Saturday, September 26, 2009

Arkansas Grades

Shootout:    /shewt-awt/ n. 1. An exchange of gunfire between opposing parties; 2. A slang expression used to describe a high-scoring sporting event.

Some pundits anticipated that the Arkansas / Alabama game would be a shootout like the Hogs’ two previous games this season.  That’s understandable.  After all, the Piggies were averaging nearly 430 yards of total offense per game and had rung up 41 points against Georgia in a losing effort last weekend.  Their quarterback, Ryan Mallett, had earned a passer efficiency rating of 193.5 while throwing for 717 yards, 6 TDs and no interceptions.   Under Coach Bobby Petrino, Arkansas installed a Big-12 style spread offense that threw 80 passes in its first two games of 2009.

After a quarter of scoreless play, during which the Hogs had twice as many yards of offense [62] than Alabama [31], the game did indeed turn into a shootout; at least by the home team.

The Tide blew the Hogs out of Bryant Denny Stadium as it racked up 557  all-purpose yards and five offensive TDs.  When Alabama’s offense got finished, there was still 13:12 to play in the game, but it was obvious that Arkansas was a beaten team.  Not even the Devil’s Spit barbecue sauce at Archibald’s could have put any zip into the Porkers.

On a weekend that saw Ole Miss lose, and LSU barely win over Mississippi State, Alabama demonstrated that it is indeed one of the best teams not just in the SEC, but in America.

Here’s how I grade the game:

Offense:              A             Bama gained 425 yards of total offense [134 rushing], and 394 of those yards were earned after the 1st quarter.  Alabama earned 18 first downs [6 rushing], converted 6 of 15 first downs, and controlled the ball for 33:36.  GMac completed 17 of 24 pass attempts for 291 yards, three TDs and no interceptions.  He was sacked once.

Nine different players caught at least one pass, including all four running backs.  GMac’s incompletions should come with an asterisk, however, since four were the result of well thrown balls being dropped by the receiver.   Marquis Maze had 88 yards and one TD on two catches.  Julio had 65 yards and a TD also on two receptions.

Alabama’s ball carriers found the Hog defense to be rather stout.  Trent Richardson gained 65 yards on 9 carries but his 7.2 yards per rush average was substantially aided by a 52 yard touchdown run where he broke 4 tackles.

The play of the game according to CBS was the dipsy-doodle tricker-ation pass to Julio Jones for Bama’s second touchdown.  The play took a long time to develop, and Julio had time to tie his shoe and eat a ham-sandwich while waiting on the ball.  But the play worked to perfection and the stiff-arm he delivered to the DB trying to tackle him, proved why Julio is such a potent offensive weapon.  The Commissioner’s play of the game was the hard-count that drew the Pigs offsides on first and 10 with the ball resting 99 yards and 2 feet from the Arkansas endzone.  That drive ended 13 plays later with Mark Ingram scoring from the 2 yard line for the final points of the day.  That drive was one of 4 that gained over 40 yards, and Alabama demonstrated that it can grind it out [13 plays, 99 yards, 6:28 off the clock] and that it can score from anywhere [1 play, 80 yards, :20 seconds].

Defense:             A+          I don’t know.  Maybe Georgia has no defense. As I write these words, Georgia’s D is getting shredded by Arizona State late in the game with the score tied.  But in losing to UGA, Arkansas had established its cred as an good offensive football team, and their trigger-puller, Ryan Mallett, was hailed as a prolific gunslinger who could zip 60 mph passes.  But against the Tide, Mallett was only able to complete 12 of 35 pass attempts with a single TD and a pick.  He suffered 3 sacks and was hurried 8 times.  DBs broke up 8 passes and Lorenzo Washington blocked a punt.

Bama tacklers recorded 8 tackles for loss and Javier Arenas accounted for 3 of them.  Mark Barron was the leading tackler with 7 stops [2 solo].  Arenas and Rolando McClain each recorded 5 stops.  At this writing the extent of the injury to Dont’a Hightower is unknown. 

