Florida vs Bama:

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the victory versus Florida.  They started out slow offensively, but the defense and special teams put them ahead in the game.   

OFFFENSE:   After a shaky start Bama put together 372 yards of total offense.  They had 133 passing yards and 234 rushing yards.  As far as negative plays, Bama gave up 2 sacks, 7 tackles for losses and had a fumble they didn’t lose.  They had only three 3 and outs and one of them came in the red zone after a turnover where they settled for a field goal.  For positive plays, Bama had 11 runs of 10+ yards and 4 pass plays for 10+ yards.  Bama got into the red zone 7 times where they scored 2 field goals and 5 touchdowns.   They also missed a field goal from right outside the red zone.  Some of the most impressive offensive stats were the two drives in the second half.  Bama had one drive that covered 98 yards and another that covered 91 yards.  On the 98-yard drive, they had to overcome a 10-yard sack which mean they really covered 108 yards on that drive. This was a hell of an answer after a great goal line stand.   They also two offensive possessions when the defense and special teams scored.  The offense did leave 4 points on the field with the missed field goal and the blocked extra point.

QB:  Hurts had his ups and downs in this game.  He made some good decisions and made some poor decisions.  Again, it seems that he locked on his number one rec and didn’t seem to try to look off the defenders.  For instance, on the pass broken up in the end zone, he looked at Dieter the whole way.  Howard was wide open on the backside.   A couple of other things is he didn’t always set his feet and didn’t throw the ball away when he had a chance and took the sack.  Even with all this he did make plays when he needed too.  On the 3rd and 19, Stewart made a good catch to keep the drive alive.  Honestly, if the ball is throw out in front Stewart may have scored.   On the touchdown throw to Dieter, Hurts did a good job keeping the play alive and finding him. 

RB:  They combined for 234 rushing.  Every running back averaged over 5 yards per carry.  They made very good cuts and ran hard.  There were very few times when they were hit that they went backwards.  Scarbrough looks better and better each game.  Jacobs is a person who looks like he can break it at any time.  Harris may not have the breakaway speed, but his vision to make cuts is outstanding.

Rec:  The 4 main receivers made catches.  Stewart, as I said, made a big catch on a ball behind him on a 3rd and 19.  We called this the bad ball drill in coaching and he did it to perfection.  Howard did have one drop and again this ball was behind him.  I hate the TV angle because I can’t see what the receivers are doing on pass routes.  This limits my analysis.

OL:   I thought they played well.  There were times they blew the defenders off the LOS.  The OL sustained their blocks and did a good job getting to the second level.    I thought the TE blocked well when they were lined up in a tight alignment.  On the touchdowns, especially to the left side of the OL Robinson and Hentges did a great job on the double team.  There was a bad snap that did cause a 10-yard loss. 

Defense:  The defense played very well.  They gave up no yards rushing but 261 yards passing.  Most of these yards were accumulated on two drives.  As far as negative plays, I have 5 sacks, 7 tackles for losses and 3 interceptions on of which was returned for a touchdown.  For three and outs these were a little different.  I have them for 7 three and outs or less.  The reason I say this is because 1 was a 1 and out because of the interception.  Also, UF got a first down but then threw an interception which led to a three and out.  Also because of a failed punt fake there was a 4 and out.  For plays that covered 10+ yards, there were no runs and they did have 10 passes.    Florida tried to put Bama in bad situations by using the back out in the flat area and tried to work that area along with getting the ball out quickly.  They did have some success there.  Probably the best thing about the defense is they put Bama ahead before the offense had a chance.  I give them credit, along with the special teams for the first 16 points of the game. 

DL:  They pretty much controlled the LOS.  I think the longest run they had all day was 7 yards.  They didn’t get their sacks until late, but pressured the QB enough to force throwaways as well as the passes that were intercepted. 

LB:  They played well, especially Foster.  They again had to play both the pass and the rush.  When writing, this I haven’t seen the diagnosis on Hamilton, but I expect bad new because of the reaction of the trainer coming off the field.  Evans came in and busted a coverage, but made a huge play in the goal line situation.

DB:  They played pretty well overall.  They did give up a couple of plays, but also made some big plays.  Two of the big plays were on a throwback screen and another where the LB busted the coverage.  Also on one of the big plays, UF caught them in transition from disguising a coverage. 

Special Teams:   This was a huge game for special teams. There were good and bad plays on this side.  Fortunately, the good outweighed the bad.  The blocked punt resulted in a touchdown.  The punt returns by Diggs gave Bama great field position.   As far as the bad you have a blocked PAT that resulted into 2 points.  There was a horrible job allowing the FL player to come right up the middle.  The missed field goal was also a negative here.    Those are points that could be needed in a close game.

