I agree that Saturday's game was not the best effort the team has turned in this year, but anytime you beat a conference opponent by more than 30 points, shut them out, and continue an undefeated season it was a good weekend. I suppose it is not really a surprise to anyone that after playing Arkansas and Florida a team of 18 to 21-year-old young men was a little bit flat about playing Vandy. It was also midterm week at Alabama and it is easy to lose track of the fact that these young men have a lot of things going on in their lives besides football. The team is mentally and physically tired and carrying the bumps and bruises that SEC competition inevitably brings.
Beyond that, Coach Saban has said that about six games is as many as a team should play in a row before getting a break. Thinking about that for a few minutes reminded me that what is turning out to be another special season of Alabama football is now halfway over. I am at the front rank of those who have been guilty of thinking forward to November 5 so much that I am in danger of losing the special excitement that should come with each week of Alabama football. It seems like I've been thinking about November 5 since about July 4. Accordingly, rather than comment on the Vandy game I thought it appropriate to consider the first half of this season.
Offense: It has been a good first half of the year for the offense. With 4 out of 5 starters returning the offensive line was expected to perform like a well-oiled machine from day one. The line did not perform quite as well as everyone expected and partly I believe that was attributable to early-season tinkering with the right personnel. They now appear to be operating as previously expected. Everyone knew that our our running backs were a strength and they have been. The question was whether our quarterback could successfully hand the ball to them and throw it to the guys in the right color jerseys. The budding quarterback controversy that many people worried about in early August was quickly settled by the players on the field. McCarron appears confident (sometimes perhaps too confident) in his own arm. We are definitely missing the big body receiver but have made up for it by getting the tightens more involved in the offense. The bottom line, the lowest number of points the offense has scored in any game is 27 at Penn State, where the Coach called off the dogs (as he frankly has in every game). For a team that averages giving up about 8 a game, that will do nicely.
Defense: The defense was supposed to be the strength of this team. It is. Defense is at or near the top of most of the national defensive categories despite playing teams like Arkansas and Florida that supposedly had outstanding offensive weapons. Josh Chapman is having a very good season as nose guard, one of the most critical positions in Saban's 3-4 alignment. Jesse Williams, who is still really learning the game, is becoming a force to contend with along the line. We lost our most versatile linebacker to an elbow injury and we have hardly missed a beat. The linebackers and defensive backs are as good a group as any I can ever remember. Conversations on message boards and around the water cooler begin to draw comparisons with Alabama's historically powerful defenses. Not only is this premature, I am not a big fan of doing it generally, especially when you need to make a comparison across eras of football. I just don't think it's meaningful. The 1992 defense was very good and carried us to a national championship. The 1961 defense only surrendered 25 points all season. But how would it have competed against this year's Arkansas offense? Probably there is no one alive who remembers the play of the 1925 defense, but the statistics say that before the Rose Bowl game that group had given up a total of seven points all season long despite the fact that after a punt they just turned around and played offense. Check back in January and we can talk about whether this defense is one that will make for comparisons to future teams. But it's not premature to say they have the potential.
Kicking game: Heaven help us. Our return game is good and Maze continues to improve week by week. It is perhaps the ultimate compliment that teams have started to kick away from him. But the kicking part of the kicking game is probably what is causing Coach Saban's hair to thin. We even missed an extra point this weekend. Against the likes of Vanderbilt you can get away with that. Performances like that will not cut the mustard in the second half of the season. The kickoff part of kickoffs are an unpleasant adventure. Once during the Vandy game I thought our kickoff specialist was going to fall all the way down after kicking the ball. He leads the league in tackles by kickers. I believe this is one of those dubious sorts of honors that you would just as soon avoid. It is sort of like playing the most consecutive games in AAA baseball, having the most sand saves on tour in golf, or being the quarterback who has recorded the most tackles on interception returns. It is comforting that the biggest criticism most people can come up with about the 2011 version of the Crimson Tide is that its kickoffs don't go deep enough. But if we want to win the West division, the SEC, and the national championship game we cannot get it done kicking off the football to the 15 yard line and letting them catch it on the run.
Coaching: It is easy to forget the critical role that our assistant coaches play. Coach Cochran has our team in excellent physical shape and is an inspirational leader on the sidelines. Our defense makes faster and better adjustments to new game plans and wrinkles from opponents than any school I know about and maybe as well as any professional team. Our quarterback development continues to produce athletes who are able to direct scoring drives and to not make the sort of mistakes that lose ball games. It is so consistent that people have started to criticize its steady consistency. Somebody ask Florida, Auburn, or South Carolina what they would give for that sort of consistent performance at the position. It is funny but too flippant to say the easiest job in America is coaching the University of Alabama's running backs. Sure, Ingram, Richardson, Lacey, and now Fowler are great physical talents but someone is coaching them up to the point that last week one of the ESPN talking heads said "Alabama is the only team in the country that can run up the score by running up the middle."
