Nothing says "humiliating defeat" quite like tens of thousands of empty seats in Neyland Stadium. With a minute to play in the game, there were more empty seats than fans. Actually, from the looks of this photo:
Those might be ServPro employees in the upper deck getting a head start on the post-game clean up. Tip of the hat to Trey Crabb for sharing the picture from his phone.
But, I have a confession to make:
I don't care.
That's right. I don't care.
I don't care that UT is a bad football team. I don't care that they are languishing at the bottom of the standings in the SEC East in a year where the division champion might end up being decided by drawing straws. I don't care that the Vols have lost over 30 players from their football team on account of coaching turmoil. I don't care if Tennessee has more players on scholarship to play volleyball than football. I don't care that the UT secondary was hampered by the fact that safety Janzen Jackson had to surrender his pellet gun at the metal detector. None of that matters, because last night the Crimson Tide beat the Volunteers by the widest margin ever recorded in a game played between the two schools in Neyland Stadium.
UT kept it close in the first half. Just like it did with Oregon earlier in the season. Part of the credit should go to Tennessee. The Vols played hard, especially on defense, and they put a lot of pressure on GMac. He was knocked around by so many untouched pass rushers, that I'm going to watch the replay this evening and count the orange jerseys just to make sure that UT isn't still trying to run that 6-4-3 defense they unveiled against LSU.
The second half was, as they say, another story entirely. Everything worked the way the coaches draw it up on the blackboard. We got away from the oh-so-predictable play calling of the first half and opened up the passing attack with on-target throws down the field. This opened up the running game, and the results were awesome to behold. After intermission, Alabama's offense converted 4 of 5 third downs, and had drives of 70, 65, 80 and 80 yards, each ending with a touchdown. The Tide defense in the second half allowed UT to convert only 3 of 8 third downs, and the Vols' five offensive possessions resulted in a missed field goal, two interceptions, a punt and a turnover on downs.
The peck-sniffs up in Indianapolis, banned Alabama's tradition of handing out cigars in the locker room to celebrate a win in the Tennessee game, but the readers of The Grades are not bound by the PC dictates of the NCAA. So smoke 'em if you've got 'em, because here's how I grade the game:
Offense: A- Reader of The Grades know that a reduction of one-letter grade is a convention that I use to take into account the quality of opposition, and just such a reduction was urged upon me by Our Correspondent From Regions Bank. But I will resist that temptation. Yes, Tennessee is not a good football team, but it is a traditional conference opponent and a full letter grade reduction would discount unfairly Alabama's performance in the second half.
Alabama earned 24 first downs, 9 by rushing and gained 536 yards of total offense [210 rushing]. Trent Richardson gained 119 yards on 12 carries and had no rushing attempt that failed to gain. His longest run from scrimmage was a 65 yard sprint for a TD in the third quarter. Mark Ingram gained 88 yards rushing on 14 carries and after looking tentative in the first half, ran the ball with much more authority after intermission.
GMac completed 21 of his 32 pass attempts for 264 yards and had no interceptions. He was sacked once. His longest pass was 42 yards and it wasn't a screen play. AJ McCarron played the better part of the fourth quarter and completed all 3 of his pass attempts for 62 yards.
Everyone's favorite target last night was Julio Jones who set a school record for receiving yards of 221 on 12 receptions. D.J. Hall recorded 13 receptions in the Tide's 2007 win over Tennessee, but Hall had fewer yards on his baker's dozen. Marquis Maze added 73 yards on 4 receptions and Darius Hanks caught 3 passes for 10 yards. Eight different receivers caught passes.
Bama had 8 drives that gained 40 or more yards [41, 59, 56, 68, 70, 65, 80 and 80], but while the Tide's long drives in the second half were ruthlessly efficient in scoring touchdowns, the first half saw four long drives yield a solitary TD, 2 FGs and one missed FG from chip-shot distance.
Defense: B+ The stop-troops shut out UT in the second half, but in the first 30 minutes of play, they yielded 10 points including a long drive for a FG late in the half. Moreover, UT's Tauren Poole gained 117 yards rushing; the first time in 41 games that Alabama's defense has allowed an opposing player to gain 100+ yards rushing. Poole gain 59 of those yards on a single play on Tennessee's second possession of the game.
Bama's pass defense was perhaps its best of the year in league play. UT's two quarterbacks completed only 17 of 36 pass attempts and surrendered 2 interceptions. Two other potential interceptions in the first half were dropped; 1 by Phelon Jones, the other by Dont'a Hightower.
C.J.Moseley led all defenders with 9 tackles [4 solo]. Milliner recorded 7 tackles, all solo. Hightower had 6 [3 solo] including 1.5 for loss. He also broke up one pass and is credited with 2 QB hurries. Will Lowery made 6 tackles [2 solo] and seemed to be always around the ball. He played a really splendid game.
