Game notes: Bama vs OM

[hscoach]

First:   The first thing I want to say is my prayers go out to KD.  It will be a great loss for Bama going forward.  Second congrats to Ole Miss for their not giving up.  To Bama, this is a game you gave away by making too many mistakes at crucial time.

Offense:   The offense made too many mistakes in crucial time of the game to win the game.  They put up 396 yards of offense.  They ran the ball effectively but dug themselves holes too often.  They missed crucial block on 3rd and short D Ball as well as OJ Howard.  They had drops that would have kept the drives alive.  They only had 4 tackles for losses, one sack, and an int.  They only had 2 three and outs while having at least 3 runs for over 10 yards and 6 completions for over 10 yards.  There did seem to be a couple of blown opportunities when watching the replays, but they don’t show the complete field.   Some sad facts here, Bama had a first and10 on the 19 going in and had to settle for a long field goal because of penalties and plays.  They should have had a 1st on the 18 going in on the last drive, but a penalty negated this.  It also looks like the offense is giving the screen away too soon on some of the plays.  They had to waste 2 timeouts on offense which could have been crucial in the final drive.

QB:  Sims made plays, but also missed on some plays.  It looks like on the drop by OJH that C Jones was open over the top for probably a TD.  Now this was not showing he complete field, so someone may have been over the top of CJ.  The 2nd was when he threw to Vogler, it looks like Cooper is open deep for the TD.  Again same thing as before could not see the whole field.  I also thought Sims feet got a little happy too early.  There is a play when Sims didn’t throw the ball away and I think this was because there was a screen called and he would have had men down field.  He would have had to throw it to the feet of the RB.  I do think if he had thrown the ball out to OJH left instead of a little behind he would have had a better chance for the ball.

RB:   TJY played well. He gained over 100 yards and this was against a tough D.  I wonder if Henry didn’t get a little banged up because he wasn’t used late.  It may have been just because of the way TJY was playing. 

REC:  AC was the main focus of stopping the passing game.  OJH had a big catch, but also made many mistakes, 2 holding calls.   Vogler missed a crucial block on a 3rd down and 1 play as did Ball when Bama had him at a TE position.  There were a couple of times when it looked like the routes by recs were not run hard and at times it didn’t look like they adjusted to the scramble very well.

OL:   By looking at the negative plays the OL had a pretty good game.  There were a couple of busted assignments one by the right guard.  This was a big 3rd down play before the half that could have kept a drive alive.  The new center put the ball low and makes the QB take his eyes away from the D which hurts in his reads.

Defense:  The defense made bad coverage mistake that hurt Bama in the game.  The defense had 10 tackles for losses, 1 sack, a blocked PAT, and a fumble recovery for a TD.  They had 3 runs of over 10 yards and 8 passes for over 10 yards.  In all honesty, the play should have been negated by the facemask penalty.  They had 1 three and out and 1 4 and out.  This is not counting the 4 play drive for a TD or 3 play drive for a TD.  The D did a good job on the first drive holding them to a field goal.  There were some missed tackles, especially in the 4th quarter that would have put Ole Miss behind the chains.   

DL:    I thought they did a good job stopping the running game.  Many times, and this is how DD got hurt, the DE came in and took on/out the pulling linemen and stuffed the play.  They were just a step short on getting to the QB, but many throws were quick. 
 
LB:  Both LB’s had some difficult times.  First, RR doesn’t adjust with the motion which should have cost Bama.  Second TD went too flat on the long pass to the TC for the long gain in the second half.  RR did have some big hits on the OM running back and QB. 

DB:   Here was a major problem.  They seem to be extremely confused on who had who on the trips bunch package.  This cost Bama the most in the game.  Ole Miss threw at least 5 back shoulder throws and completed 3 of them.  On the bubble screen Jones went inside and allowed them to get the edge instead of fighting thru the outside should and forcing the player back inside where his help was.

Penalties:  In my opinion this is where the game was lost.  For example Bama had a 1st down on the 19 yard line going in and ended up kicking about a 46 yard field goal.  They had a 1st down on the 18 going in on the last drive have a holding call and have then have a 2 and 13 at the 32.  They still had time and didn’t have to force the ball into coverage. There were also times when Bama would start 1st and 15 which is harder to overcome.  I am not sure, but I would bet most of the penalties where in the second half.  There were penalties on special teams.  A big one was the block in the back which negated a nice kickoff return by Cyrus Jones.