On to Oxford to play the Rebel Black Bears, or whatever they are now. Unless he's getting some really great new coaching advice by text message from an attractive television anchorwoman this may be the last chance we have to see Houston Nutt on the opposing sidelines. I hope we do our part to ease his way into retirement.
Beyond that, Coach Saban has said that about six games is as many as a team should play in a row before getting a break. Thinking about that for a few minutes reminded me that what is turning out to be another special season of Alabama football is now halfway over. I am at the front rank of those who have been guilty of thinking forward to November 5 so much that I am in danger of losing the special excitement that should come with each week of Alabama football. It seems like I've been thinking about November 5 since about July 4. Accordingly, rather than comment on the Vandy game I thought it appropriate to consider the first half of this season.
Offense: It has been a good first half of the year for the offense. With 4 out of 5 starters returning the offensive line was expected to perform like a well-oiled machine from day one. The line did not perform quite as well as everyone expected and partly I believe that was attributable to early-season tinkering with the right personnel. They now appear to be operating as previously expected. Everyone knew that our our running backs were a strength and they have been. The question was whether our quarterback could successfully hand the ball to them and throw it to the guys in the right color jerseys. The budding quarterback controversy that many people worried about in early August was quickly settled by the players on the field. McCarron appears confident (sometimes perhaps too confident) in his own arm. We are definitely missing the big body receiver but have made up for it by getting the tightens more involved in the offense. The bottom line, the lowest number of points the offense has scored in any game is 27 at Penn State, where the Coach called off the dogs (as he frankly has in every game). For a team that averages giving up about 8 a game, that will do nicely.
Defense: The defense was supposed to be the strength of this team. It is. Defense is at or near the top of most of the national defensive categories despite playing teams like Arkansas and Florida that supposedly had outstanding offensive weapons. Josh Chapman is having a very good season as nose guard, one of the most critical positions in Saban's 3-4 alignment. Jesse Williams, who is still really learning the game, is becoming a force to contend with along the line. We lost our most versatile linebacker to an elbow injury and we have hardly missed a beat. The linebackers and defensive backs are as good a group as any I can ever remember. Conversations on message boards and around the water cooler begin to draw comparisons with Alabama's historically powerful defenses. Not only is this premature, I am not a big fan of doing it generally, especially when you need to make a comparison across eras of football. I just don't think it's meaningful. The 1992 defense was very good and carried us to a national championship. The 1961 defense only surrendered 25 points all season. But how would it have competed against this year's Arkansas offense? Probably there is no one alive who remembers the play of the 1925 defense, but the statistics say that before the Rose Bowl game that group had given up a total of seven points all season long despite the fact that after a punt they just turned around and played offense. Check back in January and we can talk about whether this defense is one that will make for comparisons to future teams. But it's not premature to say they have the potential.
Kicking game: Heaven help us. Our return game is good and Maze continues to improve week by week. It is perhaps the ultimate compliment that teams have started to kick away from him. But the kicking part of the kicking game is probably what is causing Coach Saban's hair to thin. We even missed an extra point this weekend. Against the likes of Vanderbilt you can get away with that. Performances like that will not cut the mustard in the second half of the season. The kickoff part of kickoffs are an unpleasant adventure. Once during the Vandy game I thought our kickoff specialist was going to fall all the way down after kicking the ball. He leads the league in tackles by kickers. I believe this is one of those dubious sorts of honors that you would just as soon avoid. It is sort of like playing the most consecutive games in AAA baseball, having the most sand saves on tour in golf, or being the quarterback who has recorded the most tackles on interception returns. It is comforting that the biggest criticism most people can come up with about the 2011 version of the Crimson Tide is that its kickoffs don't go deep enough. But if we want to win the West division, the SEC, and the national championship game we cannot get it done kicking off the football to the 15 yard line and letting them catch it on the run.
Coaching: It is easy to forget the critical role that our assistant coaches play. Coach Cochran has our team in excellent physical shape and is an inspirational leader on the sidelines. Our defense makes faster and better adjustments to new game plans and wrinkles from opponents than any school I know about and maybe as well as any professional team. Our quarterback development continues to produce athletes who are able to direct scoring drives and to not make the sort of mistakes that lose ball games. It is so consistent that people have started to criticize its steady consistency. Somebody ask Florida, Auburn, or South Carolina what they would give for that sort of consistent performance at the position. It is funny but too flippant to say the easiest job in America is coaching the University of Alabama's running backs. Sure, Ingram, Richardson, Lacey, and now Fowler are great physical talents but someone is coaching them up to the point that last week one of the ESPN talking heads said "Alabama is the only team in the country that can run up the score by running up the middle."
On to Oxford to play the Rebel Black Bears, or whatever they are now. Unless he's getting some really great new coaching advice by text message from an attractive television anchorwoman this may be the last chance we have to see Houston Nutt on the opposing sidelines. I hope we do our part to ease his way into retirement.
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