Penn State Grades

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The Alabama football team traveled a long way the last seven days, and I'm not referring only to the 897 miles between Bryant-Denny Stadium and its counterpart in Happy Valley, Pennsylvania. The literal journey saw the Tide go farther away from home to play a regular season game than it has in a decade and the nearly 108,000 spectators was the largest crowd ever to witness the Tide play a game in the University's 119 seasons of football. Yes, the Tide covered a lot of ground between Kent State and Penn State, but the Tide came a long way figuratively as well as physically this last week.

The sloppy ball handling that produced four interceptions and a lost fumble against the Golden Flashes, was nowhere in evidence against the Nitany Lions. Yesterday, it was Penn State that was looking for one quarterback to separate himself from his competition while Alabama's A.J. McCarron led the Tide offense on all but the final series of game-ending downs. An offense that was searching for an identity in the broiling heat seven days ago in Tuscaloosa, unmistakably declared itself to be a physically dominating and unstoppable force as it marched 65 yards in only five plays, each one a punishing run, to score a touchdown with 6:30 to play in the fourth quarter and put an exclamation point on a lopsided victory over a storied program and respected opponent.

AJ handled the pressure of starting his first game as Bama's number one QB on the road against a nationally ranked team with poise. He seemed to become more confident  with each offensive possession. The offensive line did an excellent job in pass protection all day and began to assert itself physically in the running game as the contest progressed through the afternoon.

The defense was ... well, it was the Alabama defense.

PSU managed only two sustained drives the entire day. State won the toss, elected to receive, and executed a 16 play drive that gained 54 yards and consumed half of the first quarter before being forced to settle for a field goal. It would take Penn State four more offensive possessions to run 16 plays and five possessions to earn as much real estate. The Tide Defense limited Penn State's offense to only 170 total yards before allowing 74 yards in 14 plays on the Lions' final possession of the game.

In many respects, the game was like the uniforms worn by the two teams: classic, traditional, old-school. There was nothing in the Alabama-Penn State game like the back-and-forth excitement produced by Michigan and Notre Dame, who combined for 21 points in the final two minutes. Likewise, there was none of the frenzy generated by Mississippi State and Auburn who played with all of the discipline you would expect from a fight between two kids in a reform school. No, what we witnessed yesterday from State College, Pennsylvania was classic, old school football; blocking and tackling, good fundamental football. And, as should be the case in old school football, the better team won.     

Here's how I grade the game:

Offense:          B+       Difficulty establishing the running game until well into the second half keeps the Offense from grading out with an A.  Bama earned 359 yards of total offense [196 rushing] and 19 first downs. AJ completed 19 of 31 pass attempts with 1 TD, no interceptions and no sacks, despite a vigorous PSU pass rush that batted down at least 4 pass attempts. AJ's highlight reel will have to include the play where he grabbed the State player who had just batted a pass attempt into the air and flung him to the ground to avoid even a chance at an interception. Several of his incompletions were balls wisely thrown out of bounds rather than attempting to force a ball to a covered receiver. His TD pass to Michael Williams was a strike that could have been thrown through a car wash without getting wet.

Marquis Maze led all receivers for the second consecutive week with 42 yards on 4 catches. Trent Richardson caught 4 passes for 19 yards. Williams and Kevin Norwood each caught 3. Eight different players caught passes. One of those completions was to Brandon Gibson on 3rd and 6 from the Bama 35 that was good enough for a first down, but for a horribly bad spot by the SEC crew. Whether Brad Smelley got the ball to the 41 yard line on the ensuing play, or was the beneficiary of a make-up call, will go down in the lore of the Alabama-Penn State series.

Richardson gained 112 net yards rushing on 26 carries, while Eddie Lacy added 85 yards on 11 runs.

The Tide had five offensive drives that gained 40 or more yards [69, 52, 50, 50, and 65] each of which resulted in a score. Bama's final points came on five rushes. Eddie Lacy carried for 9, 4, 9 and 30 yards and Trent covered the last 13 into the end zone.

Defense:        A         Give PSU lots of credit for having scouted the Tide defense. The Lions' opening drive was well thought out and productive; PSU converted 2 third downs and a 4th down on its opening drive. From that point until the final possession, Penn State would only convert 2 possession downs against the Tide defense.

If PSU's two scoring drives were slices of bread, the sandwich in-between would consist of 6 punts, 2 fumbles and an interception.

Mark Baron recorded 7 tackles [5 solo] a fumble recovery and  an interception. C.J. Mosley also had 7 tackles [4 solo] 1 tackle for loss and broke up a pass. DeQuan Menzie and Jeremy Shelley were credited with 5 tackles each, while Josh Chapman and Dont'a Hightower each recorded 4. Dre Kirkpatrick made 2 tackles, forced two fumbles and broke up a pass. Alabama defenders broke up 10 passes.

Special Teams:

Punting:          B+       Bama averaged only 37 gross yards per punt, but coverage was excellent resulting in a net of 33 yards per punt. Marquise Maze returned two PSU punts for 43 yards.

Kicking:          A-        What Bama lacked in gross yards per kick [62 compared to PSU's 67] it made up for in smothering coverage. State averaged only 12 yards per kick return while the Tide averaged 21.5.

Place Kicking:           A         Three for three in PATs and Jeremy Shelley was good from 18 and 22 yards on his two FG attempts.

Coaching:      A         The Tide was only penalized 3 times and one of those, pass interference on Dre Kirkpatrick, was a bad call. The participation report lists 55 Tide players who saw action against Penn State.  Ball security was vastly improved over last week with no fumbles and no turnovers. There is no official stat for "nearly intercepted," if there were, Bama defenders would be credited with at least four.

The decision to settle on AJ as the starting quarterback was timely and effective. He played better as the game progressed, much like GMac performed in the 2009 season opener against Va. Tech.

The Alabama-Penn State rivalry is a great one and has produced some classic games known by short-hand references: The Goal Line Stand, The Block, The Goal Line Stand Part II. One of the most notorious of those games is known by several names: The TD That Wasn't, Ref Guman, and my personal favorite: The Notch. This of course refers to the Walter Lewis to Preston Gothard completion at the back of the PSU end zone which was ruled out-of-bounds, denying Alabama what would have been one of the greatest comeback victories in history. The only way it wasn't a TD is if there was a notch taken out of the back of State's end zone where Gothard came down with the ball in his grasp. I think that yesterday The Notch was relocated from the back of the end zone to the front. That's the most logical explanation for why Trent Richardson's apparent third quarter TD was ruled down at the 4 inch line. Coach Saban settled for a field goal. In an old-school game, it was the right coaching call.

The Tide returns to Tuscaloosa this weekend for a night game against North Texas and a final opportunity for tune-ups prior to beginning league play against the Hogs on September 24. See you there.

Roll Tide

The Commissioner