Special teams:   The first couple of kick offs hurt because of not giving the coverage team time to get down there.  When the ball was kicked high they covered well.  There were two missed field goals from 46 and 51 yards.  The big play was the fumble on the kickoff return when Bama should have had good field position because of the Ole Miss penalty. JK Scott did a great job changing field position and averaged over 50 yards a kick.  I know it is only 5 yards, but there was a penalty on delay of game on one punt.

Finally:  Bama mistake came back and caused them to lose to a good football team. These mistakes led to 2 touchdowns in the last 6 minutes.  They did give themselves a chance to win, but made more mistakes on the final drive. 

Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll 
15 and counting

[McBaman]

As always coach, thanks for the insight you provide.

I think you used the word "mistakes" a record number of times in this week's write-up. Team had two weeks to clean up mistakes, but.....  What now?  Is it bad/ineffective coaching, or ??

I think everyone is trying hard to get it right.  For some reason just hasn't come together yet.

[hscoach]

As always coach, thanks for the insight you provide.

I think you used the word "mistakes" a record number of times in this week's write-up. Team had two weeks to clean up mistakes, but.....  What now?  Is it bad/ineffective coaching, or ??

I think everyone is trying hard to get it right.  For some reason just hasn't come together yet.

I don't think it is bad coaching as much as I think it is the pressure of being Bama.

[SUPERCOACH]

I have no idea if this theory is accurate, but I wanted to hear some opinions on it.  My theory is that the gruesome sight of the Drake injury, compounded by his 5 or 6 screams of pain and terror that could be heard on TV, may have caused some on the team to lose their focus.  I can say for a fact that I lost my focus, and still haven't gotten it back 100%.  I'm not saying they were scared to play or anything like that, just that they were distracted and having a hard time focusing on the task at hand, wondering if they would ever see the Drake on the football field again or if this was a career ending Prothro style injury.  These players are close, and when something like that happens it is hard not to think about your friend and wonder how he is doing.

What does everybody think about this theory?

[N.AL-Tider]

I think that theory is definitely plausible.  I wasn't that impressed with our play before KD's injury and it didn't seem to get much/if any better afterwards IMO.  There were several plays that our OL didn't block well allowing our RB to get tackled for a loss or little/no gain. 

[hscoach]

That is a good theory.  However, many of the false starts, this year, have been on the same two players, LB and AK.

[SUPERCOACH]

It seems like it might have been a contributing factor, not the only factor, but a contributing one, particularly with some of the younger players. 

[lstephen]

Thanks for the analysis coach.  Always good to hear your thoughts.

I hadn't thought about the psychological impact of KD's injury but that's certainly plausible  Hope he's able to come back next year.

I've been disappointed this year with OJH's play.  Mistakes, dropped balls, etc.  Do you, hscoach, have any thoughts on this?  Sophomore slump?  I'm not knocking the kid, he will be great before he's through.  Just seems to me to be struggling.

[SUPERCOACH]

Thanks for the analysis coach.  Always good to hear your thoughts.

I hadn't thought about the psychological impact of KD's injury but that's certainly plausible  Hope he's able to come back next year.

I've been disappointed this year with OJH's play.  Mistakes, dropped balls, etc.  Do you, hscoach, have any thoughts on this?  Sophomore slump?  I'm not knocking the kid, he will be great before he's through.  Just seems to me to be struggling.

Good question for hscoach.  I will chime in with this comment:

Maybe CNS and CLK have seen this in practice as well, which could explain why he hasn't been targeted that often so far this year.

[bama87]

Great stuff Coach. My two cents, Henry did not square up the holes. It seemed he wanted to bounce everything outside. He is most effective going straight at them.

Also we kept running left and then stopped, like we were over thinking things. Should have stayed with it.

It is fairly obvious outside of Collins, we are very inexpierenced in the secondary. They will be good but D line needs to be more effective so they don't have to defend as long. Overall this team does lack experience.

[Chechem]

Thanks for the analysis coach.  Always good to hear your thoughts.

I hadn't thought about the psychological impact of KD's injury but that's certainly plausible  Hope he's able to come back next year.

I've been disappointed this year with OJH's play.  Mistakes, dropped balls, etc.  Do you, hscoach, have any thoughts on this?  Sophomore slump?  I'm not knocking the kid, he will be great before he's through.  Just seems to me to be struggling.

Good question for hscoach.  I will chime in with this comment:

Maybe CNS and CLK have seen this in practice as well, which could explain why he hasn't been targeted that often so far this year.

