ULM Grades

The game against Louisiana Monroe was supposed to answer some lingering questions about the 2015 Alabama football team. Having now digested the statistics of the Tide's 34-0 win, I am trying to decide whether those questions remain unanswered or if we got some answers we just do not like.

The biggest question coming into the game was whether the Tide offense could find an identity. After the game, all I can say is that if the offense's identity had a face, it would be mostly found on milk cartons.  Jake Coker started the game and played deep into the fourth quarter. He completed only 17 of 31 pass attempts, seemed to struggle with pressure and threw a really bad interception. On the other hand, he also completed 3 passes for touchdowns. Jake's completion percentage got little to no help from the Tide's corps of largely inexperienced receivers, but it was good to see senior H-Back, Michael Nysewander, [6-1, 237; Hoover] perfectly execute a play action pass for a touchdown near the goal line that Jalston Fowler used to run so effectively. Bama was able to run the ball, but chose not to. The offense gained 200 fewer yards against the War Hawks, than it compiled in a losing effort one week ago against the far superior Rebel defense. 

A subsidiary question about the offense was whether the coaches had finally settled on a quarterback. Answer: Yes. The coaches have obviously decided that Jake gives the team the best chance to win. 

Special Teams accounted for worrisome questions: Can Griff find his groove? Can JK Scott get over his case of the yips and find his range? Can the return game be productive?  

The answers coming out of the ULM win are a bit equivocal, but nevertheless encouraging. Griff made both of his field goal attempts [40, 30] and remained perfect on point after attempts. Scott shanked his first punt, but got more reliable as the game progressed. He kicked one punt in excess of 50 yards, dropped 4 punts inside the ULM 20 yard line and ended up with a workmanlike average of 37.8 yards per punt. 

Ball security was a question coming out of last week's five turnover debacle. From a turnover margin of -5, the Tide managed to break into positive numbers....barely....on the net result of two interceptions picked off vs. one pass completed to a guy wearing the wrong colored jersey.

While there are signs of improvement, there is no denying that much works remains to be done. For a snap shot of where things stand now, here is how I grade the game:

Offense: C+ Alabama gained 303 yards of total offense [137 rushing] that produced 17 first downs, and controlled the ball for 27:28 of game time. The offense struggled to mount any sort of sustained production. Seven of its possessions resulted in 3 plays and out, and the Tide had only four drives that gained 40 or more yards [55, 43, 41, 40]. These produced 2 TDs, a punt and a successful field goal. 

Jake and Cooper Bateman combined to complete 18 of 32 pass attempts that included 3 touchdown passes [Ridley, Stewart, Nysewander] and an interception. 

Calvin Ridley caught 4 passes for 38 yards and a TD. Ardarius Stewart made 3 catches for 39 yards and a TD. Cam Sims added 21 yards on 3 receptions. Jr. Chris Black caught 2 passes for 23 yards. A total of 8 different players caught passes. Coach Saban made a point in his post game comments about the numerous drops of well thrown passes that kept the offense from finishing drives.

Kenyan Drake rushed 10 times for 65 yards and Derrick Henry carried the ball 13 times for 52 yards and a TD. Damien Harris added 23 yards on 4 rushing attempts. Henry's participation in the game was limited by the coaches because he had been ill earlier in the week and did not practice until Thursday.

Defense: A+ ULM only gained 92 yards of total offense, had only 10 first downs, and rushed the ball for a net of only 9 yards. Ten of ULM's offensive possessions were 3 and out and its longest drive gained only 31 yards. The Defense inflicted 12 tackles for lost yardage [6 sacks], broke up 8 passes, intercepted 2, and hurried the ULM QB 10 times. 

True freshman, DB Minkah Fitzpatrick [6-1, 195] led all tacklers with a career high 7 stops. Reuben Foster, Dalvin Tomlinson, Jarran Reed and Da'Shawn Hand each had 5 tackles. 

Special Teams:

Place Kicking: A Coach Saban told reporters after the game that Griff has corrected the issues that he had been having with the placement of his plant foot. Put a check mark next to that particular question.

Kickoffs: A Griff averaged 64.6 yards per kick, 3 of which were touchbacks. The return coverage team played well and the return game did not turn the ball over. On the opening kickoff, Bama's return man ran into a blocker.

Punting: B+ Scott shanked his first punt which traveled only 18 yards. The remainder of the game, however, his kicking was much more effective and consistent. The return game was productive, and twice ULM was flagged for interference with the player attempting to field the punt.

Coaching: B The participation report lists 65 players who saw action in the game. The number of penalties is still too high at 7 for 72 yards. The defensive effort was the 33d time that Alabama, under Coach Saban, has held an opposing offense to fewer than 200 yards total offense. The shut out of the War Hawks was the 53d time a Saban-coached Alabama team has allowed an opponent to score 10 or fewer points.

The Defense played very well against a clearly over-matched opponent. The offense struggled to establish a consistent passing game, and still has not managed to complete a deep pass. Special teams showed significant improvement. Two steps forward, and one step back? That is certainly one way to characterize Alabama's shut out of ULM.

Alabama travels to Athens to play a formidable Georgia next Saturday. Will the coaching staff and players make enough improvement between now and then to be competitive? We will know the answer to that question this time next weekend. 

Elsewhere, Tennessee managed to lose a one-point squeaker of a game in the Swamp which the Vols led by 13 points with 4:00 to play in the game. Down in the Village, Lee County Vocational College started a brand new quarterback and a re-tooled defense in a desperate effort to overcome the merciless beating suffered last week in Baton Rouge. The result? Mississippi State 17 - Auburn 9.....the month of September is not yet over but Auburn's chances of winning the SEC West are. 

A Tide win, and losses by the Vols and Aubs.....a result known in certain circles as The Alabama Trifecta! 

Is that a good weekend?  No question about it.        

