Game notes: MSU vs Bama

MSU vs Bama

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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