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