Game notes: Wisconsin vs Bama

[hscoach]

First:   Congrats to Bama’s players and coaches for the first win of the season.  It was not some team used just for a warm-up game, like many teams do.   Wisconsin is supposed to be a legitimate contender for the Big 10. 

Offense:  The offense overall, played pretty well for a first game.  The Bama offense put up 502 total yards, 264 passing and 238 rushing. They gained more yards in the second half than they did in the first half, 199 to 303.   As far as negative plays they gave up 4 tackles for losses and 3 sacks.  The offense had 7 runs of 10+ yards while they had 16 pass plays for 10+ yards.  They also had only 1 three and out.  I thought it was a good balance of pass and run for the first game.  Also, it looked like Bama wanted to establish the run early and use play action off of this.  Even though this was the first game they didn’t have many “confused” times which usually lead to wasted timeouts or delay of game penalties.  They did leave at least 6 points on the field with missed field goals.  They are going to have to do a better job on third down conversions as the year goes on.    They were 4 for 11.   One of the best stats is there were no turnovers by the offense.

QB:  For a first game, I thought Coker played well.  He was not perfect, but he really only made what I consider one bad throw.  He threw the ball in a crowd in pressure on a screen.  The only other knock was he underthrew at least 2 deep balls, one of which would have been a touchdown.  I really couldn’t tell if he was able to check many plays at the LOS.  He completed 71% of his passes and it looks like he was able to come off his first read and find a secondary rec. a couple of times.  Bateman, I thought did a solid job.  He completed 7 of 8 and had one throw that should not have been made.  That was the incomplete.   I did think his feet may have been a little happy at times and still had a little time to stay in the pocket.

RB:    They ran well and blocked well most of the time.  Henry is a bull and most of the time gets positive yardage with a little push by the OL.  He picked up the blitz once last night and could hear the pop on TV.  He also stayed with this block and allowed Cocker to scramble for a first down.   Drake also ran hard and he is a threat to go the distance from anywhere on the field.  Harris I will be interested to see more of when he gets a chance with the first team. 

REC:  I really like the way these recs catch the ball.  They shoot there hand and snag the ball and don’t wait for it to come into their body.  Not counting backs 6 different recs had catches last night.  They also did a pretty good job after they caught the ball.  There were a couple of missed blocks, like on the first wide rec screen.  However, I think it was Mullaney, he was wide open down the field.  I also think the tight ends blocked better this year, especially Howard.

OL:   The OL was dominant at time.  There were many instances where they had successful combo blocks and came off to the next level.  There were a few missed assignments, but overall they did a pretty good job especially with 3 new starters in the game. One of the best blocks came on a first ant 10 with 7:27 left in the third quarter where Robinson blocked his man for 10 yards plus and actually pushed him off the field.  On the same play you can see Foster crack and destroy a linebacker or safety.

Defense:  The defense played a solid game especially in the second half.  They gave up 171 yards in the first half and only 97 in the second.  Also, in the 3rd and 4th quarters there were some back-ups in.  This team was use to running the ball and Bama held them to 40 yards, which was 280 less than last year’s average.  It looked like they planned on attacking Bama with the back out and quick throws, which they had a little success with.  They also tried to exploit the areas vacated by the LBs on play action.  As far as negative plays, Bama had 3sacks, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 interception.  It also looked like they played fairly plain last night.  Things that impressed me were the open field tackling and getting lined up with the new faces on D.  They had three 3 and outs all in the second half.   They did give up one run of 10+ yards and 10 passes for 10+ yards.  Their longest run was 25 yards and the stud running back longest run was5 yards. 

DL:  They did a great job handling the front of Wisconsin.  They dominated the LOS.  This allowed others to make plays.  They put enough pressure on the QB so he couldn’t really get comfortable.   So many played well it is hard to name them all.   

LB:   I thought they all played well and made the plays when the DL didn’t allow the OL to get to the next level.  Again this year it looks like Ragland is up for some big hits.  Foster made some big hits and plays in open space.  It also looks like Hamilton can contribute.

