Tire Store Report -- Tennessee

Nice effort with the Grades for Tennessee, Commissioner.  And we agree with all that you point out about young minds still developing.  The problem is that our cardiovascular system already has more miles on it than an '85 Camry.  We're not just sure how much the old ticker and pipes can take while these guys finish growing up.

As we mentioned last week, this bunch is entertaining and exciting -- maybe too much so.  Would it be too much to ask to punch in some of those first and goals instead of kicking field goals?  It sure would help us if we didn't have to hear the pulse pounding in our ears and our stomach rolling right before dinner time.

On the other hand, getting a win against the Volunteers always seems sweet no matter what the cost.  We'll take this one, just like the last 8.

Offense:  We continue to be worried about the performance of the offensive line.  Coker was harassed far too much on Saturday and running backs dealt with defenders coming seemingly unblocked into the back field far too often.  The offense often managed to shoot itself in the foot with silly penalties.  In a couple of cases the coaching staff did not do the team any favors with the play calls.  The game would have appeared very differently if the short field goals had been touchdowns.  After acknowledging that, this was a gritty performance by a banged up group.  Stewart, who had been MIA for much of the season, had his best game ever.  Howard blocked and caught better than ever.  Henry has been a workhorse,  His last three carries were things of beauty, especially the one step inside fake on the touchdown run.  He's earned a day off.  Perhaps between now and the end of the season we can get more running backs involved in the games.  However, the whole goal is to score more than the other team.  The offense did that job without any assistance this game from the defense.  Good on them.

Defense:  Any time our defense holds an SEC offense to 14 points we should win the game.  The defense was again on the cusp of scoring points.  We didn't see quite as many opportunities for interceptions as Frick & Frack in the booth.  However, there were at least three very good chances.  In fact, Fitzpatrick had one he touched with both hands and his stomach with lots of beautiful green grass in front of him.  Robinson had a circus catch opportunity, but if he was able to catch a ball that was within inches of touching the turf at the same time he was falling headlong, he wouldn't be on defense.  Humphrey was very close to one on Tennessee's next to last offensive play.  For a group that was much-criticized last year, this unit has come to play.  Again, though, fatigue was clearly a factor.  Even the normally unflappable Cyrus Jones got lost in coverage on the first touchdown and was struggling to keep up with Tennessee's receivers in the fourth quarter.  The defensive line, despite being held and occasionally actually tackled, came through in the clutch.  There is not a college defense I would trade them for.

Coaching:  No question that Alabama was a tired and beat up football team.  Ever since the schedule came out we knew October was a nightmarish month for Alabama.  Playing Georgia in Athens (the week after they played Southern), Arkansas (the week after they played Tennessee), Texas A&M at newly renovated Kyle Field (the week after they played Open), and Tennessee (the week after they played Open) was going to be exhausting.  The coaches were smart enough not to talk about the fatigue factor beforehand, but Coach Saban acknowledged it in his post-game comments.  The coaches did a good job getting the team ready to play for the whole month.  We did question some of the play-calls, especially inside the 10.  For some reason, this team seems to play a lot better on the road than at home, e.g. Coker has thrown 7 interceptions, all in BDS.  Maybe figuring out how to get road performances for the home fans would be a good project for the coaches during the off week.

Special Teams:  Regular readers know we have been fairly straightforward about our criticism of this group throughout the fall.  Fair is fair.  On Saturday, the Volunteers brought one of the best special teams in the country to Alabama.  But the Alabama Special Teams exceeded their performance.  As ably documented by the Commissioner, we beat them in every phase of special teams performance.  Our punting average was back up to close to 50 yards per attempt.  We covered their very good return men nicely.  We had good returns and good decisions on which balls to fair catch and which ones to return.  We made all our field goals and PATs with room to spare.  And, best of all to us down here at the Tire Store, we kicked off the football into the dadgum end zone, once all the way into the seats.  Huzzah.

Broadcast:  F-.  How do I hate thee, CBS?  Let me count the ways.  Gary and Verne seem to be downright bored with covering Alabama.  Even with an earlier video showing miracle plays to beat Alabama, we reached a new low on Saturday.  Did we really, really need to hear a five-minute interview with Peyton Freaking Manning where they acted like it was an imposition to even show the plays on the field.  No commentary on the action.  Was the game that boring to you CBS?  Maybe you should let a network interested in college football broadcast the games.  Mind you, this was all going on with the game very much hanging in the balance -- not garbage time of the fourth quarter of a blow out.  And then we got to see Peyton's facial expression with seemingly every snap of the fourth quarter.  Pardon me, but who cares?  What's that you say? Alabama has no one to offer up?  Well, we know for a fact that the great Lee Roy Jordan was there, because Verne and Gary did manage to scrape up a black and white photo of him. They mentioned AD Bill Battle, who played at Alabama, coached at Tennessee, and came home when Mal Moore passed away suddenly.  We're pretty sure he was there.  Or, perhaps, you could have run across the field during one of the seemingly half-hour long TV time outs to interview A.J. McCarron, who has more National Championships than the Magnificent Manning.  Or, just maybe, you could have picked out Terrence Cody, he was the really big guy in street clothes on the Alabama sideline. He's hard to miss.  And as you pointed out, we were one day short of the anniversary of his two blocked field goal effort against Tennessee.  He's got one of those nifty National Championship rings, too.  OK, we'll leave it be, the old ticker's getting another work out.

Officiating:  F.  OK, after Saturday we worry that we are beginning to sound like those guys that think Apollo 11 didn't get to the moon, Elvis is still alive, and Amelia Earhart was a secret Japanese Spy.  Acknowledging that, some of those calls and non-calls Saturday really got our goat.  We weren't quite sure given the camera angle whether our offensive line was guilty of a chop block.  We were sure that our receivers were getting mugged (on one play the Tennessee defensive back looked like he had both hands in the collar of Ridley's jersey, on the broadcast you could hear the crowd booing it was so obvious), our defensive linemen were getting tackled, etc.  But the worst of all was the Tennessee player that got away with not only spinning the ball like a top, but also dancing a little jig.  This was the rookie umpiring crew.  For a few seasons now players have been in the habit of giving the official the ball after every down.  One reason for that is that you cannot be accused of spiking or spinning the ball if you hand it, or toss it softly, to one of the zebras.  After already calling about three unsporstman-like conduct penalties we were certain this behavior would be flagged.  It wasn't.  We also heard over the weekend that the total number of holding calls against Alabama opponents in SEC games this year is ZERO (there was one in the Wisconsin game and one in MTSU, neither of which had SEC officials, as we recall it).  We are too lazy busy serving our customers to look up how many pass plays that covers but we are pretty sure the answer is "a lot" -- it's got to be about 500 total plays after this many games.  We read that the SEC Commissioner was at the game.  Perhaps seeing this game will open his eyes.  Yeah, sure, and Lee Harvey Oswald was working for Castro and the CIA.

Happy Halloween everyone.  Like the team, we recommend you take next weekend off to get yourself rested and ready.  If you aren't fired up about seeing what is statistically the best running back in the country matched up against the best defense, well, then, we are surprised you read this far.  The first Saturday night of November promises to be exciting 

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Tennessee Grades

It is a well documented scientific fact: young people between the ages of 18 and 22 are not fully functional adults. Their brains are not completely formed. They benefit from being institutionalized. In the U.S., colleges and universities are the institutions in which a large cohort of such people are committed. One of the things that concerns me most about the out-of-control increase in the cost of a college education is that parents will not be able to afford incubating their kids in those critical years between high school graduation and full-time employment.

