Game notes: OM vs Bama

[hscoach]

First: I want to congratulate the Bama coaches and players on the win.  Ole Miss came in and played well, but the defense led the way.  The offense needs to play with the sense of urgency that the defense showed.  Bama must improve on offense like they did this last week.  They also have to cut out the mental mistakes/penalties that hurt the team.  

Offense:  The offense quietly put 437 yard up.  There still mistakes that need to be corrected.  They had 11 negative plays.  This included 3 fumbles which Bama kept, but still hurt the drive. I fumble was in the red zone that put Bama behind the sticks.  Also, it included 1 int.  This leaves 7 plays that were tackles for losses and one those was a sack.  Bama had 2 three and outs all day with one 4 and out.  They only got in the red zone twice and got a field goal out of it.  The defensive teams seem to get of the ball well against Bama.  I don’t know if they need to change the snap count more or something in the stance is tipping them off.  They also didn’t take advantage of good field position at times.  Something that you don’t notice a lot and Bama uses it is the unbalanced look.

QB:  I think AJ had a very good game and here is why.  He was 25/32.  This is a good stat alone, but he was under pressure most of the night.  About 3 of his incompletions were on deep ball, one of which was underthrown that could have been a TD.  One incompletion, at least, was when he was scrambling and the recs did not come back well enough to help him out.   The biggest stat I have is he completed at least 5 passes when he was getting ready to be hit.  I think he was hit at least 6 times and one of those was late.  He did a good job directing the team before the half to get points.  

RB:  They ran hard and made positive yardage most of the time.   Both Drake and Yeldon hit the hole hard.  They also displayed good vision and toughness.  

REC:  Eight different players caught the ball which includes RB’s.  Jones again was the leading rec along with Norwood.  Norwood made a great catch when he was covered and AJ threw the ball in a tight window down low.   I would love to see these recs do a better job on the scramble drill.  I will put this here but I am not sure it was a problem.  It looked like a couple of times the recs may have busted a route.  I say this based on AJ reaction a couple of times.

OL:   I am putting the TE Vogler here.   He has got to do a better job.  He missed at least 3 blocks and at least 2 of those led to negative plays.  He missed a block that allowed immediate pressure on AJ and he fumbled.  The OL did make improvements, however they still need to get better.  They continue to put Bama in the hole early with false start penalties.  I know they haven’t, but it seems on every first possession for Bama they have a penalty to put themselves in a hole.  I thought Lindsay came in and played very well.  He may have even played better than Kelley.

Defense:   The defense played well.  They gave up only 205 total yards to a team that was averaging close to 500.  Sixty four of the yards came on 2 plays.  They had 5 negative plays which included a safety, an interception, and a fumble recovery.  I have them pressuring the OM QB at least 7 times, one of which caused the grounding call.  If my stats are correct, he only completed a couple of balls when he was scrambling.  They had 2 three and outs, 1 four and out and two one and outs.  Overall I thought the D did a good job tackling.  

DL:  They played well and were responsible for stopping the running game.  I say this because the safeties were involved with coverage most of the time.  The Ole Miss running back had run for 164 against UT, but Bama held him to 28 rushing and 12 rec.  
  
LB:  I know this sounds like a broken record, but CJ played well again.  It looked like he was the Spy for the OM QB.  TD also had a pretty good job at LB.

DB:   I thought they played well.  I also thought Jackson caused a fumble on the played that was ruled incomplete.  They did a good job coming up and making tackles and covered well enough for the DL to get pressure.  The D line getting pressure make covering guys a lot easier.  There were a couple of bust that allowed recs to be wide open a few times.  

Penalties: This is another game where the opponent had less penalties than Bama.

Special teams:  This was a difference maker in many games.  Bama doesn’t allow big returns very often.  Mandel has turned into a guy that can flip the field for the team. He made a great play on the first punt on the high snap.  Many punters would have panicked and shanked the punt.  Collins is always making plays on special teams.  Besides getting the punt off from a bad snap, the other big play was pinning OM back on the punt right before the safety.  CF hitting the 53 yarder has to be big for his confidence, and it was one of the best balls he has hit on FGs.


Finally:  Bama needs to continue to improve.  This is supposed to be one of the most potent offenses in the NCAA with all of the firepower Bama has on O.  They didn’t show him a lot, but I wonder if AC foot is still bothering him.  The mental mistakes and problems with the OL have to be corrected.  

Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll  
15 and counting

[Marshal Dillon]

I think Lindsay at center did a great job replacing Ryan and will be the full-time guy now. Overall, O-line is still maddeningly a problem child. I do not understand the continuing problems with penalties.


