Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A Report From The Tire Store

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Down at The Tire Store, we just don't understand the hoo-ha about a "rematch" in the BCS Championship Game. 

If it was Duke / North Carolina in basketball, they might play twice in the season, once in the ACC tourney and still meet at the end of the Final Four and they'd promote the daylights out of it, even if Duke had won every one of the previous meetings.  Same story in Women's basketball.  Alabama and UGA regularly meet during the season in gymnastics, then for the SEC title, and maybe again at the Super Six (or whatever they call their finals).  Baseball is a little different because of the regionals, but you could definitely have a rematch because baseball teams play so many games OOC and so does softball (I understand it's different with a concluding series of games).  And what if next season there is an undefeated Oklahoma State and a one-loss Oklahoma, and everyone else in the country has three losses.  What then?   9-3 LSU goes over Oklahoma? 
If this had been a four-team playoff, LSU would have beaten Stanford to death, we'd have beaten OK State, probably by at least three scores, and we end up in the same place, just with one more game played for each team.  And incidentally, if I had a vote, I'd have rated Stanford higher than OK State, by virtue of comparing losses.
But don't get me wrong, anything that ends the ridiculous voting system in football, which has been controversial for as long as we have all been alive, and was not "fixed" by the BCS no matter what Kramer says, has my support.  I have an acquaintance (not Alabama or LSU) who said he hopes we win the game 9-6 in overtime, just to try to blow up the BCS.

And one more thing, while we're at it: Who said nobody wanted to see Alabama and LSU play again? How many people went to see Alabama play its home games this year compared to how many people went to see Ok State? I'll tell you: the paid attendance at Alabama's 2011 home games was 712,747, an overage of 101,821 per game. Out in Stillwater they sold 343,376 tickets, a per-game average of only 57,229. More people paid to go see Ok State's opponents [383,456] than went to see the 'Pokes, and this includes all those folks at Iowa State who paid to sit out in the cold that Friday night in Ames when the Cyclones came back from a 24-7 third quarter deficit to beat OSU in double overtime.

In fact, based on attendance figures, more people would rather go see games played by Alabama's opponents [81,170 average per game] than go to Stillwater to watch the Cowboys.

LSU attracted 557,210 to Tiger Stadium this season, a per game average of 92,868. And you could put the average attendance at Ok State games into the stadiums of LSU's opponents and still have 20,000 empty seats.

Down here at The Tire Store, we could attract a crowd close to the average Oklahoma State home game with a two-for-one special, provided of course that we included free rotation and balance. And if anyone from another conference wants to complain about how "unfair" it is that the SEC has ruled the BCS for six years running, just tell them it's their own dad-gum fault.

The Correspondent From The Tire Store  

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The Wait ...

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There must be something wrong with every clock in the house. I know that at least a quarter of an hour must have passed since the last time I checked the time, but they have only advanced a minute and a half.

Einstein theorized that time slowed down as your velocity approached the speed of light. Albert must not have been an Alabama fan. If he was he would have added another caveat to his general theory of relativity: Time slows down while you are waiting to find out the final BCS standings.

It's Sunday morning. The Tide has had all of its hay in the barn for a week. To be more precise, the Tide took all the "Hey!" out of The Barn last Saturday, but you get my point. With no more games to play, all that Alabama fans can do is wait to see how the poll voters and computer geeks react to Oklahoma State's 44-10 victory over Oklahoma. Will the best two teams in college football face each other for the 2011 BCS Championship? Or, will Alabama be bumped out of the number 2 spot in the final BCS rankings by a team with the country's 107th best defense; one that lost to a three touchdown underdog?

Twitter is full of tweets urging the voters to do the right thing. Here's my favorite:

"Remember that time a flashy offense played an SEC defense in a BCS title game and scored more than 24 points? Anyone?"

Hat Tip to Marc Torrence.

Since all we can do is wait until the final standings are announced, today is a good day to release: The Commissioners Most Valuable Awards!

Most Valuable Player on Offense: The most potent offensive weapon in college football: Trent Richardson.

TR's stats tell the tale. Rushing: 1583 net yards, 132 per game, 6.0 per rush. Receiving: 27 receptions for 327 yards, 27.2 yards per game. Scoring: 23 touchdowns [20 rushing]. All Purpose: 1976 total yards [164.7 per game]

Trent led the Tide in rushing, scoring, and all purpose yards. He was second in receiving behind only Marquis Maze and in total offense behind AJ McCarron.

Honorable Mention: The Offensive Line

If you asked him, TR would be the first to tell you that what he accomplished on the field this year was made possible by the big men up front. In fact if you asked Trent for the time of day he would say "My offensive line makes time happen. That's the only reason I wear a watch."

Alabama averaged 433 offensive yards and 36 points per game in the league that has won the last five consecutive BCS titles.

Most Valuable Player on Defense:  Dont'a Hightower leads the team in tackles with 81 [37 solo], 9.5 for lost yardage including 3 sacks, 3 pass breakups, 4 deflections, 8 hurries, 1 interception returned for 29 yards and a blocked field goal attempt.

Most Valuable Player on Special Teams: Marquis Maze The Tide's primary return specialist accounted for 726 yards returning kicks and punts. His electrifying punt return for a touchdown against Arkansas convinced opposing teams to kick away from him but he still averaged 12 yards per game returning punts.

Most Valuable Coaching Staff:  Defense Alabama has the best defense in the country. As good as LSU's defense has been, Alabama's has been better.

The Tide Defense allowed on average fewer than 7 points per game and surrendered only 3 rushing touchdowns. Opposing offenses averaged only 191 yards per game [75 rushing] and converted only 25% of third downs. Alabama led the nation in the number of Three And Out defensive stops, and opponents who managed to reach the Alabama red-zone only scored touchdowns 35% of the time. Credit goes to: Kirby Smart, Sal Sunseri, Chris Rumph, Jeremy Pruitt, and, of course Scott Cochran

Most Valuable Freshman: Vinnie Sunseri He played in all twelve games starting with special teams and by the end of the season saw significant playing time on defense. He recorded 31 tackles [18 solo] and forced a fumble. He was the 8th leading tackler on the team and most productive freshman on defense.

OK, I am convinced that there is something wrong with the clocks in this house. There is more time until the BCS announcement than when I started working on this blog post. Are we having another "fall back" clock changing weekend?

The Commissioner

Monday, November 28, 2011

Iron Bowl Grades: The Report From The Tire Store

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An excellent edition of the grades, Commissioner.  Probably your best effort of the season and this has been a season of championship writing.  A lot of fans were able to focus on this season as a whole and to enjoy all of the highlight moments that it brought including the team's spectacular play on the road at Penn State in what turned out to be our last game against a Joe Paterno-coached team, a thrashing of an Arkansas team that looked like a championship team against everyone except Alabama and LSU, an entertaining if disappointing game against the Bayou Bengals, and whipping long-time rivals like Tennessee, Mississippi and Mississippi State in a way reminiscent of whatever you consider the glory days of Alabama football (which I find varies depending on how old you are).

