I admit that I had lots of doubts before this game. In fact, I am still having a hard time believing what we witnessed Saturday afternoon. The talking heads had me convinced that there was no way Alabama could even stay on the same field with Texas A&M, much less actually win the game.
Oh, sure, Lee Corso put the Big Al head on at end of College Game Day, but he is so batty he might have just been trying to irritate the Aggie crowd. Paul Finebaum predicted an Alabama win, but his heart didn't seem to be in it. For the rest of the chattering class, today was to be the day Alabama was exposed. The chance for a three-peat would evaporate like a mirage in the searing Texas heat.
There was no way that the Tide offense could hope to keep up with the Aggie point machine. Johnny Manziel may well be an insufferable boor, but he is without doubt an unstoppable magician who would shred the Tide Defense with his arm and legs.
Desmond Howard picked A&M to win. Kirk Herbstreet followed suit, citing Alabama's offensive woes against the Hokies two weeks back. World-class Tide hater, Spencer Tillman and notorious gas-bag, Tim Brando, gleefully predicted an Aggie romp. Even Marc Torrence sorrowfully picked A&M in Friday's CW.
With the score 14-0 after the Aggies' first two possessions which sandwiched an Alabama three-and-out, I was confirmed in my pessimism. But then something amazing happened.
Greek mythology includes the story of the Phoenix. A magical bird, that is destroyed by fire only to be reborn out of the ashes. Manziel and his gargantuan wide out Mike Evans burned Alabama, accounting for 279 of the Aggies' 628 offensive yards. But the Tide arose from the ashes with timely take aways on defense, and sustained scoring drives behind an offensive line that got better on every possession.
Consider this from the first half: After gaining no yards in three plays on its initial possession, the Tide offense gained 75, 80, 80, and 93 yards on consecutive drives. Each possession resulted in a touchdown. The defense was torched by A&M's first two drives of the game, but rounded out the first 30 minutes of game time yielding ground, but nevertheless forcing two punts and an interception in the end zone.
In the second half, A&M assumed the role of the phoenix, and came within a touchdown of erasing what at one time had been a 21 point Alabama lead. But, again, the defense made just enough big plays, while the offense, behind dominating blocking, ground out 222 yards and more than doubled the Aggies' time of possession [UA 20:16; TAMU 9:44].
A&M scored 42 points, the most allowed by Alabama in a victory, and surrendered more yards to the Aggies than it has given up in any game under Coach Nick Saban. The Tide, however, rang up 49 points and bludgeoned the A&M defense with a punishing ground attack.
Here's how I grade the game:
Offense: A TJ Yeldon's fumble at the A&M 2 yard line, and a handful of dropped passes, many coming on first downs, keeps me from awarding the +. Fumble aside, TJ Yeldon had a stellar game running for 149 yards on 25 carries. Kenyan Dake gained 50 yards on 7 runs and Jalston Fowler ran the ball 4 times for 37 yards.
Where the 2012 Crimson Tide was Eddie Lacy's team, and Trent Richardson was the heart of the 2011 edition, 2013 belongs to AJ McCarron. The senior quarterback completed 20 of 29 pass attempts for 334 yards and 4 touchdowns. He threw no interceptions and was not sacked. His performance against A&M was enough to move him into second place overall in career passing statistics.
DeAndrew White was the leading receiver with 82 yards on 4 receptions including a touchdown. Tight end, O.J. Howard caught 3 passes for 68 yards, and Kevin Norwood-perhaps the best possession receiver in the SEC-caught 3 passes for 52 yards one of which was a highlight reel touchdown. Ten different players caught passes, including Kenny Bell who scored a 51 yard touchdown on a screen pass.
The offense had seven drives that gained at least 40 yards [75, 80, 80, 93, 83, 71, 65]. Alabama gained 31 first downs and converted 3 of its 6 third downs. The line played so well that A&M managed only 1 tackle in the Tide backfield accounting for only one lost yard.
Defense: C+ The Aggies gained 628 yards of total offense, converted 5 of 8 third downs and matched Alabama by also earning 31 first downs four of which came by way of defensive penalties. What salvages the defensive grade are several factors: (i) quality of opposition-simply put, Manziel is a world-class jackass, but he is also all world on the field as a player; (ii) two take-aways, including the best pick-six I have ever seen as Vinnie Sunseri returned his second interception in as many games 73 yards for what proved to be the margin of victory; (iii) some of A&M's offensive success was the result of horrific officiating at the expense of the Tide defense.
C.J. Mosley recorded 12 tackles [6 solo] and Landon Collins made 7 stops [6 solo]. Clinton-Dix was credited with 6 tackles, while Cyrus Jones and Denzel Duvall made 5 each. The Vinnie-Badger, Jeffrey Pagan and John Fulton each made 4 tackles. The defense accounted for 3 tackles for lost yardage [1 sack], 2 interceptions, a forced fumble and broke up two passes.
Special Teams:
Punting: A Cody Mandel averaged 51 yards per kick [43 net] and the coverage unit allowed only two returns for 9 yards. The A&M punter allowed only 1 return opportunity which Christion Jones converted for 5 yards.
Place Kicking: A Cade Foster was good on all 7 PAT attempts.
Kickoffs: A- Foster averaged 63.6 yards per kick [44.4 net] and Christion Jones returned 4 kicks for 83 yards. The coverage unit allowed 90 yards on 4 returns.
Coaching: B You probably think this grade is too low considering the outcome of the game and the marked improvement in the offensive line during the preceding open week. All of that is true. However, the Tide was penalized 12 times for more than 100 yards [more on officiating in a moment] and one of those was a substitution penalty. The participation report lists 50 players who saw action against the Aggies.
Officiating: F Because if there was a lower grade available this crew of nincompoops would richly deserve it. When the referee showed up with a white cane and dark glasses I should have known he would never see how blatantly A&M was holding in order to protect Manziel. But the Blind Mice managed to make two of the worst penalty calls I think I have ever seen: (i) "targeting" and (ii) "pushing the receiver out of bounds".
Thank goodness the replay official kept Ha Ha Clinton-Dix from being ejected from the game for "targeting", but the 15 yard penalty was still assessed, keeping alive and A&M drive that ought to have resulted in a punt. The only reason the field judge threw his flag was that the people on the A&M sideline were in his ear after Dix broke up a pass. It was a horrible call and could have been costly. Fortunately, Alabama held on the possession and forced and A&M punt.
CBS Broadcast: F Lundquist and Danielson have picked up in 2013 where they left off in 2012. Vern continues to mangle the players names....our punter is MANDEL not MANZIE....and after a long career in broadcasting you would think that he would have some expressions other than "WOW" and "OH MY" with which to react to big plays. And what can I say about Gary Danielson? He gushes about his favorite players to such an extent that if there are impressionable children in the room, I suggest that parents hit the "mute" button.
A&M is going to win a lot of football games this year. In fact, the Aggies are in a position, that with a little help from teams ranked above them, they could find themselves as the number 2 team in the nation following the SEC CG, setting up a re-match with the Tide in the BCS Championship Game.
I don't think that will happen. I do know this, however, Alabama is a really good football team. The improvement since the season opener has been outstanding. The Road To 16 had a huge speed bump in it right in the middle of College Station, Texas. But the Tide has gotten past it and faces a well-paved stretch of highway straight to a November 9 meeting with LSU.
AJ has the route committed to memory.....so does Nick Saban....about that I have no doubt whatsoever.
The Commissioner
No comments:
Post a Comment