Roll Tide, Y'all.

The Commissioner     

Tire Store Report -- Mississippi

Not only did Alabama manage to beat itself Saturday night, it darn near blew itself out.

Great job, Commissioner.  And you very nearly made a silk purse of future hope out of the sow’s ear of Saturday night.  Look at it this way, if I had told you Friday we’d put up over 500 yards of total offense, play two quarterbacks, have only 4 penalties, make all our field goals and extra points, only punt twice, score 37 points, and possess the ball for nearly 11 minutes more than the opponent, what would you have been willing to bet we won the game?  Yeah, we'd have lost the mortgage money again, too.

Unfortunately, the reports we’d heard from practice throughout fall camp turned out to be witheringly true.  We have a serious quarterback issue.  We are somewhat curious about the thinking that went into giving Bateman his first start against Mississippi’s defense.  I mean, when we start a new guy on the tire machine, we don’t make his first job a 700-series BWM with custom rims, but we don’t coach football, either.  The truth is that both our quarterbacks still: stare down primary receivers, seem confused about what play should be run and just snap the ball anyway, make the wrong reads of the defense, get visibly discouraged/frustrated, see all their receivers covered and inexplicably throw it to one, even after having correctly chucked it into the stands just a down or two before, show great poise by going on a key scramble and then throw a ball that looks like a punt….  I could go on, but it’s starting to upset my stomach.

Our defensive backs are apparently being coached not to pay attention to the ball coming in when they are covering a receiver.  I think the strategy is to read the receiver, especially his eyes, then knock the ball from his grasp or pull his arm away from it when it arrives.  This sounds terribly difficult and different to me.  But we’ve all lost count of the Alabama db’s over the last few seasons that played this way.  They just can’t all be screwing it up in exactly the same way unless they are being taught to do that.  I don’t think that “looking for the ball” standard is actually in the rule book, as the commentators seem to suggest.  However, because we are talking about SEC officials, all that rule book mumbo jumbo really doesn’t apply any way.  There have been too many times already this season where if the man in coverage had just faced the line of scrimmage the football would have hit him between the numbers, including Saturday night.  In short, I don’t see this changing.

So much was weird and ugly on Saturday that it’s hard to remember it all.

Their QB is falling down, throws blind off his back foot, hits our guy in the back of the helmet and they score a touchdown (and no, I’m not inclined to give Mississippi “credit” for that).  Our guy chucks one in more or less that same circumstances and hits their DB in the chest.   They run that cheating pass at-the-line-of-scrimmage play that all of the go-fast hunh spread option teams have been cheating with since they changed the play clock and the officials throw a flag on the always difficult to discern over-the-line-of-scrimmage point but can’t see a hulking 300+ pound offensive lineman who was further up the field than half of our defensive backs.  Our guy fumbles and it bounces right to them; they get the benefit of the doubt on the quarterback’s arm “going forward”.  Then they do fumble one and in violation of every law of physics it goes under the gigantic A’Shawn Robinson to be recovered by them.  It was that sort of night.  Strike that, I don’t recall another night like that one.

We can’t get this memory out of our minds.  We are driving, gashing their defense, and the medium-size farm tractor that is Derrick Henry breaks his facemask.  He has to leave the field and wait while they put a on a new one.  In all the gojillion dollars that our athletic department earns, is there no such thing as the generic “extra” helmet -- or maybe one each in sizes M/L/XL/J that we could just scribble a “2” on with white Sharpie for a down or two?  And then they show the poor guy whose title is probably something like “Assistant to the Equipment Manager” and he’s putting the new facemask on with a screwdriver that looks exactly like the one from the Handy Andy Tool Set my parents bought me when I was about 5 (note: it’s probably somewhere in their attic).  Sheesh.  We’re going to hit the work bench in the service bay Monday and ship the University one of our couple of dozen electric screwdrivers.  Nifty technology.  They work real fast and won’t take up much room in that tractor trailer the team uses to haul equipment.  Don’t bother to thank us.  I digress (I heard you thinking “as usual”).

And despite all of that …  no, make it despite ALL of that, Alabama had the ball first down at its 35 with three minutes remaining, a time out, and a Mississippi defense that was trying in vain to strain a few molecules of oxygen out of the Tuscaloosa humidity.  Make no mistake, this was a game Alabama should have won, by at least a couple of scores.  At a minimum we should have taken our first lead in the game late in the 4^th Quarter.  For reasons we are probably not smart enough to understand, we abandoned our offense at that point.  The Commissioner has, as usual, done a masterful job of cataloging what went wrong.  Lost in the sheer soul-deflating disappointment is what went right.

This team showed resilience.  Which it is going to need by the barge-load between now and Thanksgiving.  If you forget the costly kickoff fumbles, which we won’t this side of Alzheimer’s Disease, special teams actually had a solid night.  Our punter dropped one inside the 10 and otherwise appeared to be rounding back into shape.  We hit our PATs despite a bad hold and, gasp, even made a field goal, though to be fair, we made some strategic decisions not to try field goals in a couple of spots.  The back up long snapper didn’t miss a beat.  We got a perfect on-side kick.  With one exception coverage was good….  Derrick Henry is a serious football player and if you don’t hit him in the backfield before he gets some momentum he’s probably going to hurt one of your players.  Did you notice he had well over 100 yards rushing on one of the best defenses in the country?   Their passing game hurt us, but we started a freshman and two redshirt freshmen at DB.  Probably should have been worse.  We lost arguably our best receiver and guys were still getting open in the 4^th quarter.  Mullaney reminds us of Kevin Norwood.  And Lord knows, this team is due some good breaks between now and year end, shoot, the Universe may owe us some good luck into the next decade -- the Moe, Larry, and Curley officiating crew sure does.