But down here at the Tire Store this season has been focused on one thing – putting out the burning ember deep inside that has been smoldering since last Thanksgiving weekend.  Perhaps it’s because we attended that game, but all of last year is a fuzzy, hard-to-see image obscured by one disappointing half of football in Tuscaloosa.  That ember flared up every time we saw an ugly orange tag on a car, every time Scam Newton’s name got mentioned, every time we walked back in the stadium -- even for A Day.  It flared up again when we had to sit through endless CBS references to last years game, when we noted the halftime score and again when Auburn managed a quick score after halftime.  But now, that burning sensation has been soothed, and in permanent fashion.  The world is once again in its proper order.

Alabama beat Auburn about every way you can think of to do it.  Alabama ran the ball in the hard, straightforward, traditional fashion, sometimes hitting a pile of players at the line of scrimmage and moving it forward three or four yards.  Alabama passed efficiently, on at a least two plays completing passes to players so wide open that you couldn’t see defenders on the television picture.  Most of all, Alabama played a suffocating brand of defense.  Auburn couldn’t run, couldn’t pass, and had its most effective play at the quarterback position be a pooch punt.  This all with two players the quality of Barron and Hightower significantly limited by injury.  Even Alabama’s field goal game, held in much derision by the Plains-dwellers in the week leading up the game, contributed in solid style to the victory.

Last year looks more and more like an aberration. One year removed from winning it all, there are calls for coaching changes on the Plains.  The offensive style of the future – misdirection, gadget plays, odd formations, quick snaps, etc. -- that was supposed to change how things are played not just our conference, but throughout the country, has been exposed.  The smoke has cleared and the mirrors are cracked.  Basically, if you don’t have one incredibly talented athlete who can frequently make chicken salad out of a pile of chicken feathers, you won’t score many points on a good defense that has a decent amount of time to prepare.  Playing defense as an afterthought, mostly so that your offense can have time to think up some new pass routes, won’t do either.  Auburn ends the season 7-5 and could have easily been 5-7.  They are waiting for bowl assignments after next weekend’s games, not in the top 25 in any poll and hoping to beat out a 6-6 Florida for a trip to the Gator Bowl to play Urban Meyer’s new team. Alabama’s plans are somewhat more exciting.

Alabama has won three of the last four games against Auburn by a combined score of 131-63.  None was any more satisfying than this past Saturday.  Roll Tide everyone. 

The Correspondent From The Tire Store

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Iron Bowl Grades

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I swear I saw it.

I haven't gone to the DVR and watched the end of the broadcast, but I'm positive that I saw Nick Saban smile. No, really, I did. I realize that's hard to believe, but trust me on this. As Tracy Wolfson interviewed him after the Tide's 42-14 Iron Bowl victory Nick Saban smiled.

OK, it's wasn't much of a smile by ordinary human standards; the ends of his lips were ever so slightly tilted up, and his eyes crinkled just a little bit. But for Coach Saban it was the equivalent of an ear-to-ear toothy grin.

And who can blame him? The Tide had just turned in its best all-around game of the 2011 season. Trent Richardson had a career-high performance, rushing the ball for 203 yards against the Tide's most bitter rival. Brad Smelley had played the game of his Bama career leading all receivers with 6 receptions for 86 yards and a TD. By half time, AJ McCarron had thrown for three TDs, and joined the elite company of Freddie Kitchens, Steve Sloan and Jeff Rutledge as the only Alabama quarterbacks to complete three touchdown passes in an Iron Bowl. And when the game clock reached all zeros, the Alabama defense, which last year surrendered 28 points, including 21 in the second half, had so thoroughly dominated the Auburn offense, that one Subscriber to this blog quipped: "Auburn football: 'This year we are playing for free .... and it shows.' "

Here's how I grade the game:

Offense: A+   Yes, the lost fumble which resulted in Auburn's first points was the kind of play that typically eliminates the + grade; however, the successful two-point conversion play operates as a push for the turnover. Plus, this was Auburn we were playing. That justifies maybe a little bit of grade inflation.

Alabama gained 397 yards of total offense [213 rushing], made 19 first downs, converted 7 of 13 third-downs, and was a perfect 4-4 in the red zone. AJ went the distance for the Tide and made his inaugural Iron Bowl start one for the record books, completing 18 of 23 pass attempts for 184 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions. He handled the AU pass rush like he had ice-water in his veins.

Brad Smelley caught 6 passes for 86 yards including a 35 yard reception for a TD where he was at least 15 yards behind the coverage. Smelley was so open that another Subscriber wrote: "The defensive coordinator told the Auburn players to 'cover all 11 guys' ... since Smelley was wearing number 17 they just let him go."

Marquis Maze caught 4 passes for 18 yards, mostly on screens. Brandon Gibson, Michael Williams and Kenny Bell each caught 2 passes. Bell's longest reception came on a flea-flicker where Trent got the hand-off, took two steps, then turned and lateraled back to AJ. By this time every Tiger DB had committed to the run and Kenny looked like he was out to practice early. The play was good for 41 yards and a TD. In all, 7 different players caught passes.

Trent, of course, led all rushers with 203 yards. His longest run from scrimmage was a thunderous 57 yard power run in the 4th quarter where he literally swatted away two would-be tacklers. But that was not his only run of the night worthy of a Heisman Trophy highlight reel. He had several rushes that gained 8 to 10 yards where most backs would have been fortunate to gain 2.

Eddie Lacy, still limited by turf-toe, gained 6 yards on 4 carries. Jalston Fowler ran the ball only once, but the play was good for 15 yards and Alabama's final TD.

The offense had 5 offensive possessions that gained 40 or more yards [81, 80, 51, 69, 90]. These drives consumed a total of 50 plays from scrimmage and produced 3 TDs and 2 FGs. The shortest scoring drive was the 35 yard TD pass to Shelley that followed a shanked Auburn punt.

Defense: A+   Auburn was only able to generate a single first down in the first half and was held to only 9 for the game, most coming in the 4th quarter when the outcome of the contest was not in doubt. The Tiger running game could only produce 78 yards rushing and the passing game was equally throttled [11-20-1, 62 yds, no TDs]. The only score on an Auburn pass attempt was made by the Alabama defense.

Gary Danielson at one point in the broadcast said that he had not seen Dont'a Hightower make any plays. Which made me wonder what game Danielson was watching. Dont'a had 9 tackles [6 solo; 1 for loss].

D. Milliner, Vinnie Sunseri and C. J. Moseley each recorded 6 tackles. Milliner drove the stake into the Tiger's heart with the pick-six. Courtney Upshaw had 5 tackles [4 solo; 2 for loss]. The Tide Defense recorded a total of 6 tackles for lost yardage including 2 sacks, and forced a fumble.

Special Teams:

Place Kicking: A   Jeremy Shelley was good each time he was called upon [30, 28; 4 PATs].

Punting: A   Cody Mandel punted three for an average of 40.5 yards. He placed one inside the Auburn 20 and each was fair caught. When he doesn't shank, the Auburn punter is good. In spite of the kick he sliced for 18 yards, he averaged nearly 42 yards per punt, and got excellent hang-time. Nevertheless, Marquis Maze managed to return 2 punts for 21 yards [16, 5].

Kick offs: F   I'm sorry, but while Cade Foster managed two touchbacks, he also had a 55 yard kick that, combined with an assignment bust, yielded an 85 yard return for a TD.