Notwithstanding some of the sillier, politically correct stuff the media reports about present-day college life-everything from "trigger warnings" to dis-invited graduation speakers-most young people benefit from spending a few years on campus. They grow up. They learn to take on responsibility; to meet life's challenges. Often that maturation is gradual. Sometimes it is dramatic, like the "Greek Relief" effort responding to the devastation of the 2011 tornados.

Alabama's 19-14 win over Tennessee is another example of college students growing up in dramatic fashion. 

After more than 54 minutes of a slug-fest with the Vols, the Tide found itself trailing by a point. The defense, which had forced four three-and-outs and two missed long field goal attempts in the previous six Tennessee possessions, had surrendered a touchdown on a 75 yard, four play UT drive to give the Oranges their first lead of the game. Jake Coker and the Tide offense found itself 71yards from the UT goal line with an eight game win streak, the season, and any glimmer of championship aspirations hanging in the perilous balance. 

There is no other way to say it: Jake grew up right then. Right there. After losing 2 yards to a sack on first down, Jake found Ardarius Stewart along the side line for a 29 yard gain. Facing 3rd and 6, Jake connected with Calvin Ridley for a first down at the Tennessee 25. Jake handed the ball to Derek Henry for the next three plays and Henry delivered runs of 6, 5 and 14 yards for the game-winning score. 

Jake was poised, decisive and precise as he executed the drive. He was also self-effacing and humble in post-game comments as he credited everyone else for the success of the drive. 

He was not the only player that grew up on The Drive. O. J. Howard, who led all receivers with 7 catches, was asked about Stewart and Ridley's clutch receptions, well-covered and on the side lines: "Those are big-boy plays." Howard said of the two younger receivers, "and they really grew up."

More than two minutes remained in the game, however, and the last time Tennessee had the ball Josh Dobbs and the Vol offense gashed the Tide defense like no opponent this season. Could the Stop Troops respond? Could they recover from being embarrassed? Tim Williams, Minka Fitzpatrick, Cy Jones, Jonathan Allen, Ryan Anderson, A'Shawn Robinson and the rest of the Bama defense played like grown men as they blew up the Tennessee O-Line, sacked Dobbs twice, forced and recovered a fumble and turned the ball over to Coker and the offense at the UT 4 yard line.

It was one heck of a ball game. One that deserves never to be forgotten in this storied rivalry. Nobody left early. I cannot recall hearing a Bryant-Denny crowd louder or seeing cigar smoke in the student section thicker. So this is how I grade the game:

Offense: B Bama gained 364 yards of offense [117 net rushing] that accounted for 23 first downs and 35:39 time of possession. Jake completed 21 of 27 pass attempts for 247 yards and was intercepted once. 

OJ Howard gained 55 yards on 7 receptions. Ardarius Stewart gained 114 yards on 6 catches. Calvin Ridley also caught 6 passes for 62 yards. Richard Mullaney and Kenyan Drake each caught one pass.

Henry was the leading rusher, gaining 143 net yards on 28 attempts. He scored 2 rushing TDs to extend his school record of consecutive games with a rushing touchdown. Drake added 10 net yards on 3 rushes. Jake ran the ball twice for a net gain of 1 yard, and he suffered 5 sacks for 26 lost yards. 

Each of Alabama's scores [2 TDs and 2 FGs] came on long drives [75, 73, 56, 71]. The Tide had  only one possession that ended after three plays and a punt. The Tide converted 5 of its 12 third down plays, and possessed the ball for 35:39 of the game [11:41 of the 4th quarter]. 

By objective measurements, the Tide Offense earned a B; but this was the Tennessee game. The Commissioner lives in the Volunteer State. The Large Citrus Fruits are going to be hard enough to endure as it is. Therefore, a full letter upgrade is in order. Final Grade A.

Defense: B+ UT was able to gain 303 yards total offense [132 rushing] make 21 first downs, and convert 7 of 13 third down opportunities.  The Defense, which leads the nation in forcing three-and-outs only achieved that mark twice against the Vols.  And when the D needed to protect a 6 point lead late in the game, Josh Dobbs found wide open receivers who gobbled up 61 yards on two receptions. 

As usual, Reggie Ragland led all defenders with 12 tackles [8 solo]. Reuben Foster recorded 11 stops [7 solo; 2 TFL]. Minka Fitzpatrick was credited with 7 tackles [5 solo]. The Defense made 8 tackles for lost yardage, 5 of which were sacks, and hurried Dobbs 8 times. Ryan Anderson forced Dobbs to fumble and A'Shawn Robinson recovered the loose ball. 

This was not the best statistical showing by the Defense. But, this was Tennessee. Just as with the Offense, a full letter upgrade is appropriate. Therefore, the Final Grade is A+.

Special Teams: 

Punting: A+ JK Scott looks like he has out grown his sophomore slump. He punted the ball four times for an average of 49.8 yards. Two of his kicks were for more than 50 yards and two were downed inside the Vol 20 yard line. Only one punt was returned and that was for only 3 yards.   

Place Kicking: A+ Griff was good on both of his FG attempts [19, 24] and on his only PAT try.

Kickoffs: A Griff kicked off 5 times for an average of 64.6 yards per kick. Four of his kicks resulted in touchbacks. The lone return surrendered 31 yards. The kick return game only had 2 opportunities. Kenyan Drake gained 62 yards on kick returns with a longest return of 33 yards. One of the plus-yardage returns followed UT's 4th quarter TD.

Coaching: B Alabama was penalized 7 times for 64 yards. The participation report lists 51 players who saw action in the game. 

Bama ran 69 offensive plays; 37 were called as runs and 32 as passes. Five of the pass calls resulted in sacks. The run/pass ratio on first downs was 20/11. 

On the drive home Sunday morning, we stopped for gas at one of the Culman exists on I-65. While I was fueling up the car, a fellow walked up to me and asked if I had been to the game. I told him I had. He said that he was a Tennessee fan from Union City and had just taken his wife to her first-ever college football game. We both agreed that the game was an exciting, hard-fought affair. Then he told me that he was very favorably impressed with everyone he and his wife encountered in Tuscaloosa. He particularly complimented the students.  "They were all very friendly and respectful. They all said 'yes sir and yes ma'am'. I was just really impressed. It was a tough loss for us, but I could not have asked for a better experience for my wife's first trip to a college ball game."

How's that for evidence of young people growing up at college?

The Tide and the Grades have an open date this coming weekend. The Commissioner and his Patient and Long-Suffering Wife will be back in T'Town for LSU on November 7. 

Roll Tide, y'all.......

The Commissioner   

      

 

  

Tire Store Report -- Texas A&M

We liked those Grades, Commissioner.  We had been worrying about this game since the little pocket-size folding schedules we keep on the counter in the store showed up back in the summer.  We knew the Aggies would remember being embarrassed in Tuscaloosa last year, would have a brand new stadium with (as it turned out) 105,000+ noisy fans to cheer them on, Coach Sumlin's would have his Air Raid offense up and running, and they'd get an extra week off to prepare (like it seems everyone does)....  Adding to that the fact that we'd be coming off two straight games against opponents who like to line up and try to run it over you, just made us worried it would take a special effort to prevail.  Good thing the Crimson Tide just happened to have a special effort to give.

