Game notes: MSU vs Bama

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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