Coaching: A+   Alabama dominated Auburn. Think about this for just a minute. Yesterday's game was a contest between the two most recent winners of the BCS Championship. In the year after the Tide won its 13th national title, with most of its impact defensive players gone to graduation or the NFL, Auburn managed a one-point victory. The year following the Tigers' BCS win, Alabama crushed the Tigers, scoring more points than have been scored in this rivalry since 1977. The Process does not involve bringing in players for a one-year work-for-hire arrangement. It is a non-stop effort that begins with recruiting, involves intense conditioning, includes innovative player development, and requires absolute commitment on the part of all concerned. There is a reason why, in his fifth year as Alabama's head football coach, Nick Saban's team is on the cusp of playing for a second BCS title, and has a player on the short list for the Heisman Trophy for the second time in three years.

The Tide was penalized only three times, all in the first half. The participation report lists 50 players who saw action against Auburn.

Special mention to Vinnie Sunseri. The freshman DB did not start the game, but had significant playing time due to last week's injury to Will Lowery and an injury during the game to Mark Barron. Sunseri exemplifies what The Process is all about. Does anyone doubt that he will be a defensive star in the seasons ahead?

Saban's smile made a repeat appearance in his post-game presser where he gave credit by name to everyone from Dr. Witt and Mal Moore to his coordinators and assistant coaches for the sustained success of the Alabama program. He didn't say this, but the point is unmistakable: The 2011 Iron Bowl tells you all you need to know about the relative quality, not just of Auburn and Alabama, but Alabama and the rest of the college football universe. There are LSU and Alabama. Then there is all the rest.

Commentators have been writing and talking about "style points" and "statement games" ever since a series of foreseeable losses cleared out the brush and put three teams from the SEC West at the top of the BCS standings. Some pundits have been nattering about how they "don't want to see a rematch." Give credit, however, to Mark May. The CBS wrap-up show commentator was unequivocal: Alabama and LSU are the two best teams in college football. Assuming LSU beats Georgia next week, the only meaningful BCS CG will be one between the Tide and Tigers.

Allow me a comment or two about the quality of CBS's coverage of the 2011 Iron Bowl. I would grade it no better than a D+. Gary Danielson gets a high grade for his editorial about Heisman voting: Don't game the system; vote for whoever you believe deserves the award, but don't drop the obvious runner up solely to give your preferred choice an advantage. Nevertheless, it is outrageous that Lundquist and Wolfson spent time talking about the troglodyte Harvey Updike, and never mentioned Carson Tinker a single time. And then there was this from Wolfson on the Toomer's Corner trees: "I drove by them and they looked really bad. They usually have leaves all over them but now the branches are bare."

Helloooo! Tracy! Is anybody home inside your head? It's November 26 for Pete's sake; there are no leaves on the trees in my yard either! We have a phenomena in this part of the country called "The Autumn." Check it out on Wikkiepedia, or My Weekly Reader.

So now we begin a waiting period. A week from now we will learn officially whether the Tide will play for the Big Crystal Football. This is the last edition of The Grades until after the bowl game. Look for the Commissioner's MVPs and, hopefully, the return of Round Ball Grades from Marc Torrence. So, I leave you now, with a link to the Rammer Jammer that serenaded the victorious Crimson Tide and echoed off the empty seats of Jordan-Hare Stadium, which the Auburn people abandoned in the 4th quarter. It is guaranteed to bring a smile ....

The Commissioner

Monday, November 21, 2011

Georgia Southern Grades: The Report From The Tire Store

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Our linebackers and defensive backs need to do a much better job of getting around cut blocks.  You can bet the API brain trust was watching that.

We really do not need to play many offensive downs with Hanks and Maze both on the sidelines.  Smelley stepped up for a game that he will never forget.  Good for him.  And let the API brain trust think about that for a little while.

As you know, we generally do not call out individual players by name in this space but I'm willing to make an exception this time.  I don't know, and do not want to know, exactly what "team rule" Nick Gentry violated.  But a senior player managing to get himself suspended for Senior Day?  Well, words fail me.

Speaking of which, having a group of Jesse Williams, Nick Gentry, and Josh Chapman watching the game is probably the equivalent of having one of the best defensive lines in the conference, and therefore the nation, as cheerleaders.  We understand that Chapman has been battling nagging injuries for awhile and that Williams was ill rather than injured.  Here's hoping that they show up rested but in a nasty mood in Lee County.

Georgia Southern is a quality football team.  I do not expect they would have any trouble beating at least Mississippi State, Kentucky, or Mississippi from the SEC.  I will be interested to see how far they go in the playoffs.

Sad to see the gallant Will Lowery go down.  We will miss him at dime more than most probably realize.

Beyond that, we hope that the 24-hour rule was more like the 24-minute rule on Saturday.  This team still has the opportunity to achieve its ultimate, most important objective, by which, of course, we mean avenging last year’s Thanksgiving weekend debacle.  Down here at the Tire Store it is been almost 365 days of driving like there was a roofing nail in the radial. 

Roll Tide.  Beat Auburn.  Nothing more is required, nothing less will suffice.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Georgia Southern Grades

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Last Friday night in Tuscaloosa was pretty rowdy. There was nowhere in town that people weren't watching television as Iowa State beat previously undefeated Oklahoma State, the team that occupied the gap between Alabama and LSU in the BCS standings. One of our Correspondents captured the scene at Buffalo Wild Wings as the Cyclones' big running back scored the game-winning touchdown in second overtime; the place went crazy.

You didn't have to be in Tuscaloosa, however, to get a little excited about Ok.State being knocked out of Alabama's path to the BCS Championship Game. A group of Alabama alumni living in New York City were gathered for a going-away celebration at an establishment that had the game on one of its TVs. As ISU closed the scoring gap and put the game into OT, the Bama emigres got progressively more enthusiastic. And when the Cyclones won, they were carrying on so that some of the New Yorkers asked: "Where are you guys from?"

"Alabama."

"But this is Iowa State and somebody. What's up with that?"

"Well ..... You just don't understand."

According to Twitter feeds, things also got a little rowdy at The Capstone Hotel as the Tide's players celebrated the improbable turn of events that once again have given them control of their own destiny. This provided the script for Coach Saban's remarks to the team on Saturday morning: The ISU game changes nothing. No other games and no other teams matter. The Tide had to take care of its business.

And that's exactly what Alabama did on Saturday: it took care of business by beating the Eagles of Georgia Southern 45-21.

Credit should be given to Georgia Southern. The Eagles are a good, albeit one-dimensional, football team. They run the ball extremely well, and they have a very sound kicking game. One thing that makes their running game so effective is how well their wide receivers block down field. Ga. So. scored twice the number of points against the Alabama defense as the Tide Stop Troops have averaged per game. Only Arkansas with its aerial circus found the Alabama end zone as often as Ga. So.

The Eagle's success against the Tide defense will do some damage to the cumulative defensive statistics, but the most important statistic-wins and losses-did just fine, thank you very much.

Here's how I grade the game:

Offense: A    Alabama had seven offensive possessions. These resulted in 5 TDs, a field goal and a missed field goal. In short, the offense either scored, or put the specialists in position to score each time they had the ball. In the second half, Alabama had only three offensive possession. The result? Twenty-one points scored on three touchdowns, 236 total offensive yards [129 rushing] and 17:26 time of possession. For the game, Bama converted 7 of 10 third downs on its way to a total of 28 first downs.