We wouldn't call what Alabama turned in on Saturday a pretty effort.  In fact, there were mistakes galore.  What it lacked in esthetic beauty, though, it more than made up for with displays of resilience, guts, toughness, competitiveness, and plain old hard work.  From down here at the Tire Store, that's what we want to see.

The same things win that always won, Coach Bryant's voice reminds us every time we are in the stadium.  We can also remember Coach Stallings saying run the ball, stop the run, don't turn the football over was the formula for winning football games.  "But, but, but, Coach," we hear the talking heads saying "This is a new day.  A new era.  Hurry up.  No huddle.  50 passes a game. Spread formation.  Don't bother with defense.  Air Raid.   Basketball on grass."  Well, thanks very much for all that.  Saturday, Alabama held A&M to 32 yards rushing; ran the ball with authority, including between the tackles; and won the turnover battle in lopsided fashion.  And that effort produced a convincing win on the road in the SEC against a higher-ranked opponent.  We'll take that, every time, thanks.  If you want to see up and down action with scores in the 80s, head over to Memorial Coliseum starting in a few weeks.  Coach Johnson will appreciate your support.

Offense:  Offense wins games.  Although this week the defense itself almost scored enough to win it, so did the offense.  The offensive line was clearly handicapped when Kelly had to leave the game.  We hope it is nothing serious.  Henry ran like, well, like Derrick Henry.  When he gets a head of steam, it is tough to stop him.  We haven't been keeping count of how many defensive players have left the game after trying to tackle him this year.  Drake still does not quite seem to be back to old form.  We sure would like someone to step up and take a little pressure off of Henry, although we'd be scared to say that in Henry's hearing.  Ridley is going to be a great one and Mullaney reminds us of Kevin Norwood.   Most of all, though, let's have a short moment for Jacob Coker.  OK, so he's not the second coming of Slingin' Sammy Baugh.  We hear his arm motion is too long.  Stares down receivers.  Slow release.  Big whoop, says us.  Right now he's undefeated as our starter.  As a measure of how much we appreciate him now, do you remember in Saturday's game when everyone was covered and he took off towards the far sideline? Just past the first down marker two A&M players converged.  Coker could have easily stepped out of bounds past the first down stick.  We know this because we were yelling "step out of bounds, dadgummit."  He didn't.  Instead, he wrapped up the ball, lowered his shoulder, and gave a forearm shiver to an Aggie defensive back.  You think his teammates don't notice that sort of thing?  This has rapidly become Coker's offense.  We hope the coaches will continue to come up with ways to show off his particular skills.  And where skill isn't in play, we're pretty much content with pluck, grit, and plain old cussed determination.  Sure, he drives us crazy some plays, but no question about his heart.

Defense:  Defense wins championships.  Huzzah.  This is turning in to a very special group.  It was largely conceded around the league that Alabama's front seven, with determined leadership from Reggie Ragland, would likely be the best defensive front in the SEC, and therefore, probably in all of college football.  The problems would come with a young and inexperienced secondary.  Teams would beat Alabama, we were told, by throwing over that front seven and exploiting Alabama's secondary.  Mississippi had some success there.  Accordingly, Alabama's front seven started spiking passes back at quarterbacks like an Olympic volleyball team.  Saturday, we didn't get as many deflections.  It was a good thing.

Credit whatever you like, our guess is that it's a combination of hard work, experience, new coaching from Mel Tucker, and growing confidence, but we now view batted passes as messing up potential interceptions for touchdowns.  The Commissioner very accurately chronicled the interception success.  Did you know that in addition to those efforts, the defense was also credited with seven passes broken up?  This was an outstanding effort by a special defense.  Shoot, our dbs had three times as many receptions for touchdowns as A&M's receivers.  I'm not ready to declare this defense the best of the Saban-era, there's too much football to be played.  However, it's a measure of this group's success that we start thinking about some of these teams and wonder.

Special Teams:  Ugh.  For every leak we plug another one springs open.   Griffith was perfect on the day (Despite Gary Danielson irritatingly remarking about how extra points were just inside the left upright; last we checked "inside the upright" actually means "your team scored another point").  We kicked off out of the end zone.   J.K. Scott is back to kicking the air out of the ball and matched A&M's very talented punter in flipping field position.  On the other hand, we: got a player thrown out for targeting on a kick return, fumbled after a nice return, fair caught a punt inside the 10, muffed a catch and kicked a kick off back into our end zone (and despite Verne and Gary, I do not think that we had the choice to just take a knee without risking being called for a safety); got a punt blocked, messed up two long snaps,  allowed a punt return for a touchdown....  Wait, let's say we are springing two leaks for every one we get plugged.  We aren't sure what the answer is here -- our best athletes already play on special teams.  Perhaps it's time to work on another part of that formula.

Coaching.  This was a really hard category to grade.  It's like when teachers assign group projects in class.  You can always count on there being one member of the team that does all of their work, half of somebody else's and the extra credit piece.  And then there's the kid that shows up the day before it's due, asks if there's anything they can do, and makes sure their name appears at the top of the list of the "team" and once in my experience added the phrase "project manager".  Uh, yeah.  So it was yesterday.  Kirby Smart was the first kind of kid.  The defensive game plan for Texas A&M was, for the second year in a row, just about perfect.  A team with as much offensive talent as the Aggies, especially at wide receiver and quarterback, is going to gain some yards.  The trick is to make that difficult to do, limit actual scoring, and give your offense a chance to win the game.  Yesterday, the defense didn't take any chances, and put 21 points on the board themselves.  Except when Alabama decided to help A&M out, their scoring was mostly limited the 50-yard field goal variety (and tip your cap to the kid who made two of those).  So there's some kind of A+ grade to be had there.  The team was mostly ready to play.  The offense did what it needed to do to move the ball for the most part and was well-prepared for the A&M schemes.  Their outstanding pair of defensive ends, both headed for NFL careers, made a few plays but did not disrupt the entire offense.  So even the offensive coaches contributed and get pretty good marks.  Then we have special teams.  So, Coaching earns an A+, B+ or so, and a F-.  I guess you average and grade on a curve.

Broadcast:  D  We did not award the grade of F because we did get at least quality video from College Station.  We are not sure when CBS started the new habit of staying at the game during an injury time out and THEN going to a half dozen commercials for insurance and chicken sandwiches.  These games are lasting forever.  We stopped counting after it reached 500 so we don't know exactly how many times Gary Danielson mentioned Rehab Dropout Johnny Manziel. Safe to say we were tired of hearing it.  Perhaps because we were in attendance last year we know for sure there were a couple of dozen highlight worthy moments. We don't recall hearing Blake Sims' name called.  Or A.J. McCarron for that matter.  I'm not sure how we'll manage to sit through the game next week.  Our advice is whatever the over and under is on Danielson saying how excited Peyton Manning makes him, take the over.  In fact, bet the rent money.