Also, as long as we are in free-form babbling, it is time for someone in authority to stiffen their spine and tell ESPN that starting a game a 10:20 Eastern time is stupid and that we aren’t going to do it anymore.  Where in the name of the Theory of Relativity is 10:30 pm considered "Prime time".  What with their police escort back to the hotel (or their private jet) and not needing to be at work again till Friday, ESPN doesn’t care.  If they had to sit in post-game traffic till the wee hours of Sunday morning, they might feel differently about it.  You want to do a doubleheader?  Start the first one at 5 Eastern.  At least the game that starts on Saturday will end before Sunday.  It ain't cricket, after all.

Oh well, we’re going to get upset all over again and tomorrow’s a work day, so we can’t spend it curled up in a ball saying over and over, “let the kick off roll through the end zone”. 

Faulkner may have been right about the past not being past, but he didn’t say we could do anything about it, either.  On to ULM.  In case you have forgotten how bad things were once upon a time, this is another revenge game.  I know that sounds kind of silly, but ULM spent about two years promoting its “university” based on the strength of a victory over a (inappropriate) probation-weakened Alabama, even buying freaking billboards on the highway.  I hope we hang half a hundred on them.  Of course, I hope that every week.

Got to go see if the dog is still scared to be in the same room with me.

Roll Tide, y’all.

The Correspondent from the Tire Store

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Ole Miss Grades

Cecil Hurt begins his review of Saturday night's game against Mississippi by quoting William Faulkner from The Sound And The Fury, and equating Bryant-Denny Stadium to "the mausoleum of all hope and desire."  Hurt is always required reading. Nobody covers Alabama football better. The imagery evoked by equating Bryant-Denny Stadium to a tomb into which the hopes and desires of this season have been prematurely buried is compelling. Nevertheless, for reasons I will try to set out below, I believe Hurt's metaphor is wrong.

But let's start with the unvarnished and ugly truth: Alabama played an awful game. The Tide deserved to lose the game by the way it played and got exactly what it earned, a bad 43-37 loss in front of a capacity crowd of 101,283 and a primetime viewing audience.

One statistic tells you all you need to know: the turnover margin was -5. To the insult of 2 lost fumbles on kick returns, the Tide offense added the injury of 3 interceptions. You cannot turn the ball over five times and beat very many teams in the SEC......OK, perhaps Vanderbilt......but you certainly cannot beat the likes of LSU, Georgia, and Mississippi State.

Oh, sure, Ole Miss got 14 points off of two plays that ought never to have happened. The first, was a wounded duck of a pass no QB should ever attempt, that ought to have been intercepted but instead ricocheted off a DB's helmet into the hands of a receiver otherwise out of the play who took it for a touchdown. The second involved inexcusable officiating incompetence where the zebras made two blown calls on the same play, and the rules constraining video review required one to be corrected [illegal forward pass] and the other ignored [ineligible receiver downfield]. 

I do not want in any way to diminish what Ole Miss accomplished. The Tide gave the Rebs plenty of opportunities, and the visitors proved to be opportunistic. Ole Miss has some really fine football players, not all of whom are named "Nkemdiche." Although held for only 92 yards rushing, Ole Miss compiled 341 yards through the air, and when Alabama put the ball up for grabs, Ole Miss was happy to grab it.

The salient fact emerging from this game is that the 2015 edition of the Crimson Tide is woefully lacking in experience at quarterback. Coach Saban has made no secret of this fact. Neither Jake nor Cooper Bateman has stepped up to take leadership of the offense. Although Jake's performance in relief of Bateman got the Tide back into the game, his two interceptions, could not be overcome. Moreover, in 3 games, the Tide Offense is yet to complete a deep pass. To be sure, there have been pass plays that have accounted for lots of yards, but these have all been yards after the catch. Bama's three top receivers from 2014 were lost to graduation or the NFL, and so far the 2015 receiving corps has done nothing to cause opposing defensive coordinators to lose sleep. With Robert Foster now out for the season with a torn rotator cuff, the chances of that changing anytime soon have gotten even more remote. 

The running game at least, seems to be serviceable. The Tide gained 215 net yards rushing against Ole Miss, which ought to have been more than enough to secure a victory. But even a punishing ground attack and domination of the clock [35:26 to 24:34] could not compensate for those five turnovers.

The broadcast crew noticed Tide fans leaving early. I know at least some readers of The Grades may have gone to bed with the game still in the third quarter. So, let me get to the business at hand, and here is how I grade the game:

Offense: F Did I mention that we had five total turnovers?  I thought so.....well, three of the five were committed by the offense; all interceptions. Nevertheless, Alabama gained 503 total yards [215 rushing], earned 29 first downs, converted 11 of 20 third downs, and held the ball for 35:26. 

Derrick Henry gained 127 net yards rushing on 23 carries and scored a rushing touchdown. Jake ran the ball 7 times for a net of 58 yards and a TD. His longest gain running was 26 yards. Kenyan Drake added 33 yards on 11 carries. 

Jake completed 21 of 44 pass attempts for 201 yards and 3 TDs. He threw two really bad interceptions and could have thrown a third but the Reb DB dropped the ball. Cooper Bateman started for the Tide and completed 11 of 14 pass attempts for 87 yards. He threw one interception and the only points he accounted for were from a successful FG attempt. 

Ardarius Stewart caught 8 passes for 73 yards and a TD. Oregon State graduate transfer, Richard Mullaney [6-3, 208] caught 7 passes for 61 yards and 2 TDs. True freshman, Calvin Ridley [6-1, 185] from Coconut Creek, Florida, added 28 yards on 6 receptions. Robert Foster accounted for 17 receiving yards on 2 catches prior to leaving the game due to injury. 

The coaches started Bateman, and pulled him mid-way through the second quarter in favor of Jake. Based on post-game remarks, it seems as if Bateman's decision-making was as much a factor in the switch as execution. Under Bateman's direction, the Tide had four legitimate offensive possessions; they resulted in a turnover on downs, one punt, a FG and an interception. 