AJ had an excellent night, completing 14 of 19 attempts for 190 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions. Tight End Brad Smelley had a career high 4 receptions for 58 yards and 2 TDs, including the final score of the game on a highlight reel-worthy one-handed catch on third down in the Ga. So. red-zone. Brandon Gibson had 4 catches for 49 yards; Marquis Maze caught 3 passes for 44 yards and Kevin Norwood added 22 yards on his only catch. Eddie Lacy and Trent Richardson each had one reception. Trent's was good for 4 yards and a touchdown.

Each of Bama's scoring drives gained more than 40 yards [42, 71, 65, 85, 74, 92] and the only possession in the fourth quarter took 15 plays and drained 8:36 from the game clock.

Trent Richardson gained 175 rushing and scored 2 rushing TDs giving him a total of 20 rushing scores for the season, displacing Shaun Alexander for a new school record. Eddie Lacy gained 45 yards rushing and Jalston Fowler ran for 41.

Defense: B    Dont'a Hightower blocked a Ga. So. field goal attempt which Dre Kirkpatrick scooped up and returned 55 yards for a touchdown. That A+ play helps the average grade for the Defense which otherwise surrendered 302 yards rushing and 2 TDs on busted assignments. The Tide's passing defense was much more effective. The Eagles completed only 1 pass [7 attempts] for 39 yards.

Mark Barron had a fantastic Senior Day recording 8 solo tackles. Quinton Dial had 8 tackles [3 solo] including 1 for lost yardage. Nico Johnson and Dont'a each had 6 tackles; Damian Square recorded 5 and Courtney Upshaw had 4 [3 solo].

Special Teams:

Place Kicking: C   Jeremy Shelley was good from 32. Cade Foster was not from 47.

Punting: B     Marquis Maze was able to return one Ga. So. punt for 4 yards. Cody Mandell completed his marketing term paper and reviewed his lecture notes from psychology.

Kick Offs: F   For the second game in a row, the kick coverage team allowed a huge return. Last week, Mississippi State returned a kick 63 yards which set up a touchdown. Ga. So. decided to cut out the middle man and just took a kick all the way for a 95 yard touchdown. On the plus side, one of Cade Foster's kicks actually made it into the Ga. So. end zone. This phenomenally rare event caused the officials to huddle up and study a copy of the rule book. After their caucus, the Zebras announced that kicking the ball into the receiving team's end zone such that the receiving team does not attempt a return is something called a "touchback." Who knew?

Coaching: B   The coaching staff had a challenge dealing with some nagging injuries; Josh Chapman was held out of the game along with Barrett Jones and Darius Hanks. And as if that wasn't enough, DeAndrew White and Nick Gentry were suspended for the game for violations of team rules. Gentry's suspension meant that he was ineligible to participate in Senior Day recognitions. The Tide was penalized 6 times, mostly for false starts, with all of the infractions in the first half. Only 49 players are listed in the participation report for the game. No doubt the coaches would have much preferred to have the option to go deeper into the depth chart, but starting a little short-handed and the Eagles keeping the game sufficiently competitive caused the staff to stay within the two-deep rotation.

Senior safety, Will Lowery, suffered an injury to his right leg that Coach Saban described as "not promising." Lowery has been a leader on this team and an example of the best virtues of college athletics. His contributions on the field will be missed, but I'm confident that he will continue to contribute from the sidelines and in the training facility as he encourages and inspires his teammates.

Elsewhere around the college football landscape, the shakeup in the BCS that started Friday night continued into Saturday. Four teams in the BCS top 10, including 3 in the top 5, went down in defeat. When the weekly standings are recalculated and announced later today we might well see three SEC West teams atop the BCS standings. Alabama will be number 2, and top-ranked LSU will be headed for a date next weekend with number 3 Arkansas.

The Tide's business is simply stated: Win one more game.

A victory next Saturday in the Iron Bowl should guarantee Alabama a spot in the BCS Championship Game for a rematch with LSU. Playing their best in the next game is the business of the 2011 Crimson Tide football team. The folks down in The Village better get ready, because the winningest senior class in University of Alabama's storied football history, and their teammates are taking a business trip to Lee County this coming weekend. That's some serious business, and Alabama is gong to take care of it.

The Commissioner

Monday, November 14, 2011

MSU Grades: The Report From The Tire Store

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Good grades, Commissioner.  Thanks for bringing some needed levity and perspective to the kicking game situation.  I will be surprised if there aren’t significant changes around that phase of the game before we kick off next September – and not just the addition of the latest scholarship-holding wunderkind kicker from some high school we’ve never heard of who kicks it 90 yards, end over end, off the dirt cause his high school is too poor to plant grass, blah, blah, blah….

Everyone I know said they felt confident before Saturday night, but I think somewhere deep inside you had to wonder if the combination of skinned egos, bruised pride, and fractured dreams would lead to a meltdown by Alabama in the football game Saturday night.  Alabama at least came to play and as someone pointed out after the game, if I could get a ten-year guarantee of 24-7 victories on the road against any team in the SEC West, I’d take it without playing the games.  So credit the team and coaches with not letting what happened last Saturday ruin this Saturday, too.

In addition to the psychological scars, Alabama is a football team showing the wear and tear of a long campaign.  Both Kouandjio brothers are awaiting (or maybe recently had by now) surgery to end their seasons.  I think missing Cyrus hurt us particularly last week.  Barrett Jones is a key player, not only physically but from a leadership perspective.  Smelley played but seemed slowed.  If you are keeping score, we started our third different offensive line in four games Saturday night.  Vinnie Sunseri knocked himself out, literally, on special teams (though most serious observers presumed it was only a matter of time – kid plays with an admirable lack of respect for his physical well-being) limiting an extra option at linebacker.  Foster may have been injured not making the tackle on their long kickoff return.  Jesse Williams’ much tattooed arm was in a sling at the end of the game. Hanks lasted about one series.  Maze got slower as the game went along.  Lacy appears to be close to old form, but did not practice all week.  Kevin Norwood had a couple of nice catches.  If you have been wondering about him, he’s been weeks recovering from a high ankle sprain.  Kirkpatrick wore a black jersey in practice all week recovering from the concussion he suffered when he was mugged by an outlaw from Louisiana last Saturday.  This team needs some R&R.

You couldn’t tell any of it by our defense.  Twice put in deep holes, once by the offense and once by special teams, they gave up a grand total of 7 points.  Richardson had almost as many yards on the ground as MSU's entire offense gained in total.  After the season it will be time to talk about just how good this defense has been.  McCarron seems to have lost a little confidence and consistency along with his best wide receivers.  I wonder if there is a cause and effect?

I know that everyone on TV is all ga-ga about offenses that run 8000 plays a game and try to score basketball numbers with defense only there to kill time and let the offense think up some new plays.  You can have it.  What our running backs did in the fourth quarter against MSU Saturday was outstanding football.  It reminded me so much of Mark Ingram putting the team on his back two seasons ago against South Carolina. Against MSU, the offensive brain trust split AJ out to wide receiver and snapped the ball directly to Richardson and then Lacy double digit times in a row.  No one with the sense God gave a cowbell really thought Trent was going to toss it to AJ on the skinny post or an out and up. Certainly no one on the Bulldog defense did.  It didn’t seem to make much difference.  And that’s just the point. I know we aren’t supposed to talk about it, but I cannot help but wonder what the result would have been last week if we had remembered that this team is about as subtle as an anvil and a 10-pound sledge hammer.  It is fair to ask, having seen both processes, why did we suddenly trade our trusty blacksmith’s tools for the computer-guided laser scalpel of end arounds and wildcat passes to tight ends?  There are good reasons why blacksmiths don’t do surgery, and why surgeons don’t pound out horse shoes.    