Officiating:  F (as in the Fix is in).  OK, that's hyperbole, we don't really think the notoriously rich Aggie faithful paid off Matt Austin's crew.  In fact, we do NOT think yesterday's calls (and more critically the lack thereof) was to benefit Texas A&M.  We think games are being called to make a point to the Alabama coaching staff about calling out the officials. Something is clearly up.  I mean, if even clueless Verne and Gary feel compelled to second guess the officiating more than one time in a game, something needs to be addressed.  Texas A&M was penalized a grand total of one time for five yards.  Despite A&M attempting 44 passes, this group of blind mice did not even once detect holding along the offensive line.  Marlon Humphrey likely should have been credited with an interception along the sideline that was not reviewed.  Facemask penalties were not called.  Alabama returned an interception for a touchdown and that play was reviewed, even though the ball carrier didn't come particularly close to the sideline.  One reason for Texas A&M's relative success against the run in the second half was because they were lining up  offsides.  And credit to their players and coaches -- if you are not going to be flagged for it, take advantage.  Suffice it to say they seemed to be getting off the ball rather, um, quickly as well.  Given the noise there was no audible snap count to move on, so it's not like we were giving it away.   Our usual rule  is that if your choices are between conspiracy and incompetence, you should choose incompetence every time.  It's an attractive option here, given the subject is the sorry state of SEC officiating.  After yesterday, however, we may need to rethink things.  Not to worry, the conference office will announce this week that it has reviewed the film and the officials were all right, all the time.  Yeah, and Bert Bielema is an honorable man.  In the back of our minds we hear Groucho asking, "Who you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?"

Back to Tuscaloosa to prepare for Tennessee and their suddenly resurgent offense.  Don't miss a minute.  This Crimson Tide team is truly entertaining.

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Texas A&M Grades

Someone, once upon a time, said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. Makes sense to me.  By that definition, Alabama's 41-23 win over Texas A&M was one crazy game!

There was a lot of insanity on display in College Station....from both teams. For example: Alabama persisted trying to run the jet sweep, and appears to neglect practicing special teams during the week. The Aggies? Throwing under pressure into the teeth of the Tide defense. Oh, and attempting to run the football.  Come to think of it; TAMU was crazy to play offense in the first place. The Aggies would have been no worse off if they had simply punted on first down.

Alabama's rushing attack gets better each week. Against A&M, Tide rushers accounted for 258 net yards. None of those net yards were gained on the sweep. 

As for Alabama's special teams.....well, they were certainly special for A&M. The Tide punt coverage team gave up a 68 yard return for the Aggies' first touchdown of the game....a play that breathed new life into a team dead on its feet late in the first half. The punt return team lost a fumble that put that Aggies in business at the Bama 47 yard line. Three plays later, A&M scored its lone offensive touchdown. Not to be outdone by its peers, on the ensuing possession, the kicking team surrendered a blocked punt giving A&M a first down at the Tide 29 yard line. Excellent play by the best defense in college football, pushed the Aggies back 5 yards and the A&M kicker missed a field goal attempt.

A&M began the day with a 6 game winning streak, still smarting from the laughable 59 point beat-down the Tide delivered last year in Tuscaloosa. Their HUNH, offense was supposed to be a difficult matchup for Alabama's defense. Bama's young defensive backfield that struggled against Ole Miss, was expected to be sourly challenged by TAMU's passing game. 

The Aggies ran 70 plays, 45 of which were pass attempts. A combination of two TAMU quarterbacks completed less than 50% of those attempts and surrendered 4 interceptions returned for 207 yards and 3 TDs. You would think that someone on the TAMU sideline would suggest doing something else. The problem was that running the ball was equally unproductive as the Tide defense held the Aggies to a paltry 32 net yards rushing.

Call me crazy, but here is how I grade the game:

Offense: B Alabama gained 396 yards total offense [258 rushing] earned 17 first downs and controlled the ball for 36:22 of the game.

Jake went the distance. He completed 19 of 25 pass attempts for 138 yards and no interceptions. He also gained 30 gross yards rushing, mostly in crucial situations. What impresses me is how tough he has proved to be. He is big and strong, but also elusive. And he does not hesitate to lower his shoulder and punish a tackler. Am I crazy to compare him favorably as a quarterback to the late Steve McNair?

Calvin Ridley led all receivers with 52 yards on 7 receptions. The ever reliable Richard Mullaney added 32 yards on 4 catches. In total, 7 different players caught passes. 

Derek Henry had a monster game, rushing for a career high 236 net yards. Kenyan Drake carried the ball 7 times for 13 net yards. 

The Tide offense struggled in the second half with center Ryan Kelly out of the game with a concussion. Alabama had 30 first down plays. Seventeen of those plays were running plays. Five of those 17 running plays resulted in negative yardage; mostly in the second half. Similarly, 5 of Alabama's 13 pass plays on first and ten failed to gain. 

Alabama had only four offensive drives that gained 40 or more yards [57, 79, 68, 51] that produced two TDs and a made FG. Six Tide drives ended with a punt after only three plays.

The Tide converted only 4 of 16 third down opportunities. Kelly's loss was a significant factor to diminished production in the run game in the second half. 

Defense: A++ Alabama has been playing college football since 1892. In all that time, no player has ever......EVER.....returned more than one interception for a touchdown in a game. Landon Collins was the last player to achieve a pick-six; on October 26, 2013 against Tennessee. No Tide player has ever returned more than two interceptions for touchdowns in a season, and only 7 have achieved that mark [Hootie Ingram, Bobby Johns, Antonio Langham, Cedric Samuel, Rashad Johnson, C.J. Mosley, Vinnie Sunseri]. Today, Minkah Fitzpatrick returned two interceptions for TDs. Langham and Mosley share the career record with 3 pick-sixes. I'm thinking that Fitzpatrick has a good shot at breaking that record....unless opposing teams figure out that it is insane to keep challenging the true freshman and decide to take their chances with Cy Jones, Marlon Humphrey, or Eddie Jackson instead. 

Reggie Ragland once again was the leading tackler with 9 [8 solo]. Jonathan Allen recorded 5 tackles [4 solo] and with 4 tackles for 17 lost yards, Allen was in the TAMU backfield so much he might be summoned for jury duty in College Station. 

The Tide defense recorded 12 tackles for lost yardage [7 sacks], forced a fumble, made 4 interceptions [Jackson, Fitzpatrick], broke up 7 passes and hurried the QB 3 times.

Special Teams;

Punting: F- JK averaged 43 yards per punt on 9 kicks and Cy Jones gained 35 yards on 3 returns. Otherwise, the punt game was simply dreadful. 

Place kicking:   A Griff made both of his FG attempts [32, 20] and was perfect on PATs.

Kick Offs: B+ Griff averaged 63.4 gross yards per kick and the coverage team held A&M in check on the few times the Aggies actually had a return.

Coaching: B+ Alabama gained 699 all purpose yards and was penalized 7 times for 60 yards. The participation report lists 55 players who saw action in the game. Special teams are problematic.  This must be addressed....or else fans will just have to get used to holding their breath on every play in the kicking game. 

Coach Kiffin's play calling is a frequent topic of criticism by fans. He is perceived as not running the ball enough, being too prone to throw when the ground game is working, too predictable, too enamored with the jet sweep. I am not entire convinced these criticisms are justified. Against A&M, Bama ran 70 offensive plays. The run/pass mix was 44/26. The Tide had 30 first down plays; 17 were runs. On Alabama's 23 second down plays it ran the ball 18 times including 11 times on 2nd and long. Bama's 16 third down plays were evenly divided between runs and passes. Even on third and long [6 runs, 7 passes].  Poor production on first downs led to 15 second and long situations in the game. 

