scored a touchdown.  This was aided by a 15- yard penalty that put them in the red zone.  The defense did lose contain a couple of times and one was when the player reversed the field and the defense didn’t take good pursuit angles. 

DL:  I thought the DL played a good game.  They stopped the inside run and even got some pressure on the QB when rushing 4 or 5.  I did check a few of the pressures and there were at least 5.  On these 5 two were incomplete, 2 sacks and one competition.  These youngsters are going to have to grow up in a hurry.  I did like what I saw from Barmore.

LB:  They played well and finished off many tackles and had some tackles for losses.  I think it was the 2nd play of the game, Lee was put in a position to have to cover a smaller rec/rb when he lined up on the outside.  He did a pretty good job running with him, but I would hate to see that match up very often.

DB:  They were playing a QB that average over 70% competitions.  They held him to 65% competition rate and most of them were short.  The announcer said they ran a pick play to help score the touchdown or pick up a first down.  The problem with this is the ball was thrown behind the LOS so the rec can block down field.  They did run some rub plays earlier, however this was more geared toward the LB’s.  Diggs had a nice interception.  The SM receivers did make a couple of good catches when they seemed to be covered.  I will say I am impressed with the freshman safety Battle. 
Special Teams:  The special teams were solid as they made all extra points.  They biggest thing that happened was Waddle got a 2nd chance at a punt and returned it 41 yards.  The biggest negative, which wasn’t bad, was a kick-off return that got to the 26 or 27-yard line.

Penalties:  Bama one penalty for 15 yards and it moved them into the red zone on their scoring drive.  I do think Bama benefitted from the calls on SM.  I thought one of the pass interference calls could have gone either way.  Also, the blind side block was a little questionable in my opinion. 

Finally, Bama only punted twice all day.  They cut down on the penalties on both sides of the ball.  The OL got a push on the DL.  I still think there is improvement that can be made on the OL.  In my opinion, the defense got better this week, mainly because they tackled better.

Feel free to comment:

 17 and Counting

[Red Elephant]

Thanks Coach.  I too thought Battle had a good game, he seemed to be everywhere.

Christian Barmore (#58) played on the defensive line on Southern Miss's last possession.  He looks like a beast & I think we will be seeing more of him.

It was good to see Bama clean up the penalties.

Roll Tide!

[Chechem]

Excellent review, coach.  Thank you.   

SM had a successful 4th-down play against us.  They put the QB in motion and ran the wildcat.  Shane Lee followed the QB, and the wildcat ran into the middle, right where Shane Lee had been positioned. 

Any idea how we were supposed to defense that?  With Lee gone, was the other LB supposed to rotate over?

Looked like a good plan by SM.

[Old Tider]

Many thanks, Coach, for the insight.

I see Tua apologized for one play where he got sacked, saying he should have thrown the ball away. Do they still call intentional grounding much? That 5-yard penalty used to be fairly common.

[ricky023]

I agree with RE. I think Barmore has to play more. He seems to be all in the backfield when he plays. The one targeting he got was because he was in the face of the QB. RTR!

[N.AL-Tider]

Many thanks, Coach, for the insight.

I see Tua apologized for one play where he got sacked, saying he should have thrown the ball away. Do they still call intentional grounding much? That 5-yard penalty used to be fairly common.

OT, if the QB is outside of the tackle box then he can throw the ball away as long as the ball passes the line of scrimmage.  If he is still between the tackles then he has to throw the ball "in the vicinity" of an eligible receiver.

[Old Tider]

Many thanks, Coach, for the insight.

I see Tua apologized for one play where he got sacked, saying he should have thrown the ball away. Do they still call intentional grounding much? That 5-yard penalty used to be fairly common.

OT, if the QB is outside of the tackle box then he can throw the ball away as long as the ball passes the line of scrimmage.  If he is still between the tackles then he has to throw the ball "in the vicinity" of an eligible receiver.

Got it. Many thanks, NALT.