Penalties:   Bama had two penalties for pass interference and a block in the back on a kick return.
 
Finally:  Bama did not play their best game and still put 54 points on the scoreboard.  They came out the second half and ran the ball.  Bama only threw the ball 4 times in the second half.  The good thing is there are still things where they can improve.   
Just wanted to say a word about Verne here.  He may not always get things right, but he has been a proponent of the SEC for years.  He has done a job, which is more difficult than people think, for many years.  Good luck in your retirement.

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16 and Counting

Auburn vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the victory versus Auburn.  I really thought the offensive and defensive game plan was outstanding.  This is a game where Bama dominated on both sides of the ball.  However, their mistakes kept Auburn in the game in the 1st half.  

OFFFENSE:  The offense put up 501 yards of total offense.  They had 298 yards passing and 203 rushing.  The crazy part about this is that Bama had more yards in the first half, 263, than they did in the 2nd half, 232.  I say this because they scored more points in the second half, 17, than they did in the first half, 13.  The fact is they killed themselves on drives instead of AU stopping them.  For negative plays, Bama had no sacks, 11 tackles for losses, 4 fumbles (none lost), and 2 interceptions.  Another strange fact here is that 7 tackles for losses were outside the tackle box.  Only 4 were within the tackle box and one was a result of a fumble.  Bama also had only 1 three and out in the game.  For plays of over 10+ yards, Bama had 7 running plays and 9 pass plays that met that criteria.  Bama got into the red zone 5 times and scored 2touchdowns and 3 field goals.  The other touchdown came from outside the red zone.  In the second half, Bama had 4 possessions.  These possessions led to 2 touchdowns and 1 field goal.  The last possession was a 9-minute drive to run out the clock.  

QB:  Hurts played a pretty good game.  However, there were mistakes.  First, I think he overlooked some open receivers looking for Stewart.   With the first interception, he had Dieter open.  It was more of an intermediate route which I think Bama utilized better this game.  Dieter was also open on the second interception as well as the deeper route.  I really can’t explain why these balls were thrown so poorly.  He did make some good throws and did a good job checking down on the TD pass to Harris.  Hurts is also going to have to do a better job with ball security.  I do think hat times Hurts gets comfortable with a rec and doesn’t see the field.

RB:  I thought all of them played well.  Harris fumbled and was fortunate it came right back to him.  I really thought Scarbrough ran tough.  Jacobs also came in and ran well.

Rec:  Stewart had a big game and could have scored again if Hurts had seen him.  However, his drop on the first drive stalled the drive. I also think Stewart got upset on a ball he didn't get but could have done a better job working to the ball.   Ridley made some big catches and Dieter had a chance for more but wasn’t thrown too.  Again, these guys were open especially on the intermediate routes.  

OL:   Too me they had one of their better games.  I thought they did a very good job on what is considered to be a very good defensive line.  If you really noticed, the AU defensive line rarely made contact with the running back on the offensive side of the LOS.  Their defensive line made some plays, but if you noticed the tackles for losses, a few were inside the tackle box which means the OL is making contact on the positive side of the LOS.

Defense:  The defense played an outstanding job.  They gave up a total of 182 yards which included 116 passing and 66 rushing.  They held one of the SEC’s leading rushers to 17 yards on 12 carries.  Bama defensive came up huge in the first half.  Considering the turnovers and the punt return, AU had great field position but could only manage field goals.  Here is an amazing stat for the game.  AU had 10 possessions during the game and 6 of those possessions were 3 and outs.  They only had one first down in the first half and if they hadn’t broken contain on a busted play they may not have had that.  AU had a total of 31 yards in the first half.  As far as negative plays, Bama had 1 sack, 7 tackles for losses, and 1 interception.  I know it is hard, but Bama would have been better off if the ball had been knocked down.  This would have improved the field position.  However, it didn’t hurt since the offensive went on a 9-minute drive to end the game.  For plays over 10+ yards, AU had 2 running plays and 3 pass plays.  AU got into the red zone once and got a field goal out of it.  The other field goals came from outside the red zone.  Something else worth mentioning was the fact that Brown was ejected for targeting and Bama’s defense didn’t lose a step with the changes that had to be made.  Another good sign for the defense was they pressure that was applied with the use of 4 and a few times 5 throughout the game.  I also thought this was one of the better tackling games as there were few misses and the way they went to the ball.