The Tide had 8 drives that gained 40 or more yards [41, 57, 68, 75, 41, 69, 46, 75] achieving a FG, 2 turnovers on downs, 4 TDs and a punt. 

Defense: D+ It is tempting to award a higher grade to the defense based on the horrible field position it was forced to defend. However, it still looks as if the Tide defensive secondary suffers from technique issues principally associated with a failure to look for the ball. This results in unnecessary interference penalties and missed interception opportunities. 

For the third game in a row, Reggie Ragland led all tacklers with 9 stops [4 solo]. The next three most prolific tacklers were DBs: Marlon Humphrey with 6, and Eddie Jackson and Cy Jones who had 5 each.

In total, the Tide defense accounted for 6 tackles for 18 yards of lost yardage, 5 breakups and 4 hurries.

Special Teams:  

Kickoffs: F Although Griff averaged a respectable net of 41.8 yard per kick, and the tide recovered an on-side attempt, the return game was awful. Both lost fumbles came on kick returns. 

Punting: B Scott punted twice for an average of 42 yards per kick, and one of those was a pooch kick that nailed Ole Miss at the Reb 2 yard line.

Place Kicking: B Griff made his only FG attempt [20 yards] and each of his 4 PAT attempts.

Coaching: F We opened league play without an established quarterback. Every week brings a new problem with special teams. Penalties were improved; only 4 for 36 yards. By comparison, Ole Miss had 8 infractions for 57 yards and ought to have had at least one more for ineligible receivers downfield on one of the fluke TD plays.

The participation report lists 53 players who saw action. Derrick Henry continues to be the leader in all purpose yardage, adding 166 to his season total in the game against the Rebs.

Now, with all that being said, why do I disagree with Cecil Hurt's invocation of Faulkner? Do not misunderstand what I am about to write. I think it is entirely foreseeable that Alabama will lose again this season. Did you see the way LSU destroyed the Barn? What about Georgia's route of the Fighting Chickens? Zack Prescott is still playing QB for State, and the Aggies are getting better each week. Granted, Auburn looks like a program picking up speed, as any object in free fall will do, but this year's game is played in The Cow Pasture and stuff happens in that venue that makes the two Ole Miss fluke plays look routine. 

No, I do not discount the possibility that Alabama will lose again. A return trip to Atlanta, much less the CFB Playoffs is, at this point, only hypothetical. My disagreement with Cecil Hurt's column is its funeral imagery. 

Hope for Alabama is not dead. Desire certainly isn't ready for burial. For Alabama, the tomb is never the right mental image.

The 2015 season may well be like a bleak winter compared to the recent sunny years of championship success. Just remember, the first phrase of our alma mater is "Alabama, listen mother...." The Tide-Nation is vast, and the University of Alabama, like the capable wife of Proverbs, Ch. 31, "...is not afraid for her household when it snows, for all her household are clothed in crimson."

So, get out your crimson, and wear it proudly. ... And, of course, 

Roll Tide, Y'all.

The Commissioner           

Tire Store Report MTSU

If, for some reason, you want to get the Nick Saban guy irritated, there are a few sure-fire ways to do it.  One would be to ask him a question in public that seems to disrespect or belittle a future opponent, especially if it is the next opponent on the schedule.  A reporter managed to squirt some water on this particular hornets’ nest just last week.

We are not just quite sure of what it is in the coach’s make up that causes him to respond so testily.  Maybe he believes that every team and coaching staff should be respected and that if you didn’t intend to respect them, you shouldn’t have scheduled them.  Perhaps he worries that an attitude like that from fans, press, etc. will seep into his team’s thinking and cause them to give less than 100% in preparation for the game.  Maybe at some point while a member of a less than traditional powerhouse like Kent State, he was on the receiving end of some of that and decided if the tables ever turned….  Maybe the answer is more like “All of the above”. 

In any event, the head coach once again proved that he knows more about college football than you do.  If you think any team on any given week isn’t a danger to your squad then please take a few minutes today to look around at what happened in Lee County yesterday afternoon, when a team literally not in the same league took a consensus Top Ten team to overtime.  Or maybe check up what happened to Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks at home against perennial also-ran Kentucky.  Notre Dame lost its starting quarterback to an injury (if you haven’t seen the video, don’t look, you can’t “unsee” it) and took nearly the entire sixty minutes to dispatch an unranked Virginia team.  The mighty ground and pound game at Arkansas was bottled up by lightly-regarded Toledo.  Even Tennessee, which was surely paying attention to a visit by Oklahoma, jumped to an early lead, throttled the Sooners for nearly three quarters, and perhaps, just perhaps, didn’t give them the respect they deserved leading to a critical 4^th quarter collapse.

And so we come to MTSU.  The Blue Raiders came to Tuscaloosa partly to play football in one the game’s loveliest settings, partly to pick up a big paycheck, but also hoping to continue a day of improbable upsets and scares.  For one quarter or so, that seemed like it might be in the cards.  With a variety of looks that Coach Saban admitted the team had not prepared for, MTSU moved the ball down the field.  However, a funny thing happened on the way to the upset.  Alabama took a team that had scored 70 points and rolled up yardage nearly at will a week ago, and held it to three points until the outcome was long-since decided.  In fact, Alabama’s first string defense has not surrendered a touchdown to two teams that have scored a combined 128 points against their opponents not named Alabama.

So, the good outweighs the bad.  Alabama gave MTSU at least enough respect that it never trailed, nearly doubled its opponent’s offensive output, played numerous second string players, got a good look at the style of offense they will see next Saturday, put up a score that will not raise eyebrows elsewhere in the country (especially on a week where there are a goodly number of eyebrow-raisers out there), and apparently came through relatively unscathed injury-wise.