Here is hoping we’ll continue to recover, physically and otherwise, and be true to our character for the last two regular season games.  If we do, neither one should be close.
The Correspondent From The Tire Store

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Mississippi State Grades

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Alabama needed to get back on track.

This time last week, I was musing about how the players would react to the loss at the hands of LSU and suggesting that this last week might be one of the most challenging that Coach Saban's staff has faced. The offense needed to sustain drives and find the end-zone. The kicking game had to be salvaged. And the defense had to keep opponents at bay while the other components of the team found ways to improve.

The morning after Alabama's 24-7 victory over Mississippi State, it's safe to say that two of those three goals have been met. The defense stayed on track. The offense got on track as the game progressed. And almost like an added bonus, Trent Richardson's Heisman campaign is back on track.

As for the kicking game .... well ..... did you see how dominating the defense was?

In many ways, last night's game was typical of games between these two rivals. State always seems to save its best football for its closest neighbor. Beating Alabama spurs those bell-ringers to heights of ecstasy manifested by displays of sportsmanship like filling the Rose Administration Building fountain with laundry detergent as throngs of MSU fans did after the Bulldogs' 6-3 victory in 1980. Losing to State has been a catalyst to changes in Alabama coaching careers; at least that was so in 1996 and 2006. So it was no surprise that MSU played hard, particularly on defense.

This was no scrimmage game. At the beginning of the year, some pundits forecast State finishing as high as third in the SEC West. The Bulldogs came into last night's game with a 5-4 record, having lost to Auburn, LSU, Georgia and South Carolina. But the Chickens escaped Starkville by a margin less than a field goal; and Auburn survived a game tying score at the end of regulation by less than half a foot. LSU was held to 19 points but allowed only 6. Only Georgia defeated State by as much as two full touchdowns. Therefore, State was a worthy adversary for the Tide's attempt to recover from the funk of its overtime loss to LSU.

The defense once again delivered a praise-worthy performance. State was held to only 12 yards rushing on 29 attempts; that's less than 15 inches per running play. The offense started the game much as it ended the LSU game a week before. Bama's first four possessions yielded two punts and two missed field goals and although the offense finally got its first touchdown in six quarters before the half, it surrendered an interception and another punt prior to intermission. Football games are played in two halves, and the Alabama offense won the second half and most particularly the fourth quarter. By the end of the game, the offense had gained 386 total yards, and Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy combined for 223 yards rushing.

Holding only a 10 point advantage, with 6:26 to play in the game, and the MSU end-zone 78 yards away after a false start penalty made it first down and 15 to go, the coaches put the ball into Trent Richardson's hands. Nine plays later, each one a Richardson carry out of the Wildcat formation, the Tide had a 2d and 10 at the Bulldog 35. Eddie Lacy tag-teamed with TR and took two plays with fresh legs to stick the ball in the end-zone and stick an exclamation point on the end of the drive.

Even playing without All-American left tackle, Barrett Jones, Alabama is back on track as a physical offensive team, that will impose its will in the running game. With Stanford's Heisman-hyped QB Andrew Luck throwing two interceptions and losing a fumble last night, Trent Richardson's 153 all purpose yards [127 rushing; 26 receiving] keeps him on track for post-season individual recognition.

And as far as the getting the kicking game back on track .... well .... Here's how I grade the game:

Offense: B It took the first 30 minutes for the offense to shake of it's post-LSU doldrums. AJ had a workman-like performance, completing 14 of his 24 pass attempts for 163 yards. A bad decision late in the second quarter resulted in a MSU interception but AJ's great competitive hustle produced a TD-saving tackle during the return.

Marquis Maze had 4 receptions for 22 yards; DeAndrew White, who entered the game for an injured Darius Hanks, had 3 catches for 21 yards. Kevin Norwood, caught 2 passes for 60 yards. A total of 7 different players caught passes.

The Tide had four drives that gained in excess of 40 yards [52, 73, 53, 73] each of which produced all of Alabama's scores [3 TDs, 1 FG].

Defense: A MSU's only score came on a 22 yard drive set up by a 68 yard kick off return. Apart from that one shining moment, the Dogs were held to 131 total offensive yards, 3 of 16 third down conversions, and 6 possessions of 4 or fewer downs resulting in either a punt or turnover on downs.

Dont'a Hightower led all defenders with 11 tackles [4 solo] including 2.5 tackles for 10 yards of lost yardage and a pass break up.

Mark Barron recorded 9 tackles and C.J. Moseley had 7. The Stop Troops combined for 9 tackles for lost yardage including 5 sacks. State's quarterbacks were hurried twice and 5 passes were broken up.

Special Teams:

Punting: B+ Cody Mandel averaged only 37.2 yards per punt and saved his best effort [44 yards] for when we had an opportunity to pin State deep; instead that punt resulted in a touchback. The good grade comes from the return and rush efforts. Marquis Maze had a stellar 21 yard punt return and the rush made State's rugby-style punter pay for mishandling the snap.

Place Kicking: F Cade Foster missed from 49 yards in the first quarter. Jeremy Shelley missed from 31 in the second and was good from 21 in the third.

Kickoffs: F Foster had a dreadful night. He averaged only 58 yards gross per kick and the 68 yard return contributed to a net per kick of only 31 yards. Foster may have been injured during the long return, because Shelley kicked off after Bama's final score of the night and cranked out a respectable, but not spectacular, 62 yard effort.

Coaching: C+ Credit has to go to the coaching staff for the win, the play of the defense and the decision to put the game on TR's broad shoulders in the fourth quarter. The retrograde progress of the kicking game, however, drags the coaching grade down with it. Alabama was penalized 6 times for 40 yards; another area for improvement. The participation report lists 53 players who saw action. The staff deserves credit for having played multiple configurations in the offensive line earlier in the year, because the absence of both Barrett Jones [who will be back for Auburn] and Cyrus K. [who won't] necessitated some duck-tape patch-work in the offensive trench.

Yesterday was an eventful day across the college football landscape. Vanderbilt beat the Kentucky Mild-cats by a greater margin than the 'Dores have achieved against any team in the SEC since 1972. UT lost to the Hogs by 42 points to remain winless in league play this season. In Athens, the Bulldogs put on the opposite of a Barn Raising as they humiliated the defending BC$ Champions 45-7 in a game that was not as close as the score might suggest. Out in Idaho, the Smurf Turf could not produce its customary magic for Boise State, which lost to TCU by the narrowest of margins, 36-35. And in Silicon Valley, Stanford fumbled, stumbled and was humbled by Oregon, 53-30.

All of this leaves only one thing required for Alabama to play for the Big Crystal Football: Alabama has to finish no worse than No. 2 in the final BCS standings. To move up that final notch, the Tide will have to win out and either LSU or Oklahoma State will have to drop. Arkansas could beat LSU. The Sooners could beat OK. State. But neither of those outcomes are in Alabama's span of control.

The only thing that Alabama can control is how it plays the next two games against Georgia Southern and Auburn. Coach Saban isn't going to let the players think about the post-Thanksgiving trip to Lee County Agricultural Vocational and Technical School. His message will be about getting better, correcting mistakes, playing the best you can play.

