NC Game notes: UG vs Bama

[hscoach]

                                             UG vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on a great year.  I know people are disappointed, however, the circumstances were not in Bama favor to repeat.  There were too many mistakes and points left on the field coupled with injures that caused Bama to depend on younger players who didn’t have the experience at this time to come thru.

OFFFENSE:  The offense outgained UG but didn’t put the ball in the endzone often enough when they got in the red zone.  Bama had a total of 399 yards with 369 passing and 30 rushing. The sack yards, in college, comes off the rushing yards which made this look worse than it was.  For negative plays, I have Bama with5 tackles for losses, 4 sacks and 2 interceptions.  Most of the negative plays came when Bama got behind and was trying to make a comeback.  I credit Bama with 2 three and outs and 1 two and out because of an interception.  Plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 14 passing plays and 1 running play.  The bad news is Bama got into the red zone 4 times and scored 1 touchdown.  They were stopped at the 19, 10, and 5-yard line.  If Bama scores touchdowns, instead of field goals, they have and additional 12 points.  Outside the red zone they kicked 1 field goal and had one blocked.  Here are three more points left on the field.

QB:  Young threw the ball 57 times and completed 35 of them which equates to 61 percent.  Out of these 57 attempts he was pressured at least 20 times and hit on many of those.  With these pressures he was also sacked 4 times and completed on 8 of these passes.  Now all of that was not on him as some of the throws were catchable, but the plays were not made.  He did miss a couple of receivers, but most misses were because of pressures or missed play opportunities.

RB: Robinson played well in my opinion. The running yards were tough yards and he picked up the blitz several times.  Early in the game they ran the edge getting 4 to 4 yards an attempt and I thought they should have done it a little more.  Sanders, had 2 carries for 5 yards and made a good catch to get a first down.

Rec:  Williams was having a good game before his injury.  He had 4 catches for 65 yards.  On the play he got hurt on, I think if the ball had been deeper, he probably would have scored.  Also, it may have prevented him from his injury.  Latu had 5 catches for 102 yards and the only touchdown.  Latu was also one of the receivers that could have made a catch and scored a touchdown instead of kicking a field goal.  Hall had 2 catches, Brooks had 7 catches, Holden had 6 and Bolden that 7.  The ball was spread between the many receivers, however, they also missed chances to make plays.  For instance, Hall had, what I thought was a chance for a catch to get a first down or even a touchdown but didn’t complete the play.  I counted at least 6 balls that were catchable, but the plays weren’t made.

OL:  The OL is where this game was won or lost.  They didn’t have the game they did like they did in the SEC championship game.  As you see above, they allowed a lot of pressure on the QB.  They would pick up a stunt and then miss a stunt or just get beat 1 on 1.  I will speak on this later.

Def: The defense played well except for a couple of series in the 2nd half.  Bama gave up a total of 364 yards which included 224 passing yards and 140 rushing yards.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses, 5 sacks, and 2 fumbles 1 which they recovered.  I have them with 5 three and outs one of which was because of their fumble recoveries.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have UG with 11 passing plays and 5 running plays.  UG got into the red zone 3 times and scored 2 touchdowns and kicked 1 field goal.  They scored 1 touchdown from outside the red zone and kicked 1 field goal.  The other touchdown came from the interception return near the end of the game. I really thought Mathis, Harris, To’oTo’o and Anderson played well in the game.  It did look that on one of the long runs, the LB To’oto’o and the DL went in the same gap and left the opening for the big run.  No one was there to fill the gap and make the play.  The defense came up with a couple of big stops, like in the red zone and after the first interception which gave UG field position. 

DL: The DL played pretty well except for a few plays.  However, it wasn’t all their fault because plays were not made by the safeties at the 2nd level.  They occupied all the OL which kept them off the 2nd level tacklers.

LB: Harris had a big game with 7 tackles which include 3 sacks and a tackle for a loss.  To’oto’o made some big plays where he was blitzing and then made the play down field after a short completion. 

DB: Bama goes into the NC game with 2 back up corners which included the 2nd start for one of them.  Again, they had two pass interference call on touchdown drives.   Jackson was in good position on the touchdown pass but just didn’t make the play.  It looked like on the touchdown throw McKinstry gave up he was expecting help on the inside from the safety.   I will also speak about this later.

Special teams: The special teams had 3 problems. One was the big kick off return which was called back for a holding call.  So, it really didn’t hurt.  The second was the kickoff out of bounds which gave UG great field position.  Third and the biggest one, was the missed/blocked field goal which looked to be a result of low trajectory.  Finally, there was a fumble on a punt which Bama got back on.

Penalties:  By the official stats Bama had 7 penalties for 57 yards.  First, there was a delay of game on the defense when they were called for clapping.  On the replay, I didn’t see a clap, but To’oto’o pounded his fist together making the call.  Second, a big one, was a false start on a 3rd and 1 on Owens which turned into a 3rd and 6 in the red zone.  Third, the kickoff was out of bounds giving UG better field position.  Fourth, a face mask call in the red zone which moved to ball closer to the goal line since UG had gotten a first down on the play. Fifth, PI on the touchdown drive.  This took place after Bama had regained the lead from UG.  Six, offsides was declined.  Seventh, PI on the next touchdown drive. Eight, roughing the passer on Battle on the touchdown that was declined. Ninth, grounding by Young in the last drive of the game.   Since 2 were declined, they had a total of 7 penalties.

