Game notes: Middle Ten. vs Bama

[hscoach]

First:   Congrats to Bama’s players and coaches for the win against Middle Tennessee. 

Offense:  The offense was off and on all day.  It was a game where Bama started many times with good field position but failed to put the game away.  They had touchdown drives of 32, 75, 70, 55 and 97 yards.  As far as negative plays they had 5 tackles for losses and 2 interceptions.  To combine with the short fields they had they also had four 3 and outs and one 1 and out because of an interception.  Even with all this Bama quietly put up 532 yards of total offense.  The big stat here is they had 39 yards rushing in the first half and 181 in the second half.  Again they were not great on third down conversions as they were 4 for 13.   For plays over 10 yards, Bama had 9 pass plays and 5 running plays. 

QB:   Both made good plays and both made horrible plays.  One time they look great then another they look like it was their first game at QB.  Coker made bad decisions on at least 3 plays.  The worse was when he threw into double coverage which resulted in an int.   He also was slow coming off his first rec a few times and missed open recs.  Finally, he elongated his throwing motion allowing the defender to close on the rec.  Bateman was the same.  He threw into coverage which was picked off in the red zone, which should have led to points.  Again he made some good decisions and throw but what really stood out, were the mistakes.

RB:   They ran hard.  Probably the biggest thing here is the blocks that Henry made not only picking up blitzes but the lead blocks on the little pop pass that enabled Drake to get to the edge and make big plays.  Too me one of the best efforts of the afternoon came when Harris ran down the defensive back on the pick.  He could have just as easily given up on the play. 

REC:  Six different recs caught passes in the game.  There may have been a little miscommunication on a couple of passes, but I am not sure what they are told as far as routes.  There were a couple of drops this game, but overall I still like the way they catch the ball and look for yardage after the catch. 

OL:   There were a few mistakes here.  Bama busted on a couple of stunts/blitzes that should have been picked up.  Jackson did not have a good first half.  On one of the three and outs, he was responsible for a holding and he got beat and the QB had to scramble twice. 

Defense:  Even though it seemed, to me, that the defense was on the field a lot, they played pretty well yardage wise.  They gave up 275 total yards.  They gave up 181 in the first half and only 94 in the second half.  They missed more tackles this game than they did the last game.  As far as negative plays they had 4 tackles for losses, recovered 3 fumble, an interception and a punt block for a safety.  It seems the game plan is to attack Bama with short passes like last week and where the linebackers vacate.  They only averaged 4.1 yards per passing attempt but 7.9 for each completed pass.  As far as plays over 10 yards, they had about 5 pass plays over 10 yards.  The only run for 10 was called back.  They also had five 3 and outs and two 1 and outs. 

DL:  They played pretty well.  I thought the MT OL did a better job against them than Wisconsin’s.  They may not have gotten a sack, but they did get pressure and affected the QB. 

LB:   They were forced to play in space and did ok.  The pass coverage is about what you would expect from them in open space against a smaller quicker player.  We all know this is not Bama’s strong suit.

DB:  Most of the day they were in position.  There were a couple of completions where the QB made great throws and the recs made great catches on.  One point I noticed was Tony Brown was in the game and missed the tackle on the QB and he was taken out of the game.

Penalties: Bama did cut the penalties down, but they had crucial one.  A false start by Stewart put Bama in worse field positon.  As I stated Jackson did not have a great half and had 2 holding calls against him, one was declined.  Bama got caught substituting and then there was a delay on a punt.  Finally, Ridley interfered with the return man on the punt which gave them 15 yards and took them out of what was bad field positon. 

Special teams:  Punting was better and the kick offs were decent.  The coverage a couple of times on the kick off looked a little shaky.  Field goals are a problem.  The miss to the left was on the left hash and I think that is where he missed one against Wisconsin.   Again that looks like an alignment problem.  The second was on target, but it didn’t get there.  I am not blaming anyone here, but it looked like there was too much pressure on the ball from the holder. 

Finally:   Bama has got to get more consistent/smarter play from their QB’s.  Also, they have to play a complete game, not in spurts like this game. 

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 win against Middle Tennessee. 

Offense:  The offense was off and on all day.  It was a game where Bama started many times with good field position but failed to put the game away.  They had touchdown drives of 32, 75, 70, 55 and 97 yards.  As far as negative plays they had 5 tackles for losses and 2 interceptions.  To combine with the short fields they had they also had four 3 and outs and one 1 and out because of an interception.  Even with all this Bama quietly put up 532 yards of total offense.  The big stat here is they had 39 yards rushing in the first half and 181 in the second half.  Again they were not great on third down conversions as they were 4 for 13.   For plays over 10 yards, Bama had 9 pass plays and 5 running plays. 