Bama's defenders broke up 8 passes and snared 2 interceptions, both of which killed UT scoring opportunities. Robert Lester returned his pick 20 yards. The other takeaway was made by converted wide-receiver, red-shirt sophomore, B.J. Scott [5-11, 193] out of Prichard's, Vigor High School.
Special Teams:
Punting: B+ Bama averaged 47 yards per punt, downed 1 inside the 20 and had 1 punt of 50+ yards. UT failed to return any punts. Bama had a single punt return that lost 4 yards.
Placekicking: C+ Jeremy Shelley was good from 30 and 42 yards, but banged one off the left upright from 25].
Kickoffs: B+ Bama's kickoffs averaged 66.4 yards gross and 45.9 net of returns. We allowed 2 returns in excess of 20 yards [29, 33].
Coaching: A- The turn around between the first and second halves was impressive. According to coverage in The Tuscaloosa News, Coach Saban merely told the players that they would have more fun if they played with more intensity. Marcel Dareus, said that there were no fiery speeches at half-time. Rather, after receiving their adjustment instructions, the players spent some time reflecting on their situation and deciding what sort of team they really wanted to be. Hopefully, the performance in the second half will be what we see from here on. If we are going to win out and return to Atlanta nothing less will suffice.
A word or two about the officiating and the television coverage is appropriate.
The Zebras did not affect the outcome of the game, but there were moments of low buffoonery from the Men In Stripes. I lost track of how many times the officials had to convene an all-hands-confab in order to figure out whether an infraction had occurred, what down it was, how much time was left, and the other weighty issues committed to their care. It's one thing for a ref to consult with his colleagues to make sure the call is correct, but when the meetings last so long that the Ref orders in coffee and doughnuts, you know it's gotten out of hand. Plus, the off-setting personal foul call against Dre Kirkpatrick in the second quarter was totally bogus.
As far as the TV coverage goes, the play-by-play and color commentary was fine, except for the too frequent references to Cam Newton's performance earlier in the day against LSU. But the prize for Dumbest Question By A Sideline Reporter has to go to Holly Rowe, who was interviewing Julio after he just set an Alabama single-game record for receiving yards and asked him, "Have you ever had a game like this one before?" To his everlasting credit, Julio did not say anything close to (a) "Are you freaking kidding me?"; (b) "What the $%@# did you just ask me?"; or (c) "Say what?" Instead, he very politely replied: "No, Ma'am" and then trotted off to the locker room to have a conversation with people who had actually watched the game.
The players now get a much-needed bye week to rest, recover and recharge for the stretch run. The Auburn / LSU game proved that LSU has a terrible offense but a very good defense. It also proved that as long as Cam Newton stays healthy, Auburn is a dangerous team capable of scoring from anywhere on the field at any time during the game. Obviously, LSU is the most important game on the schedule.
The last five games have been a brutal stretch, but I believe that we saw Alabama turn a corner last night. Play like we did in the second half last night, and we win. Play like we did in the first half and we don't. It's that simple.
The Commissioner
The Zebras did not affect the outcome of the game, but there were moments of low buffoonery from the Men In Stripes. I lost track of how many times the officials had to convene an all-hands-confab in order to figure out whether an infraction had occurred, what down it was, how much time was left, and the other weighty issues committed to their care. It's one thing for a ref to consult with his colleagues to make sure the call is correct, but when the meetings last so long that the Ref orders in coffee and doughnuts, you know it's gotten out of hand. Plus, the off-setting personal foul call against Dre Kirkpatrick in the second quarter was totally bogus.
As far as the TV coverage goes, the play-by-play and color commentary was fine, except for the too frequent references to Cam Newton's performance earlier in the day against LSU. But the prize for Dumbest Question By A Sideline Reporter has to go to Holly Rowe, who was interviewing Julio after he just set an Alabama single-game record for receiving yards and asked him, "Have you ever had a game like this one before?" To his everlasting credit, Julio did not say anything close to (a) "Are you freaking kidding me?"; (b) "What the $%@# did you just ask me?"; or (c) "Say what?" Instead, he very politely replied: "No, Ma'am" and then trotted off to the locker room to have a conversation with people who had actually watched the game.
The players now get a much-needed bye week to rest, recover and recharge for the stretch run. The Auburn / LSU game proved that LSU has a terrible offense but a very good defense. It also proved that as long as Cam Newton stays healthy, Auburn is a dangerous team capable of scoring from anywhere on the field at any time during the game. Obviously, LSU is the most important game on the schedule.
The last five games have been a brutal stretch, but I believe that we saw Alabama turn a corner last night. Play like we did in the second half last night, and we win. Play like we did in the first half and we don't. It's that simple.
The Commissioner
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