With the summer driving season over we’ve shut down the bay doors and turned off the air compressor so that the tire store crew could get a little rest before we try to turn a profit for the year. Despite our best efforts the “Tires Under the Tree” campaign has just never gotten any traction and we have a slow time moving radials and rims after Thanksgiving.
And we began our time off with a quick run to BDS to watch Alabama, especially the defense, beat the brake dust out of the Mean Green Machine (or they were something like that). The grades are good and pretty fair. Here are some observations to add to the Commissioner’s good work.
Offense:
1. First the bad stuff, for whatever reason there is at least one really talented offensive lineman who is playing below his potential. I hope this changes.
2. Cyrus K-unspellable is going to be a seriously good offensive lineman. He would start for North Texas tomorrow and might be their best player on either line. After TR scored one of his touchdowns Cyrus picked him up and hugged him. It looked like Richardson’s cleats were a foot and a half off the ground.
3. AJ will be fine. He is staring down his receivers a little bit, but he’ll learn.
4. P. Sims will also learn, but he has more to learn. Our observation is that he looks like he is about one count slower on everything. It gets said so much it is a cliche, but he just needs to continue to adjust to the speed of the game. He gets in the right play, but throws just after the receiver breaks instead of just before, he leaves his hands on the handoff just a second too long. Unfortunately, at this level, that one count is the difference between a 12 yard gain and a negative play. And CNS is just not going to put up with many fumbled snaps.
5. J. Fowler is fun to watch. Nothing fancy here. Just a battering ram going down hill. You have to feel just a little sorry for boys who have been pounded on by TR and EL for three quarters suddenly looking up to see this guy headed their way. I doubt you will see him make many spin moves to avoid contact.
Defense:
1. These guys are very good. Many of them have outstanding physical gifts from God that they have worked hard to develop. They hit very hard.
2. D. Menzie is a seriously good football player. Like maybe Arenas good. We may never know just how good because an opposing quarterback with good football sense won’t throw his way. One who does may get to try to tackle him.
3. On one play D. Hightower hit the running back and just crushed him. I don’t think the ball carrier really wanted to get up. Ever the gentleman, Hightower leaned over, grabbed him by the jersey, and set him up on his feet. He didn’t seem to even strain when he lifted him.
4. You hear a lot about offensive lines wearing people down. Our defense wears people down. Three yards and a cloud of dust is fine, but not if you can’t get up after.
5. I’m not too worried about sacks, but I do wish we’d knock the opposing QB down a little more often.
Otherwise:
1. Expect Coach to be seriously ticked off about people leaving the stadium early. He mentioned it last Thursday on his radio show. On Friday he mentioned how Penn State fans were there late with their team down 24-3. Nonetheless, the student section was noticeably emptying out by mid-way in the second quarter. As the man himself says, “you expect the team to play for a full 60 minutes; you should be there to support them for a full 60 minutes.
2. He will not be as irritated with the fans as he was with the two oblivious officials who would not notice him to grant him a time out near the end of the game. It was an interesting thing, given that North Texas’s coach got a sideline time out that appeared to granted about two seconds after his team had snapped the ball.
3. Game management is so much better than in years past. We regularly come to the line of scrimmage with 20 seconds or more on the play clock.
4. I may be the only one, but it cracks me up when Saban is striding along, talking to someone in the pressbox over his headset, and he’s talking with his hands. Expect to hear him talk a lot this season about “moral toughness”.
5. These are exciting times at the University of Alabama, and right now I don’t mean the football team. The student population is now over 31 thousand. Campus stretches over 1000 acres and when the current round of building is complete there will be more than 300 buildings on campus. In the addition by subtraction category, Rose Towers is slated to come down. This year’s freshman class is the largest and most academically talented ever, a statement which has been true for seven years in a row. This week, U.S. News and World report will rank Alabama 75th on its list of colleges and universities in America and 31st on the list of public colleges. The good news is it’s improving.
Roll Tide everyone. See you Saturday. I like my hog barbecued.
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