Finally, Bama had a chance, but it was a difficult road with the injuries this year.  They did an outstanding job with a lot of inexperienced players.  Allen goes down at the beginning of the year, Sanders replaces and he goes down.   However, that put Turner in who played well enough to keep the starting job when Sander could return.  Both corners went down.  Plus, there were offensive linemen who were injured during the year.  That being said with the great recruiting Bama should be able to replace these players.   In the upcoming year there are people who are going to have to be replace because of some players entering the portal.  Also, coaches are going to have to be replaced as I have heard to this date Bama has lost 2.  They need to be better in several areas next year.  First, they have to do a better job on the offensive line.  I read/heard they have given up 39 sacks this year.  I think Mac Jones was sacked 10 times last year.  You take away New Mexico State, Mercer, and Southern Miss.  Most of the sacks came against SEC opponents.  So really the sacks came in 12 of the 15 games.  Second, since the DB coach left, they need to go out and get a top DB coach.  Third, they need to cut down on penalties.  If I heard correctly, there we at least 17 PI calls this year.  Many of those were on touchdown drives.  Fourth, they have to improve their red zone efficiency.  I won’t be surprised if Bama loses more coaches and players.  With all that being said Bama still had a very good year.
Feel free to comment:

18 and Counting

[2Stater]

Thanks again Coach for the great assessments. Yeah, we were held together with popsicle sticks and duct tape and were still a quarter away from winning it all. I knew Georgia would probably give our O line a tougher time after we manhandled them in the SEC Championship game. But the biggest damage came when Williams went down. I think you could hear a collective gasp from the State of Alabama when that happened. All the dropped passes combined with the inability to protect Young, is what did us in IMO.

Now, like you said, we'll have to wait and see who all enters the portal, and how many coaches will need replacing. The portal has already gotten active so the offseason is going to be interesting. What weaknesses and strengths do you see us having next year?

[ricky023]

Great job hscoach as you have been all year. RTR!

[lstephen]

Great job all year coach.  Thanks!  Looking forward to the spring and the 2022 season!

[carl childers]

Thanks for your work in analyzing all these games all year. Really like the detail you go into each game.

I thought this would be an uphill battle to begin with, and when Williams went down, there went any deep threat Bama had. Asking a freshman or inexperienced receiver to step up in a game like this is a lot to ask. Frankly, the loss of Billingsley and Valai is addition by subtraction. I have the feeling that Billingley was a cancer in the locker room. Our DBs have not played the ball well this year - very poor technique. IMO, a change would be warranted with the OL coach and probably OC. We shall see. As far as the team, the fact they made it to Indy is remarkable. Very young and inexperienced, and with the injuries they were held together with baling wire and duct tape. Hopefully next year will be better injury wise - if it is, that team could be special.

[hscoach]

Thanks again Coach for the great assessments. Yeah, we were held together with popsicle sticks and duct tape and were still a quarter away from winning it all. I knew Georgia would probably give our O line a tougher time after we manhandled them in the SEC Championship game. But the biggest damage came when Williams went down. I think you could hear a collective gasp from the State of Alabama when that happened. All the dropped passes combined with the inability to protect Young, is what did us in IMO.

Now, like you said, we'll have to wait and see who all enters the portal, and how many coaches will need replacing. The portal has already gotten active so the offseason is going to be interesting. What weaknesses and strengths do you see us having next year?

Next year, Bama looks like they will have to replace 3 starting receivers.  Good news there is talent there.  The OL will have to be to be reshuffled and looking at the roster, there is some size, but doesn't seem to be a lot of experience.  The problem I saw was the technique many times or line calls for blocking schemes.  With players leaving in the portal, it could hinder the depth.  RB should have depth if they all come back healthy.  Again, with the chance of coaches leaving, with at least one already gone, players will have to get use to a new style of coaching.  I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but some coaches relate to players better than others.  I would like to see Bama get back to using the motion game more like they did when Sark and others were there.  Motion just doesn't help in man coverage, or determine the coverage, but it allows you to move a receiver and make a less talented cover guy play a superior player in zone.  The 1st job I see for Bama is shoring up the offensive line. 

Something I left of the notes was the poor blocking by the TE's in the NC game.

[hscoach]

By the way, how many screen passes did Bama successfully throw to the RB this year?  Many teams use this to slow down a pass rush.

[hscoach]

Fun Fact:

Alabama has a very young team this year and had to overcome a lot obviously. The youth showed against Georgia, and Coach Kirby took full advantage of that, just as Coach Saban would have.

The best part about this year?

The last 3 games, Alabama played a total of 27 Freshman!
Game experience is everything for the Crimson Tide, and this is a great head start on next year!

These young men did give it their best shot last night, without a doubt, I’m sure this experience will fuel them in the upcoming season.

This upcoming season, is looking center-mass for another run at a National Championship!

#RollTide

[Hannibal Lecter, MD]

That's good information about the 27 freshmen, coach!

[ricky023]

Well I sure hope I see one more National Championship before I leave here. RTR!

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