Here in Downtown Franklin, you encounter rehab projects everywhere. Walk down any street in the Historic District and you see old houses restored and updated. Tucked away in unlikely places, you find clusters of new construction filling-in space that you may not have known existed. On a more ambitious scale, disused commercial eyesores are being replaced with new projects that harmoniously fit with the overall character of the historic Downtown. The result of this rehabilitation has been nothing short of astonishing.
Because life is a metaphor for football, I have been thinking about the comparison between Downtown Franklin, and Alabama Football. Just as historic preservation and restoration in a city like Franklin is a constant undertaking, so too is the rehabilitation of a sports program. Both require constant attention, dedication and teamwork. Rehabbing Franklin has not been one big project; it has been the cumulative effect of lots of discrete efforts, from battlefield reclamation, to street-scape, and individual restorations. The same is true for the Crimson Tide. What is The Process, if not a rehabilitation project. Returning the program to greatness has not just been improving the facilities, or transforming Bryant-Denny Stadium. It has involved recruiting, conditioning, player and coach development, transforming the culture, elevating the national media perception, reenergizing the larger fan base and much more.
On a micro-level, this season has featured two rehab projects, both of which seem to be coming to fruition at just the right time. These are the rehabilitations of Blake Sims and Lane Kiffin.
Although highly touted and heavily recruited as a quarterback out of high school, Sims redshirted his freshman year in Tuscaloosa. As a redshirt freshman in 2011, Sims was a running back who saw action in only 5 games. In 2012, he played in 10 games, mostly as AJ McCarron's backup and attempted 10 passes, but he also was featured as a running back where he carried the ball 30 times for an average per rush of 6.2 yards and scored 2 TDs. The 2013 season saw him officially as AJ's backup. He played in 8 games and took most of his snaps against the Tide's non-conference opponents.
The 2013 season ended in ignominious fashion with back-to-back losses to Auburn and Oklahoma. The team that was poised to win three consecutive national championships was stunned in the Iron Bowl and embarrassed in the Sugar. Coach Saban told reporters that he was going to have to "start over from scratch" with The Process.
For 2014, the Tide was loaded with skill players on offense and had a cupboard full of talented players on defense. The one glaring hole on the roster was quarterback.
Not to worry, though; Jake Coker had arrived in Tuscaloosa! You could not conceive of a better successor to AJ McCarron. Jake was not only from Mobile.....he played behind AJ at St. Paul's and his high school coach declared Jake to be a better pure passer than AJ. And as for Blake Sims? Well, notwithstanding Blake's really poor showing in the A-Day Game, he would no doubt push Jake to be a better player with some competition during the summer.
But something happened on the way to Jake becoming Alabama's starting quarterback. And that something was Blake Sims.
I have written before about how amazing it is that Blake started the season without yet having won the starting job, and grew to become the indispensable man in Alabama's offense. Today, I can write that Blake's growth.....the rehab project if you will....has taken him to be the Most Valuable Player of the 2014 SEC Championship Game.
Blake's success is surely the product of individual effort, competitive character and dedication. But it would nevertheless not have been achieved without great coaching. So that is where the second rehab project comes into play.
A year ago, "Lane Kiffin" was either the answer to a sports trivia question -"Name the biggest coaching-bust in the history of football"-or a punch line. What he was not, was a coach respected by his colleagues, loved by his players, and feared by opposing defensive coordinators. Well, fast forward twelve months, and that is exactly what Lane Kiffin is today.
Readers of this blog know that I have had little patience with the media's obsession with Kiffin as a member of the Alabama staff. So, it may come as somewhat of a surprise, that just as I think Scott Cochran was the architect of Alabama's win in last Week's Iron Bowl, I credit Lane Kiffin with designing and overseeing the construction of Alabama's offensive route of Missouri in the SEC Championship. I could point to Alabama's opening drive [10 plays; 58 yards; 3:36] as exhibit A and rest my case. Blake was 5 of 5 passing for 39 yards; TJ Yeldon and Derrick Henry combined for 5 rushes for 29 yards and a TD. Alabama never faced 3rd down.
But, I don't like relying on a single piece of evidence. So how about the second scoring drive, following two punts and a missed field goal. No doubt feeling a bit frustrated, Kiffin dialed up a home run deep pass, and Blake delivered a 58 yard strike to DeAndrew White. Drive summary: 1 play; 58 yards; 00:16.
The Tide scored 6 touchdowns in the game against the SEC East Division Champion, each score coming on long drives [68, 58, 75, 64, 90, 62] and scored 21 points in the 4th quarter. At the right time, Kiffin adjusted his play calling from an up-tempo, run-pass balance, to what Marc Torrence called the "try-and-stop-the-grownass-man portion of the Alabama gameplan." In short, it was a brilliant performance for a coordinator, with a brilliant performance by the player whose position he coaches.
