Game notes: A&M vs Bama

[hscoach]

                                                                       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.

Feel free to comment:

 17 and Counting

[Red Elephant]

Thanks coach.  Good assessment as always.  The offensive line looks way better.  Still work to do on defense, but a good win in a hostile environment.

Roll Tide.

[hscoach]

Thanks coach.  Good assessment as always.  The offensive line looks way better.  Still work to do on defense, but a good win in a hostile environment.

Roll Tide.

The thing I like best about the defense was a couple of things.  First, they didn't lose contain as often as they have done in the other games.  Second they got pressure on the QB with only 3/4 at times.

[lstephen]

Thanks coach.  Good notes.  Any thoughts on the Smith unsportsmanlike penalty?

[hscoach]

Thanks coach.  Good notes.  Any thoughts on the Smith unsportsmanlike penalty?

No, I think they said it would be handled by the league office.  I don't think he should be suspended.

[2Stater]

Thanks Coach. Great breakdown as always.

I was a little worried about Ruggs only catching one pass. He did have a nice kick return, so I felt better about that. Did he seem to you to have recovered from his injury against Ole Miss?

[hscoach]

Thanks Coach. Great breakdown as always.

I was a little worried about Ruggs only catching one pass. He did have a nice kick return, so I felt better about that. Did he seem to you to have recovered from his injury against Ole Miss?

It is hard to tell.  He may be a little hesitant at times, but hopefully they ball will continue to be spread around.  I hope Jeudy doesn't start pouting since he didn't get in the end zone.  Iua has to get the ball to the open receiver no matter who it is.

[2Stater]

Thanks Coach. Great breakdown as always.

I was a little worried about Ruggs only catching one pass. He did have a nice kick return, so I felt better about that. Did he seem to you to have recovered from his injury against Ole Miss?

It is hard to tell.  He may be a little hesitant at times, but hopefully they ball will continue to be spread around.  I hope Jeudy doesn't start pouting since he didn't get in the end zone.  Iua has to get the ball to the open receiver no matter who it is.

True. There may very well be a little pouting from Jeudy after Tua chewed that azz a little bit for stopping his route. 

[hscoach]

Thanks Coach. Great breakdown as always.

I was a little worried about Ruggs only catching one pass. He did have a nice kick return, so I felt better about that. Did he seem to you to have recovered from his injury against Ole Miss?

It is hard to tell.  He may be a little hesitant at times, but hopefully they ball will continue to be spread around.  I hope Jeudy doesn't start pouting since he didn't get in the end zone.  Iua has to get the ball to the open receiver no matter who it is.

True. There may very well be a little pouting from Jeudy after Tua chewed that azz a little bit for stopping his route. 

I think Jeudy was correct on his route instead of running into the defender.  I don't know how they communicate that.

[ricky023]

Thanks coach as usual very good. I do however think, after watching replay of lsu vs fla and even a bad for clemson, I saw 3 teams that could have beaten us yesterday.
Our defense is young of course, but the mistake we are making would kill us against a good offense.
The penalties is totally stupid and uncalled for because 11 bad plays and that is what penalties are.
Our kicking game is very scary and if we have a game on the line like auburn or lsu who could either easily beat us running the football. JMHO! Please don't be mad at me just choose to share. RTR!

[hscoach]

Thanks coach as usual very good. I do however think, after watching replay of lsu vs fla and even a bad for clemson, I saw 3 teams that could have beaten us yesterday.
Our defense is young of course, but the mistake we are making would kill us against a good offense.
The penalties is totally stupid and uncalled for because 11 bad plays and that is what penalties are.
Our kicking game is very scary and if we have a game on the line like auburn or lsu who could either easily beat us running the football. JMHO! Please don't be mad at me just choose to share. RTR!

Never mad at anyone sharing their thoughts.  I'm not sure Bama's defense, at this point, will allow them to win out.  There are some scary games ahead.

[N.AL-Tider]

Thanks Coach.  I was really disappointed with leaving points on the field when Tua threw the interception and then our defense let aTm drive the field and score. I agree that Smith shouldn't be suspended.  If you watch the replay of that punch, I believe that I saw where the other guy threw a punch and Smith responded really quickly.  If he washes out in football he may have a 2nd career in boxing... 

[hscoach]

Thanks Coach.  I was really disappointed with leaving points on the field when Tua threw the interception and then our defense let aTm drive the field and score. I agree that Smith shouldn't be suspended.  If you watch the replay of that punch, I believe that I saw where the other guy threw a punch and Smith responded really quickly.  If he washes out in football he may have a 2nd career in boxing... 

My question is how did they miss the first punch?  It was obvious.  However, they missed a lot yesterday.

[2Stater]

[hscoach]

 

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