Earlier in the week, during the run up for the Alabama-Va. Tech. game, I was thinking about how I would begin the first set of Grades for the 2013 season. It is supposed to be The Road to 16. I thought that I would write about how all the available road maps show that the most direct route from Tuscaloosa to Pasadena is to get on I-10 and drive until you see the Pacific Ocean, but that in the world of BCS Football, Alabama had to begin its journey by driving east on I-20 to Atlanta.
The detour to Atlanta is over; thank goodness. But considering how Alabama played on Saturday, the interstate highway metaphor is not a good one. It would require me to acknowledge that the axel is likely to drop out of the frame in College Station two weeks from now.
What does it say about Alabama football that a 25 point win over a respectable team provokes feelings of impending doom? Are Alabama's fans spoiled by success? Of course they are. Have scholarship limits, and other systemic restrictions created real parity among the two or three dozen elite program? No question that they have. Is it hard....and I mean really, really hard....for a team to stay at the top of the college football world year-in and year-out especially when it has to replace players who leave early for the NFL? Do you really need me to answer that one?
But here are some more questions, the answers to which are less obvious: How do you explain the incredibly poor performance of the Alabama offensive live? What accounts for the missed assignments in blocking and protection? Why did players appear to be completely confused? How is it that one of the most experienced offensive linemen, a returning starter, gets penalized twice for holding in the first half? What was going on during spring and summer camps that an emerging starter can challenge for right tackle, start at left guard, and get yanked after the first half because his blocking was as effective as a rusty gate?
The discussion of Alabama's 2013 season opener should not dwell exclusively on these negative concerns. There were many encouraging signs, and some spectacular individual performances, like Christion Jones, Vinnie Sunseri, Cody Mandel, Jarrick Williams and C. J. Mosley. But the fact is that Alabama's offense was missing in action. And if it is not found in the next fourteen days there will be no 16th National Championship in 2013. There will not be a return trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship. Indeed, the Tide will be lucky to finish third in the West.
Here's how I grade the game:
OFFENSE: D The Tide scored two touchdowns, but both scoring drives started on the Hokie's side of the 50 yard line. Indeed, the longest drive of the night was 49 yards, made in 11 plays, culminating in a nifty three yard touchdown run by T. J. Yeldon. The second TD came on a 38 yard pass from AJ to Christion Jones to cap a 4 play, 47 yard drive in the third quarter.
Otherwise, the offense struggled all night. Alabama punted 9 times; 6 of those punts came on possessions of three-and-out. The O-Line was never able consistently to open holes in the VPI defensive front, and the Alabama running game generated only 96 net yards rushing. Blocking at the point of attack was so poor that Va. Tech. defenders made 11 tackles for 47 yards of losses-including 4 sacks.
T. J. Yeldon rushed 17 times for 75 net yards. Altee Tenpenny gained 24 net yards on 6 carries and Dee Hart gained 15 yards on 5 rushes. Jalston Fowler and Derrick Henry both had their numbers called in the huddle, but neither was able to get traction running the ball. At one point, Marc Torrence tweeted that as Derrick Henry came off the field Coach Saban gave him the "Bug Zapper"-that look where lightning shoots out of Saban's eyeballs. I don't have any further information on why the big freshman was on the receiving end of the head coach's unwanted attention, but my guess is that it had something to do with missed blocking assignments.
AJ was less than 50% passing, having completed only 10 of 23 attempts for 110 yards, a TD and an interception. He had precious little time to make his reads, set up and throw, but by and large he was delivering the ball. I counted at least four legitimate drops including one by Amari Cooper.
Otherwise, Cooper made 4 catches for 38 yards. Christion Jones caught 2 passes for 47 yards, including the touchdown catch, which was picture perfect.
Va. Tech. loaded the box all night and dared Alabama to pass. Ordinarily, AJ and the Tide receiving corps would make an opponent pay dearly for such a decision. Saturday evening, however, that was not the case as receivers failed to get separation from the Hokie secondary, and AJ was constantly pressured.
In many respects, this game was reminiscent of Alabama's last two regular season games against LSU. The big problem is that VPI's defense is nowhere as good as LSU.
DEFENSE: B- The Hokies gained 212 yards of total offense including 153 net yards rushing. Third-string running back, true freshman, T. Edmunds, accumulated 132 net yards rushing, 77 of which came on a single play. Take away that single play, and the Tide's defensive stats look much better. On the other hand, the injury-riddled Hokies are not a good offensive football team.
C.J. Mosley and Ed Stinson each had 5 tackles, Landon Collins, and Ha Ha Clinton DIx each were credited with 4. Vinnie Sunseri recorded 2.5 tackles, and intercepted a pass which he returned 38 yards for a touchdown.
The Tide defense made 4 tackles for 7 negative yards.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
PUNTING: A+ Cody Mandel saw so much action against VPI that I half expected him to be getting an IV from the training staff. Nevertheless, he averaged 46.4 yards on his 9 punts, and with one glaring exception, coverage was excellent. Four of Mandel's punts were downed inside the Hokies 20. The one instance of poor coverage resulted in a 48 yard return, but Mandel made the tackle. The punt return game was outstanding. Christion Jones returned VPI's first punt of the game 72 yards for a touchdown.
KICKOFFS: A+ Christion Jones also handled kick return duties and accounted for 109 yards on 2 returns,including a spectacular 94 yard return for a touchdown. Cade Foster and freshman, Adam Griffith, shared kickoff duties, averaging 60 and 62 yards per kick respectively. Kick coverage was superb all night, resulting in the Hokies having an average starting field position inside their own 20.
PLACEKICKING: A Bama was perfect on 5 PAT attempts.
I do not want my concern over the woes of the offense to overshadow Christion Jones' record-setting accomplishments. Jones is the first Tide player in recorded history to score three touchdowns in the same game by returning a kick, returning a punt and making a reception. His 256 all-purpose yards are 180 more than second-place T.J. Yeldon and two times more than the Hokies' running back, T. Edmunds. It was a splendid performance.
The two most popular topics of conversation among Alabama football fans at any point in time are: (i) how good the Tide is, and (ii) how bad the Tide is. Today is no exception to that rule.
Did you watch the Georgia-Clemson game? What about LSU-TCU? Do you think Alabama could have beaten either one of those four teams yesterday? I don't. I'm not convinced that Alabama could have outscored the diminished Texas A&M team that played the first half of its game against Rice.
You may well ask: So what's to be done?
I can't answer that question. All I know for sure are two things: (i) We fortunately have extra time due to an open week to correct the problems with the offensive line. (ii) We have a head coach who was already working on the problem well before Saturday's game clock ran to zero.
It may be that when the history of the 2013 season is written, Saturday's miserable offensive performance may be seen as the best thing that could have happened because it provided Nick Saban with what he needed most-a way to focus the team on the imperative for improvement, a device for eradicating a complacent mind-set, a catalogue of correctable errors.
Like Mario Cristobal, Burton Burns, Bill Napier, and Doug Nussmeier, I think the Bug Zapper is going to be working overtime for the next two weeks.
The Commissioner
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