DB:  They were not tested that often, but seem to be in pretty good position when they were thrown at.  I like the move of Jackson to safety.  I thought for a first game he played well here.  The freshman Fitzpatrick is not scared of mix it up and play pretty good coverage.

Penalties: The main concern is the number of penalties.  Bama had 11 penalties and some of them were costly.  They took Bama out of good situations on offense and put them in bad situations on defense.  There were 4 holding calls against 4 different linemen.  There were back to back false starts that took Bama out of very good field position.  There were 3 pass interference calls 2 on the defense and one on the offense.   These penalties need to be cleaned up because of the toughness of the schedule which can mean the difference in a game.

Special teams:   The kickoff coverage was pretty good except for 1 where players got out of their lanes and allowed the runner to get to the outside.  I don’t know if there are 2 number 7’s but if that is Sims going down on the kick off team he was delivering a blow to whomever he hit.  Field goal left 6 point on the field.  On the first miss he looked like he tried to hit it too hard.  On the second it looked like an alignment problem.  Punting was not what we have been custom to from Scott.  This needs to be fixed before they get too deep in the season.

Finally:   I thought Bama looked better in the opener this year than they did last year.   I think they are ahead of last year’s team at this point.  I hope they don’t read their press clipping and understand there is still improvement that needs to be made.  Some of the 2nd teamers got some good playing time and needs to improve if they are called upon this year.

Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll 
15 and counting

[Marshal Dillon]

First:   Congrats to Bama’s players and coaches for the first win of the season.  It was not some team used just for a warm-up game, like many teams do.   Wisconsin is supposed to be a legitimate contender for the Big 10. 

Offense:  The offense overall, played pretty well for a first game.  The Bama offense put up 502 total yards, 264 passing and 238 rushing. They gained more yards in the second half than they did in the first half, 199 to 303.   As far as negative plays they gave up 4 tackles for losses and 3 sacks.  The offense had 7 runs of 10+ yards while they had 16 pass plays for 10+ yards.  They also had only 1 three and out.  I thought it was a good balance of pass and run for the first game.  Also, it looked like Bama wanted to establish the run early and use play action off of this.  Even though this was the first game they didn’t have many “confused” times which usually lead to wasted timeouts or delay of game penalties.  They did leave at least 6 points on the field with missed field goals.  They are going to have to do a better job on third down conversions as the year goes on.    They were 4 for 11.   One of the best stats is there were no turnovers by the offense.

QB:  For a first game, I thought Coker played well.  He was not perfect, but he really only made what I consider one bad throw.  He threw the ball in a crowd in pressure on a screen.  The only other knock was he underthrew at least 2 deep balls, one of which would have been a touchdown.  I really couldn’t tell if he was able to check many plays at the LOS.  He completed 71% of his passes and it looks like he was able to come off his first read and find a secondary rec. a couple of times.  Bateman, I thought did a solid job.  He completed 7 of 8 and had one throw that should not have been made.  That was the incomplete.   I did think his feet may have been a little happy at times and still had a little time to stay in the pocket.

RB:    They ran well and blocked well most of the time.  Henry is a bull and most of the time gets positive yardage with a little push by the OL.  He picked up the blitz once last night and could hear the pop on TV.  He also stayed with this block and allowed Cocker to scramble for a first down.   Drake also ran hard and he is a threat to go the distance from anywhere on the field.  Harris I will be interested to see more of when he gets a chance with the first team. 

REC:  I really like the way these recs catch the ball.  They shoot there hand and snag the ball and don’t wait for it to come into their body.  Not counting backs 6 different recs had catches last night.  They also did a pretty good job after they caught the ball.  There were a couple of missed blocks, like on the first wide rec screen.  However, I think it was Mullaney, he was wide open down the field.  I also think the tight ends blocked better this year, especially Howard.

OL:   The OL was dominant at time.  There were many instances where they had successful combo blocks and came off to the next level.  There were a few missed assignments, but overall they did a pretty good job especially with 3 new starters in the game. One of the best blocks came on a first ant 10 with 7:27 left in the third quarter where Robinson blocked his man for 10 yards plus and actually pushed him off the field.  On the same play you can see Foster crack and destroy a linebacker or safety.