QB:   Both made good plays and both made horrible plays.  One time they look great then another they look like it was their first game at QB.  Coker made bad decisions on at least 3 plays.  The worse was when he threw into double coverage which resulted in an int.   He also was slow coming off his first rec a few times and missed open recs.  Finally, he elongated his throwing motion allowing the defender to close on the rec.  Bateman was the same.  He threw into coverage which was picked off in the red zone, which should have led to points.  Again he made some good decisions and throw but what really stood out, were the mistakes.

RB:   They ran hard.  Probably the biggest thing here is the blocks that Henry made not only picking up blitzes but the lead blocks on the little pop pass that enabled Drake to get to the edge and make big plays.  Too me one of the best efforts of the afternoon came when Harris ran down the defensive back on the pick.  He could have just as easily given up on the play. 

REC:  Six different recs caught passes in the game.  There may have been a little miscommunication on a couple of passes, but I am not sure what they are told as far as routes.  There were a couple of drops this game, but overall I still like the way they catch the ball and look for yardage after the catch. 

OL:   There were a few mistakes here.  Bama busted on a couple of stunts/blitzes that should have been picked up.  Jackson did not have a good first half.  On one of the three and outs, he was responsible for a holding and he got beat and the QB had to scramble twice. 

Defense:  Even though it seemed, to me, that the defense was on the field a lot, they played pretty well yardage wise.  They gave up 275 total yards.  They gave up 181 in the first half and only 94 in the second half.  They missed more tackles this game than they did the last game.  As far as negative plays they had 4 tackles for losses, recovered 3 fumble, an interception and a punt block for a safety.  It seems the game plan is to attack Bama with short passes like last week and where the linebackers vacate.  They only averaged 4.1 yards per passing attempt but 7.9 for each completed pass.  As far as plays over 10 yards, they had about 5 pass plays over 10 yards.  The only run for 10 was called back.  They also had five 3 and outs and two 1 and outs. 

DL:  They played pretty well.  I thought the MT OL did a better job against them than Wisconsin’s.  They may not have gotten a sack, but they did get pressure and affected the QB. 

LB:   They were forced to play in space and did ok.  The pass coverage is about what you would expect from them in open space against a smaller quicker player.  We all know this is not Bama’s strong suit.

DB:  Most of the day they were in position.  There were a couple of completions where the QB made great throws and the recs made great catches on.  One point I noticed was Tony Brown was in the game and missed the tackle on the QB and he was taken out of the game.

Penalties: Bama did cut the penalties down, but they had crucial one.  A false start by Stewart put Bama in worse field positon.  As I stated Jackson did not have a great half and had 2 holding calls against him, one was declined.  Bama got caught substituting and then there was a delay on a punt.  Finally, Ridley interfered with the return man on the punt which gave them 15 yards and took them out of what was bad field positon. 

Special teams:  Punting was better and the kick offs were decent.  The coverage a couple of times on the kick off looked a little shaky.  Field goals are a problem.  The miss to the left was on the left hash and I think that is where he missed one against Wisconsin.   Again that looks like an alignment problem.  The second was on target, but it didn’t get there.  I am not blaming anyone here, but it looked like there was too much pressure on the ball from the holder. 

Finally:   Bama has got to get more consistent/smarter play from their QB’s.  Also, they have to play a complete game, not in spurts like this game. 

Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll 
15 and counting

Why does Coker look so up & down. Is he pressing too hard, lacking confidence, or something else?

O-line pass protection was iffy at best. How can that be improved?

I'm worried about Ole Miss quickness on D. Does that mean we should go right at them?


 

[McBaman]

Thanks Coach for great comments.  As sloppy as it looked most of the time, Bama was in control of the game when it mattered.

But I gotta say,  if a team is supposed to improve from game #1 to #2... we're in trouble, especially with the QB.  Don't see any quick fixes coming either.

It will take much better play all around to beat OM.

[carl childers]

Good analysis. It looks to me like Coker is coming off his reads too slow. This is allowing open secondary receivers to be picked back up. I thought the D played well considering MTSU's offense. I thought they would give Bama trouble all day with their scheme. Finally, I am proud for AG for overcoming a tough childhood and graduating when he could have quit in life. Saying that, we need a change at PK. It is going to lose 1-2 games before the season ends if things don't dramatically change.

[Marshal Dillon]

Good analysis. It looks to me like Coker is coming off his reads too slow. This is allowing open secondary receivers to be picked back up. I thought the D played well considering MTSU's offense. I thought they would give Bama trouble all day with their scheme. Finally, I am proud for AG for overcoming a tough childhood and graduating when he could have quit in life. Saying that, we need a change at PK. It is going to lose 1-2 games before the season ends if things don't dramatically change.