The kicking game still needs to get on track. The offense and defense need to stay on track.

But how much do you want to bet that there's a GA or student trainer whose job it will be to keep track of what happens in Baton Rouge and Stillwater?

The Commissioner

Monday, November 7, 2011

LSU Grades: The Report From The Tire Store

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Good job, Commissioner.

I have not spent a lot of time contemplating the game or the outcome.  See, I have a dental appointment on Wednesday afternoon and I have found it more comforting to reflect on that outing than the one I took to Tuscaloosa over the weekend.

But now that you’ve brought it up, I’ll put in what I can add.

As for the grades themselves, I pretty much agree.  The defense had some let downs.  Allowing the long drive just before half time was completely mental errors.  On several plays in that drive players were in position to make plays and simply did not.  But it is hard to argue with outstanding results. Holding the #1 team in the country out of the end zone and to single-digit points for a game plus an overtime period should be a game winning effort and is testament to the players and the coaching.  There is not much more you can ask of a defense except to give your team a chance to break one big play to win the game.  And after the sorry showing by the offense in the overtime period (play calls and execution), I’m not sure it was easy to motivate them to even go out there.

I would be tempted to grade the coaches lower.  We were penalized twice in the game for breaking the huddle with too many players.  No team, certainly not one with championship aspirations, can do that, much less 9 games into the season against the #1 team in the country.  The end around call deep in the LSU end that lost 6 yards was a huge turning point.  It was right in front of us and there was room to run, but I’m not sure why you call that play at that time.  The decision not to use a time out before LSU’s last punt and basically play for overtime is another one that left me standing in disbelief.  LSU fans near me high-fived when we made that decision.  I didn’t blame them.  I’d point out some other specifics that bothered me, but I prefer to think about my crown on the left side that feels a little loose.

Regular readers know that I have been whining and hand wringing about the kicking game since North Texas left town.  However, the parts that had me most concerned performed pretty well Saturday night.  Maze says the big punt from LSU changed trajectory when it hit CBS’s over the field camera wire.  CBS says no it didn’t.  I certainly couldn’t tell, but I don’t think it affected it that much.  Someone needs to explain why we continue to send a place kicker out for field goals who has proven, to the satisfaction of the second-largest tv audience for a regular season football game in 25 years, that he just didn’t have it, at least on this particular night.  Did I mention that I’ve got a lower right molar that has already broken once and just doesn’t feel right when I, say, bite the plastic handle off a shaker?

Your most telling statement is about the number of mistakes in the game.  Alabama made enough errors to lose two games to a team the caliber of LSU.  I’m not sure about the Williams catch at the goal line.  Because of where I sit, I only saw him go up and have one hand on each side of the ball.  The next thing I knew, LSU’s band was playing.  It was not a perfect pass from Maze, but catchable and was where only Williams had a chance at it.  I think that is two interceptions this year that hit Williams in the hands.  You could see the offense deflate after that call. 

I just have to comment on the attack on Kirkpatrick and the official’s reaction.  Our team was already furious about what they felt was an uncalled holding call on a pass pattern to Hanks(?) that might have scored.  Dre laid still on the field for an uncomfortably long period of time after he was clotheslined (or “held” as the official so benignly put it). I understand they replayed it several times on tv and even the near-comatose Verne Lundquist thought it was outrageous.  A lot of players were spilling onto the field – so was a lot of trash from the stands.  Les himself made it out past the numbers.  The SEC has got to get a handle on that kind of play.  If they do not, there is going to be an ugly incident that ESPN will play 60 jillion times.  It was close in this game, it was close in VU/UGA.  But given that the SEC office appears focused only on: 1. making money; and 2. sweeping trash under the proverbial rug, I expect the silence will be deafening.  I do not blame Steve Shaw – I think this attitude comes from the very top.

As for a “rematch” lots of LSU fans (and there were lots of them) were predicting it after the game.  I tend to doubt it.  First, we have to win out and probably by some pretty convincing scores.  We are on the road twice in the conference, so it is not a given.  Second, I don’t think Coach Saban will run up the score even given the opportunity and even if it would help our post-season posturing.

Third, if either OKS or Stanford goes undefeated, then they get the shot.  I expect the TV networks to push this.  They are not at all interested in 6-9 overtime games.  They much prefer a game that is 46-49 with the team getting the ball last winning and defense an afterthought.  Given their choices, I think TV would rather see an OK State vs. Stanford shootout, but are resigned to taking at least one team that plays defense.  I actually think it is pretty likely that one of those two teams will lose.  Stanford, in particular, has some injury problems and relies far too much on the play of one player.  USC has shown the blueprint for how to beat them.  Oklahoma State has Oklahoma, but if they should lose that game, I’m not sure that they and the Sooners don’t have just as much a claim to the BCS berth as do we, though that loss to Texas Tech is hard to explain.  I do not think LSU loses to Arkansas in Baton Rouge, no disrespect to the Hogs, that’s just how I see it after we played them both. 

I continue to think Alabama is at least the second best team in college football.  They may be the best team, but they could not prove it at home when they needed to Saturday night, and that’s all there is to it.  The BCS championship voters may not like the idea of one challenger not even winning its half of its own conference.  My guess is we end up in the Sugar Bowl, maybe having to play the Smurfs of Boise State after they finish an undefeated season by dispatching the Idaho College of Cosmetology and HVAC Repair and talking about how they deserve better  I could contemplate how to get our team motivated for such a game, whether our fans would travel to see it, etc. but I think I’d prefer to focus on the reassuring high-pitched whine of a dental instrument.

Roll Tide anyway, everyone.

The Correspondent From The Tire Store

Sunday, November 6, 2011

LSU Grades

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The only team in America that can beat Alabama this year is ..... Alabama.

Last night's game at Bryant-Denny Stadium provided all the proof anyone should need for the truth of that proposition. The Tide came up on the short end of a 9-6 overtime decision at the hands of an LSU team doing its very best Alabama imitation, and the game went to OT in the first place because of Alabama miscues, principally, but not exclusively, in the kicking game.

LSU played excellent defense, stopped the Alabama running game [96 yards] and ran the ball just well enough [148 yards] to have better field position for most of the contest. Alabama missed 3 field goals, including one in overtime, had another attempt blocked, lost critical field position on a penalty during an interception return, and turned the ball over on two interceptions, one of which was inside the LSU one yard line.

It was a bruising, physical game. At various points: Barrett Jones, Jesse Williams, Brad Smelley, Marquis Maze, and Dre Kirkpatrick were sidelined with injuries. Nevertheless, this was a game that was Alabama's to win. The Defense kept LSU out of the endzone, and, in regulation, surrendered only 6 points, shutting down the Tigers' excellent corps of receivers. The Offense out gained LSU [295 to 236], earned more first downs [17 to 15] and converted 5 of 13 third downs compared to the Tigers 3 of 11.

Coming into the game, Alabama had run the ball and stopped the run better than LSU. Last night, however, it was the Tigers who achieved those two milestones for winning big games.

Both teams made mistakes. LSU committed two turnovers and had a costly penalty, but Alabama made its share and a half. Ultimately, that was the difference.