Special Teams:

Punting:               B+           Fitz punted the ball 7 times for an average of 41.1 yards per kick.  His longest was 51 yards and he downed 2 inside the Hogs’ 20.  Javier returned 4 punts for 50 yards.  The down-grade is the result of the two blocking fouls that erased 80 yards of returns. 

Kickoffs:             C+           Tiffin averaged a net of only 40 yards per kickoff and the coverage unit allowed one return that was 56 yards.

Placekicking:      A             Tiffin was 5 for 5 on PATs.

Coaching              A-           Beating a conference team convincingly merits a high grade for the coaches.  I was particularly impressed by the defensive game plan which had the Porkers confused and off their game.  Lots of credit is due to the coaches for the previously mentioned hard-count that got the Tide off its own goal line.   Bama was penalized 7 times for 60 yards; thus the minus.

A brief word about the officiating is in order.

The Zebras let the Hogs’ O-Linemen hold Bama’s pass rushers, and were spotty, at best, in calling the low blocks.  Just ask Dont’a about that.  But the worst call was when they announced two blocks in the back on a Bama punt return, one of which was announced to be “number 28”.  Now, I know Javier Arenas is one heck of a football player, but I don’t think Javier can block a potential tackler in the back while he is running with the football.  Do you think the officials hadn’t noticed that number 28 was the guy carrying the ball. 

Alabama is playing excellent football right now.  With a quarter of the regular season now in the books, there isn’t another team in the league that is as complete as Bama.  Tim Tebow suffered a concussion in the third quarter against Kentucky.  LSU continues to look very beatable.  The surprise team in the conference tonight is undefeated Auburn, which travels to Knoxville this coming Saturday.  Could the SEC West Championship be decided in a game between  two undefeated teams on the Friday after Thanksgiving?  Maybe.  Stranger things have happened.  The Tide is ideally positioned sitting in third place in the polls.  It controls its own destiny; and Coach Saban is all about control.

The Commissioner
 

Saturday, September 19, 2009

North Texas Grades

Ok; it's now official.
 
What's official?  Two things:

(1)  Alabama's 2009 football season is now official; the opening game slug-fest with Virginia Tech and the pair of tune-up games against FIU and N. Texas are history.  Now the Tide starts SEC play.  Coach Saban talks about a "24 hour rule"; take 24 hours to celebrate a win or to process a loss, then get to work on next week.  After dispatching North Texas, I don't think the players or coaches are going to waste 24 minutes before starting to work on Arkansas.  In fact, judging from his post-game interview, I'd say that GMac was focusing on the Hogs with 24 minutes left to play in the game.

(2) I'm officially buying-in to Greg McElroy.  I have not been as impressed with an Alabama quarterback in a long time.  Don't get me wrong. I admire both Brodie Croyle and JPW.  They are tough competitors and if they had been fortunate enough to have been surrounded by more depth, especially on the offensive line, there is no telling how much better Alabama's record might have been with them pulling the trigger.  JP guided the Tide back from the wilderness to the top of the polls during the 2008 regular season, and to within 9:00 minutes of game time to playing for the BCS Championship. But GMac is special.  Over the last three weeks, he has demonstrated that he possesses both the physical tools and intangible qualities make great quarterbacks.  There is a quiet confidence about him; a maturity that inspires confidence on the part of his teammates.  He is able to go deep into his progressions on pass plays, and ever since the halftime in Atlanta, he's making those reads much quicker.  This guy is a winner.  And thanks to excellent recruiting, he's got a great stable of talent to work with.  All of those qualities were on display against North Texas, from the way he responded to the fumble on the opening possession, to the way he handled the post-game interview.  Things are going to get much harder from this point on, as the quality of competition improves. But every Bama fan ought to be excited about what this player, this team and this season have to offer.

Here's how I grade the game:

Offense:    A    Readers of this space are probably asking: what about the automatic deduction for quality of opposition?  Good point.  North Texas is not a good football team.  But there is no other grade to award to an offense that gains 523 yards total offense [260 rushing], makes 28 first downs [15 rushing], converts 10 of 14 third downs and 1 of 1 4th downs, and scores on 9 of 11 possessions.  Bama had 5 drives in excess of 40 yards [95, 67, 83, 68 and 56] and four of those long drives were consecutive possessions.

