Crimson Red Sports

                                                                                   Arkansas St. vs Bama
First, congrats to the Bama coaches and players on a great victory.  Even in the one-sided game you can see there needs to be some improvement. 

OFFFENSE:   The offense put together 599 yards of total offense.  They had 321 passing and rushed for 278.  As far as negative plays, Bama had 4 tackles for losses, 1 sack, and 1 fumble which occurred in the red zone.  Bama also had three 3 and outs and 2 of those came late in the 4th quarter.  For plays that covered 10 plus yard, Bama had 13 running plays and 11 passing plays.  Bama got into the red zone 5 times and scored 4 touchdowns.  They fumbled the other trip in.  They scored 3 touchdowns and 1 field goal from outside the red zone.  The other things that stood out to me from the offense is they missed on a third and 1 and even lost a yard.  Either check out of the play or the OL must get a better push.  The other thing that stood out to me is that the QB’s were under pressure several times in the game.  I have Tua getting pressured on 8 of the 19 passes he threw and Jalen getting pressured on 3 of the 9 passes he threw. 

QB:   Tua and Jalen both had good games.  Neither did anything to hurt the team.  However, Tua did throw one pass that should have been intercepted.  Both QB’s threw at least one TD when they were pressured.   

RB:   N. Harris had a big game averaging over 10 yards a carry.  Other RB’s played well with D.  Harris being the next being the next best statically averaging over 5 yards a carry.  I think N Harris improved on his pass blocking.   

Rec:   Six different receivers caught passes, not counting running backs.  JJ had the most receptions; however, he was tied with I Smith a tight-end.  This seems to be an area that is being used more than in the past.  Six of the touchdowns went to receivers which included 5 different players.  Since there were a few longer runs this game I was able to see the receivers doing a pretty good job blocking downfield.

OL:  Even though I think they played better this game, there is still improvement to be made.  You have a third and 1 and you know the snap count and get beat off the ball is not a good thing.  The QB’s were pressured on 11 of the 29 pass attempts.  Fortunately, they only gave up one sack and the QB’s were able to make plays at times.  I do think they can be a very good OL as it did seem they got to the second level on the running plays better this week than they did last week.

Defense:  The defense played pretty well but there were some mistakes, especially missed tackles.  Again, they lost contain and allowed a run for a first down.  They gave up a total 391 yards of total offense, 391 passing and 173 rushing.  As far as negative plays, Bama had 3 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks and an interception that was returned for a touchdown.  This is the 2nd straight game the defense has scored.  They had another opportunity, but the interception attempt was dropped with a wide-open field ahead of him.  Bama had 6 three and outs and one 2 and out as a result of the interception.  Four of the 3 and outs, along with the 2 and out, took place in the 1st half.  Arkansas St. had 7 pass plays that covered 10 plus yards and 6 running plays that covered 10 plus yards.  Many of these came in the 2nd half.  They reached the red zone twice and never scored.  They were stopped on downs once and missed a field goal the other time.  Their touchdown came from right outside the red zone.  One thing that stood out was the pass plays by Arkansas State.  They threw the ball 51 times and I have only 5 of those throws going over 10 yards.  Most of the throws were in the under 10-yard range and the yards were made after the catch.   

DL:   They played ok, and I say this because of missed tackles.  They allowed extra yards because of this.  They again lost contain on a play or two that allowed for additional yards.  Buggs only played a half and had a pretty good game.  He was in on 5 tackles and one of the sacks.  It is hard to get much pressure on the QB when the ball is thrown so quickly and short.

LB: They played pretty well.  They had to play sideline to sideline with the short passing game., many of which went to the backs.  Moses had the other sack in the game. 

DB:  I thought again they played pretty well.  The main problem I saw was the inside receiver slant that was thrown several times and completed.  I thought they may have played a little too loose on the coverage.  I don’t know what techniques is being taught so it is hard to say for sure.  It seemed this was done away from the LB where it is was hard for help to get there.

Special Teams:  There were a few mistakes in this area.  The fumble on the punt didn’t really hurt since Bama recovered the ball.  The 2 missed extra points are not good and could be important in a close game.  I think Bulovas took over and did a very good job and we may see him for the rest of the year.  Kick off coverage, when they return the ball was good. 

