Game notes: ULM vs Bama

[hscoach]

First:   Congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the victory.  However, I consider this to be a lackluster performance from the offense.   On defense they showed what a dominating game it should have been when you have a bunch of 4 and 5 star athletes vs 2 and 3 star athletes.

Offense:  Bama had the lowest total yard output since, I think, the Arkansas game.  Bama put up 303 yards of total offense.  They had 166 passing and 137 rushing.  They never seem to be in any type of rhythm the whole game.  The offense gave up 6 negative plays.  There was an interception, 3 tackles for losses, and 2 sacks.  I will say on one sack I thought ULM was offsides.  They had 4 three and outs and 2 four and outs.  They also wasted field position.  The offense started drives on their on 48 and 46 and came away with no points.  They also started drives on ULM’s 47 and 44 and came away with no points.  This is where great teams put others away.  Their scoring drives for touchdowns were 55, 15, 60, and 19 yards.  As far as plays over 10 yards, Bama had 6 pass plays and 4 running plays.  One of the main problems I saw yesterday was ULM did not feel threaten downfield since many times you could see all 11 defensive player within 15 yards or less from the LOS.

QB:   I am not sure what to think anymore.  On one play Cocker looks great then the next it looks like his first start ever at QB.   He completed 55 per cent of his passes but was hurt by at least 5 drops.  The deep ball that the announcers called a drop was underthrown which allowed the defensive player to make a play.  It looks to me like Cocker comes off to late at times to find a secondary rec or he locks on to a player where he tries to force the ball.  Also, it looks like his throwing motion is getting longer which slows the delivery of the ball.

RB:  They ran hard when they got the chance.  The top 3 backs averaged 5 yards a carry, but they were getting hit quickly by the defense most of the time. 

REC:  Eight different recs caught passes yesterday.  Four different recs had drops yesterday and Ridley had 2.  I know they are young and trying to make plays, but you have to catch the ball first.  Some of these drops led to the lackluster offense since they were drive stoppers.  I also don’t see a lot of separation on deep balls. 

OL:   There are too many mistakes here and I am also talking TE’s here.  There were missed blocks and they didn’t pick up stunts.  I went back and looked and Bama had about 13 plays where they gained 3 yards or less.  Part of the problem here is that most of the time, ULM had at least 7 in the box.  They also had their safeties up tight and they played games with their DL and linebackers..  Most of the successful runs come when Bama goes left.  I just don’t feel real confident if it is 3rd and 2 for Bama to get the first on a running play.  I saw way too much standing around yesterday. 

Defense:  They played great.  ULM had 92 total yards for the day, 83 passing and 9 rushing.  They started the game with 6 straight 3 and outs and ended up with 8 overall.   If my stats are correct ULM only had 1 play for over 10 yards and that was a pass.  The defense had 7 sacks, 7 tackles for losses and 2 interceptions.  This was total domination.  They only had 10 first downs and I think 4 of those were from penalties and one from a trick 4th down play. 

DL:  They dominated here.  The continued to get their hands up and bat passes down.  They affect the QB in ways that benefit the defense.  I think they lost contain once which allowed a first down. 

LB:  They played well.  All were making plays and again you could see where Bama had the superior athletes when the LBs were in coverage.   

DB:  They played a solid game, especially the safeties.  There was not much room after the catch.  The corners did bust at least one on the pump fake but ULM was not able to connect. 

Penalties: One of the biggest penalties of the day was the block in the back on the punt return.  It moved the ball from what would have been ULM’s 32 and put it back to Bama’s 47.  The PI call was questionable.  After watching the replay on the lineman downfield it was border line.  A false start stopped Bama from going on 4th and one and ended up kicking the field goal.  I really don’ mind this because AG needs the confidence.

Special teams:  There was a big missed block on the opening kickoff by Harris which I believe would have allowed a decent return for better field positon.  The first punt was a terrible shank and Bama’s defense held for no points.  A couple of kickoffs were low but covered well if not in the end zone.  On  the second kick off there were a couple of missed tackles, trying to kill the runner and not wrap up, which allowed for better field position for ULM. 

Finally:  The offense has to play better.  The OL has got to get to the point where it is 3rd and 3 they know they can get it on the run.  The defense can only do so much.

Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll 
15 and counting

[lstephen]

Good stuff coach!  CNS seems to have put a lot of the lack of production on drops by the young receivers rather than JC.  Do you agree?  Also, I think DH must not have been 100% since he played so little in the second half.  And, I think he was missed.