DL:  The DL dominated what was supposed to be the strength of the AU offense.  Their OL was supposed to be one of the tops in the SEC.  Everyone one on the DL made plays and seem to dominate their opponent.  They made the secondary and LB’s life pretty easy.

LB:  They made plays when called upon.  They did a good job no losing site of the ball on all the eye candy Gus likes to use.  

DB:  They really were not challenged much.  The best thing they did was come up and make sure tackles in the running game.  Humphrey was beat one time and looked like he pulled a hamstring. He was replaced by a Jr Wallace who got in on some plays.  Also, Thompson, a freshman came in a played some safety when they went to the dime package.  When Brown went out it moved Fitzpatrick back up and you had Jones and Harrison playing the safety positons.
 
Special Teams:   The only bad part about the special teams was the first low punt that AU returned and set themselves up for a field goal.  Scott made a big play by taking a good angle and pushing the return man out of bounds.  Kick-off coverage was good as well as the punting after the first.  Of course, they only punted once more.  I did think Stewart, if he is going to bring the return out he should not hesitate.  

Penalties:   Bama had 4 penalties for 28 yards.  The bad part of this is that one of the drives in the first half was stalled because they were not able to overcome the penalties on that drive.

Finally:  I thought Bama played well and with emotion.  They must keep this intensity up for the championship drive.  

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16 and Counting

Chattanooga vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the victory versus Chattanooga.  This is a game that should have been no contest, especially with some of the field good position Bama had.   A few things I noticed, the crowd wasn’t into the game.  Also, the players didn’t seem to be playing with the usual emotion.  I also think they gave other teams with similar talent a bit of a blueprint on what hurt Bama.  Also, tonight, Chattanooga was just as physical as Bama was.

OFFFENSE:  The offense was sporadic tonight. Offensively they didn’t put any significant drives together.   They seem to be playing at half speed.  I don’t understand why you run Hurts so much in this game.  I know some were scrambles, but that was because of the route combinations as well as poor blocking.  The offense put together 332 yards of total offense.  They had 136 passing and 196 rushing.  This is one of the lowest totals of the year.  I have Bama for 3 three and outs.  For negative plays, I have Bama with 4 sacks, 5 tackles for losses, and 2 fumbles, one that was lost.  As far as plays of over 10+ yards, Bama had 6 runs and 2 pass plays that covered that distance.  Bama only got into the red zone 3 times.  Two of those were the results of fumbles that were recovered.  When getting in the red zone they scored 2 touchdowns and kicked one field goal.  Two of the touchdowns came from outside the red zone. 

QB:  I really don’t know how to rate this performance.  It looked as though the passing game was either long or short.  I don’t know if there were any real intermediate routes or if he wasn’t reading seeing them.  He did make a nice throw on the long touchdown throw.  But he also missed an open receiver for a touchdown and the contact may have altered the throw.  I do think he didn’t read the coverage very well as the ball was thrown and the receiver hit immediately by a sitting corner.  He didn’t have a turnover, but did have another fumble. 

RB:  Harris ran hard as did Gore. Most of the yards gained by Harris was in the second half.  There just wasn’t a lot of room early in the game.

Rec:  Again, this was hard to judge.  There was one drop that wasn’t a great throw.  Only 4 players got catches tonight.
 
OL:   This was very disappointing.  They were beat at the point of attack in my opinion.  They didn’t sustain their blocks especially in the first half.  Think about this.  Bama only had 14 points in the first half and 7 of those were because of a fumble that the special teams recovered on a punt in the red zone.  The positive was they had no penalties.

Defense:  The defense missed tackles tonight.  They were blocked on the edge especially in the first half.  The numbers looked good, but it looked like only a couple were playing with any emotion.  The defense only gave up 184 total yards, 70 rushing and 114 passing.  As far as negative plays, they had 1 sack, 6 tackles for losses and caused a fumble which they recovered.  The other fumble came from special teams.  Bama had 5 three and outs and 1 two and out because they recovered the fumble.  Chattanooga never got into the red zone and the only score came from outside the red zone.  Chattanooga put together a good first drive where the stop was aided by a penalty. 

DL:  The DL played ok, nothing spectacular that I noticed.  They missed some tackles but made some plays again in the second half.
backfield and they guy was all alone.  They weren’t tested deep very often.   I thought Harrison played ok, but again no one stood out.

Special Teams:   They were solid most of the night.  I think Griffith must have been hurt since he wasn’t putting kickoffs in the end zone.  Overall the coverages were good. 

Penalties:   They had one penalty and it was a block in the back which negated a decent return. 