 

[Old Tider]

Special thanks, Coach. The OL is shaky. This is usually because the players are not big enough, quick enough or they are missing assignments.  Would it be one or both of the latter? 

[hscoach]

Special thanks, Coach. The OL is shaky. This is usually because the players are not big enough, quick enough or they are missing assignments.  Would it be one or both of the latter? 

I think it is missing assignments more than anything.  They show signs of doing it right on many occasions. 

[Chechem]

Thanks, hc.  Very well thought out, and good input.

Alabama isn't playing like a championship team yet, but they're improving and playing a crowd of young players.

These next 4 "cupcakes" on the schedule must be times when Alabama improves dramatically. 

And we need a bit of improvement on injury luck.  We didn't need to lose the starting center (Kelly).  That's be a huge loss if he can't return (regardless of how well Lindsay played).

[Bamaphile]

Thanks, Coach.  How long does it take an offensive line to "gel"?  We've got 6 weeks until our next big test.  Is that enough time for them to find cohesiveness, or do you think we'll still have issues then?

[hscoach]

Thanks, Coach.  How long does it take an offensive line to "gel"?  We've got 6 weeks until our next big test.  Is that enough time for them to find cohesiveness, or do you think we'll still have issues then?

That is hard to say.  It is strange to me they seem to do a better job pass protecting than run blocking.

[carl childers]

Good thoughts, coach.  I think Drake showed why he needs more touches in the game. Also, Jackson is going to be a star on at CB, might be better that Milner when all is said and done.

[SUPERCOACH]

Vogler was also responsible for AJ's INT.  We really need Howard to develop quickly so he can start by the time we play LSU, IMO.  Or maybe put Nudie over in that spot.

I think the OL played much better with Lindsay.  I wonder why he isn't the starter.

The RBs need to learn how to secure the ball.  I cringe every time I see one of them flopping the arm with the ball around like a chicken wing.

[hscoach]

Vogler was also responsible for AJ's INT.  We really need Howard to develop quickly so he can start by the time we play LSU, IMO.  Or maybe put Nudie over in that spot.

I think the OL played much better with Lindsay.  I wonder why he isn't the starter.

The RBs need to learn how to secure the ball.  I cringe every time I see one of them flopping the arm with the ball around like a chicken wing.

I hated to keep piling on Vogler, it did look like he slipped which led to the int.

[SUPERCOACH]

Vogler was also responsible for AJ's INT.  We really need Howard to develop quickly so he can start by the time we play LSU, IMO.  Or maybe put Nudie over in that spot.

I think the OL played much better with Lindsay.  I wonder why he isn't the starter.

The RBs need to learn how to secure the ball.  I cringe every time I see one of them flopping the arm with the ball around like a chicken wing.

I hated to keep piling on Vogler, it did look like he slipped which led to the int.

I started watching him closely as the game went on.  I did see him make a pretty good block one time, he just doesn't play with a lot of consistency.

[hscoach]

Vogler was also responsible for AJ's INT.  We really need Howard to develop quickly so he can start by the time we play LSU, IMO.  Or maybe put Nudie over in that spot.

I think the OL played much better with Lindsay.  I wonder why he isn't the starter.

The RBs need to learn how to secure the ball.  I cringe every time I see one of them flopping the arm with the ball around like a chicken wing.

I hated to keep piling on Vogler, it did look like he slipped which led to the int.

I started watching him closely as the game went on.  I did see him make a pretty good block one time, he just doesn't play with a lot of consistency.

He missed more than he made.

[SUPERCOACH]

Vogler was also responsible for AJ's INT.  We really need Howard to develop quickly so he can start by the time we play LSU, IMO.  Or maybe put Nudie over in that spot.

I think the OL played much better with Lindsay.  I wonder why he isn't the starter.

The RBs need to learn how to secure the ball.  I cringe every time I see one of them flopping the arm with the ball around like a chicken wing.

I hated to keep piling on Vogler, it did look like he slipped which led to the int.

I started watching him closely as the game went on.  I did see him make a pretty good block one time, he just doesn't play with a lot of consistency.

He missed more than he made.

True.  I was trying to say something good. 

[hscoach]

I know.  He just didn't look real athletic this game.  OM had a good defensive game plan.

[ricky023]

Great job as always hscoach. I do hope our offense and defense play well next week against Ga. State so we can begin a foundation to build on. We also need those big leads to let the younger players get some playing time. Sometimes I wonder if the younger players are scaring the older play about building a big score because they are afraid the young guys will out play them. You know we have a lot of competition and I feel the coaches will put the best players on the field. JMHO. RTR!

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