[carl childers]

Nice work. hscoach, I am puzzled that after hearing how big a gun Coker has he fails miserably on the deep ball. The one yesterday looked like a short punt. I believe that the one yesterday was due to pressure up the middle and not being able to step up enough in the pocket, but he has to know that if that's the case, he can't try that throw. I am noticing also that there seems to be more batted and knocked down ball from our DTs than I can remember in a long time. Has there been a change in philosophy in how they are teaching the front to bring pressure?

[ricky023]

First:   Congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the victory.  However, I consider this to be a lackluster performance from the offense.   On defense they showed what a dominating game it should have been when you have a bunch of 4 and 5 star athletes vs 2 and 3 star athletes.

Offense:  Bama had the lowest total yard output since, I think, the Arkansas game.  Bama put up 303 yards of total offense.  They had 166 passing and 137 rushing.  They never seem to be in any type of rhythm the whole game.  The offense gave up 6 negative plays.  There was an interception, 3 tackles for losses, and 2 sacks.  I will say on one sack I thought ULM was offsides.  They had 4 three and outs and 2 four and outs.  They also wasted field position.  The offense started drives on their on 48 and 46 and came away with no points.  They also started drives on ULM’s 47 and 44 and came away with no points.  This is where great teams put others away.  Their scoring drives for touchdowns were 55, 15, 60, and 19 yards.  As far as plays over 10 yards, Bama had 6 pass plays and 4 running plays.  One of the main problems I saw yesterday was ULM did not feel threaten downfield since many times you could see all 11 defensive player within 15 yards or less from the LOS.

QB:   I am not sure what to think anymore.  On one play Cocker looks great then the next it looks like his first start ever at QB.   He completed 55 per cent of his passes but was hurt by at least 5 drops.  The deep ball that the announcers called a drop was underthrown which allowed the defensive player to make a play.  It looks to me like Cocker comes off to late at times to find a secondary rec or he locks on to a player where he tries to force the ball.  Also, it looks like his throwing motion is getting longer which slows the delivery of the ball.

RB:  They ran hard when they got the chance.  The top 3 backs averaged 5 yards a carry, but they were getting hit quickly by the defense most of the time. 

REC:  Eight different recs caught passes yesterday.  Four different recs had drops yesterday and Ridley had 2.  I know they are young and trying to make plays, but you have to catch the ball first.  Some of these drops led to the lackluster offense since they were drive stoppers.  I also don’t see a lot of separation on deep balls. 

OL:   There are too many mistakes here and I am also talking TE’s here.  There were missed blocks and they didn’t pick up stunts.  I went back and looked and Bama had about 13 plays where they gained 3 yards or less.  Part of the problem here is that most of the time, ULM had at least 7 in the box.  They also had their safeties up tight and they played games with their DL and linebackers..  Most of the successful runs come when Bama goes left.  I just don’t feel real confident if it is 3rd and 2 for Bama to get the first on a running play.  I saw way too much standing around yesterday. 

Defense:  They played great.  ULM had 92 total yards for the day, 83 passing and 9 rushing.  They started the game with 6 straight 3 and outs and ended up with 8 overall.   If my stats are correct ULM only had 1 play for over 10 yards and that was a pass.  The defense had 7 sacks, 7 tackles for losses and 2 interceptions.  This was total domination.  They only had 10 first downs and I think 4 of those were from penalties and one from a trick 4th down play. 

DL:  They dominated here.  The continued to get their hands up and bat passes down.  They affect the QB in ways that benefit the defense.  I think they lost contain once which allowed a first down. 

LB:  They played well.  All were making plays and again you could see where Bama had the superior athletes when the LBs were in coverage.   

DB:  They played a solid game, especially the safeties.  There was not much room after the catch.  The corners did bust at least one on the pump fake but ULM was not able to connect. 

Penalties: One of the biggest penalties of the day was the block in the back on the punt return.  It moved the ball from what would have been ULM’s 32 and put it back to Bama’s 47.  The PI call was questionable.  After watching the replay on the lineman downfield it was border line.  A false start stopped Bama from going on 4th and one and ended up kicking the field goal.  I really don’ mind this because AG needs the confidence.

Special teams:  There was a big missed block on the opening kickoff by Harris which I believe would have allowed a decent return for better field positon.  The first punt was a terrible shank and Bama’s defense held for no points.  A couple of kickoffs were low but covered well if not in the end zone.  On  the second kick off there were a couple of missed tackles, trying to kill the runner and not wrap up, which allowed for better field position for ULM. 

Finally:  The offense has to play better.  The OL has got to get to the point where it is 3rd and 3 they know they can get it on the run.  The defense can only do so much.

Please feel free to comment.

Good Luck and Roll Tide Roll 
15 and counting

  e-cred for your great work hscoach. Thansk. This week is fun but now we are coming into a week that is going to tell the story. RTR!