Here's how I grade the game:

Offense: C- Readers of The Grades know that I conventionally impose a one letter grade deduction for the quality of opposition when Alabama plays the North Texas and Georgia Southerns of the world. Because LSU is clearly better than any other team still in the BCS discussion, I believe that a one letter grade addition is appropriate, at least for the offense.

After 20 carries, Trent Richardson had gained 98 yards, Alabama had the ball and was driving in the 4th quarter. On the next two plays, LSU stuffed the run and Trent lost a total of 12 yards. He finished the night with 89 yards rushing and 192 all purpose yards [89 rush, 80 receiving, 23 kick return].

Eddie Lacy gained 19 yards on 5 carries.

AJ completed 16 of 28 pass attempts for 199 yards. He threw 1 interception and was sacked twice. Marquise Maze was the leading receiver with 61 yards on 6 catches. Trent Richardson gained 80 yards on 5 receptions; a potential 6th reception went through his hands at the LSU 5 yard line during OT. Darius Hanks had 2 receptions each gaining 19 yards. Eddie Lacy, Michael Williams and Brad Smelley each had a catch.

In the fourth quarter, Maze threw to Williams out of the Wild Cat formation. It appears to me that Williams made the catch, and was down at the LSU goal line when the LSU defender pulled that ball away. The officials called it an interception and it went to the replay booth. If the call on the field had been a reception, and down prior to the ball coming out, I don't think the replay would have overturned the call. I believe the refs got it wrong, but the bottom line is that when you are 6-6 and 269 pounds, you don't let some defensive back take the football away from you.

Alabama had four drives that gained 40 or more yards [43, 62, 79, 49] resulting in 2 missed FGs, one FG and the Maze to Williams interception. The drive chart during regulation time tells a dismal tale of missed opportunities: 3 missed FGs; 2 Int.; 1 blocked kick; 2 punts; 2 FGs.

Defense: A The stop troops did all they could, short of scoring, to win the ball game.

Forget the Big 12 [which has only 10 teams] and the PAC However Many, no team in the country has a better stable of receivers than LSU. Yet, the Bama defense held Russell Shepard, Rueben Randle, Chase Clement, and Odell Beckham each to only 2 receptions, and neither gained more than 39 yards. Jordan Jefferson completed 6 of 10 pass attempts for 67 yards. Jarrett Lee completed 3 of 7 and was intercepted twice.

Spencer Ware, the Tigers leading rusher, brought his Two Weeks "Clean and Sober" pin with him to Tuscaloosa. It didn't do him much good as the Tide stuffed him for only 29 yards rushing. Michael Ford found a bit more running room [72 yards] and Jefferson, gained 43 rushing yards, mostly on option plays.

Nico Johnson had 11 tackles [3 solo]. Dequan Menzie recorded 8 stops [5 solo] and Dont'a Hightower made 7 [4 solo]. Damion Square, Courtney Upshaw and Mark Barron each had 6 tackles. Jerrell Harris and Jesse Williams each made 5.

The Defense as a whole recorded 5 tackles for lost yardage, 5 QB hurries, and two interceptions [Robert Lester and Mark Barron].

Courtney Upshaw was the most disruptive defender, whose 6 tackles included 1 for lost yardage [3 yards] and 2 hurries.

What keeps the Defense from getting the + is the blocking infraction committed on Mark Barron's interception return. The penalty deprived the offense of highly favorable field position inside the LSU 10 yard line.


Special Teams:

Punting: B- Cody Mandell punted only twice, averaging 39.5 yards. Neither punt was returned and both landed inside the LSU 20 yard line. The coaches bear the responsibility of having Maze attempt the punt return in the 4th quarter that sailed over his head. Maze was gimpy at the time and a better personnel choice may have been Hanks or Deandrew White.

Kickoffs: B Cade Foster averaged 62 yards gross per kick. Coverage was good, and achieved a net per kick of 45.7 yards. The kick return game outperformed LSU, resulting in a 43.5 net per kick [49 yards total in kick returns].

Place Kicking: F Because there is no lower grade. The coaching grade will also take a hit for the decision to attempt a 53 yard kick with Jeremy Shelley rather than punt the ball.

Coaching: C- I struggled with this grade and considered a lower one. I've already commented on the two special teams decisions that I think were clearly bad. Otherwise, the game plan was sound and we adjusted to what LSU was allowing. We didn't abandon the running game in the 4th quarter, LSU's defense simply made two big plays. The Wild Cat pass to Williams by Maze was a good call and, if executed, would have produced a TD. We had 6 penalties, only one less than LSU, who, going into the game, had been flagged twice as often as Alabama. One of Alabama's penalties was a substitution infraction during the OT period. That's all on the coaches. Fifty-seven players are listed in the participation report. LSU lists fifty-eight.

It looked to me as if the Alabama offense was whipped at the end of regulation. The possession in OT was Alabama's worst four snaps of the football I have witnessed since the loss to ULM in 2007.

This week is going to present Nick Saban a tremendous challenge. The team must put the LSU game into the rear view mirror and look ahead to preparing for and beating Mississippi State on the road.

The pundits are already talking about a rematch. I'm not so sure. Barring some totally freakish outcome, LSU will win the SEC West. There is no way Ole Miss can beat LSU. Arkansas is a different story. Depending on drug tests and police blotters LSU could be less than full strength against the Hogs, and with a bad bounce here or there, you never know. But even if LSU falls to the Pigs, it will still have the tie-breaker over Alabama for the SEC West title.

While I think LSU will win out, and beat Georgia in Atlanta, I really don't think it is likely the Tigers will be the only undefeated team in the country at the conclusion of the conference championships. Sure, Oklahoma State could lose to Oklahoma, Stanford could lose to Oregon and Boise State could lose to TCU. But all three would have to lose before the BCS formula would place the Tide back in the number 2 spot. And, of course, Alabama will have to rebound decisively against State and Auburn.

All of that could happen. Stranger things have happened before. No one can predict today exactly how the BCS Championship will play out. But what Alabama has to do is learn from this experience and improve. I know that sounds like so much trite Coach-Speak, but it's true. The offense needs to improve so that throws aren't forced to covered receivers when wide open ones are not seen. The defense needs to improve so that costly penalties don't erase excellent field position. The kicking game needs to ... well, you get the point.

This learning and improvement is not going to come easily. But I believe it will come. There is a reason why Nick Saban is the highest paid coach in the SEC. He will earn it this week, next week and the week after that.

The Commissioner

Monday, October 31, 2011

Princeton/Cornell Grades: The Report From The Tire Store

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With no game to grade this week the Commissioner is able to store up energy before the Wild Rumpus coming on Saturday.  We loaded up the entire Tire Store crew and headed to New Jersey to visit relatives.  Boy, if we had taken along some snow tires and chains we could've made a killing.  We were a little concerned before we left home that we might run into some chilly weather.  Instead, we ran into one of those really bad days where you are driving down a local street and one of the guys who goes and covers the hurricanes for the Weather Channel is standing on the side of the road with a cameraman.

But we are always interested in any sort of football and so we went Saturday to watch Princeton play Cornell.  Rutgers and Princeton played the first ever intercollegiate game, so we were excited to see a game in the cradle of college football.  With the Commissioner’s indulgence we have decided to grade that game -- from the Princeton perspective since that is the alma mater of  my brother-in-law -- the true heir to the Tire Store empire.