Defense:  The defense played a solid game especially in the second half.  They gave up 171 yards in the first half and only 97 in the second.  Also, in the 3rd and 4th quarters there were some back-ups in.  This team was use to running the ball and Bama held them to 40 yards, which was 280 less than last year’s average.  It looked like they planned on attacking Bama with the back out and quick throws, which they had a little success with.  They also tried to exploit the areas vacated by the LBs on play action.  As far as negative plays, Bama had 3sacks, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 interception.  It also looked like they played fairly plain last night.  Things that impressed me were the open field tackling and getting lined up with the new faces on D.  They had three 3 and outs all in the second half.   They did give up one run of 10+ yards and 10 passes for 10+ yards.  Their longest run was 25 yards and the stud running back longest run was5 yards. 

DL:  They did a great job handling the front of Wisconsin.  They dominated the LOS.  This allowed others to make plays.  They put enough pressure on the QB so he couldn’t really get comfortable.   So many played well it is hard to name them all.   

LB:   I thought they all played well and made the plays when the DL didn’t allow the OL to get to the next level.  Again this year it looks like Ragland is up for some big hits.  Foster made some big hits and plays in open space.  It also looks like Hamilton can contribute.

DB:  They were not tested that often, but seem to be in pretty good position when they were thrown at.  I like the move of Jackson to safety.  I thought for a first game he played well here.  The freshman Fitzpatrick is not scared of mix it up and play pretty good coverage.

Penalties: The main concern is the number of penalties.  Bama had 11 penalties and some of them were costly.  They took Bama out of good situations on offense and put them in bad situations on defense.  There were 4 holding calls against 4 different linemen.  There were back to back false starts that took Bama out of very good field position.  There were 3 pass interference calls 2 on the defense and one on the offense.   These penalties need to be cleaned up because of the toughness of the schedule which can mean the difference in a game.

Special teams:   The kickoff coverage was pretty good except for 1 where players got out of their lanes and allowed the runner to get to the outside.  I don’t know if there are 2 number 7’s but if that is Sims going down on the kick off team he was delivering a blow to whomever he hit.  Field goal left 6 point on the field.  On the first miss he looked like he tried to hit it too hard.  On the second it looked like an alignment problem.  Punting was not what we have been custom to from Scott.  This needs to be fixed before they get too deep in the season.

Finally:   I thought Bama looked better in the opener this year than they did last year.   I think they are ahead of last year’s team at this point.  I hope they don’t read their press clipping and understand there is still improvement that needs to be made.  Some of the 2nd teamers got some good playing time and needs to improve if they are called upon this year.



Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll 
15 and counting

Excellent observations. This team has unlimited potential.


 

[N.AL-Tider]

Good comments, thanks.  I would have liked to see Coach Smart make some adjustments to limit some of those quick passes they used.  Those could spell desaster against a better opponent like we have down the schedule a bit.

On a side note, who would have dreamed that Arkansas would have a passing attack like they showed last night?

[ricky023]

Good to have you back hscoach. Your thoughts are always great. I do think we need to do something of our kicking game quickly. I still in another post ask about some new kid i thought we got this year that was kicking FG's and such from downtown. I amy be wrong though. Adam looked as if to me having back problems like I do, that his back may have caused him to step out of line a couple of times. When we come up against the big dogs in the SEC we are going to need every point we can get. We are going to have to be ready for these quick run offenses this year. I noticed a few times last night we had some hard breathing going on.
Spreading the ball around was good but we are going to have to open some holes in the line for our backs because as we get down to the SEC those LB's are not going to push to the front so fast and then DH run by them like he did last night.
This was a fun game because we won. It is going to get serious after next week. I noticed from what I saw that TA&M was better than they were given credit. They gave ASU a whippin for sure. If we get our ducks in a row we can make the playoffs, but it is sure going to take one play and one game at a time to do it. Our depth and no injuries is going to be the key to it all. JMHO. RTR!

[Chechem]

Excellent review, as always, hscoach.  Have an e-cred.   

It looked like we stacked the D-line, which allowed Wisconsin to throw short passes to TEs and RBs with success.  Our LBs had trouble staying with those receivers at times.  Please explain how we'd adjust to that in a closer game.  It seemed that we were resolved to giving up short passes to stop the run; true??