[SUPERCOACH]

Good stuff coach.  It will be up to the defense from here on out if we are going to make any noise.

[KoKoPuf]

Have to disagree with you, coach. QB play was actually very good considering the lack of pass blocking by the OL. And if you add the dropped passes to JC's totals, he would have a 71% completion average. The pass to Stewart may (or may not) have been a bit under thrown, but for gosh sakes, it hit him in the hands! A decent receiver has to make that catch! Hell, I could still make that catch! The receivers, for the most part, run lousy routes and there is no way Coker, Tom Brady, or your favorite Greg McElroy can throw with any confidence. We have all heard for years that you can't play wide receiver in Saban's system unless you can block, maybe it is time to change that to "unless you can catch the ball and run routes".

[lstephen]

Do I remember correctly that there was a lot of criticism of the '92 offense?  But our defense was unbelievable?

[N.AL-Tider]

Have to disagree with you, coach. QB play was actually very good considering the lack of pass blocking by the OL. And if you add the dropped passes to JC's totals, he would have a 71% completion average. The pass to Stewart may (or may not) have been a bit under thrown, but for gosh sakes, it hit him in the hands! A decent receiver has to make that catch! Hell, I could still make that catch! The receivers, for the most part, run lousy routes and there is no way Coker, Tom Brady, or your favorite Greg McElroy can throw with any confidence. We have all heard for years that you can't play wide receiver in Saban's system unless you can block, maybe it is time to change that to "unless you can catch the ball and run routes".

  I'd pay to see that KoKo...

[hscoach]

Good stuff coach!  CNS seems to have put a lot of the lack of production on drops by the young receivers rather than JC.  Do you agree?  Also, I think DH must not have been 100% since he played so little in the second half.  And, I think he was missed.

I do agree that lack of production was due to the drops.  However, I also agree with the OL didn't really establish a running game to help out.

[hscoach]

Nice work. hscoach, I am puzzled that after hearing how big a gun Coker has he fails miserably on the deep ball. The one yesterday looked like a short punt. I believe that the one yesterday was due to pressure up the middle and not being able to step up enough in the pocket, but he has to know that if that's the case, he can't try that throw. I am noticing also that there seems to be more batted and knocked down ball from our DTs than I can remember in a long time. Has there been a change in philosophy in how they are teaching the front to bring pressure?

That is a better job by the DL knowing they are not going to get to the QB and are getting their hands up.  Also, Bama has some height on the DL which helps.  I do believe it is and emphasis in practice especially when they see offenses that like to get the ball out quick.

[hscoach]

Have to disagree with you, coach. QB play was actually very good considering the lack of pass blocking by the OL. And if you add the dropped passes to JC's totals, he would have a 71% completion average. The pass to Stewart may (or may not) have been a bit under thrown, but for gosh sakes, it hit him in the hands! A decent receiver has to make that catch! Hell, I could still make that catch! The receivers, for the most part, run lousy routes and there is no way Coker, Tom Brady, or your favorite Greg McElroy can throw with any confidence. We have all heard for years that you can't play wide receiver in Saban's system unless you can block, maybe it is time to change that to "unless you can catch the ball and run routes".

I know what you are saying but I look at it like this.  1. there were drops and most should have been caught, but some were not exactly on target.  2.  he was slow to come off first rec to find others.  he missed a wide open rec where he didn't come off the  first and it would have been a first down to keep a drive alive.  3.  a couple of balls were forced because of #2.  4.  there was one play where the running back didn't even move, not sure he got the check, QB's responsibility. 5. the deep ball was underthrown and he tried another that was not open. 
I'm not say he played horrible but it could have been a lot better.

[hscoach]

Do I remember correctly that there was a lot of criticism of the '92 offense?  But our defense was unbelievable?

That is true

[XBAMA]

did we lose to ole miss in 92'   ? 


ole freakin' miss 

[ricky023]

Unless I am sadly mistaken the days of being undefeated in the SEC are over. The other conferences do not have the talent week in and week out we do. tosu going without a loss is not a problem with their schedule or maybe Mich. ST. might beat them. If an SEC team can not get into the playoffs with one or maybe 2 losses we will be done in this format of football. RTR!

[N.AL-Tider]

Unless I am sadly mistaken the days of being undefeated in the SEC are over. The other conferences do not have the talent week in and week out we do. tosu going without a loss is not a problem with their schedule or maybe Mich. ST. might beat them. If an SEC team can not get into the playoffs with one or maybe 2 losses we will be done in this format of football. RTR!

The sky is not falling.  I think  there will always be at least one SEC team in the playoffs unless there are three other "Big 5" conference teams that go undefeated plus Notre Dame with at most 3 losses...

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