I want to see what hscoach says too. 
Meanwhile I'll say I doubt the coaches have been avoiding plays to OJ due to [whatever].  The interception play apparently was designed as a keep-it-in-your-pocket-for-a-big-moment play.  It matched OJ one-on-one (it appears) with a DB while drawing away the other coverage to Cooper.  Cooper did a quick out to the right, drawing Golson to him.  OJ beat his man deep, but Golson pulled off Cooper and made the play.  I don't think we'd design such a play around OJ if we doubted him.  Seems they wanted someone tall, fast, and capable in that position.  Golson ruined it.

[hscoach]

Thanks for the analysis coach.  Always good to hear your thoughts.

I hadn't thought about the psychological impact of KD's injury but that's certainly plausible  Hope he's able to come back next year.

I've been disappointed this year with OJH's play.  Mistakes, dropped balls, etc.  Do you, hscoach, have any thoughts on this?  Sophomore slump?  I'm not knocking the kid, he will be great before he's through.  Just seems to me to be struggling.

Good question for hscoach.  I will chime in with this comment:

Maybe CNS and CLK have seen this in practice as well, which could explain why he hasn't been targeted that often so far this year.

I want to see what hscoach says too. 
Meanwhile I'll say I doubt the coaches have been avoiding plays to OJ due to [whatever].  The interception play apparently was designed as a keep-it-in-your-pocket-for-a-big-moment play.  It matched OJ one-on-one (it appears) with a DB while drawing away the other coverage to Cooper.  Cooper did a quick out to the right, drawing Golson to him.  OJ beat his man deep, but Golson pulled off Cooper and made the play.  I don't think we'd design such a play around OJ if we doubted him.  Seems they wanted someone tall, fast, and capable in that position.  Golson ruined it.

Too me there are two things.  One did he misjudge the throw or two did the wind first effect the throw.  When I saw it first I thought he should have gone up and high pointed the ball.  I also thought if the ball had been thrown a little more inside he would have a better shot.  Why not throw to the outside route. You still have time to score.

[hscoach]

Did anyone else notice, on the play where Sims almost threw the int to the LB, if he hold the ball a count longer DW clears the LB and has a lot of room to run.

[Chechem]

I want to see what hscoach says too. 
Meanwhile I'll say I doubt the coaches have been avoiding plays to OJ due to [whatever].  The interception play apparently was designed as a keep-it-in-your-pocket-for-a-big-moment play.  It matched OJ one-on-one (it appears) with a DB while drawing away the other coverage to Cooper.  Cooper did a quick out to the right, drawing Golson to him.  OJ beat his man deep, but Golson pulled off Cooper and made the play.  I don't think we'd design such a play around OJ if we doubted him.  Seems they wanted someone tall, fast, and capable in that position.  Golson ruined it.

Too me there are two things.  One did he misjudge the throw or two did the wind first effect the throw.  When I saw it first I thought he should have gone up and high pointed the ball.  I also thought if the ball had been thrown a little more inside he would have a better shot.  Why not throw to the outside route. You still have time to score.

1. The wind had died by game's end to ~5mph, so unlikely (unless it gusted);
2. OJ never saw Golson come from behind him, nor did he expect Golson to leave Cooper (prolly never happened in practice);
3. The LB dropped under Cooper, so Cooper wasn't wide open. 
4.  Kiffin probably wanted that play in ~30 yards of space to get separation for OJ vs the safety.  He had that.
5.  Sims never looked at Cooper.  See the video.

[hscoach]

I want to see what hscoach says too. 
Meanwhile I'll say I doubt the coaches have been avoiding plays to OJ due to [whatever].  The interception play apparently was designed as a keep-it-in-your-pocket-for-a-big-moment play.  It matched OJ one-on-one (it appears) with a DB while drawing away the other coverage to Cooper.  Cooper did a quick out to the right, drawing Golson to him.  OJ beat his man deep, but Golson pulled off Cooper and made the play.  I don't think we'd design such a play around OJ if we doubted him.  Seems they wanted someone tall, fast, and capable in that position.  Golson ruined it.

Too me there are two things.  One did he misjudge the throw or two did the wind first effect the throw.  When I saw it first I thought he should have gone up and high pointed the ball.  I also thought if the ball had been thrown a little more inside he would have a better shot.  Why not throw to the outside route. You still have time to score.

1. The wind had died by game's end to ~5mph, so unlikely (unless it gusted);
2. OJ never saw Golson come from behind him, nor did he expect Golson to leave Cooper (prolly never happened in practice);
3. The LB dropped under Cooper, so Cooper wasn't wide open. 
4.  Kiffin probably wanted that play in ~30 yards of space to get separation for OJ vs the safety.  He had that.
5.  Sims never looked at Cooper.  See the video.

2 is why the play should not have been thrown.  It seems that this was the only that Sims was looking at and the safety read his eyes and came off AC.

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