Game notes: Bama vs Ole Miss

[hscoach]

Bama vs Ole Miss

First congrats to the Bama players and coaches on the big win vs Ole Miss yesterday.  This was a game where the Bama team could have easily folded the tents but instead fought back and took the win.  There is still improvement needed on both sides of the ball, especially offense.  In my opinion they wasted good field position a couple of times. 

OFFFENSE:  Bama put together 492 yards of offense, which included 334 yards rushing and 158 passing.  I have Bama for 8 negative plays.  Five of these were tackles for losses which I think most came on passing plays.  They fumbled 3 times and lost one that went for the TD.   I will discuss that later.  If my stats are correct I have Bama for 1 three and out.  For plays over 10+ yards, Bama had 11 runs and 5 pass plays that meet that criteria.  Bama got into the red zone 5 times and scored 3 touchdowns and kicked 2 field goals.  They didn’t score from outside the red zone since they missed the field goal of 47 yards.  In my opinion they left 7 points on the field, 3 by missing the field goal and also 4 when they missed the wide open rec on the first drive and had to settle for the field goal. 

QB:  Hurts ran the ball well, but still missed some open receivers.  The big one was the one I mentioned above.  He didn’t allow his players to get set when trying to go fast once.  However, the receiver was misaligned and move late.  It was obvious the plan was to get the ball out of his hands quickly.  His average per completion was only 8 yards per catch.  I do like the way he doesn’t let mistakes get to him.  Plus, he is one tough player especially after the shot he took, which should have been targeting, and continued to run the ball himself.  I also want to mention what I thought was a dirty play by an Ole Miss player when Hurts was tackled for a short gain it looked as though the Ole Miss player tried to put his elbow thru the facemask of Hurts.

RB:  I thought this was Harris best game.  He looked more decisive hitting the whole in my opinion.  I really thought they all ran hard.  To me the Jacobs kid sort of reminds me of K Drake.  A lot of their success was due to the better blocking by the OL.

Rec:  Five different receivers caught the ball not counting the backs.  It seems like each of them had at least one big catch.  Blocking could have been better by this group.

OL:    I saw a lot of improvement here, but they can still do better.  They had several combo block and sustained their blocks longer than last week.  The big mistake was the bust on the pass rusher, which I understood was Ole Miss’s best pass rusher, that caused the fumble on a free run to the QB.  One of the improvements had to be cutting down on penalties.  Many of their penalties are mental mistakes.

Defense: The defense gave up 527 yards of offense.  Ole Miss had 106 rushing and 421 passing.  As for negative plays I have the defense with 1 sack, 3 tackles for losses, 1 fumble recovery for a touchdown and 1 interception for a touchdown.  They put 12 points on the board.  For three and outs, I have 6 total for the defense.  As far as plays for 10+ yards, Ole Miss had 3 runs and 12 pass plays that covered that distance.  The two times Ole Miss got into the red zone they were forced to kick field goals.  This means the 4 touchdowns they scored came from outside the red zone. 

DL:    The defensive line played well except for the long run for the first touchdown.  It is extremely hard for the DL to get to the QB when he is getting it out of his hands so quickly.  I will say when they got a chance they put a good hit on Kelly. 

LB:   This type game is extremely difficult on the LB’s.  They have to contend with a QB that can throw and run as well as the running back and all the different recs they have to cover.  Plus, Ingram, one they were expected to cover, is considered to be an elite player. 

DB:  This is hard to access because they were in position several times but didn’t make the play.  The big receivers got the best of the DBS at times.  Now also, there were what appeared to be some bust by the defenders none more evident than the easy touchdown on the fake toss play that the safety bit on. 

Special Teams:   The kickoffs were good as well as all the coverage. There was one punt that covered 63 yards and the coverage got there which sometimes doesn’t happen when the ball is punted that far.  There was a missed field goal after a good drive.  The special teams came up huge before halftime when Jackson returned the punt for the touchdown.  Scott did shank one punt.  Another huge mistake on special teams came on the misplayed ball on the onside kick which turned into a touchdown and closed the gap on the game late.

Penalties:   Again the penalties were led by the offensive team.  At least 4 false starts which put Bama in 1st and 15 or 2nd and 15.  A holding call took Bama out of the red zone and ended up taking a field goal.  A couple on the D were questionable on them.  Still this is an area that needs to be cleaned up.

Finally:  This was a huge win for a couple of reasons.  Bama made too many mistakes that led to losses the last couple of years.  This year there were mistakes but they overcame them.  The other huge reason is because they came from such a deep hole to get the win.   Also big was Bama scored on offense, defense and special teams.