[carl childers]

Always look forward to your insights hscoach. What were your impressions of the first yr players? I really like Ridley - catches well with his hands, not afraid to go into traffic, spped is there. Ftzpatrick has potential to be another Javier Arenas who hits harder. Others also looked good.

[hscoach]

Always look forward to your insights hscoach. What were your impressions of the first yr players? I really like Ridley - catches well with his hands, not afraid to go into traffic, spped is there. Ftzpatrick has potential to be another Javier Arenas who hits harder. Others also looked good.

I sort of consider those guys who changed positions "newcomers" like Eddie Jackson, and he played well in my opinion.  Also I thought Marlon Humphry had a solid game.   You would think a team would attack this kid but didn't.  I thought Shaun Dion Hamilton had a solid game along with Foster who is not new, but has a much larger role now.  The offensive line had 3 new players and even though there were mistakes there were a lot of positives.  It looks like most of the time they communicated well and made the combo blocks when they got there.  New recs, or those who don't have a lot of game experience seems to be fine and there are more than 1.  The QB's seem to be able to read their progressions and come off their first rec and find the check down.

[lstephen]

Thanks for your thoughts hscoach!  Having heard from you, I now KNOW that the season is underway!

[Chechem]

Excellent review, as always, hscoach.  Have an e-cred.   

It looked like we stacked the D-line, which allowed Wisconsin to throw short passes to TEs and RBs with success.  Our LBs had trouble staying with those receivers at times.  Please explain how we'd adjust to that in a closer game.  It seemed that we were resolved to giving up short passes to stop the run; true??

coach?

[hscoach]

Excellent review, as always, hscoach.  Have an e-cred.   

It looked like we stacked the D-line, which allowed Wisconsin to throw short passes to TEs and RBs with success.  Our LBs had trouble staying with those receivers at times.  Please explain how we'd adjust to that in a closer game.  It seemed that we were resolved to giving up short passes to stop the run; true??

coach?

There are a couple of way that I can think of.  First you can play a little more zone coverage and allow the corners to stay in the flat zone.  Two, you can widen your linebackers or run more zone blitzes and allow the outside backers to be able to pick those guys up.  Finally, you can go with another package and replace LB's with safety type players.  It is really according to what system you want to play.

[KoKoPuf]

Great job as usual, Coach! I think that the fact that Wisconsin is a heavy running team, Kirby just figured we can stop the run and the deep pass and Wisky can't beat us with the short passes. And the strategy worked really well. TAMU will, of course, present a whole different package so maybe less emphasis on stopping the run and more on shutting down long & short passing game. I also thought Coker looked really good considering all the pressure to perform. One of the long passes he missed I thought Stewart should have/could have caught, but I have been spoiled watching Amari.

[hscoach]

Great job as usual, Coach! I think that the fact that Wisconsin is a heavy running team, Kirby just figured we can stop the run and the deep pass and Wisky can't beat us with the short passes. And the strategy worked really well. TAMU will, of course, present a whole different package so maybe less emphasis on stopping the run and more on shutting down long & short passing game. I also thought Coker looked really good considering all the pressure to perform. One of the long passes he missed I thought Stewart should have/could have caught, but I have been spoiled watching Amari.

If you are talking about the deep ball that the corner made the play on, he had to slow down and this allowed the corner to make up the distance.  If that ball is thrown further downfield then the db can't make up that distance.

[Marshal Dillon]

hscoach, thanks for responding to excellent questions from childers & chechem. That answered some concerns I had, especially the questions by chechem. The Wisconsin boards were praising their QB for his "great" game, not understanding we were making them use him while we shut down their main offensive focus, the running game.



 

[hscoach]

hscoach, thanks for responding to excellent questions from childers & chechem. That answered some concerns I had, especially the questions by chechem. The Wisconsin boards were praising their QB for his "great" game, not understanding we were making them use him while we shut down their main offensive focus, the running game.



 

You know I love to talk Bama football.  Hopefully  we will have a lot of back and forth this year with the notes.

[2Stater]

Great assessment, Coach! We're off and running! 

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