The play calling has materially changed over the last three games. Game plans are much more attuned to Jake's core strengths and he appears to be responding. Every game is an elimination game for Alabama. If the Tide is to make the playoffs there is only one path: win the West and win the SEC. Success depends on Jake's continued progress and Kiffin is, in my opinion, the coach to get Jake where he needs to be.          

The defense is playing at an extremely high level. The offense remains a work in progress, but the progress has been remarkable. Place kicking and punting have improved, but much work remains. I don't want to get too far out in front of events.....but I think the Tide has what it takes.... The next few weeks will test the mettle of this team. I think they will do it. I think they will run the table.

Do you think I'm crazy for thinking that? We will find out over the next few weeks.

Tennessee is next.....so get your cigars ready.....

And Roll Tide, y'all....

The Commissioner

       

Arkansas Grades

With the Commissioner on temporary duty deep in enemy territory (aka New York City) we have the combined privilege and difficult task of grading of the Crimson Tide’s football efforts from Saturday night.

We got to listen to Coach Saban’s post-game press conference.  According to our careful written tally, he used some variation of the word “consistent” or “inconsistent” eleventy hundred and nine times.  There’s a reason for that.  Variations on that theme abounded in the Crimson Tide’s winning effort in the game itself.  It was a hard-hitting game that likely has the training room for each team dealing with all sorts of strains, sprains, bumps, and bruises this morning.

The chosen Arkansas mascot, the Razorback, seems to have somehow morphed into the fictional, cartoony, endearing pig -- more in the line of Babe, or Porky, or that pig in Charlotte’s Web that we can’t remember the name of.  That’s a little bit of a shame.  If you’ve been around real hogs very much, there’s just not much endearing about them.  In fact, the wild variety is deadly dangerous.  Hogs can weigh 300 pounds or better.  Those allowed to be feral, rather than the overly fatty variety raised on farms, have sharp hooves, sharp tusks (at least the boars), can out run you especially across uneven ground, eat stuff the dogs would run away from, and are one of the smarter animals on earth.  A full-grown feral hog is pretty much without a natural enemy besides a person with a gun.

It was this variety of hog that showed up in Bryant Denny on a cloudy Saturday evening.  You’ve probably heard it by now, but the Arkansas offensive line is the heaviest offensive line in football -- not the FBS division, not college football, all of football.  Their defensive line is also large and athletic, built specifically to stop teams that want to line up and run the ball like, well, like the Arkansas offense does.  Despite difficult-to-explain early losses, Arkansas is a dangerous team, just like its mascot.

If you do not play well, particularly at the point of attack on a given play, the Arkansas Razorbacks will make you pay for it.  Far too many times on Saturday night, inconsistent play by Alabama, especially its offense, meant that a price was paid.  This was a game where Alabama had a chance to jump out to an early lead, force Arkansas to go away from its bread-and-butter offense, and stay out of a four-quarter slugfest.  Inconsistency kept it from doing so.  Alabama’s first two offensive drives were, at their beginning, things of beauty.  On the first drive, Alabama mostly passed and drove the ball well into the red zone.  On the second drive, Alabama mostly ran the ball, and drove the ball well into the red zone.  The Tide was keeping possession, moving the ball, imposing its will, and by its third possession had a scant three points to show for it.

Just reading the stats, you would think Alabama beat a cartoony version of  the Razorbacks rather than the wandering-around-in-the-forest-looking-to-maim-you kind.  Alabama had 22 first downs to Arkansas 10, outgained them 390 to 220 yards, had 21 more total offensive plays, and possessed the ball for almost 34 minutes of the contest.  Arkansas punted 10 times.  On the other hand, Alabama lost the turnover battle, converted (again) less than half of its third down opportunities, gave up another long touchdown when the quarterback was running for his life, etc.

Actually, there are a lot of other statistics that bear out Alabama’s alternately hot and cold play.  However, in a few minutes that analysis starts to look like math, and, well, we not so math do good.  Consider this one, though, before we move on the grades themselves.  Alabama had one offensive drive last night that lasted one play, 11 seconds, covered 71 yards, and resulted in 7 points.  Alabama had another drive that netted  -4 yards, took almost two minutes, and resulted in three points.  Let that sink in a minute.

Enough counting.  On to the Grades.

Offense:  C.  Alabama won the football game against a conference opponent.  Without some special teams issues (noted below) it should have scored 30 or more points again.  Six players caught passes.  Henry very quietly and at great physical cost had another 100 yard game.  Coker showed himself to be a resilient, hard-nosed competitor that is willing to scramble for needed yards.  His quarterback rating for the game was actually a quite impressive 147.  Ridley had 9 catches for 140 yards.  Along with the possession advantage, those sort of factors should always merit a passing grade.

On the other hand, it wasn’t excellent and we can’t even bring ourselves to use the word “good”.  So fair is what they earned.  The offense turned the ball over twice.  One of those turnovers was a by now too-familiar situation where instead of feeling pressure and rolling out or throwing the ball away, Coker threw with a defender bearing down on him, late, behind, off his back foot, heck for all we know his eyes were closed, for an easy interception that killed a drive.  The other turnover was caused when a just too high pass was tipped by a receiver.  Speaking of, Coker’s numbers should have been better.  Receivers dropped balls that they touched with both hands.  If your quarterback is struggling a little bit, the receivers have to help him out.  Ours did not.  Coker seems to have a habit of throwing too high and too hard on occasion, especially near the goal line.  The coaches need to help him remedy that.  Finally, he is doing a better job of going through his progressions -- unfortunately sometimes he’s too quick and another half second might let him see a receiver break open.  Some of that is on the offensive line, see below.

The running game never really got going again like it did in the second drive of the first quarter.  Sometimes you can tell that the runners are trying to do too much.  Follow the blocks and the play gains an easy 5-6 yards.  Instead, players improvise and not only do they not get the long run, they don’t even get the easy five yards.  Worse, we have seen in every game this year at least a play or two where our quarterback and running back were not on the same play in the play book.  Against Wisconsin, it was opening day jitters.  Against MTSU, we weren’t taking them seriously enough.  Against Georgia, the conditions were bad.  Last night, um, well, the dog ate our play book?  Certainly credit the Arkansas defense, but good defensive play does not explain why the quarterback thought the play was run/left and the running back thought it was run/right.

When all is said and done, the frustrating thing about this offense, and the way we see it the key to many of our issues is the inconsistent play of the offensive line.  Unfortunately, the problems seem to go all across the line.  We lost count of how many times Coker was being pressured only a second or two into his drop on pass plays.  He was hit hard and often (say what you will about this guy, he takes a lick and stands back up).  Henry and Drake were both hit in the backfield on simple run plays.  We incurred drive-killing holding penalties.  Stunts confuse us.  But on other occasions the offensive line would establish a new line of scrimmage three yards down field.  They would blow men off the ball at the point of attack. 

As fans, we always expect the team to play at least as well this Saturday as they did last Saturday, though that expectation may be unrealistic.  It has to be said that Saturday Alabama regressed.  Thus the grade is “fair” with a note in the margin that it “Needs Rapid Improvement”.