That said, there will be much to talk and worry about as this week moves along.  The Commissioner’s Son and Heir has done a very good job of highlighting those issues.  Alabama seemed lethargic and not terribly focused on the game at the beginning.  The offense, in particular, got off to a very unspectacular start.  Alabama’s quarterback play was not at the same level it was against Wisconsin.  Neither QB seemed particularly efficient, making incorrect reads, forcing balls into coverage that should have been thrown in the stands, throwing away a ball on 4^th down, under throwing open receivers, etc.  The right side of the offensive line showed a weakness to an edge rush that was not evident against Wisconsin (presumably leading to some of the QB issues).  It took the defense almost a full quarter to catch up to the tempo and scheme used by MTSU.  We cannot seem to make a field goal.  The one ball that was kicked on line for the season fell a mildly embarrassing length short of the crossbar….

So what to do with Mississippi, which has scored 70 or more points on each of its opponents this season?  For one thing, Mississippi will go fast, just like MTSU did.  Mississippi will show our defense things that we have not seen on film, just like MTSU did.  Mississippi has a defensive front built for speed and will certainly be planning to make a day of running around our offensive line, just like MTSU did.  Mississippi is fully capable of beating Alabama, just like it did last season in Oxford.  Whatever else, there is no way, no how that any reporter, fan, coach, or player at the University of Alabama will be taking the Ole Ackbar/Rebel/Black Bear/Hotty Toddy/Land Sharks lightly.  Perhaps that’s the best news of all.

Focused and playing to its standards, Alabama should beat Mississippi at home.  We’ll not contemplate to the contrary.

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MTSU Grades

by the Commissioner’s Son and Heir

It was fine.  That’s it.  Just fine.

“Fine” is acceptable.  “Fine” gets the job done.  But “fine” is a far cry from “good.”  “Fine” is a long distance call from “great.”  When she’s getting ready to go out, your wife doesn’t want to hear that she looks “fine,” she wants you to say that she’s beautiful.  Against MTSU, Alabama wasn’t good, great, or beautiful.  Alabama was simply fine.

We’ve seen this trend in recent years.  Bama takes on a Power 5 opponent in Week 1 and wins decisively, then kinda drags their way thru the home opener against some cannon fodder team from the Sun Belt or Conference USA.  That 18-23 year old kids don’t find it as easy to get up for MTSU or Florida Atlantic as it is for Wisconsin or Virginia Tech should not come as a surprise.  But it’s frustrating.  As fans, we expect to bulldoze a team like the Blue Raiders, and to see a whole bunch of second and third stringers starting at halftime.  But maybe that’s not fair to the players and coaches.  So while it is tempting to grade yesterday’s sluggish effort rather harshly, I’ll try not to do so.

Here’s how I saw it (with the standard letter grade deduction for quality of opponent):

OFFENSE:  C

The offense was pedestrian.  But they scored 5 touchdowns, put up 532 yards of total offense, and won the time-of-possession battler by almost 6 minutes.  Derrick Henry rushed 18 times for 96 yards and scored 3 TDs, giving him 6 thru just two games.  MTSU geared up to shut Henry down, and had some success for a while (though they were helped along by the offensive play calling inexplicably keeping the ball out of Henry’s hands).  But Henry got stronger as the game wore on, and that’s encouraging.  Drake ran 6 times for 40 yards, and Damien Harris picked up 55 yards on 8 carries late in the game, including an impressive 41 yard jaunt.

The passing game was very hit or miss.  The offensive line didn’t play nearly as well as they did last week in pass protection, so Coker was pressured way more than he ought to have been.  Jake finished 15 for 26 for 214 yards and a TD.  Cooper Bateman took over at the half and went 11 for 17 for 98 yards and a TD.  Both QBs threw picks that were terrible decisions and into double coverage.  8 different receivers caught passes, led by Kenyan Drake’s 5 receptions for 96 yards and a TD.  Among wideouts, Robert Foster led the way with 4 catches for 49 yards and a TD.  OJ Howard had a solid outing with 4 catches for 68 yards.

DEFENSE:  C+

The stop troops got off to a poor start, allowing MTSU to sustain a couple of long drives in the 1^st quarter.  The starting defense held the Raiders to a field goal, but much of that was assisted by poor ball security.  MTSU might want to look into whether or not their starting center is in deep with a bookie, because he single handedly ruined solid drives with poor snaps.  Bama recovered 3 fumbles, 2 of which were forced by Eddie Jackson (and he recovered one of those).  Cyrus Jones also had a nice interception.

The defense looked flat-footed and confused early.  MTSU was playing at a pace that seemed to completely disrupt what Bama wanted to do.  Bama did not record a sack.  This is troubling when one considers the fact that we have a high-scoring, fast-paced offense coming to Tuscaloosa next week in the form of the Ole Miss Rebels.  Fortunately, the defense settled down and mostly stifled MTSU from the 2^nd quarter on.  MTSU had 275 total yard (86 rushing, 189 passing).  Their only TD came against our second string.  Our defensive backups are not very good at the moment.

SPECIAL TEAMS:  Academic Probation

It’s beyond failure at this point.  Our kicking game is on the verge of flunking out completely.  J.K. Scott punted 5 times for an average of 40.2, and none made it inside the 20.  He was better than last week, but still way below last year’s amazing standard.  Kickoffs were decent and coverage, on both kickoffs and punts, was solid.  We blocked a punt for a safety, which under normal circumstances would merit a good grade.  But the circumstances are not normal because…

Our placekicker is awful.  Adam Griffith is a good kid.  He has an amazing story.  If you have not seen the segment on Griffith that College Gameday did last week, do yourself a favor and watch it.  He has overcome a lot in his young life.  He is a terrible kicker.  For the second straight week, Griffith was 0 for 2 on field goal attempts.  He missed a 24-yarder, which is inexcusable for a scholarship kicker in the SEC.  He also missed a 48 yard attempt, which would normally be forgivable, but he actually hit it on target, but kicked it almost 10 yards short.  Had it been a 35 yard attempt, it would have barely cleared the crossbar.  The coaches have to go to a different kicker, because Griffith is completely destroyed mentally.  I know that he has dealt with injuries, but this is his third year in the program and for his career he’s 13 for 26 (50%).  That’s not even close to good enough.  If a game comes down to the last play, and Griffith is lining up for a game-winning FG attempt, I’m turning the TV off.