Finally:  There was a lack of focus and effort.  I am sure Saban is not going to be happy.  They probably gave AU a little hope.  If Bama can’t block Chattanooga’s DL, how do they expect to block AU’s.  This was a great opportunity to get players rested, but it didn’t happen.  As a matter of fact Bama may be in worse shape for the AU game than they need to be.

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16 and Counting
LB:  They made plays but no one stood out. 
DB:  There were a couple of busted coverages, especially when Chattanooga ran the rail out of the

MSU vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the victory versus MSU.  This is a game that could have been a problem for a couple of reasons.  First, Bama was coming off a tough emotional win vs LSU.  Second, players are a creature of habit, the earlier start time is an excuse some teams use when they don’t play well.  This was also a game where it was obvious that Bama was looking to improve the passing game.

OFFFENSE:  Bama put together 615 yards of total offense; 218 yards rushing and 397 passing.  As I said above it was obvious they were working on the passing game, but also they were protecting the beat up running backs since they had limited carries.  As far as negative plays, I have Bama’s offense with 1 sack, 5 tackles for losses, a lost fumble and an interception.  The Tide also had 2 three and outs.   For play of 10+ yards, the Tide had 5 runs and 15 pass receptions that covered that distance.  Bama spent a lot of the day in the red zone.  I have Bama in the red zone 7 times.  Out of these 7 times, I have them for 5 touchdowns and 2 field goals.  Two other scores came from outside the red zone with one touchdown and one field goal.  It seemed that the Bama coaches picked up something on film as they seem to attack the right defensive side of the MSU team.  I also noticed early that there was a new starting right guard. 

QB:  As far as percentage wise, Hurts has a day where he completed 76% of his passes.  However, there were a few of hiccups.  First on the interception it looked as though he was trying to drive the deep ball in there instead of putting some air under it.   Second he did miss a wide-open receiver a couple of times and was off the mark on a couple of throws. Third, out of all the negative plays Hurts was responsible for 3.   Now with all this being said I think he finished stronger than he started.  I thought his accuracy got better and saw the field better.   The TD pass he missed to Howard was in part because Howard slowed down on his route.  As far as Bateman, he came in a did a decent job.

RB:  There are two or three notes here.  First Bama could keep their top running backs from taking a lot of punishment by running the ball.  Second, Jacobs got a chance to shine.  Third, the pass blocking by the running backs got a lot of work today and I thought they did well.  I noticed a couple of times the backs sliding across the formation to pick up the proper rusher.

Rec:  Stewart had a big day and turned some short passes into big gains.  Others mad big catches and moved the chain, especially Howard.  Between the two quarterbacks, ten players had catches.

OL:   I thought they played well.  They had a lot of the day to improve their pass blocking.  There were some key blocks on the OL’s left side as that is where some of the big gains came.  There was once instance where I saw Robinson work combo blocks and get to the next level.  There was also an instance where I saw him basically use a stiff-arm for a block.  I thought for a first start, Kirven played well.

Defense:  The defense played well again today.  They gave up a total of 274 yards which included 94 rushing and 180 passing yards.  As far as negative plays, I have the defense recording 3 sacks, 6 tackles for losses and 1 interception.  I don’t have MSU getting into the red zone at all.  For three and outs I have only 2 three and outs and 1 four and out.  There only score came on a field goal from outside the red zone.  For the plays covering 10+ yards, they had 2 runs and 6 pass plays.  It also looked to me that Bama only attacked with 4 most of the day, especially in the first half.  I also want to mention that it looked like the MSU center was trying to get the Bama player to jump off sides by using his non=snapping hand with a little flinch before he snapped the ball.  I thought that should have been a penalty.

DL:  They played well.  I mean what can you say here.   They do a good job containing the QB and stopping the run.  I do think it looked tried to rip the football out instead of making the tackle. 

LB:  Again they played well.  What I will say is when they get to the ball carrier it looks like they come with bad intentions.

DB:  They were in phase most of the day.  They may not have made the play, but they affected the results of the play.  If the catch was made, most of the time, there wasn’t a lot of yards afterward.  There was a busted coverage which MSU failed to capitalize on.  The other fact was MSU players dropped some catchable balls that would have helped them greatly. 

Special Teams:   For kickoff returns the coverage was good except for one.  The Bama players got out of their lanes a bit and allowed the returner to spits them.  All field goals were good.  The only concern was a low kick on one of them.  Punting was good as well as the coverage.

Penalties:   For penalties Bama had 2 pass interference calls and I think 1 or both were questionable.  It looked to me that they had established position and didn’t interfere.  The false start was a penalty that aided the stopping of a drive. 