Pundits who were making jokes about Coach Saban hiring Lane Kiffin as the Tide's offensive coordinator and QB coach, are now speculating that after one more season in Tuscaloosa, Kiffin will be the hottest name among candidates for head coaching jobs.
The story-line for Alabama's 2014 season is the rehabilitation of Lane Kiffin and Blake Sims. That success of that rehab project was on full display in the SEC Championship, so here is how I grade the game:
Offense: A+ Alabama gained 504 yards of total offense, made 28 first downs, converted 9 of 13 third down, including 4 of 5 in the second half, and possessed the ball for 36:43 of the game. Blake completed 23 of 27 pass attempts for 262 yards and 2 TDs [DeAndrew White; Christion Jones]. His 85.2% completion percentage set a SEC CG record displacing Auburn's Jason Campbell who completed 77% of his pass attempts in the 2004 game. Sims also set a SEC CG record for consecutive pass completions [10] topping Shane Matthews and Danny Wuerfffel who were tied with 9.
Amari Cooper caught 12 passes for 85 yards and set a conference record for receptions in a season [115] displacing Vanderbilt's Jordan Matthews. White gained 101 yards on 4 receptions, and Christion Jones caught 3 passes for 40 yards. OJ Howard added 20 yards on 2 receptions, Jalston Fowler gained 13 yards on a single reception and Brian Vogler caught 1 pass for 5 yards.
Derrick Henry gained a career-best 141 yards on 20 rushes. TJ Yeldon gained 47 yards on 14 runs. Tyren Jones ran the ball 3 times for 9 yards and Fowler, who had a brilliant day blocking, gained 2 yards on his only running play.
Defense: A+ Mizzou gained only 41 yards rushing, and its 272 yards of passing offense was the result of 4 desperation deep passes that Matty Mauk threw while running for his life. That those passes were caught is a tribute to the individual effort of the Tiger receivers.
On the game, Missouri only made 10 first downs, was forced to punt 7 times, had five possessions that ended after 3 and out, and lost a forced fumble. Mizzou only managed 3 sustained drives [58, 75, 65] which produced two FGs and a single TD.
A'Shawn Robinson was the leading tackler with 9 stops [5 solo]; Landon Collins made 7 tackles [6 solo] and Geno Smith was credited with 5 tackels [4 solo]. The Tide defense made 6 tackles for lost yardage, force and recovered one fumble [Collins] broke up 4 passes and hurried Mauk 11 times.
Special Teams:
Punting: A+ JK Scott only punted 3 times for an average of 43.3 yards per kick. He dropped 2 inside the 20 and kicked 1 in excess of 50 yards. His best punt might arguably have been the one where he had to salvage the bobble of a low snap and avoid the rush.
Kick Offs: A+ Griff averaged 58.6 gross yards per kick and the coverage team played very well achieving a net per kick average of 38.7. Christion Jones set a SEC CG record for kick return average [28.3] returning 3 Mizzou kicks for 85 yards. He replaced Tennessee's Peerless Price who set the previous record of 27.5 yards in the 1998 SEC CG.
Place Kicking: A- Griff was perfect on 6 PATs but missed a makeable 43 yard FG attempt.
Coaching: A+ Alabama was only penalized 2 times for 10 yards and the participation report lists 58 players who saw action. By contrast, Mizzou was penalized 6 times for 60 yards, including an ejection of the team's sack leader for targeting, and the Tigers played only 46 individual players.
The College Football Playoff Committee has selected Alabama to occupy the first seed in the four-team playoff. The Tide will face Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's night. Urban Meyer's psychotherapist has already booked a flight to New Orleans, and Coach Saban could barely repress an ear-to-ear grin when ESPN's Reece Davis asked for his reaction to the match-up. Meyer was not available during the ESPN broadcast.....no reason was offered....my guess? Therapy sessions usually last between 45 minutes and an hour. That just about accounts for the duration of the media blackout in Columbus.
Mal Moore's legacy is nothing other than a restoration of Alabama's historic greatness. Without Mal Moore, Nick Saban would not have been hired as Alabama's head coach, and the enormous capital investment that preceded the 2007 hiring of Saban may never have happened. Restoration takes time and effort. Rehab projects do not happen over night.
For Lane Kiffin and Blake Sims, rehabilitation has taken all season. I do not believe that either Kiffin or Sims have yet coached or played their best games. A couple of missed reads, and two lapses in ball-security in the Championship Game are opportunities for improvement. I think the time between now and New Year's Day will be put to good use.
As for Urban Meyer's psyche.....that's a rehab project of a different sort. I wonder if Coach Meyer has Dr. Phil's cell phone number on speed-dial.
It has been a great season so far y'all. The Tide are Champions of the SEC for the 24th time, and there are two more games to play! I'm looking forward to the Tire Store Report......
The Commissioner
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