GMac completed 13 of 15 pass attempts for 176 yards, 2 TDs and no interceptions.  His longest pass was a 34 yard, thing of beauty to Marquis Maze for the Tide's second TD, on a picture-perfect play-action.
A staggering 11 players caught passes, including Michael Bowman and Brandon Gibson; guys who have not exactly been household names so far this season. Maze led all receivers with 4 receptions for 49 yards and a TD. 
 
Star Jackson added 87 passing yards with 9 completions on 13 attempts.

Five of Alabama's seven TDs came on the ground. Mark Ingram was Alabama's leading rusher with 91 yards on 8 carries.  Trent Richardson, playing for an injured Roy Upchurch, gained 87 yards on 11 carries and Terry Grant added 79 more on 19 runs.

Defense:    A    The overmatched North Texas offense was held to only 187 total yards [61 rushing], 7 first downs, and a rushing average of 2.3 yards per rush.  These stats are more meaningful when you consider that garbage time started mid-way through the third quarter.

Twenty one different players recorded tackles, and sophomore Chris Jordan, from Brentwood, Tennessee led all defenders with 6 tackles [4 solo].  Terrence Cody was second on the tackle list with 5 [3 solo].  Mark Barron, Robby Green, Eryk Anders, and Nick Gentry each were credited with 5 tackles.  Bama defenders recorded 4 tackles for loss but, for the first time in three games, no sacks.

Special Teams:

Punting:       A+    P. J. Fitzgerald only had to punt one time for 49 yards that was not returned.  Javier Arenas returned 4 punts for 90 yards, and two of his returns featured broken tackles, spin moves, incredible balance, and bursts of speed. 

Kick Offs:    B     Leigh Tiffin averaged 68.7 yards per kickoff and the coverage team allowed an average of only 17 yards per return.  This is a big improvement over the previous two games.  For the first time in two games, a kick was not returned for a touchdown; indeed N. Texas' longest return was nullified by a penalty for a block in the back of a Bama player trailing the play.

Place kicking:    F    I'm sorry, there is no other grade allowable when
the team misses two PATs.

Coaching:    A    Alabama accumulated 684 all-purpose yards and was only penalized twice for 15 yards.  The participation  report accounts for 65 players who saw action.  I particularly like the fact that Star Jackson was inserted into the game with about 2:00 to play in the first half, and that after the first possession of the second half, GMac was done.   

As I write these grades, the results of the league's other games is only partially known.  Tennessee has managed to stay within one score of Florida at the half,  Kentucky has survived a scare at home from Louisville and none of the other SEC teams, including next week's  opponent, Arkansas, have kicked off.  In The City Paper I picked Georgia to beat Arkansas, but several broadcast analysts like the Hogs in this one.  In the final analysis, as far as Alabama is concerned, nothing matters but getting better each week.

And when it comes to getting better each week, a team will follow its leaders.  Tim Tebow proved the truth of that proposition last season when he made his now famous "promise" speech following the Gators' loss to Ole Miss.  This afternoon, as the crowd made its way to the exists at Bryant-Denney Stadium, Greg McElroy was asked what Alabama would do this week to get ready for its start of SEC play.  GMac didn't offer any "promises". He didn't fall for the trip-wire question about the anticipated return of Julio Jones.  But what he did do, was to exude the kind of quiet confidence that comes from believing in your teammates, in your coaches, in the program and, ultimately, in yourself.

Nobody knows how this season is going to turn out.  But until events prove otherwise, I'm picking GMac and the Tide to do something really special.

The Commissioner

Sunday, September 13, 2009

FIU Grades

Metaphors can be tricky things.

Consider, for example, the problem with using the concept of a "tune up" as a metaphor for Alabama's game against FIU.  It's pretty easy to say that "the drive train" is in good shape, with GMac "firing on all cylinders" and Trent Richardson demonstrating that the "fuel injectors" are working properly as he rushes for over 100 yards as a substitutes for an injured Roy Upchurch.  The automotive metaphor even works for the defense, as Alabama's stop troops "put the brakes" on FIU's passing attack.  But the automotive tune up metaphor breaks down when one attempts to find a way to describe Bama's kick coverage.