Defense: A. 

Besides the long pass after the issue was decided, the Hogs’ long scoring drive was 12 yards.  Statistics back up our initial impression.  Arkansas’ quarterback Bo Wallace Brandon Allen was 15/32 for 176 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.  But 54 of those yards came on a single play.

Arkansas is built to run the football.  It could not.  With Chubb’s horrific injury, Arkansas’ Alex Collins is probably one of the top 5 or 6 active running backs in the conference.  Last night he gained 26 yards on 12 attempts with a long of five yards.  Without subtracting sacks, five Arkansas players carried the ball 26 times for 46 yards.  Given the Arkansas offensive line, this may be the most impressive statistic an Alabama defense has recorded in years.

It drives me crazy when announcers say that an offense is “picking on” Marlon Humphrey -- as if he is some sort of liability.  That is not what teams are doing.  They no longer want to throw the ball where Cyrus Jones is playing -- Humphrey’s side of the field happens to be the only other option.  That’s a far cry from saying that Humphrey is somehow vulnerable; it’s merely a relative choice.  Collectively, the defensive backs get better every game.  To the extent they are inconsistent it is because of youth and inexperience. 

This defense is good enough to give Alabama a solid chance to beat any team on its schedule, especially if the offense and special teams don’t handicap it with a short field.  That is what must remain consistent.

Special Teams:

Punting:  A.  We had a punt partially blocked last night and that would usually merit an automatic F.  Snaps were (stop me if you’ve heard this before) inconsistent.  But the partially blocked punt traveled over 40 yards.  Scott is still not kicking them as high as last year, it doesn’t seem, but for the game he averaged 50 yards on 4 punts.  Again, consistency is the watch word, but we are cautiously optimistic that he is rounding back into shape.  Jones fair caught several balls last night, which was the right decision, and had a couple of nifty runs.  It still scares the geewhilickers out of us that a player as valuable as he to our schemes even lines up at the position.  We stopped a fake punt that we were not really deployed to stop.  Arkansas returned two punts for 11 yards -- not average, total.  Hard not to rate that effort as excellent.

Kickoffs:  B.  We kicked off the football into the dadgum end zone three times.  Arkansas averaged only 16 yards per return on the shorter kicks.  The downgrade was for the decision to kick a pooch/sky kickoff giving the Razorbacks unnecessarily good field position and for the poorly played on-side kick, though it may be unfair to grade the team down for what were in actuality coaching decisions.

FG/XP:  C-.  I don’t know what to say y’all.  We were at the game.  After the homecoming halftime festivities were over, the queen and court introduced, the alma mater sung, etc., lonely Adam Griffith walked back onto the field and proceeded make at least four kicks that were as long or difficult as the one he missed just before the half ended.  Now, on field goal attempts approaching 50 yards long, we are inclined to give our kicker a break.  He was 2/4 on the day.  Exactly 50%.  Which is also more or less his average for the year.  Is that consistent?  Let’s hope not.  I start to believe that the coaches see him nail kick after kick during practice only to struggle in the actual games.  If you have spare rabbits foot, four leaf clover, Mercury dime, eye of newt, or the like lying around the house, please send it to Mr. Griffith, c/o the University athletic department.

Coaching:  C.  This set up to be a difficult coaching week.  The Georgia game was huge and emotional.  This team was never as bad as people said after the Mississippi game and probably not quite as good as some said after the Georgia game.  Coach Stallings has said several times over the years that despite what you imagine coaches cannot really get a college team primed to its tip top emotional level every single week.  I think he estimated 3-4 times a season was about the best you could do.  The coaching staff was not immune to the inconsistency bug that bit Alabama Saturday night.  The second quarter, in particular, featured play-calling that was, um, difficult to follow.  The scheme for recovering an on-side kick nearly cost us a possession.  We incur too many needless penalties on everything from the offensive line to kick returns….  We’ll stop, you saw the game and this is starting to make our back ache like spending too long bending over the mounting machine with a troublesome radial.

A microcosm of this is something we’ve noted before.  We got the ball back from Arkansas deep in our territory with about a minute and a half to go until half time.  It seemed there were two choices. First, we could decide that enough was enough, not take a chance on an injury or another turnover deep in our own territory, and go the locker room to regroup knowing that we’d get the ball to start the second half.  Second, we could run the two-minute drill -- mostly passes, get out of bounds, no huddle, run to the new line of scrimmage, etc.  It looked for all the world like we tried to do both, at the same time, and ended up trying a longish field goal having wasted a big chunk of time that would have been useful.

Also, we’d be remiss not to separately acknowledge that the defensive side of the ball is doing outstanding coaching work.  The scheme for Arkansas was just excellent. 

Officiating:  Speaking of inconsistent, more than one fan in the stadium was wondering aloud last night what we had done to make the officials mad at us.  And I overheard more than a few fans speculating that after Saban sent tapes of the Mississippi game to the league, we’d better expect to have “lineman downfield” on a pass play called against Alabama at least once a game.  Frankly, my personal rule is that whenever your choice is between “complex somewhat paranoid conspiracy” and “plain old incompetence”, go with incompetence every time.  After last night, I’m not so sure that rule applies here.  The flag on ineligible down field was (correctly) waved off, because the pass was completed behind the line of scrimmage.  Maybe they are treating everyone overzealously on this point now.  That does not explain the ridiculously ticky tack “unsportsmanlike conduct” penalty assessed on Ridley by Ken Williamson's crew. We’ve seen the replay several times and unless the officials overheard him saying something, and in the din resounding in Bryant Denny stadium immediately after that catch we’d say that was impossible, it was a pitiful, ok, almost spiteful, sort of call.  We’ve certainly seen far far worse, from our own players and opponents over the course of this season already that did not result in losing 15 yards for a kickoff.  Maybe it’s time for Coach Saban to bake the officiating crews some cookies or something.  Or just send a note that says, “I’m really, really, really, really, really, sorry for pointing out how incompetent you guys are.”

On the whole, however, Alabama managed to win the football game, avoid major injuries, and show that even on a night where it doesn’t give its best effort, it can still beat a more than respectable conference opponent.

Alabama must now find a way to shift mental and physical gears from consecutive weeks of playing smash-mouth, big-boy, pound-the-football games and go to College Station and play another one of these chicken-with-its-head-off offenses that arose after the play clock rule was changed a few years ago.  A team that was off this weekend to prepare (a common trait for each of the next three opponents.)  We’ll consistently hope this week for a more consistent performance that provides consistent winning results.

Roll Tide everyone.

The Correspondent from the Tire Store


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Tire Store Report Georgia

Our thanks to so many of you who inquired after our health because there was no Tire Store Report after ULM.  There’s no truth at all to the rumor that Pee Wee let the hydraulic lift down on us (well, at least this time).  Frankly, we thought the Commissioner did such an outstanding job on The Grades last week, there just wasn’t much to add.  Besides, the Comptroller said we were getting a little snippy with the staff and some of the customers, so we locked up the service bays, turned off the alignment machine, and hung out the Gone Fishing sign for a few days.

Of course, we planned our trip back home to make sure we could watch the Crimson Tide play a little football over in Georgia.  It was a gray sloppy day.  Nonetheless, it will stay as a sunny memory in our football minds.  Alabama, given up on after as self-destructive an outing as any we can remember two weeks ago, served notice that they “ain’t dead yet”.  They served that notice by handing Georgia the worst defeat it has ever suffered at Sanford Stadium. 