Penalties:  Bama had 4 penalties for 35 yards a huge improvement over last week.  I do think they were fortunate on one penalty called on AS since the Bama player went to the face of the AS player on the punt but didn’t get caught.  The pass interference was something that I think could have been a no call as it looked like the receiver went into the defensive player.  N Harris had a holding call on a pass play, however the team overcame that play and scored.

Finally, this is a game that allowed many players to get experience.  Something that is needed for the backups since many of the backups from last year are starting this year.  Bama left points on the field again.  Two missed extra points and another fumble in the red zone.  I do think they improved from the last game and hopefully they will continue to improve.

Feel free to comment:

17and Counting

Thanks, Coach!  With Ole Miss giving up lots of points it seems to me that our first "real" test will be A&M who looke pretty good last night against Clemson.  Your thoughts? #+

I should add that, based on last season, Arkansas State should be a decent team so yesterday's performance by BAMA may be better than it looks at first blush.  ROLL TIDE!!!

Excellent assessment and review, coach.  Thanks much.

Jalen seemed to be much sharper running the offense this game, and his passing was accurate.  Maybe the rumored agreement with CNS settled him.  Or maybe he turned a corner.   :dunno:

Either way, Tua clearly is the better passer.  Tua should have had an interception (dropped), but he's a special talent; we'll have to live with his mistakes.

The OL is a worry, as you said.  I don't think Ole Miss is weaker than Louisville or ASU, so expect QB pressures again this week.  We need to clean this up (didn't we say the same thing first games last year?).  http://www.crimsonredsports.com/index.php?topic=48087.0

Fun team to watch now.  Waddle will be a STAR if he stays healthy.  

Just hope the DL and LBs stay healthy.  Fingers crossed.

Thanks much for your work.  Start recruiting another place kicker asap!!   :wave:

I think A&M will be a very close game.  I watched the game last night and thought they played a lot harder than last year.  I have a friend who is a huge A&M booster and he told me when Jimbo go to A&M he met with RC Slocomb, who still has job at the university.  He ask RC what had been going on with Sumlin.  RC said he never saw them run a spring the whole time Sumlin was there and they played music so loud at practice he didn't know how the coaches coached the players.  My friend said Jimbo's response was, That sh*t is going to change.

Good report, Coach! Really appreciate you taking time to do it for us.

Thanks Coach. Spot on as always.

I see Ole Miss testing our DBs early and often. I think it will be important to put as much pressure as possible on Ta'amu. The Ole Miss receivers are a very talented group. How do you see our DBs stacking up against their receivers and do you think Ole Miss can handle our O at all?

I really haven't seen OM so it is hard to say.  The D will need to get pressure on the QB which is one of the best ways to help coverage.  I really think the DB's for Bama have been doing pretty well.  I really haven't seen them out of position a whole lot.

Thanks hscoach. Great as always and next week I want there be a great report for something like we beat OM really bad. lol, RTR!

Thanks for the assessment HS.  I'm looking forward to seeing the level of competition increase when we go against other SEC teams.

Thanks, coach. Great job, as always.

I hope we get our kicker problems fixed sooner rather than later.  :-\

Thanks as always Coach. Offense does not worry me with the Rebel Landshark Black Bears, as FCS team Southern Illinois (Mrs. cbbama's grad school, by the way. Good job, Salukis!) was able to hang 41 points on them. Totally agree that pressure from our front 7 will be the key on defense, 'cause the RLBB's can score.

We are going to have to get tough on "D" because OM will be after us. They seem to always play their best game of the year against us. RTR!

If our DBs don't step up to this challenge then SC may have to see that 98 point output by Bama to get the win.  Fortunately, I believe they are definitely capable...

I just looked at the OM?SIU stats and SIU put up 629 yards of total offense on OM, 388 passing and 241 rushing.  I would think Bama may try to run the ball and keep the ball away from OM.  Two of OM's rec's had 8 and 7 catches with one other having 4.  Fortunately for OM they had 2 picks and didn't turn the ball over. 

I got a feeling this will be a good game. For some reason OM always plays us tough except for a couple of games. RTR!

They can only play us tough when they buy recruits.  HTH.