Finally:  This was a huge win for a few reasons.  One, a big win after an emotional physical game against a team that came in hot from an upset the week before.  Two, it allowed Bama to rest key running backs and work on the passing game which they needed to do.  Three, Bama got some quality playing time for some backups.  Four, and this is my opinion, Bama looked a little tired on defense at times.

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LSU vs Bama

First congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win vs LSU on Saturday.     This was what is known as grown man football.  LSU is a quality team and they played a heck of a game.  In this game both teams had 5 first downs in the first half.  In the second half Bama had 11 first downs while LSU only had 1.

OFFFENSE:  The Bama offense put together 323 yards of total offense against a very good defensive team who also had a good game plan coming in.  Bama had 107 yards passing and 216 rushing.  As far as negative plays, there were 12 tackles for losses, 1 sack, 1 fumble and an interception.  I credited Bama with 5 three and outs as well as a two and out because of the lost fumble.  On the positive side, Bama had 7 runs of 10+ yards and 3 passes of 10+ yards.  Bama only got into the red zone a couple of times.  Here they turned the ball over on downs and kicked a field goal.  The touchdown came from outside the red zone.  They also missed a field goal outside the red zone.  One important fact that may have hindered Bama, especially in the first half, was the horrible field position they had to start with.  I do think Bama could have adjusted the game plan a little earlier with the way LSU was attacking from the edge.

QB:  Hurts, in my opinion, played a pretty good game.  He did have a couple of mistakes which were the fumble and the interception.  I think on the interception, he expected the receiver to keep running however it looked like the receiver may have settled to avoid running into coverage.  He threw some of his better balls today.  The deep ball he threw was right on the mark which is a pass he has been missing.

RB:  They ran hard against a tough defense.  They were hit hard and when call upon to block they did a very good job.  One key block by Scarbrough allowed Hurts to make a big run on the edge.  Scarbrough seems to be getting better by the game.

Rec:  There were a few bobbles here.  I’m not sure they would have been able to make much off some of these plays but it seemed they were in such a hurry to make the play they didn’t make the catch. 

OL:   The was a hard fought game in the trenches.  They did enough to help win the game.  This is a game where there was going to be wins and losses for each side.  I did think Robinson did a pretty good job and each one had highlight plays during the night.

Defense:  The defense played outstanding.  Bama’s defense gave up a total of 125 yards, which included 92 passing yards as well as 33 rushing yards.  As far as negative plays, I have Bama with 5 sacks, 4 tackles for losses, an interception and a field goal block.  LSU had no runs over 10 yards and only 3 pass plays that went for 19+ yards.  Bama is credited with 7 three and outs and 1 two and out because of the fumble.  LSU never got into the red zone in the game and only attempted one field goal which was blocked.  As I said above LSU had only 1 first down in the second half and if I heard correctly LSU had a total of 25 yards in the second half.  This was aided by Bama controlling the football most of the 2nd half.  One thing very important was there were few missed tackles.

DL:    They all played well.  Because of the huddling of the offense they were able to rotate players in and out.  Whoever they put in did their job well.

LB:  As usual they did a played a good game.  They may have missed coverage on the tight end delay but they were always in positon to make plays.

DB:  They were not challenged very often. The one big play they had the corner overran the play and allowed the receiver to pull up and catch an underthrown ball.  This one play was 41 yards of their total offense.  I also think Brown did a pretty good job for his start and Harrison is doing a better job in coverage.

Special Teams:    Another missed makeable field goal. This really needs to be cleaned up.   There was fumble on one punt that was recovered by Diggs.  Most of the special teams were okay and no huge problems.

Penalties:   Bama had 6 penalties for 29 yards.  The one that probably hurt the most was the false start by Pierschbacher.  However, I will say that I didn’t see it even on the replay.  I also wonder about one false start from Robinson.  He seemed to act like the LSU player did something to cause this.

Finally:  Bama has some big games left.  MSU had a huge win which should give them some confidence.  Hopefully Bama won’t read their press clippings as they say and continue to improve. 

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16 and Counting

A&M vs Bama

First congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win vs A&M on Saturday.     It was a very good performance against a quality team. 

OFFFENSE:  The Bama offense had 481 yards of total offense.  This is broken down into 164 yards passing and 287 yards rushing.  They had 7 running plays of 10+ yards and 6 pass plays for 10+ yards.  As far as negatives, Bama only had 1 three and out.  They also had 3 sacks, 12 tackles for losses, 1 fumble which wasn’t loss, and 2 interceptions.  They got into the red zone 5 times.  Here they scored 2 field goals and 2 touchdowns and had one missed field goal.  They could have put this game away early with by putting the ball in the end zone early.  Bama also scored one time from outside the red zone.  You could say Bama possibly left numerous points on the field because of not putting the ball in the end zone as well as the missed field goal.