The FIU game, as well as next week's contest with North Texas, were supposed to be opportunities for the Tide to work on areas of weakness exposed by the opening game against a very good Va. Tech. and get ready for a long stretch of conference play.  In some respects that plan seems to be working fine.  See, for example, GMac's passing efficiency.  But from this vantage point it doesn't appear that special teams have received nearly the attention they need; or if they have, that the attention has produced noticeable improvement.

Here's how I grade the game:

Offense:    B +    I'm sure I will hear from many that this grade is too low.  After all, the Tide gained 516 total yards [275 rushing] and earned 26 first downs [14 by rushing, 12 passing and none by penalty].  Bama's ball carriers averaged 6.5 yards per rush with Richardson leading the way with 118 yards on 15 carries [7.9 yd. average].  In the air, GMac completed 18 of 24 pass attempts and at one point in the game had completed 17 of 19.  For the night, GMac threw for 241 yards with 1 TD and no interceptions.  He was sacked once.  With Julio Jones sidelined with an ice bag on his right knee, Mike McCoy became GMac's favorite target.  McCoy caught 5 passes for 100 yards including one for 35 yards, GMac's longest of the night.

Nine different players caught passes and seven of those players made receptions earning more than 10 yards per catch.

Alabama's offense scored on each of its first four possessions in the game and punted only once in the first half.  From the 5:00 mark in the third quarter to the 8:00 mark in the fourth, Alabama had the ball four times.  The offense scored three TDs and punted once.   Bama's offense sustained 8 drives of 40 or more yards [55, 80, 50, 69, 50, 40, 54, 54].  These included the drives with the most plays [13] and the least [2], each of which ended in points.

The Tide earned 664 all purpose yards, and four players had 100 or more [Richardson - 141, Arenas - 126, Ingram - 103 and McCoy - 100].

So how do I justify not awarding an A to the offense?  Two reasons: quality of opposition, and mental errors in the form of costly penalties.  Alabama had to settle for field goals rather than TDs twice in the first half.  On the opening drive, Alabama had first and goal inside the 10 but failed to finish in the end zone.  The final drive of the first quarter - Alabama's third of the game - once again failed to finish when back-to-back penalties [false start, holding] forced a FG.

Defense:    A         Bama's defense held FIU to only 214 total yards of offense, including only 1 yard rushing on 26 attempts.  FIU's QBs, McCall and Younger, completed 18 passes on 38 attempts, scored a TD and had one intercepted.

The Tide pass rush picked up where it left off in the Va. Tech. game making 11 tackles for loss including 5 sacks.  Roland McClain led all tacklers with 10 stops [6 solo].  Mark Barron had 6 tackles [2 solo] and made the late interception which he returned for 17 yards.  But the man who no doubt haunted the nightmares of FIU's quarterbacks last night was Dont'a Hightower, who recorded 6 tackles [3 solo], 2.5 tackles for loss, including a sack, and accounted for 2 of Bama's 9 quarterback hurries.

Special Teams:

Kick offs:    F    It has been suggested to me that this grade ought actually to be W-F for "Withdrawn While Failing",  since after allowing another wire to wire kick return for a touchdown, Bama resorted to squibs, pooches, and knucklers out of bounds, rather than actually have to try to stop a return.  Surely this is an aspect of the game that has received attention from the coaching staff; but obviously not enough.
Punting:    A     Fitz punted the ball 3 times for an average of 43 yards.  Only one punt was returned and that return gained only 3 yards.  Javier Arenas gained 101 yards on 4 punt returns and his longest return was 46 yards.

Place Kicking:    B     Leigh Tiffin was good from 23 and 29 but missed from 39.

Coaching:    B    Alabama went deep into the roster as 61 individual players saw action.  We had fewer penalties [7] than last week, but that number is still too high and the point on the field where they transpired turned out to be drive killers.  The uncured deficiencies in the kicking game keep the grade from being higher.