COACHING:  D+

The team came out flat and never seemed to get in synch.  The offensive play calling was all over the place.  I know we’re trying to get our QBs as many attempts as possible before league play, but is it too much to ask that we let Derrick Henry bulldoze an undersized defense?  Bama won by 4 TDs, so it may seem like I’m grading a tad harsh, but the final score is the only reason this was even a passing grade.  Special Teams coach Bobby Williams shares his players’ spot on the probation list.  Our kicking game is a mess, and that’s on him.  The SEC is way too tough to not have a competent placekicker and punter.  If Scott and Griffith don’t improve, and do it quickly, they will cost us a game.  Heck, they might cost us more than one.

It’s time to move past this disappointment and get ready for the Rebel Black Bears.  Ole Miss is a dangerous team filled with NFL talent.  Nothing short of Bama’s best effort will get the job done.  I have all the confidence in the world in our coaching staff to have our guys ready.  Remember, since arriving at Bama, Nick Saban has only lost back-to-back games to the same team one time (LSU ’10-’11).  Given the shoddy play of Mississippi St and LSU, and the downright terrible showings by Arkansas and Auburn, the Bama-Ole Miss game could very well decide the SEC West.

Roll Tide, everyone.

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Tire Store Report Wisconsin

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Hurray for the return of The Grades.  Excellent job, Commissioner.  Good to see that your time “on the bench” has not impacted delivery of this fundamental public service.

Down here at the Tire Store Saturday night, we were reminded of a very old formula for winning a football game -- run the ball, stop the run, don’t turn the football over.  When last we left the Crimson Tide, they had failed, pretty spectacularly, in applying that formula to a Big-However- Many team.  Saturday night at least, it appeared that things were moving back to the basics.  Alabama ran the ball with authority, smothered what may be the best rushing attack in its opponent’s conference, and had 0 turnovers.  More about all of this below.  Before that, Alabama put together a solid win on a day when some iconic programs were not able to do so, Penn State lost to Temple, Michigan lost to Utah, Nebraska lost, Texas was embarrassed….  In short, we should not overlook the fact that Alabama again took care of a quality opponent to start the season.

Offense:  We thought the offense looked pretty good for a first outing.  All the quarterback talk through the Spring and Summer seemed to revolve around why no one and stepped up and been named the starter.  To an extent, that discussion somehow evolved into, “none of the quarterbacks are any good”.  We don’t think that is the case.  From what we saw Saturday night, it looked like at least two of the quarterbacks are pretty good and capable of directing the offense.  After the first drive, at least, Coker seemed comfortable.  He took a couple of needless sacks and just missed on a couple of long throws, but we hope and expect that will get straightened out as the season goes along.  Bateman played pretty well in relief, though without perhaps the same opportunities that Coker had.

The offensive line, which has been more or less the same five guys since the Spring, played pretty well, too.  They seem better at run blocking than pass blocking right now.  Having lost receivers who have made NFL rosters like Cooper and White, there was concern about who would step up to run crisp routes and catch the ball.  Lots of receivers participated in the game.  All of them looked pretty good.  The one we were most excited about was freshman Calvin Ridley, who reached up an snatched a couple of bullets out of the air.  We like a player who reaches up and catches the ball with his hands, not gathering it into his chest.  If he and the quarterback can adjust their timing just a bit on deep balls, he may have a great season.  Mullaney, a transfer from Oregon, reminded us just a bit of Kevin Norwood.  Also nice to see OJ Howard pulling in passes. 

But the first part of the formula is about running the football, and Alabama did that with authority.  Henry and Drake racked up yards in bunches.  It was interesting to see how Drake would play after his horrific injury on that God-forsaken turf they have over in Oxford.  We did not perceive any lasting effects.  Henry took over the lead back role -- it seemed to fit him just fine.  He seems a little bigger than last year, and maybe faster, too.  He did not hesitate in the backfield as he did on occasion last year but plowed forward, hole open or not.  It’s exactly what he needs to do.  For our money, though, his best play of the night was when he stayed in to protect on an obvious passing down.  A Wisconsin linebacker who was blitzing on the play hit Henry and then just bounced back about three yards towards the line of scrimmage.  It looked like the Wily Coyote running into some sort of weird spring loaded door he had set as a trap for the Roadrunner.  All that was needed was a cartoon sound effect.

Defense: As the Commissioner has chronicled, the defense played very well.  Make no mistake, Wisconsin is, and will be, a serious force in their Conference.  They averaged over 400 yards rushing per game last season.  They have a massive (if somewhat inexperienced) offensive line and a very experienced quarterback.  That offense managed one good drive in each half.  And frankly, the second half drive was against mostly the Alabama second string.  Reggie Ragland was all over the field, both coaching up his teammates and knocking down ball carriers.  As the game went on, Alabama was getting to the quarterback with four rushers, because Wisconsin had largely abandoned its running game.

Step two of the formula, stop the run, was handled in excellent fashion.  Alabama will see teams with better running games, Arkansas comes to mind, but not many and not that much better.  The front seven, variously described as “vicious” and “Best in America” pretty much lived up to the billing.  Wisconsin found very narrow running lanes. As the game wore on the front four brought more pressure,  and batted down passes.  A’Shawn Robinson plays as mature as he looks.    Freshman nose tackle Daron Payne has slimmed down to a mere 315 pounds.  He’ll be exciting to watch.  The young defensive backs need experience to go with their God-given talents.  As Coach Kines used to say, “You can’t learn to ride a bicycle sitting on the porch.”  I expect this unit to continue to improve week-by-week.