The Commissioner has done his usual outstanding job of analyzing the game.  Just a few thoughts:

Offense:  We can only hope we get to play every game in near-monsoon conditions.  A focus on running the ball (47/64 plays), better offensive line play in both the passing and running games, running backs who weren’t afraid to hit the gaps strong, and mostly better ball security proved that this team can win games by scoring points in a variety of ways, especially combined with….

Defense:  Aside from one long run by Georgia’s Heisman candidate running back, Alabama’s stop troops clamped down on Georgia.  The Bulldogs field one of the best receivers in the conference.  He had three catches on the day.  Defensive linemen were solid at the point of attack, flew to the ball, and have made an art form out of slapping attempted passes back at opposing quarterbacks.  We even returned interceptions.  The very young DBs are growing into the game very quickly.

Special Teams:  Not only were the specialists special, we can find little to criticize.  In a game like this, every kick and catch was an adventure.  Our substitute long snapper has been completely unnoticed, which is what you want.  J.K. Scott is not yet what he was last year, but punting the football on Saturday was probably more like kicking the whole pig instead of just a skin and he dropped one inside the 20, nearly put another inside the 5, and had a long of around 50.  Our place kicking was down the middle on PATs and FGs.  We even kicked off the football into the dadgum end zone on a few occasions.  It still scares the tar out of us that Cyrus Jones is returning punts, but he did a creditable job in adverse conditions, even when Georgia tried to kill him (see below).  And the blocked punt for the touchdown happened so fast we blinked and nearly missed it.

Officiating:  F.  Hubert Owens’ crew had the premiere SEC game of the day.  Many believe that since Steve Shaw got kicked upstairs to oversee SEC officials, this is the best crew in the conference.  That may well be so.  It may also be the equivalent of being the prettiest bearded lady at the side show.  Georgia’s players were yapping (get it?) at Alabama before the game even started.  This was clearly going to be a chippy game.  Hubert and the boys darn near let it get out of hand on two or three occasions, and that’s just what we were able to see on television.   Normally, I’d not be so paranoid as to suggest the officials are tossing laundry on the field to make an example of Coach Saban who has for two or three seasons been criticizing the officials’ performance, particularly with regard to the various advantages sought by the HUNH crowd.  But after a call for offensive linemen downfield last week (when the replay showed that all of the linemen were within the correct 3-yard zone) and a call this week for “roughing the center” which not even Verne and Gary could put a fig leaf over, it’s well to remember that even paranoids have real enemies.  These blind mice apparently even almost marked off penalty yards against Alabama when a Georgia player was (correctly) flagged for a very late hit on Cyrus Jones during a kick return.  The miss was that they also should have flagged the Georgia player for targeting -- it may not have been, but it was plenty close enough to let the booth review it in slow motion.  We understand this is how the rule is supposed to be enforced -- call anything close and let the booth review.  Just in case you’ve forgotten, down here at the Tire Store we think the coaches, players and fans of the best football conference in America deserve at least excellent officiating -- we don’t have it, and we aren’t even close.

Broadcast:  G (or some other grade lower than F).  Verne has been mispronouncing names for so long he now has Gary doing it along with him.  And Gary, who is actually a fairly knowledgeable football guy, puts together packages in advance that he’s desperate to air no matter what happens in the actual football game.  We can even live with that.  What we can’t live with is having our collective Crimson Noses rubbed in it.  First, CBS decided to promo the network’s sports channel re-airing of the South Carolina Alabama game from 2010?  Really, CBS?  You chose to promo that during our game with Georgia?  Even Gary said Alabama fans wouldn’t want to tune in.  Who in the audience did you think you were reaching?  Some South Carolina fans who still had the stomach to watch football after what their team had done earlier in the day?  Second, in the middle of what was actually a pretty relaxing second half, you put together a video montage of miraculous plays that resulted in losses for Alabama?  Didn’t see one of those for Georgia.  In fact, I can’t recall your network actually having done one of those for any team, and we mostly see the CBS broadcast every week (admittedly we often have the audio portion turned off).  Note to the programming department -- we suggest showing a team’s most painful historical moments during its games on your network is not your most brilliant strategy.  It would be like watching hidden camera slow motion replays of all the times we’ve dropped lug wrenches on our big toe.  Maybe they are hoping to get Maalox to sponsor it?

Back to Tuscaloosa for the Arkansas game and homecoming.  Arkansas gave a gritty performance and cost Tennessee its third two-touchdown lead of the season.  Hope to see you on the Quad.  I’ll be the guy in the crimson shirt eating a barbeque pork sandwich.  Be sure and say “Roll Tide”.

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Georgia Grades

I do not know whether anyone keeps tabs of this particular fact, but I think it is entirely possible that Alabama is the college football program most frequently written about in the Wall Street Journal. 

No, I'm serious. Coach Saban has been specifically featured at least twice on the subject of his managerial skills. His photo was used to illustrate an article about how the highest paid college coaches have returned value to their schools many times over. Bryant-Denny Stadium was written about in an article on home field advantage. 

So, it really was not a huge surprise that the morning of the Alabama / Georgia game, the Journal had a lengthy article about how Tide and Bulldog fans were equally anxious about the upcoming game. For Alabama fans, the concerns centered on inconsistent play on offense caused by the departure of experienced players, and how the loss to Ole Miss leaves no room for error in the team's quest for its 16th National Championship. 

Georgia fans? According to the Journal, they were unable to shake the uneasy feeling that their team was destined to repeat a chronic pattern of losing a big game and deflating their high hopes. The article puts the Georgia angst this way:

"The worry comes from Georgia's seemingly annual slip-up. It has been 10 years since the Bulldogs made it through the first weekend of October without a loss, and extending that streak against a suddenly vulnerable Alabama on Saturday would be crueler than usual."

With a final score of 38-10, one fan base-that would be Alabama by the way-is justifiably reassured. The other is likely contemplating the futility of existence. 

Tide fans saw Jake Coker play his best game to date. In the first half, he threw only one pass that was not caught and finished the game with 11 completions on 16 attempts for 190 yards and a TD [Calvin Ridley]. Most important of all, however, is the fact that for the first time this season, a Tide QB completed a deep pass; a 50 yard strike to a receiver who split the seam between two safeties and was open by at least two yards. It was a play beautiful to behold. 

Bama's defense stuffed and bludgeoned the Georgia offense, holding the Dawgs' rushing attack to 110 net yards, if one excludes a single 83 yard TD run by Nick Chubb late in the third quarter with the outcome of the contest already determined.  

Special teams also played extraordinarily well. Cyrus Jones gained 53 yards on 5 punt returns and true freshman, Minkah Fitzpatrick blocked a punt, recovered the ball and took it 16 yards into the end zone. Fitzpatrick's score accounted for 7 of the Tide's 21 second quarter points. 

Before the game, Coach Saban told the players that they would need to make an extraordinary effort  to win. In a torrential downpour Between The Hedges, the players delivered, and here is how I grade the game:  

Offense: A Alabama gained 379 total yards [189 rushing], earning 15 first downs, and possessed the ball for 34:03 of the game [11:08 in the 4th quarter]. Jake played all but the final possession engineered drives that accounted for 24 points; more than twice as many points scored by the Bulldogs. 