QB:  Even though Hurts threw 2 interceptions I thought he played well.  Again, he made big plays with his legs.  The long touchdown run was a scramble and made people miss and set up his blocks with the run.   I thought he threw the ball better in this game.  His did miss some passes but they were not underthrown as much or off target as much.  Again, if this part of his game improves he will be even more of a weapon.

RB:  They ran hard and made tough yardage.  I also noticed they did a pretty good job pass blocking.  I honestly think Bama has 3 legitimate running backs.

Rec:  Howard had a pretty big day.  They did a good job blocking downfield and allowed the running backs to gain extra yards. 

OL:   Even with the negative plays I think they played well.  Some of the negative plays were outside the box where the OL wasn’t involved.  The sacks were more coverage sacks as opposed to missed blocks.  I thought they sustained their blocks and got to the second level several times.  They opened holes for the running backs to get thru.

Defense:  The defense played well.  They gave up 278 total yard which included 164 passing and 114 rushing.  If the stat I saw was correct A&M had 150 yards at half time, much which came on their last drive before half time.  This means they were held to 128 yards the second half.  As for negative plays, they had 5 sacks, 11 tackles for losses, caused 2 fumble and had an interception.  Again, the defense scored as one of the fumbles was returned for a touchdown.   Bama’s defense had 2 three and outs.  As far as plays of 10+ yards there were 8 runs and 7 passes.  The Bama defense made Knight’s day very uncomfortable in the pocket.  I didn’t count, but he was hurried or flushed several times.  I have A&M getting into the red zone once and they scored a touchdown.  A major contribution to this was when the defense lost contain on a scramble and allowed Knight to run 27 yards right before half time.  The other touchdown came from outside the red zone.  I will say that A&M got away with a chop block on the Bama player who was blitzing. 

DL:    They played very well except for a few times they lost contain.  I say they played a good game because of all the pressure they put on Knight.

LB:  This is a solid group.  Every week they play well.  This was another game plan where they had to be ready for the run pass options. 

DB:  I thought they played well again.  There were very many throws that weren’t contested.  Sometimes the QB puts the ball in the correct place.  I did see, I think it was Averett, going for the ball on a taller rec where he should have been going for the arm.  I also think the A&M’s players foot came down on the line and the catch should have been negated.  I thought Jones played pretty well as it looked like Bama played with 6 defensive backs a lot of the day.

Special Teams:    Another missed field goal.  This one was very makeable.  Most of the special teams were good.  There was good coverage on the kickoffs except for one but it wasn’t a huge return. 

Penalties:   Bama had 7 penalties for 44 yards.  The biggest one was declined because the offense continued to play when they caught Bama offsides.   The D line stopped instead of continuing the play which allowed for a 33 yard completion.
 
Finally:  Bama continues to improve and played thru and extremely tough stretch.  However there season is not finished.  They still have two extremely tough opponents coming up with LSU and Auburn.  Both seemed to have turned their seasons around.  There is still work to be done on both sides of the ball.  Also, you now have to find a replacement for Jackson.

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16 and Counting

On the 8th day of the new sun
the script A will appear in a crimson sky
A herd of 98 elephants will trample a faceless enemy
until nothing remains but the golden lipstick

Bama vs Tennessee

First congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win vs Tennessee on Saturday.     It was a dominating performance on both sides of the ball.

OFFFENSE:  The offense put 594 yards of offense on the board.  They had 438 yards rushing and 156 passing. They had 5 scoring drives of 91, 65, 51, 75, and 86 yards.  Now for negative plays, I have Bama for 0 sacks.  The official stats have them with giving up 2 sacks.  One was a QB running play that I guess they thought was a pass play, but if you watch the receivers they are blocking downfield.  I call that a tackle for loss.  The other sack was the fumble and I guess you should count that as a sack.    As far as other negative plays I have 9 tackles for losses, 2 fumbles (1 lost) and an interception. According to my stats, I have Bama for 2 three and out one of which was the fumble.   I have Bama getting into the red zone 5 times.  They hand and interception, missed field goal, scored 2 touchdowns, and turned the ball over on downs.  As far as play for 10+ yards, I have 17 runs and 5 passes.  Three of the touchdowns came from outside the red zone. 