ST:  Oy vey.  As much good news as there was on offense and defense, the bright spot on special teams was that we kicked off the football into the dadgum endzone (at least mostly) which is a positive change.  We didn’t muff fielding any kicks, though Cyrus Jones being back there makes us hold our breath like someone was turning rotors in the shop.  Just don’t get hurt, CJ.  Otherwise, it was a forgettable night.  We missed two very makeable field goals, which didn’t even matter to people who had bet on Alabama to cover, but sure as heck will matter before the end of December.  Worse, our punter who last season may have been the best punter in football, (not college football, ALL of football), was very pedestrian.  Maybe that big, low-hanging scoreboard was bothering him.  One of the commentators said he had not had a good fall camp, though it was the first time we’d heard that.  Anyway, something has changed for a player that was averaging over 50 yards a kick on A-Day.  Hoping it was just an off night and is out of his system.

Coaching:  We’d give the coaches a high grade.  The team was ready to play.  Most commentators feel like having a quarterback “controversy” is upsetting to a team.  This is at least the third time since Coach Saban came that we have gone into the season with no clear “starting” quarterback -- once we won the National Championship and once we won the SEC.  They appear to know how to handle it.  Our halftime adjustments were excellent.  Kiffen continues to call plays that should go for touchdowns, though sometimes the execution is lacking.  Our estimate is that Alabama left at least 13 and maybe 20 points on the field through poor execution.  I’m not fan of the new “card” system, but there were very few plays Saturday where the play clock was an issue.  We would give demerits for clock management at the end of the half.  For some weird reason, that has never been a strong suit for Saban-coached teams.  But if that’s the biggest gripe we have for a team that is replacing as much as Alabama is this year, we’ll take it.

One interesting thing to conclude this already-too-long Report.  Coach Saban preaches to the players about forgetting the last play, forgetting the score, forgetting everything else in favor of focusing on doing your absolute best on the upcoming play.  In an interview after the game, Derrick Henry said that he didn’t actually know that it was 4^th and 1 when he took the handoff for his highlight reel touchdown run.  He just played his best on that play -- secured the football, hit the hole hard, ran through a tackle, and outran everyone on the defense to the end zone.  To be honest, I’m not all that sure any of the Wisconsin DBs wanted to catch him. 

We think if Saban can get the rest of the team to follow his philosophy as demonstrated by Henry on that play, it’s going to be a very exciting season.  On to MTSU, which put 70 points on Jackson State Saturday.  It’s good to have football back.

Wisconsin Grades

The Commissioner's Patient and Long-Suffering Wife really likes a website called Trip Advisor. She's a planner, and before we go anywhere she thoroughly researches our destination. In particular she studies the reviews that other Trip Advisor fans have posted on hotels, attractions and restaurants. From time to time, she comes across negative reviews that make her laugh. People deficient in self-awareness sometimes complain about things that ought to have been perfectly obvious. 

For example: "Expecting the chef to be equal to his reputation, I placed my dinner order with two substitutions, a temperature request and a dietary restriction. Everyone else at our table was served before I was!" Or: "We booked this four star hotel in Paris a week before we arrived, and the room was small, the bed was only a queen-size, and the 'complimentary' breakfast consisted of different kinds of bread with butter and jam." Or this one: "The guide books all tout this country's history, but the castles were mostly in ruins, the big country estates all charge for tours, and I nearly bumped my head on the low ceiling in the local pub."

There is a name for these sorts of complaints: "First World Problems."

The morning after beating Wisconsin 35-17, The Commissioner might very well be guilty of complaining about First World Problems. As My Son And Heir said at the end of the night, "feeling dissatisfied about beating a ranked team on the opening game of the season by more than two touchdowns isn't such a bad thing."

Coach Saban told reporters after the game that the game provided the coaches with a clear picture of "here's where we are. Here's the things we did well. Here's the things we need to improve on to get up to a standard."  Among those who did not play up to the standard were the defensive subs who allowed the Badgers to drive 75 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. They were joined, by the starting defensive secondary whose play in the first half was a continuation of the last three games of the 2014 season. Also not playing up to standard was practically the entire kicking game. 

The list of things done well, however, is quite impressive. Foremost on that list is the play of the defensive front seven. It didn't seem to matter how deep the Tide coaches went in the defensive rotation, the defensive line and linebackers were ferocious and formidable. The Badgers are a running team. They have a big, strong offensive line and big talented running backs. With 9:00 to play in the game, they had earned a grand total of 8 yards rushing. The longest run from scrimmage by any of Wisconsin's featured backs was 5 yards. In the first half, Badgers' QB, Joel Stave, looked like he might be having one of those once-in-a-career nights; think about South Carolina's otherwise forgettable Stephen Garcia in his 2010 game against the Crimson Tide. 

After intermission, however, the Badgers had 7 possessions. Five of those resulted in 4 punts and an interception on a total of 16 plays. It was astonishing to see how much better the Tide secondary was in coverage when the front seven pressured the opposing quarterback.

Also add Jake Coker to the list of things done well. In his first career start, the fifth-year senior completed 15 of 21 pass attempts for 213 yards and a TD [Robert Foster]. He took two really bad sacks early in the game when he seemed confused by the Wisconsin blitz. He also badly missed a wide-open receiver on a deep pattern down the right sideline in the third quarter. On the whole, his performance reminded me of GMac's improvement during the course of the 2009 season opener against Virginia Tech. Cooper Bateman played well in relief, completing 7 of 8 pass attempts for 51 yards. 