Calvin Ridley caught 5 passes for 120 yards; a career high for the true freshman from Coconut Creek, Florida. Richard Mullaney added 44 yards on three receptions. Ardarius Stewart made two catches for 24 yards and Kenyan Drake caught 1 pass for 2 yards. The interesting thing about the passing attack was how sparingly Alabama went to the air, and how open receivers were on those occasions. Certainly the weather and field conditions account for some of that, but the quality of the play calling cannot be ignored. 

Derrick Henry gained 148 net yards rushing on 26 carries and scored a rushing touchdown. Jake ran 6 times for 28 yards. Damien Harris carried the ball 7 times for 8 yards. Bo Scarbrough ran the ball twice for 5 yards. 

The offense turned the ball over twice on fumbles. Henry lost the ball at the Tide 42 yard line on Bama's first possession. Jake lost the handle on the exchange from center during a downpour late in the 3d quarter. The defense had intercepted a Georgia pass at the Alabama 5 yard line [its second of three picks on the day]. Jake had moved the team 30 yards when the wet ball got away from him. Less than 3 plays later, Georgia coughed it back up and the Tide recovered.

The offense mounted three drives that gained 40 or more yards [69, 76, 45] producing two TDs and a made field goal. 

The offense was unimpressive on third downs, converting only 1 of 12, but was a perfect 2 for 2 in scoring from the red-zone.

Defense: A+ Call me an easy grader if you like, but I cannot down grade the defense for allowing Chubb's 83 yard run [which he needed in order to tie Hershel Walker's school record of 13 consecutive games with 100 or more yards gained rushing]. Georgia had a total of 17 meaningful offensive possessions. Eleven of them ended after only 3 downs. Four were ended with turnovers [3 interceptions, 1  fumble], all in the second half, and one of those interceptions was returned for a touchdown [Eddie Jackson].

Reggie Ragland is credited with 8 tackles [2 solo] as is Jarran Reed [1 solo]. Geno Matias-Smith made 7 tackles. Shaun Dion Hamilton and A'Shawn Robinson each made 5. A total of 7 passes were broken up, and at least half of those were knockdowns by the pass rush.    

The defense took the ball away from Georgia four times with 3 interceptions [Jackson, Ronnie Harrison (fr. 6-3, 218 DB, Tallahassee, FL), Marlon Humphrey  (rs. fr. 6-1, 192, Hoover)] and a fumble recovery [Ryan Anderson (jr. 6-2, 249 LB, Daphne)].

Special Teams:

Punting: A+ JK Scott averaged 41 yards on 7 punts. His longest was 54 yards. He dropped 1 inside the Dawg 20 and was thiiiiiiis close to nailing the Canines at their own 1 inch line. The return game came alive with Cy Jones gaining 53 yards on 5 returns. The max grade, however, was earned by the punt rush that blocked and scored.

Kickoffs: A Griff achieved a very good gross average of 64.7 yards per kick with 3 touchbacks while the coverage team kept the Bulldog return game in check, making Griff's net average a respectable 43.9 yards. The kick return game produced 61 yards on 3 returns, all by Damien Harris (fr. 5-11, 205; Berea, KY). 

Place Kicking: A Griff made his only FG attempt [29 yds] and was perfect on 5 PAT attempts. 

Coaching: A+ The Tide was penalized 7 times for 39 yards. The play by the defensive secondary was noticeably improved. The play calling was excellent. The participation report lists 57 different players who saw action. Three freshmen started the game. 

Jake appeared comfortable in his position, and clearly gained confidence as the game unfolded. Here's hoping this means he has arrived as the leader of this offense.

Now let us revisit the Wall Street Journal's point about Georgia:

Once again, a Georgia team riding the crest of a wave of high expectations, has crashed upon the rocks of an October loss. Several factors make the 2015 edition of this annual choke even harder to tolerate. First, this was a conference loss, and the Dawgs' margin of error now hovers near zero if they want to play in the SEC Championship Game. Second, preseason punditry had identified this game as the major stumbling block for Alabama. Third, by losing as it did to Ole Miss two weeks ago, the Tide was suddenly vulnerable; national polls had dropped Bama out of the top 10, and Finebaum declared the Georgia game to be the most important game of Saban's tenure. Even the staff writers at the Tuscaloosa News were split in their predictions. And, finally, this was no squeaker. Nor was it decided by a fluke. This was grown-man football as played in the SEC. Alabama dominated Georgia physically, and by mid-way the third quarter, mentally and emotionally. The Georgia faithful started for the exits after Jake's two yard bootleg scored Bama's final points.....and there were still more than 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter!

Before the game, a pack of Georgia players, like feral Dawgs, left their own team's warmups and trespassed into the half of the field reserved for Alabama's pre-game stretching and prep. They intruded into the personal space of about 25 or so Alabama players and began hopping up and down, bumping themselves against the chests of the visitors from Tuscaloosa. What they were saying to Alabama's players I do not know. I doubt very much, however, that they were exchanging words of welcome or anecdotes about the recruiting process. 

You have all seen badly behaved dogs. They bark and snarl. They jump on guests who come to visit. The owner is constantly having to snatch the rude mutt by the collar to avoid further embarrassment. When you are on the receiving end of such canine tom-foolery you just want to whack the cur on the snout with a rolled up copy of Southern Living.  But badly behaved dogs are nothing if not a reflection of bad or negligent owners. Which brings me to thoughts about Georgia head coach, Mark Richt.

I for one am sick and tired of all the talk about what a fine human being Coach Richt is. Understand me, please. This is not a comment on his personal life, which by all accounts is exemplary. This is an observation about the behavior of his players, which is a combination of boorish, chippy, and low-class. There is a reason why year-in and year-out Georgia is one of the most penalized teams  in the SEC. There is also a reason why, when confronted with adversity in a ball game, Richt-coached players resort to conduct that Gary Danielson charitably described during yesterday's contest as "frustration." There is a reason why his players repeatedly act the fool before kickoff, and seem to do so more in the games with the most on the line.

In terms of tenure, Mark Richt is the dean of SEC coaches. In terms of success, he is a chronic under achiever. As The Commissioner's Son And Heir emailed before kickoff yesterday: "Alabama has gone three years without a national championship......that's like 37 in Dawg years." 

Alabama delivered a much-deserved whack (actually about 38 of them) to the snout of Richt's pack of unruly and undisciplined Dawgs. From what I have seen from the SEC East, there is at least one other team.....led by a coach with a Nick Saban pedigree...that is more than capable of doing the same.

One final comment about yesterday's game that I must share: The very talented young journalist, Marc Torrence, is now working in New York City. Following yesterday's game he tweeted:

@marctorrence "I hate Georgia. I hate democrats. I hate Al Qaeda." - bro in the alumni bar bathroom. I have missed you so, so much Alabama.

Not to out-Finebaum, Finebaum, but the most important game on Alabama's schedule do date, is coming this Saturday night in Tuscaloosa as the Tide hosts the Piggies from Arkansas. The Commissioner will be unable to author The Grades, but the Tire Store Report is always better reading anyway.

Get your grills ready, my friends, it's time to smoke the whole hog!

Roll Tide y'all...

The Commissioner