QB:  Hurts ran the ball well.  The fumble was not his fault because Robinson was beat from the beginning give the Tennessee player a clean shot at the QB.  On the interception the play was messed up from the beginning when the center stepped on the QB’s foot.  With that being said he should have taken the sack since they were in scoring position.  The big knock is throwing the ball downfield.  At times it looks like he is grasping the ball too tight.  He doesn’t always throw a pretty ball it has a lot of wobble.  If he ever cleans this up he will be a heck of a QB.  Overall he made good decisions most of the day.
RB:  They ran well.  They had a lot of big holes to run thru.  This is obvious since there were 17 runs of 10+ yards.  The times they were ask to block on pass plays they did fine.   The good thing is there are 4 quality backs.  I see a totally different player in Harris this year.  Scarbrough shows the power and speed.  I didn’t like him putting his hand in the face of the Tennessee fan.  Jacobs shows a burst and toughness every week and Emmons is a tough runner with some quickness.

Rec:  They did well especially blocking.  Ridley had a block and the announcer gave him credit for another drop on a ball that bounced before it got to him.  The bad part is they were open several times but the ball wasn’t delivered where they had a chance to catch the ball.  Diggs, is lost at times.  On the one pass thrown toward him Diggs missed the hot read with the corner coming off of him and Hurts read it and threw it.  Also, I think he was responsible for not lining up properly that may have led to a timeout.  Finally, on one of the best throws Hurts made, Diggs was in the area and probably ran his route a little too deep putting another defender in the area.   

OL:   Overall, I think they played well.  There were a few busted assignments but that is going to happen when you run so many plays, 76.  The big one was the missed block by Robinson that led to the fumble and the only touchdown Tennessee scored.  I also think they were slow getting out on a screen pass once. 

Defense:  The defense played outstanding.  They gave up a total of 163 yards.  Tennessee had 131 passing and 32 rushing.  I will say after the first few plays where Tennessee gained a few yards on the edge I thought it was going to be a tougher game because of the run.  However, the defense tightened up and clamped down on the running game.  As far as negative plays I have Bama with 3 sacks, 10 tackles for losses and 1 interception which went for a touchdown.  For 3 and outs, I have the defense with 6 three and outs one of which was the interception.  Tennessee had 2 runs of 10+ yards and 6 passes of 10+ yards.  They only got into the red zone twice.  Once was because of the fumble and they scored a touchdown while the other drive ended just inside the red zone, on the 19 yard line, which led to their field goal. 

DL:    They had a very good game. They kept the running game in check and they applied pressure on the QB.  As the announcers said during the game, they got in the QB’s head with pressure as he was looking to get the ball out of his hands in a hurry.  It is obvious with the stats that they dominated the OL of Tennessee.

LB:  Again they played well.  It is hard to imagine how difficult these games are on LB’s.  As a LB you have run responsibility especially with a running QB.  You have coverage responsibility and you have to make the calls and get people lined up. 

DB:  This was one of their better games.  Most completions were thrown underneath and the corners were not challenged very often.  I don’t think Humphreys gave up a reception over 10 yards and came up and made the plays on the short passes.  I also think the only 10+ yard reception Averett gave up was when he dropped too deep on the bunch formation Tennessee shifted into and there was probably a bust in the coverage.  Most of the 10+ yard passes were against Fitzpatrick.  One of them I thought the receiver got away with a push off.  However, Bama got away with using the hands a couple of times themselves.  I thought Harrison did a better job in coverage and played better.

Special Teams:    The main concern here was the missed tackles and big returns both punt and kickoff.  It looked at times they were going too early for the strip instead of the tackle therefore missing tackles.  The other concern was the missed field goal. 

Penalties:   Bama had 5 penalties for 38 yards.  Most of the time they overcame them.  I guess the worse was the false start by Robinson which put Bama in a 3rd and 15 and just allows the DL to tee off.  This is the series where the fumble was caused by the sack. 

Finally:  Bama has improved the last two games especially with the offensive line in my opinion.  It looked like Tennessee was playing their safeties close to help with the run and daring Bama to throw the ball. I mean there are throws where they were not even close to the receiver.  Bama needs to be able to throw the ball downfield.  If this happened and they keep improving, then they will be very difficult to beat.  This next week will be tough.  The other concern is getting a team up 3 straight weeks in a row and not allowing them to think they are where they need to be.

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16 and Counting

Arkansas vs Bama
First congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win vs Arkansas Saturday.  This was a huge win going into the toughest stretch of Bama’s schedule.  
 