Feel free to comment:

16 and Counting

[ricky023]

Thanks hscoach as always. I guess my only question is (and I know you or nobody else can answer) how do we get the concentration back in these guys to cut down on the penalties and drop balls?
One thing that scares me as I posted earlier if this would have 5 to 8 other teams in this country we would have gotten beat bad. Man you do a fabulous job. Thanks so much. RTR!

[hscoach]

Thanks hscoach as always. I guess my only question is (and I know you or nobody else can answer) how do we get the concentration back in these guys to cut down on the penalties and drop balls?
One thing that scares me as I posted earlier if this would have 5 to 8 other teams in this country we would have gotten beat bad. Man you do a fabulous job. Thanks so much. RTR!

Thank you.  It is focus and concentrating on your job. It is strange because they had less penalties the first game of the year which is usually a game where there are more penalties.

[lstephen]

Thanks, coach.  Always look forward to your notes on Sunday.  Not a pretty win but, nonetheless, a win.  Hope we get through Kent State with no injuries and that everyone is back Kentucky!   

[SUPERCOACH]

Great notes as always Coach.

I am puzzled by the DBs.  Many times I thought the coverage was fantastic, yet somehow the receiver ends up catching the ball.  It seems like they went 100% on those 50/50 balls.

[Chechem]

Thanks, coach.  E-cred. 

That was a loooong game with lots of big plays, so thanks for addressing everything.

It seems the Ole Miss success with long passes is due (in part) to our man-to-man play, and that didn't work well against a QB who releases the ball fast and has so many quick-release plays.  It's a chess match, but surely we can adjust somehow to both pressure the QB and cover the long pass.  Comment?

[ricky023]

Thanks, coach.  E-cred. 

 It's a chess match, but surely we can adjust somehow to both pressure the QB and cover the long pass.  Comment?

Chechem I had jump in here because your question reminded me of my question? ARE we only rushing 4 people on all these pass plays or what is happening here? RTR!

[hscoach]

Thanks, coach.  E-cred. 

That was a loooong game with lots of big plays, so thanks for addressing everything.

It seems the Ole Miss success with long passes is due (in part) to our man-to-man play, and that didn't work well against a QB who releases the ball fast and has so many quick-release plays.  It's a chess match, but surely we can adjust somehow to both pressure the QB and cover the long pass.  Comment?

It's is difficult when you are playing a QB like Kelly.  If you play zone then he picks you apart in the holes in the zones.  They have physical receivers who can go up and get the ball.  You have to play the man and rip those arms away. 

[hscoach]

Thanks, coach.  E-cred. 

 It's a chess match, but surely we can adjust somehow to both pressure the QB and cover the long pass.  Comment?

Chechem I had jump in here because your question reminded me of my question? ARE we only rushing 4 people on all these pass plays or what is happening here? RTR!

A lot of time they are rushing 4.  If you noticed Kelly really didn't drop very much if any when getting the snap.   I know they batted at least one pass down and wonder if they could have been more if they just got their hands up.

[ricky023]

Thanks, coach.  E-cred. 

 It's a chess match, but surely we can adjust somehow to both pressure the QB and cover the long pass.  Comment?

Chechem I had jump in here because your question reminded me of my question? ARE we only rushing 4 people on all these pass plays or what is happening here? RTR!

A lot of time they are rushing 4.  If you noticed Kelly really didn't drop very much if any when getting the snap.   I know they batted at least one pass down and wonder if they could have been more if they just got their hands up.

yes sir great thought hscoach. Thanks for the answer also. RTR!

[McBaman]

Thanks coach for your insights.


Something needs to change big time with our DBs.  This kind of blowup vs. teams with good passing attacks has been going on for too many years.

[XBAMA]

HSC , I know you won't bash them publicly because that's not your style

but , on a scale of one to ten can you grade the officiating crew for
yesterdays game ? 

if not that's ok too   

[hscoach]

HSC , I know you won't bash them publicly because that's not your style

but , on a scale of one to ten can you grade the officiating crew for
yesterdays game ? 

if not that's ok too   

I think they missed some big calls.  The one I really hated was the targeting on Hurts. 

[XBAMA]

me too , at one point I thought they may even cost us the game , but
understand ... I never want to blame a ref for a loss
shouldn't be in that situation to begin with , so who's fault is that,  you know


did cross my mind to ...


I'm kidding I say , just kidding 

[carl childers]

HSC, what are you seeing with Hurts making reads in the passing game? Does it look he has some predetermined or are they letting progress through several options? Also, I really don't like the over-reliance on the horizontal passes - they need to get vertical to keep teams honest. I hope they can start getting vertical sooner.

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