It didn't take very long for Alabama to put yesterday's game out of reach for the Duke Bluedevils. Cecil Hurt, in today's Tuscaloosa News argues that the game was over on the first offensive play, a 48 yard statement of a run by Mark Ingram.
I disagree.
The game was over at the coin toss. Alabama called "tails". The flip resulted in "heads". Duke elected to defer, giving the ball to Alabama to open the game.
It's pride obviously stung by having lost this exercise in probability theory, the Crimson Tide proceeded to beat Duke like a rented mule. At the end of the first quarter of play Ingram had over 100 yards rushing, and Alabama had scored four TDs; two by ground assault and two by air.
The play by the defense, particularly in the second stanza, failed to meet the performance standards set by Coach Saban. I wasn't in the locker room at half time, but I expect that there was some scholarly discussion of the sweet science of defensive football. Because after intermission the stop-troops obviously had figured out Duke's no-huddle wrinkle that seemed to confuse and frustrate them earlier in the game.
Readers of this space know that games of this sort require a letter-grade reduction due to the quality [or lack thereof] of the opposition. That is the case today. But football is a highly complicated team sport. The proper execution of a football play [offensively or defensively] involves lots of moving parts, and each player must understand his assignment, recognize changes in circumstances caused by the opponent, adjust to those changes, and execute the adjusted assignment through the flawless application of intricate technique. And the player must do so in a chaotic swirl of noise, heat, and physical stress. In other words, even if you are running a play against air-or the Duke defense, take your pick-you can have a dropped pass, a fumbled hand-off, a missed block, or some other human error.
There was very little human error yesterday. Duke's head coach, David Cutcliff, said that he has not seen a better Alabama team in the 26 games he has coached against the Tide. Alabama is a really good football team. The scary thing for opponents, is that there is so much room for Alabama to improve.
Here's how I grade the game:
Offense: B I wrote last week that this is Greg McElroy's team. I stand by that statement. GMac is a far better quarterback this year than last, and his teammates act like they know it. Yesterday GMac completed 14 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 3 TDs. He threw one interception-a really fine play by the Duke DB after a pump fake-and was sacked once. AJ completed 3 of 6 pass attempts for 53 yards and was sacked once.
Julio led all receivers with 5 catches for 106 yards and a TD. Darius Hanks added 52 yards and a TD on 3 receptions, and Preston Dial caught a TD pass-on the play immediately following one where he dropped what would have been a TD-and gained 39 yards on 3 receptions. Nine different receivers caught passes, 6 of whom were wide receivers.
Mark Ingram gained a net of 151 yards rushing and scored 2 rushing TDs. HIs longest run from scrimmage was 50 yards and he averaged 16.8 yards per carry. Two-thirds of his net rushing yards were in the bank by the end of the first quarter.
Trent Richardson started slowly. After his third rushing attempt his total was still a -1. He ended the day, however, very much in plus territory; 61 net yards on 7 carries [long of 45] and a TD. His touchdown was jaw-dropping. He patiently followed his blocking off the right tackle for about 5 yards until there was a crease; then he literally shifted into another gear. In one step he was sprinting past the Duke secondary and nobody could have stopped him even if they had been playing two-hand touch.
Eddie Lacy earned 52 yards on 7 carries and scored a TD. He also fumbled at the Duke 5 yard line. Take a look at the replay. There is a technique issue that no doubt the coaches will address.
Alabama had 826 all purpose yards and nine drives in excess of 40 yards [60,62,77,48, 59, 56, 80, 45, and 49] that resulted in 6 TDs, 1 field goal, and two turnovers. For the third game this season, Trent Richardson led all players with 184 all-purpose yards.
Defense: C+ Coach Saban described the play of the defense in the second quarter as "tired" and said that we were confused by Duke's no-huddle offense. Considering that Arkansas is the next opponent, the D had better get some rest and spend time in the film room, because this coming Saturday is going to be a big-time challenge.
Duke gained 302 yards of total offense on the Alabama defense including 146 yards rushing. Alabama surrendered 17 first downs to the Blue Devils and allowed the first TD in 10 quarters of play.
Dont'a Hightower led all tacklers with 8 [5 solo]. He could have had his 9th tackle on the play where Duke scored its lone TD, but he had a bad angle and was unable to bring the tight end to the ground with just one arm. The TV crew said that the tight end was not Hightower's assignment on the play, but the fact of the matter is that Dont'a was the first Tide player to have a shot at the guy.
Nico Johnson was credited with 6 tackles [4 solo]; Phelon Jones and C.J. Mosley each had 5. Mosley also was credited with 2 pass breakups and a QB hurry. Dre Kirkpatrick earned Alabama's lone take-away, an interception that he returned 21 yards.
Collectively, the Defense recorded 6 tackles for loss, 1 INT, 3 pass breakups and 2 hurries.
It was good to see Marcel Dareus back on the field. His one official tackle does not reflect how disruptive he was on the Duke offensive line.
Special Teams:
Punting: A Cody Mandell punted twice for an average of 40.5 yards and Alabama allowed no returns.
Kicking: A Trent Richardson initially bobbled a Duke kickoff, but found the handle, and then raced 91 yards for a TD. Julio added 36 yards on another Duke kickoff. Coverage of Alabama's kicks was good [average less than 20 yards], but Cade Foster's length [62.9 yards] was on-average a bit shorter than in the two previous games.
Place kicking: A+ There is little room for improvement when your place kicker is 8-8 in PATs and 2-2 on FG attempts.
Coaching: B+ Alabama was penalized 6 times for 55 yards and lost two fumbles. Otherwise, Bama dominated a team it was supposed to dominate; lots of players saw meaningful action; and mid-game corrective measures were taken as circumstances required. There was no noticeable let-down coming off the big-game a week ago against Penn State. This was especially so on offense. I'm sure that Florida's coaching staff would be delighted if the Gators could start a game with the offensive intensity that Alabama has shown so far this season.
Arkansas is next. The Hogs drove the field for a late TD to break a 24-24 tie and send Georgia spiraling to the bottom of the SEC East standings. The Pigs are better on defense than a year ago and Ryan Mallett appears to have learned how to throw the ball with a little touch. This is a dangerous game for Alabama, and it is the first of a three-game stretch that could well determine the championship fortunes of the 2010 Crimson Tide.
What are y'all planning for lunch next Saturday? Pull-pork, or the whole hog?
The Commissioner
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