OFFFENSE:  Bama had 517 yards of total offense.  This included 253 yards passing and 264 rushing.   Bama had 3 three and out, one of which ended because of an interception.  Also, these were all in the second half.  As far a negative plays Bama had 6 tackles for losses, 3 fumbles (two were lost), and 1 interception.  For plays of over 10 yards, Bama had 6 runs and 8 passes.  Bama’s offense put 35 points on the board and fumbled 3 times in the red zone and lost 2 of them.  The offense did get into the red zone 5 times where they scored 3 touchdowns and lost the two fumbles.  Two touchdowns came from outside the red zone.  The other 14 points came from the defense.  Bama opened the game with one of the best drives of the year for them.  However, they did come up empty because of the fumble.  Even with the turnovers it was one of the better performances by the offense.  

QB: Hurts had a good game.  The interception was something I think he could have avoided.  I know he was hit, but I thought he had a chance to step up in the pocket and either run or get rid of the ball.  It also looked to me that he was getting ready to throw deep to a player who was double covered.  Now it has been said that if they offensive and defensive players are even then the defender is beat.  Hurts really didn’t have a lot of running room in this game, but I think it opened up the runs for the other players.  The big knock again is the balls that are thrown behind the receivers.  

RB:  I thought they all ran well.  There were very few times they were hit behind the line of scrimmage.  A couple of the tackles for losses were when the players slipped.  They also did a good job on the screens.  

Rec:  I thought they caught the ball well especially since some ball were thrown behind them.  Also, Stewart went up and took the ball from the defenders when the ball was thrown into coverage.  I also thought they did a pretty good job blocking especially on the edge on the TD runs by Hurts.

OL:   I thought this was one of their better games.  They gave up no sacks and very little pressure.  The OL stayed on their block longer and had some good combo blocks and got to the second level.  I really think the threat of the QB run helps give the OL better angles on the running plays.  There was only 1 penalty on offense and it was a false start.

Defense:  Despite the statistics the defense played well.  They gave up 73 rushing and 400 passing.  Because of the two defensive scores they had to defend a couple of extra possessions without a break.  Aa far as negative plays, I have Bama for 7 sacks, 5 tackles for losses, 3 fumbles two of which were recovered and one returned for a touchdown as well as one created by special teams, and 3 interceptions one of which was returned a 100 yards for the touchdown.  For three and outs, the defense had 2 in the first half and 3 in the second half one of which ended in an interception.  One of the three and outs in the first half was really a two and out because of the fumble return for the touchdown.  For positive plays of 10+ yard, I have Arkansas for 4 runs and 15 passes.  I have Arkansas reaching the red zone 5 times.  Here they kicked one field goal and scored 3 touchdowns, they also threw an interception that went for a Bama touchdown.  The other score came from outside the red zone when they ask Anderson to cover the TE in open space.  They did give up a few less yards in the second half and they did get some valuable playing time for the backup DL in the 4th quarter.

DL:    The did a heck of a job stopping the run.  As you know Arkansas’s coach prides themselves on a big physical OL.  They were out manned by the Bama defense.  They did lose the edge a few times and it hurt in completions.  I really thought Payne had a very good game and had a pancake block on the fumble return for the touchdown.

LB:  I thought they played very well.  This is a team that utilizes play action and puts a lot of pressure on the LB’s.  The coverage situation Anderson was put in to cover the TE was very difficult.

DB:  It is hard to assess these guys sometimes.  First they seem to be in position but haven’t made some plays.  Now part of this is the quarterback puts the ball in the perfect spot and the receiver makes the play.  There just aren’t a whole lot of times where they are completely beat by the receivers.  I thought Harrison had a better game and actually got away with a penalty.  On Humphrey’s penalty I thought he was in positon but just got there a bit early.   I also have 4 pass breakups and 2 of them were by Fitzpatrick.  

Special Teams:    The special teams created a turnover that led to a Bama touchdown.  Jones forced the fumble with a good strip.  The only concern on special teams was the decision making by Marks who may need to make better choices on kick-off returns.  There were a couple of kick-off that could have been better but were covered by the team pretty well.  Jackson handled the punts and didn’t lose any field positon here.

Penalties:   Bama had 6 penalties and 4 of them were in the first half.  The offense had only one when there was a false start.  Special teams had one when they called holding on the kick-off return.  The one roughing the quarterback was a bad call in my opinion.  What is the guy supposed to do when he is on the ground get up to make the sack.  Plus, the OL help put him on the ground.   It was a great hustle play on his part.

Finally:  I thought the offense looked good, but still has room for improvement.  If they continue to improve the way I feel they did from the last game to this game, it could be a very good season.  Bama still has a tough stretch coming up.  

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16 and Counting