Interesting observation about Coker & seems logical since he seems slow on the trigger. I don't expect a change at kicker because Saban can be very stubborn in situations like this. Does anyone know anything about our back-up kickers?

[Marshal Dillon]

Just found this info on our place kicking game.

After the second one, they booed.

The quiet displeasure with Alabama's kicking game turned vocal after the season's fourth kick missed the mark. That's four tries without a make, but Nick Saban is standing behind Adam Griffith for now.

Punter JK Scott is listed as the second-team kicker but hasn't tried one in college. He was 8-for15 as a high school senior while making 23 of 24 extra points. Gunnar Raborn was 2-for-3 kicking field goals last year when Griffith's back injury took him out of late-season games.

Click here for link




 

[hscoach]

I think one reason Coker is slow coming off his reads the last game, and this is just my opinion, he wants to hit one of those deep balls.  He missed the opportunity in the first game with bad throws.  As far as the line they do have to do a better job.  Jackson has to pick it up or maybe make a change, chip the back to help out.  I think the OL has to do a better job communicating their assignments.  One thing I left out is a question.   Are the checks so obvious that the other team can pick up on what is being run?  As soon as Coker checked yesterday three defenders went to the side of the play. 

[Chechem]

I think one reason Coker is slow coming off his reads the last game, and this is just my opinion, he wants to hit one of those deep balls.  He missed the opportunity in the first game with bad throws.  As far as the line they do have to do a better job.  Jackson has to pick it up or maybe make a change, chip the back to help out.  I think the OL has to do a better job communicating their assignments.  One thing I left out is a question.   Are the checks so obvious that the other team can pick up on what is being run?  As soon as Coker checked yesterday three defenders went to the side of the play. 

Yes, that play was the most obvious.  Fortunately, our coaches saw that too; should be fixed.

Thanks for the game notes, hscoach.  E-cred 

[Jamos]

I think one reason Coker is slow coming off his reads the last game, and this is just my opinion, he wants to hit one of those deep balls.  He missed the opportunity in the first game with bad throws.  As far as the line they do have to do a better job.  Jackson has to pick it up or maybe make a change, chip the back to help out.  I think the OL has to do a better job communicating their assignments.  One thing I left out is a question.   Are the checks so obvious that the other team can pick up on what is being run?  As soon as Coker checked yesterday three defenders went to the side of the play. 

I think he telegraphs way too much to the defense and he probably doesn't realize he's doing it.

[ALTideUp]

Historically, when facing a marquee defensive lineman or backer, CNS has opted a strategy of running right at him. These types often have played many games chasing down plays from the side or the back because people are running away from them. They may be unaccustomed or unprepared to play head-on. Running right at them changes them from a wildcard/unknown/uncontrolled element of a play, to a target. If it works early, it may be possible to cause the player to press, get frustrated into penalties, etc.

[lstephen]

As always, thanks for the notes, hscoach.

I wonder if some of our problems against MT were a matter of "playing down" to the perceived level of the competition.  Middle is much better than they were but now that they are in CUSA their talent and coaching is better even though they don't get the publicity.  Looked to me like some of our players weren't focused.

On AG, he seems to be getting the kickoffs consistently in the end zone/goal line.  I can only assume the coaches see what they see in practice and think AG os the guy.  Hope they are right and he gets on track before missing a crucial field goal.

ROLL TIDE!!!

[2Stater]

As always, thanks for the notes, hscoach.

I wonder if some of our problems against MT were a matter of "playing down" to the perceived level of the competition.  Middle is much better than they were but now that they are in CUSA their talent and coaching is better even though they don't get the publicity.  Looked to me like some of our players weren't focused.

On AG, he seems to be getting the kickoffs consistently in the end zone/goal line.  I can only assume the coaches see what they see in practice and think AG os the guy.  Hope they are right and he gets on track before missing a crucial field goal.

ROLL TIDE!!!

I just watched the replay of the game. The announcers said that MTSU had better skill players than Wisconsin.

[ricky023]

I just watched the replay and the guy that Dominick was blocking was fast. He got whipped on several plays. Our DB coverage was gooder than I thought but when we missed coverages we were really bad. We have to play each play at a time with more reason to make the other quit than the past week. JMHO. RTR!

[sbo1971]

Couple of things I don't understand; why do they run the ball very well, get into the red zone and then suddenly all they want to do is pass, makes no sense what so ever. Why have KD run up the middle and have DH trying to run to the outside?

Beginning to think that Lane Kiffin is the best D.C. that the opposing team has. 

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