Georgia State Grades

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I always thought that Bill Curry was an odd choice to be Alabama's head football coach.
It wasn't just that he was a Georgia Tech guy, with all the baggage that comes with that particular affiliation. It certainly wasn't his football pedigree; three trips to the Super Bowl, two championship rings, played for Vince Lombardi, etc. It had more to do with his approach to things. With Bill Curry, I always got the feeling that he was impressed with his own superior moral sense-even when he didn't live up to his moral posturing.

Remember when he was the coach at Kentucky, and answered a reporter's question about whether he would start then freshman Tim Couch at quarterback? He said something along the lines of: "Anybody who would do such an unfair thing to such a fine young man has no business coaching college football." Well it turns out Curry was right. He started Couch about two weeks later. By the end of the season, the bosses at Kentucky decided that Curry had no business coaching football any longer for the Wildcats.

I also recall when he was a commentator with ESPN. Somehow, the producers at the Four Letter Network would assign Curry to be the color guy for broadcasts of Alabama games. He always took an uncomplimentary jab or two at Alabama, its fans, or, most often in Curry-speak, the "culture" of Alabama football. Like when he was covering the Mississippi State game when Sylvester Croom made his first journey to Tuscaloosa to coach a game against Alabama under the leadership of Mike Shula. Curry yammered incessantly about how tough it was to grow up black in Tuscaloosa. I'm sure it was; but how would he know? I was a charter member of the Hire Sly Croom Club when Dennis Fran-phony bolted from Tuscaloosa to Texas A&M, but I could not abide Bill Curry's preening self-righteousness at Alabama's expense as he tut-tutted about how shabbily Alabama had treated one of its own.

And, of course, who can forget the infamous "rock-through-the-window" business? I suppose there are folks reading The Grades who were not alive at the time, so maybe a little history is in order. During Curry's tenure as the Tide head coach, Ole Miss came to Tuscaloosa for Homecoming. The Rebs left town that day a winner, and Alabama played so poorly, that the offense failed to complete a single pass. The next day, Curry claimed he discovered that his office had been vandalized by a rock thrown through the window. The police were summoned, and Curry gave several interviews where he lamented the darkness at the heart of Alabama fans. Assuming the rock story was true-a subject that has never been free of debate-Curry could have been a hero with fans if he had only said: "I would like to find the person who threw that rock through my window, because we obviously need to find somebody who can hit what they are throwing at, and it's my job as coach to go recruit them."

There was a time, twenty one years ago, when Bill Curry said that Lexington, Kentucky was a better place to coach college football than Tuscaloosa. For him, I suppose that must have been true. Nothing else can explain why this paragon of virtue would breach his contract with the University, quit his job with a year left to work, and an offer of a two-year extension on the table.

Well, I must have mellowed with time, because as I watched Curry on the Georgia State sidelines Thursday night, I actually found myself sympathetic to him. His pre-game remarks to Erin Andrews were complimentary of the Alabama program, and he had somewhat of the air of an elder statesman about him; like an emeritus professor.

His team played with admirable heart, and got crushed by better athletes, who are better coached, better conditioned, and better prepared. Georgia State has nothing to be ashamed of losing to Alabama 63-7. So, enough about Bill Curry.

Alabama scored 63 points on a team that it ought to have scored 63 points on. The Tide played everybody in a red jersey. GMac became a spectator with one third of the second quarter left to play. It was a good tune-up for Alabama with Auburn coming to town the day after Thanksgiving.

Readers of this space know that I typically apply a one letter grade reduction to take into account the quality of opposition. Considering how deep Alabama went into its roster, I think the playing field was ultimately leveled to the point that no reduction is required. Here's how I grade the game:

Offense:     A      Alabama gained 478 yards of total offense [262 rushing], earned 24 first downs, and did not punt the ball until the 8:00 mark in the 4th quarter. GMac completed 12 of 13 pass attempts for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns. A.J. completed 7 of 9 for 57 and a TD.

