Game notes: OSU vs Bama

[hscoach]

First:   Congrats to Bama on a good year.  I know this isn’t how we all wanted it to end, but it did.  These notes will be short since I can’t watch the game again at this point.

Offense:  The offense was a Jekyll and Hyde offense.  At times they looked great, but then in crucial times they could not get a 3rd and 2.  They failed to convert on third down most of the night when they had less than 4 yards to go most of the time.  I have Bama for only 9 negative plays, but they were huge.  There were 3 tackles for losses, 3 sacks, and 3 interceptions, one which was returned for a TD and the other to end the game.  The one that was returned for the TD was great film work by OSU.  I don’t know if it was an automatic on that formation or called but they knew exactly where Bama was going with the ball on 3rd and 5.  They had four 3 and outs and most were in the first half.   There was a 1 and out when Bama got the turnover and then threw the int in the red zone.  Bama had 5 running plays for over 10 yards and 6 pass plays for over 10 yards.  The main problem was they could not sustain a drive early in the game.  They had 4 trips in the red zone and scored 4 touchdowns and 1 touchdown was scored from outside the red zone.  I will say I thought Bama could have had better clock management in the end.  By clocking the ball a couple of times I thought they could have run at least 2 more plays. 

QB:  Again a tale of two QB’s.  He played well at times and didn’t at others.  At times I thought he was looking at the pass rush instead of downfield.  With this being said, I want to congratulate Blake on a great season.  Many of us didn’t think he would be the starting QB this year and if he was didn’t think they would have a chance to get to the NC playoffs.

RB:    They ran hard when given the chance.  The problem was they were hit quickly on the short 3rd down runs.

REC:  The biggest problem with the rec’s was a drop ball by DW that would have kept the drive alive.  If he makes this catch, then the ball does not go over to OSU allowing them to go down and score and make it a 21-20 game right before half.    They also were not allowed to get deep very often.

OL:   Again, blocked well on some plays missed blocks on crucial plays.  One the first TD run the blocking was outstanding, but then they couldn’t come back and get a 3rd and 2.    I know BV whiffed on one block take cause a tackle for loss which led to a punt. 

Defense:  This was a game of big plays given up by the defense.  Here is the oddest part of the game.  Bama had 7 tackles for losses, 4 sacks, a fumble recovery, and an interception for negative plays.  They had 4 three and outs and 1 one and out.  Most of these stops came in the last of the 3rd and 4th quarter which gave Bama an opportunity to come back and put the game away.  They had at least 9 runs for 10+ yards and 9 pass plays for 10+ yards.  OSU was 10 for 18 on 3rd down conversions most of which were 8+ yards.   This inability to get off the field was a killer for Bama.  There were also many missed tackles.  I will say OSU backs ran hard and there were very few times when they didn’t fall forward to complete a run.  One positive was Bama’s red zone D kept them in the game early.

DL:  At times good at times it looked like they played too high and didn’t get off blocks.  Also, on their pass rush they went too far up the field allowing a wide escape route for the QB to scramble with success. 

LB:  Many times they would have to fight off linemen getting to the second level on them.

DB:  Cyrus Jones played a pretty good game.  Eddie Jackson gave up another big ball; however he did make some plays.  It did look like Washington took a bad angle on one deep ball.  OSU had great success passing the ball deep in the middle of the field when Bama had a 2 safety look. 

Penalties: The worse penalty of the night for Bama was when they had a big hit on a short kickoff return and taunted the player which gave them a lot better field position.  I am not sure on the EJ pass interference because it looked as if the ball was tipped.

Special teams:   All kicks were good. Scott is a stud.   AG looked a lot better with form and the height of his kicks.

Finally:   Bama had a good year and deserve a lot of credit.  The bad part, and some of you are not going to like to hear this, is maybe the SEC was not as good as we thought it was.  The top 4 SEC west teams lost their bowl games.  What was supposed  to be the strength, defense, left a lot to be desired. 

Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll 
15 and counting

[lstephen]

Thanks for the notes, coach.  And thanks for doing this all year.  Always much anticipated.

All things being equal I think this team overachieved.  Kiffin and Sims were really pleasant surprises.  Going into the season I thought 9, maybe 10 wins, mainly because of the QB question mark.  So, I'll have to be satisfied with that and an SEC Championship.  I'm enforcing the 24 hour rule (nearly up) on this game and getting ready for National Signing Day and Spring Practice.

ROLL TIDE!!!!

[SUPERCOACH]

Thanks Coach.  It is still hard for me to think about this game.  One thing I have been wondering about is why we didn't take any shots downfield.  Even if we don't hit them it softens up the defense, so maybe we can convert on some of those 3rd downs.  I suspect that we were too concerned about their pass rush and didn't think we would have time for the route to develop.

[bama87]

Great stuff all season HS. I have taken my time to post. I thought the D in the second half was pretty good minus the 85 yard TD. When we got a pass rush we did well. When they rushed past or outside their lanes, breakdowns happened.
Sims pick in plus territory was killer. I thought we should ground and pound. Take some time off the clock and power it in. I also thought we gave up on the sweep. We were making good hay with that.
All that said, we overachieved. Kiffin took an unproven qb and got 12 wins out of it. I think Coker will be fine, but we should work in another qb so we are not in this situation 3 years in a row.
Work needs to be done on the back end of the D. That is not a surprise.

[SUPERCOACH]

Landon Collins was out on that 85 yard run or no doubt he would have tackled him after a modest gain.

[2Stater]

Appreciate all you analyses during the year, Coach. Splendid job.

I thought the turning point of the game was when Landon got hurt and left the field. You could feel the air leave the stadium and the Alabama sidelines. Even though he came back in, the momentum had already shifted and it was an uphill climb the rest of the game.

[pmull]

Landon Collins was out on that 85 yard run or no doubt he would have tackled him after a modest gain.

Reggie Ragland was out on that play as well.

[pmull]

We have a lot of improvement that needs to be addressed on the defensive side of the ball. Pass rush and secondary are the most glaring. We gave up 42 pts and 537 yds to OSU. The barn scored 44 pts and 630 yds. We also gave up 428 yds to Miss St, UT 383 and WV 393. These are the worst numbers for a CNS Alabama team.

I don't think this has gone unnoticed by the coaching staff.

[N.AL-Tider]

We have a lot of improvement that needs to be addressed on the defensive side of the ball. Pass rush and secondary are the most glaring. We gave up 42 pts and 537 yds to OSU. The barn scored 44 pts and 630 yds. We also gave up 428 yds to Miss St, UT 383 and WV 393. These are the worst numbers for a CNS Alabama team.

I don't think this has gone unnoticed by the coaching staff.

Good point.  I wonder if the numbers our defense gave up this year had an impact on other schools interest in Kirby Smart.  I haven't heard his name thrown out for any of the openings yet...Course, I could have just not heard it too...

[Catch Prothro]

OSU was defending by rushing 4,  but often, third down, only two of those would be a hard rush, the other two would delay to keep an eye on the outlet pass or QB scramble.  

With OSU's scheme, Sims would feel the rush, then look for the outlet or think of scrambling.  But these last two were often covered with the soft rush, and he had nowhere left to go.  

I don't know if OSU recognized what plays were coming from tape review, or if they had Bama's signals.

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