But, your Commissioner does not want to leave the impression that he is pessimistic about this team.  Far from it.  I expect Alabama to win the West and to have a better shot at Florida in the SEC Championship than we had last year.  But there is till room for improvement.  The biggest difference between 2009 and any season between Coach Stallings and Coach Saban, is the sense of confidence that improvement will be made, that high expectations are realistic, and that everyone associated with this program, from the head coach, to the ushers, are committed to being champions.

That championship mentality is something else that defies description in a metaphor.  And I'm darned glad the program has it again.

The Commissioner

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Virginia Tech Grades

A little time can often bring a great deal of perspective.  This is especially true when the task at hand is evaluating the performance of your favorite college football team’s opening game of the season, played on the largest stage that sports television has to offer, against an opponent ranked in the top 10 teams in the country.

Standing in the jam-packed scrum of several thousand people trying to board the east-bound MARTA train from the Georgia Dome Station, the grades I was prepared to give the Tide’s performance against Va. Tech. were substantially lower than the ones I will award with the benefit of time, distance, relief from the Hokie fans [about which more later] and the chance to study the stats.


Watching the game live, there was a lot to be concerned about.  Alabama’s offense looked out of sync.  First down production was practically non-existent.  Penalties were too common, turnovers were too critical, and kick coverage was too crappy.  But with the advantage of perspective, Alabama’s 10 point win over Virginia Tech looks a lot better Sunday afternoon than the near-disastrous squeaker it seemed at midnight Saturday.

Yes, the offense was out of sync in the first half; but play improved in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter.  No question that penalties and turnovers hurt, but as the game progressed, execution improved.  In many ways it was an ugly win, but it was the first game of the season, with four of the offensive stalwarts of 2008 all in the NFL [JPW survived the final cut with the Falcons].  It was a convincing win against a very good defensive football team.  When asked about Mark Ingram’s 150 yard rushing performance, Frank Beamer said “We don’t usually have someone run the ball like that against us.”

Indeed.
                
Virginia Tech’s defense was nearly as good as Alabama’s.  They are very athletic and have lots of speed, especially at linebacker.  In three possessions straddling the first and second quarters, the Hokies held Alabama to only 10 plays, that resulted in a field goal, a punt and an interception.

But Alabama’s offense, especially the line, seemed to grow stronger as the game wore on and by the 4th quarter, Alabama was gashing a clearly fatigued Hokie defense.  On the other side of the football, Alabama proved to be every bit as good as the pre-season hype.  Even with Jerrell Harris suspended for four games and Brandon Deaderick recovering from a gunshot wound, Alabama’s front seven were dominant and the secondary was – apart from a questionable penalty call and one missed assignment – impenetrable.   Special teams were inconsistent and VPI clearly had the edge in that aspect of the contest.  By the time the clock finally ran down to zero, Alabama had overcome self-inflicted adversity, inexperienced players had made large strides towards gelling as a potent unit, and the Tide had soundly beaten a top 10 team that is unanimously predicted to win its conference.

Here’s how I grade the game:

Offense:           B --        Bama gained 498 yards of total offense [268 rushing].  Mark Ingram averaged 5.8 yards rushing on 26 carries while Roy Upchurch added 92 yards on 7 attempts [12.9 average] including a 19 yard TD that included completely de-cleating Hokie safety Dorian Porch.  However, first down production was poor and Bama’s first sustained drive did not come until the 8:33 mark in the 2nd quarter; but what a drive it was-11 plays, 76 yards and 5:24 off the game clock.    The Tide offense managed 5 drives in excess of 40 yards [76, 60, 57, 54 and 74] that resulted in three TDs, a fumble and a missed field goal.