Before we get the grades, a little bit of background is probably appropriate.  The Princeton Tigers play in the Ivy League.  They list a 105 man roster but no one is on scholarship.  The University itself has about 5,000 undergraduate students.  They play at 27,800 seat Princeton Stadium, a replacement for the historic Palmer Stadium, which was closed in 1996 after over 80 years of hosting football games on campus.  Interestingly, the new stadium seats fewer fans than the old one did.  But it is a nice generally-horseshoe shaped stadium offering good views of the field and a scoreboard with a Jumbotron.  The field is some version of prescription turf.  Tickets are $9 at the gate; programs are free.

On game day, they fly an American flag over the entrance to the stadium and on either side of it a Princeton flag and the flag of the day’s opponent.  Outside the entrance to the stadium there are two artsy and impressive looking polished metal sculptures of Tigers, the Princeton mascot.  We understand that at one point ivy was trained to grow around these two statues (ivy is a big deal around Princeton) but after several unfavorable comparisons to Chia pets, the ivy was removed.  Good call in our estimation.  The Princeton band is, um, somewhat smaller than the Million Dollar band.  The members wear orange and black plaid sport coats, hats, and slacks.  We understand that musical talent is not a requirement and some members of the band only loosely play instruments.

The Princeton team has players from all over the United States.  Their sizes, at least according to the program, are somewhat, though not a lot, less than you would see in the larger conferences.  The game was not televised and it is easy to forget how quickly a college game can move when there are no television commercials or instant replay deliberations intruding on the flow of the action.

If this wasn't a one-time thing, we would be tempted to grade everything as an “Incomplete”.  They apparently regularly enjoy a weather phenomenon on the northeast coast of the United States called a "nor'easter".  Without getting too far afield we will just say that it turns cold very quickly, the wind blows very hard, and a significant amount of heavy wet snow falls.  In this particular case, on Friday afternoon it was sunny, near 50, and on the whole not a bad afternoon at all.  By Saturday morning it was overcast and the rain was mixing with snow by 9 AM.  By 2:00 we would estimate that 4 or 5 inches of snow had fallen.  By Saturday night over 300,000 people in New Jersey were without power.  To their credit, even people who live in New Jersey mentioned that this was an unusual event.

To say that the weather had an impact on the game would be like saying that the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill had an impact on the Gulf of Mexico.  I am not making this up:

  • some children built a 4 foot tall snowman in the stands just below the press box;
  • during halftime they brought a Bobcat onto the field to scrape the snow off the sidelines, hash marks, and yard lines;
  • at one point on a first and goal situation the back judge called timeout and literally swept the snow away from the goal line with his foot in case he had to make a call about whether the ball had broken the plane.

The team that was playing with the wind at their back could throw the ball distances that their quarterbacks probably only achieved in PlayStation games before Saturday; into the wind, they threw it, like, well, like I do.  Kicking into the wind was harsh enough, but added to that there was so much snow on the field that the ball would come down and stick like you had hit a golf ball into a sand trap.

The crowd for the game was very small.  We understand that Princeton usually averages about 5,000 fans a game but a combination of the weather and the student body being on fall break made the attendance far lower than that.  The fans that we met were welcoming and hospitable.  They were knowledgeable about Princeton football and the game in general.  They did not seem to know much about other teams either from their conference or around the country.  The new stadium has been constructed with areas for skyboxes but for the most part it is now unfinished storage space.  Where it is completed it is less a series of individual boxes than a long, open, climate controlled space with a row of chairs near the window. 

Neither team is having a great year.  Cornell was favored to win the game and did so 24 – 7.  The game was probably closer than the final score indicated.  Football is no different whether you play in the SEC, the Ivy League, or the pee wee version sponsored by the County Parks and Recreation Department.  You need to run the ball, stop the run, avoid critical turnovers, and win the kicking game.  Princeton's loss on Saturday was mostly attributable to a failure in these areas although it did rush the ball acceptably well.

With no further whining about the weather conditions, here's how I grade the game:

Offense:  C-.  I would like to tell you what sort of offensive scheme Princeton likes to run, but I don’t really know.  The weather conditions limited play calling and execution.  Princeton was most effective running the ball to the left side, away from Cornell’s Cadell Williams, a mobile 260 pound defensive end who occasionally shifted inside, and was giving Princeton all sorts of trouble up front.  Princeton is playing a two quarterback system, and their freshman, Quinn Epperly has the potential to be an exciting player and gained nearly 100 yards net rushing. But if you aren’t a wishbone team, having your quarterback gain that much on the ground is a mixed blessing.  He also made a few mistakes and misreads and his fumble inside the Cornell five was a clear turning point in the game.  On the other hand, he made two or three very good reads and throws through the wind and snow.  Another freshman, rb Chuck Dibilio (Ivy League All-name team) gained well over 100 yards and looked good doing it.  He added a 20-yard td reception.  Princeton’s starting qb, Tommy Wornham, left the game with a hand injury. 

Defense:  C.  The Princeton defense was on the field a lot, and despite giving up well over 300 yards of offense played well enough to win the game.  The defense played multiple sets but seemed to base primarily from a 4-3 look, though the variety may have been dictated by conditions.  Running a 5-2 in the ice and snow might just be common sense.  Ten of Cornell’s 24 points were directly attributable to special teams mistakes.  Holding the Big Red to essentially 14 points was a good effort by the stop troops in spite of giving up drives of 80, 73, and 55 yards.  Cornell’s quarterback is a league leader in passing and made several spot-on passes despite the weather conditions.  Princeton’s dbs did have a tendency to get lost in coverage, but tackled pretty well.  Cornell had a 100-yard rusher, but it took nearly 30 attempts to get there.  The grade is reduced for the loss, an inability to get off the field on third and longs, and because near the end of the game the D could not get the ball back and give the offense a chance as weather conditions improved slightly.  Princeton’s best defensive player appears to be Andrew Starks, who led all players with 11 tackles.

Special Teams: D. Special-teams breakdowns cost Princeton dearly.  Cornell's first score came after Princeton's punter was forced to one knee to field a snap resulting in his being declared down deep in Princeton's end of the field (I couldn't really tell you where, it looked to be around the 20).  The weather may have played a factor in this play.  But the weather did not play a factor in Cornell's 78-yard kickoff return for a touchdown just before half time and immediately after Princeton had gained momentum with a touchdown – and its only lead of the day.  The ST also committed a couple of key penalties.  This grade would be lower but Princeton did manage to block a punt to set up its offense in great field position – its first punt block in six seasons.  Otherwise, we will just give the kicking specialists an Incomplete and applaud their courage to go out and do something no one should be required to do.

Coaching:  B  It is hard to earn a grade of B for coaching in a two-touchdown loss, but Coach Bob Surace had his players in a position to win the game.  The Princeton offense twice turned the ball over in goal-to-go situations.  Coaches also get credit for having the team geared up and ready to play on a miserable day.  Their no huddle offense limited substitutions by the Cornell defense and was run effectively – a challenge even in good conditions.

Next week Princeton takes on the Penn Quakers, a good team coming off a surprising (and rare) league loss on Saturday.  We’ll be otherwise occupied.

Bottom line, if you get a chance to see a game in a place like Princeton, we really urge you to do so.  It is a fun experience and the football is good.  But we don’t recommend you go in the middle of winter a/k/a October.

The Correspondent From The Tire Store