[lstephen]

Thanks, coach.  I really liked the looks of Barmore, too!!  Hope we get past Ole Miss with no more injuries and heal up some during the open week.  ROLL TIDE!!!

[ricky023]

Do we have 2 open weeks this year? I just wonder if we can get some defensive players rested. Sat. it sounded as if Raekwon was just a 1/2 sec a step slow. Is this correct? RTR!

[hscoach]

Excellent review, coach.  Thank you.   

SM had a successful 4th-down play against us.  They put the QB in motion and ran the wildcat.  Shane Lee followed the QB, and the wildcat ran into the middle, right where Shane Lee had been positioned. 

Any idea how we were supposed to defense that?  With Lee gone, was the other LB supposed to rotate over?

Looked like a good plan by SM.

You can roll a safety over the man in motion and possibly go straight man, according to the defensive package you have in.  I don't like the inside backer going out and being put in coverage especially if the quarterback is still in the backfield.  Lot less chance of the man in the backfield throwing the ball, especially if the QB motions out.  I think I would rather go man and make the non-quarterback throw the ball against man coverage.  I don't know if the other LB was supposed to rotate over because at this point I don't remember which package was in.

[hscoach]

I agree with RE. I think Barmore has to play more. He seems to be all in the backfield when he plays. The one targeting he got was because he was in the face of the QB. RTR!

Plus, on the targeting call, it looked like he was jumping to block the ball and just missed.  I think that is play where you have to take in consideration what the defensive player is doing, going for a head shot or trying to block a pass and happens to catch the QB in the head.

[hscoach]

Excellent review, coach.  Thank you.   

SM had a successful 4th-down play against us.  They put the QB in motion and ran the wildcat.  Shane Lee followed the QB, and the wildcat ran into the middle, right where Shane Lee had been positioned. 

Any idea how we were supposed to defense that?  With Lee gone, was the other LB supposed to rotate over?

Looked like a good plan by SM.

You can roll a safety over the man in motion and possibly go straight man, according to the defensive package you have in.  I don't like the inside backer going out and being put in coverage especially if the quarterback is still in the backfield.  Lot less chance of the man in the backfield throwing the ball, especially if the QB motions out.  I think I would rather go man and make the non-quarterback throw the ball against man coverage.  I don't know if the other LB was supposed to rotate over because at this point I don't remember which package was in.

I just watched the 4th down play again.  There wasn't another backer in there.  They could have had Mayden bump out on the motion guy and had Jennings responsible for the guy Mayden was lined up over or bumped a safety over and gone straight man which would have left Lee in the middle.

[hscoach]

I pointed out Willis for a miss block, but now I have to give him his props.  On Harris's first run he destroyed one player which in turn took out another player.  On the first 2 runs, to the right, they actually had some good combo blocks.

[Chechem]

Excellent review, coach.  Thank you.   

SM had a successful 4th-down play against us.  They put the QB in motion and ran the wildcat.  Shane Lee followed the QB, and the wildcat ran into the middle, right where Shane Lee had been positioned. 

Any idea how we were supposed to defense that?  With Lee gone, was the other LB supposed to rotate over?

Looked like a good plan by SM.

You can roll a safety over the man in motion and possibly go straight man, according to the defensive package you have in.  I don't like the inside backer going out and being put in coverage especially if the quarterback is still in the backfield.  Lot less chance of the man in the backfield throwing the ball, especially if the QB motions out.  I think I would rather go man and make the non-quarterback throw the ball against man coverage.  I don't know if the other LB was supposed to rotate over because at this point I don't remember which package was in.

I just watched the 4th down play again.  There wasn't another backer in there.  They could have had Mayden bump out on the motion guy and had Jennings responsible for the guy Mayden was lined up over or bumped a safety over and gone straight man which would have left Lee in the middle.

Thanks, coach. 
I'm hoping this play exposed a need for education of Shane Lee or exposed a hole in the scheme.  Thanks USM.  Don't want to see LSU running up the middle on 4th down when our LB isn't in that hole.

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