After a shakey first half, Greg McElroy completed 15 of 30 pass attempts with 1 TD and 1 INT.  In the course of the night, McElroy demonstrated that he can indeed throw the deep ball including a 35 yarder to Darius Hanks in the 1st quarter and one for 48  to Marquis Maze in the 4th.    Julio Jones led all receivers with 4 catches.  Five different players caught passes; three receivers [Hanks, Maze and Jones], tight end Colin Peak and Ingram.  McElroy had a terribly dry patch in the second quarter, at one point throwing 9 incomplete passes in a row.  In the post-game interview, he admitted to being frustrated, but he clearly
improved as the game wore on and by the 4th quarter was in complete control of his team and making excellent decisions.

Alabama earned 22 first downs, converted 6 of 17 third down possessions and accumulated over 37 minutes of possession time.

The coaching staff installed a “Wild Tide” play evidently intended to confuse the Tech defense.  It achieved nothing.

Defense:          B+        The Hokies could only manage 121 yards of offense against the Bama stop-troops [64 rushing], were held to only 11 first downs and converted only 2 of 11 third downs.   Alabama tacklers stopped the Turkeys 9 times for loss of yardage including 5 sacks.  Eryk Anders led all defenders with 8 tackles [3 solo] including 2 for a loss and forced a fumble.   Rolando McClain had 5 tackles [4 solo; 2 sacks], Javier Arenas and Marcel Dareus each added a sack, while Josh Chapman combined with Dareus for yet another.

McClain deserves to be singled out for some deserved criticism for the two personal fouls he committed late in the second quarter that directly led to VPI scoring its first offensive TD of the game.   He is one of the most important leaders on the defense and he just cannot repeat that kind of loss of composure.

Va. Tech had 13 drives.  Nine of those drives were limited to four plays or less.  The Hokies didn’t scrimmage on Alabama’s side of the 50 until there were only :23 seconds left if the first quarter.

Special Teams:

Kick offs:           F          Bama’s coverage unit allowed 243 yards on 8 returns including a 98 yard TD that gave the Gobblers an unearned boost and flipped momentum for the remainder of the half.    Leigh Tiffin averaged aver very respectable 64.6 yards on 8 kicks, but the porous coverage earns the failing grade.

Punting:               A           P. J. Fitzgerald averaged 44 yards on 5 punts, only 2 of which were returned for only 11 yards.

Place Kicking:        B      Tiffin made 4 of 5 FG attempts including a 49 yarder on Bama’s first possession, but missed from 36 at the end of the first half.

Coaching:                B      The improvement throughout the game is a credit to the coaching staff; at the same time, the 10 penalties and the 9 times we ran that unproductive “Wild” play are minuses.  For the second consecutive year, Bama has opened the season by beating the premier team of the ACC.   Coach Bryant said that a football team makes more improvement between the first and second games of the season than at any other time.  I fully expect to see the 2009 edition of the Tide prove the truth of that maxim.  But I really don’t want to see that “Wild” thing again.

I promised a word or two about the Hokie fans.  I’m not sure that I can do justice to that odious rabble with just a word or two. 

First, let me acknowledge that not every Bama fan I saw was a candidate for sainthood, many Va. Tech fans were appropriately behaved and beverage alcohol was at the root of all the bad behavior, but I have not seen such a  collection of drunken, boorish louts this side of Knoxville.  At one point i wondered if the inmates of some Lee County reform school had been decked out in maroon and orange and bussed up to Atlanta.  A gaggle of Hokie “co-eds” seated near me were so ill behaved that a Scottish soccer hooligan would have called for security.  And don’t get me started  on the thirty-something woman with the earsplitting shriek that she emitted irrespective of what was happening on the field.  If she had only been at Gitmo, Khalid Sheik Mohammed would have given up everything he knows without the water board.  When she wasn’t purging her inner demons through primal scream therapy she was shouting profanity that I haven’t heard since basic training.  At one point she dropped so many F-bombs that I wanted to suggest that she buy a vowel.  I wonder if she talks to her mother with that mouth.  But I think the capper to my encounter with Va Tech fans came at 10:00 this morning, when I had to step around one lying on the side walk, sleeping it off, next to the entrance of my hotel.

The 2009 season is off to a very good start.  The Process is obviously at work.  This team will have the chance to do something really special.  Stay tuned.

The Commissioner