You can round out the list of things done well with the run game. Derrick Henry and Kenyon Drake accounted for 4 rushing TDs. Henry was an absolute beast gaining 147 yards on 13 carries. But one of his best plays was a blitz pick-up that allowed Jake to complete a long pass for a first down. Henry stone-walled the defensive end who stunted through a gap in the O Line. The official stats don't have a category for that sort of play, but it was the kind of hit that would have made Coach Bryant say: "Bingo! That was a goodie!"

So at the risk of sounding like one of those whiners on Trip Advisor, here is how I grade the game:

Offense: B- Alabama compiled 27 first downs [12 rushing], on 502 total yards [238 rushing]. Tide QBs combined for 22 completions on 29 attempts for 264 yards. 

True freshman Damien Harris complimented Henry and Drake's efforts by gaining 23 yards on 9 carries.

Robert Foster lead all receivers with 4 receptions for 55 yards and a TD [22 yards]. Ardarius Stewart also made 4 receptions for 44 yards. OJ Howard and Calvin Ridley each accounted for 3 receptions. Drake and Henry had two catches apiece. Transfer, Richard Mullaney also made two receptions gaining 38 yards. In all, 9 different players caught passes.

The Offense put together five drives that gained 40 or more yards [90, 88, 56, 67, 53] resulting in 4 TDs and a missed FG, while suffering only one true 3 and out.  The other three-play drive covered only 27 yards and resulted in a TD. 

In the category of First World Problems: the Tide only converted 4 of 11 third down opportunities, suffered three consecutive plays with penalties [2 false starts and a hold], and surrendered 24 negative yards on 3 sacks.

Defense B+ Wisconsin's proud rushing game was limited to only 40 yards on 21 carries, and 24 of those yards came on a single play in the fourth quarter where the Badgers' starters were playing against the Tide's "Twos". 

Reggie Ragland led all defenders with 5 solo tackles and 7 assists. He also was credited with hurrying the Wisconsin QB. Eddie Jackson had 6 solo tackles and an interception, the game's only turnover. 

Soph. LB, Shaun Dion Hamilton, accounted for 4 solo stops and 2 assists. 

The head-turner of the night, may well be true freshman DB Minkah Fitzpatrick [6-1, 195]. The Old Bridge, NJ native, playing in his first-ever collegiate game, accounted for 3 solo tackles, 2 assists, 1 tackle for lost yardage [sack] and a pass breakup. 

Also accounting for 3 solo stops was new-starter, Reuben Foster. No. 10 got lost in coverage a couple of times in the first half, which allowed Wisconsin to complete some throws to backs coming open in the flats, but Foster's closing speed and hard tackling prevented any big gains. Fellow first-time starter, Marlon Humphrey also had 3 solo tackles.      

Jr. DL, Jonathan Allen [6-3, 283] made 2 solo tackles and 2 assists. Both of his solo tackles were for lost yardage. He also broke up a pass.

First World Problem: Poor coverage in the secondary in the first half, and lack of intensity in the closing minutes of the game. Also, Marlon Humphrey was penalized for interference on a play where all he had to do in order to avoid the penalty was turn his head and look at the ball. This would also have resulted in an interception since the ball would have lodged itself in Marlon's face mask.

Special Teams:

Oh,good Lord!

Punting: F We punted 4 times for a gross average of only 36.8 yards and our coverage yielded 15 yards on two returns making the net average a paltry 33 yards. This is a decrease of more than 15 net yards over last season's averages.

Place Kicking: D Griff was perfect on all 5 PATs but missed wide on both of his FG attempts [44, 39].

Kick Offs: B+ Griff did a very good job kicking off. His gross average was 65 yards and the coverage unit by and large contained the Badger return efforts achieving a net of 42.7 yards per kick.  The Tide return game gave rise to some First World Problems: The Badger kick off net average was 49 yards and on one return our ball carrier took a knee......at the seven yard line!

Coaching: B The participation report lists 59 players who saw action in the AdvoCare Classic. Among those were true freshmen: Calvin Ridley, Ronnie Harrison, Minkah Fitzpatick, Daron Payne, Shawn Burgess-Becker, Damien Harris, Lester Cotton and Dallas Warmack. Redshirt freshmen Marlon Humphrey, Christian Miller and Keith Holcombe joined the youth-movement.

The Tide was penalized 11 times for 120 yards. That is not a First World Problem, even considering that the officials were supplied by the Big 12 Conference, and at least three flags were so obviously miscalled that Coach Saban's protest by-passed the Bug Zapper and went straight for the Screaming Cruise Missile. That many penalties and that much lost yardage has to be addressed.

I don't want to dwell on First World Problems and end this edition of The Grades with a complaining tone.  The win over Wisconsin provides much to be excited about. The 2014 season ended one game too early in a loss to a very good team out of the Big Ten Conference. The 2015 season began with a resounding win over a ranked Big Ten team. Alabama's record against the current members of that league is 25-13 [.658]. With the win over Wisconsin, the Tide's record against the AP top 25 is 32-11 [.744] which includes Coach Saban's record at Alabama over the AP top 10 of 17-6!  The Tide has made 33 appearances on ESPN's College GameDay, and owns a record of 21-12. Coach Saban's share of that record is 18-6. Alabama's 24 GameDay appearances under Coach Saban is the most for any program since 2007. (Oregon, with 20 appearances is in second place.) Finally, Jake's 213 passing yards against the Badgers marks a career high, surpassing the 202 yards he achieved last season against Florida Atlantic. His 15 completions ties his career best, and his 213 passing yards is the 10th most by a Tide quarterback in a starting debut.

So there is a lot to be very excited about, while there is also work to be done. The most important game of the season, so far, is next Saturday's home opener against MTSU. My Son And Heir will be handling responsibility for The Grades, as The Commissioner will be in a location without wi-fi or TV next weekend. I am confident he will bring his A-Game.

Roll Tide, Y'all.

The Commissioner