Julio Jones was the leading receiver with 7 catches for 86 yards and two TDs. Marquis Maze, Darius Hanks and Kevin Norwood each had 2 receptions. In all, 10 players caught passes.

Mark Ingram carried the ball 12 times for 86 yards and a TD. Eddie Lacy, Jalston Fowler and Demetrius Goode each scored rushing touchdowns. It was fun to watch these backs run the ball. Lacy gained 81 net yards on 13 rushes. Fowler gained 42 yards on 2 carries, his longest being a 36 yard TD. It was troubling that on Alabama's second possession of the game, we were not able to score by running between the tackles. Mark had to run over left end to score from 1 yard out.

Mark was the leader in all purpose yards with 102 [86 rush; 16 receiving].

Bama had five drives of 40 or more yards [67, 71, 72, 60 and 50] resulting in 4 TDs and a missed FG.

Defense:      A      Here's a stat for you: the three leading tacklers in Thursday night's game were Neighbors [6], Jerrell Harris [5] and Chris Jordan [5]; you have to drill four deep before you find a familiar name [Demarcus Milliner-4 tackles]. Milliner is followed by Will Lowery, Tana Patrick, Michael DeJohn [not exactly a household name] and Dont'a Hightower all with 3 tackles each.

The Stop-Troops accounted for 6 tackles for 17 lost yards, 4 interceptions returned for a total of 66 yards, 3 broken up pass attempts, and 10 QB hurries. Robert Lester, Chris Jordan, Mark Barron and C. J. Mosley each had an interception. Mosley returned his pick in the second quarter 41 yards for a TD.

Special Teams:


Punting:     A+     Chavis Williams blocked a second quarter punt attempt. Brandon Gibson recovered the block and returned it 22 yards for a TD.

Kickoffs:   F        I'm sorry, but despite the 63.3 gross average per kick on 10 kicks, the coverage team allowed a 97 yard return for a TD. That sort of play earns an automatic F.

Place Kicking:  F Again, it doesn't matter that Bama's snap-hold-kick effort was perfect on PATs, Jeremy Shelley missed from 27 yards; banging the ball off the right-side upright. Cade Foster was initially good from 49 yards, but the FG unit was unable to beat the play clock and he had to try again from 54 yards. He missed it the second time.

Coaching:  A      The special teams play notwithstanding, the coaches did exactly what needed to be done in this game. In addition to the 22 starters, 57 players off the bench participated in the game. And if you have any doubt about the commitment and intensity of this coaching staff, especially at the top, you should consider the fact that, with seconds to play in the game, Coach Saban was still coaching up the number 3 quarterback and the number 7 running back. We played two-deep at every position on the offensive and defensive lines as well as the defensive secondary. At some line and DB positions Bama played 3 deep.

I mentioned earlier, how Bill Curry found Kentucky to be a better place for him than Alabama. In the longer view of things, had he not done so, Bama would not have had Gene Stallings in 1990 and would certainly not have earned a national championship in '92. At his introductory press conference, Coach Stallings was asked by a reporter how badly he wanted to beat Auburn, since his predecessor was winless against the Tigers.

Stallings gave a two word answer: "Real bad."

When Coach Stallings arrived in Tuscaloosa, Auburn was engaged in a pay-for-play scandal that eventually would make Eric Ramsey temporarily famous, and cost Pat Dye his job. I suppose this would be an excellent trivia question: What college football program would fire a coach for paying players and still put his name on their stadium? Fast forward two decades, and scandal once again is swirling around the Auburn program like flies on a carcass. I will have much more to say on the Newton Affair in The Williamson Herald. For readers of The Grades, I will only say this: Alabama can beat Auburn this year. It will be extremely hard to do, but it is possible. More likely than not, Auburn will leave Tuscaloosa with more points on the score board. But when all the shoes have dropped, the official record books will not reflect that Auburn beat Alabama in 2010.

The Commissioner