Tire Store Report -- SEC Championship

Well, Commissioner, we are glad you and your heir made it safely to the game and back, as opposed to your last attempt to see the SEC Championship match up.  Perhaps staring down the memory sharpened your senses, because that was a championship edition of the grades.

Regular readers won’t be surprised to know that we are a little old school down here at the Tire Store.  We get nostalgic about all sorts of stuff.  One of those things is the time when being the SEC Champion was about as big a prize as you could be sure of winning.  Who got named “National Champion” was in the hands of a mostly anonymous group of “sportswriters” and “coaches” who might not know a thing about your team, how it won or lost, had no accountability to anyone at all, and who sometimes voted along regional/political lines or based their decisions on considerations that must’ve included the zodiac and goat entrails.  See, for example, 1966.

Conference championships, though, were another story.  Things were pretty cut and dried.  You won more conference games than anyone else and you were the champion.  That is as it should be.  Back in the early 90s, the chance to resolve the occasional tie and -- let’s be frank -- to make money by the barge load, caused the SEC to exploit a provision in the NCAA rules in a way the NCAA had never intended.  The SEC set up a championship game so the two best teams could decide matters on the field.  Either way, we didn’t have to worry about “votes” from namby pamby sportswriters on Manhattan Island or the coach of the Northwest Montana School of Mines and Ice.

All that to say that winning the SEC Championship was a big darn deal, decided on the field.  It is still just that big a deal down here at the Tire Store.  So we were very excited Saturday night when the boys brought home the twenty-fifth Conference championship in school history.  The team did it with our favorite combination -- great coaching, a pounding running attack, and a relentless hard-hitting defense.  What’s not to love?

We agree with an A+ for everybody.  Winning the SEC Championship was the whole point, stretching all the way back to the 4^th Quarter program last winter.  That goal, at least, this team has achieved.  Other goals are within reach.  After all, 128 FBS teams started out the season with the goal of playing to win the National Championship.  The teams for which that is actually a possibility is down to four.  Putting yourself in that position is more than Excellent.

This is a time of the year for looking back and examining achievements.  And looking back towards the late summer this team has clearly exceeded expectations.  The 2015 campaign was a daunting combination of a quarterback battle featuring two players who had not started a game since high school, a defensive backfield that was unquestionably athletic but as green as the grass in Bryant-Denny, and a schedule that seemed stacked against success (did you realize that Alabama did not play any of the four weakest teams in the conference?) full of playoff contenders many of whom again managed to have the week before Alabama off (or substantially so), plus difficult games away from home against Wisconsin, Georgia, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, and Auburn.

Two or three losses with perhaps a second-place finish in the West Division was considered a ceiling.  As it turned out, Alabama lost one game by less than a touchdown and had to surrender five turnovers and see a play as rare as a pink unicorn to lose that one. 

No less an authority than Nick Saban said that this is one of his favorite teams -- one he wanted to win a championship.  Us, too, Coach, us, too.  Before it gets lost in the shuffle, this season may be one of the best coaching jobs of his illustrious career.

By the way, in case you are keeping count (and we are) the SEC has been a conference continuously for 83 years now.  In those 83 years, Alabama has been its champion 25 times.  You’re darn right that’s a big deal.

Normally, we’d use this space to spout off about the Officiating -- Matt Austin’s crew is the best the conference has (for whatever that is worth, sort of like being the best recipe for turkey hash) and the CBS Broadcast  -- we’ll just say that when Gary mentioned that he “should have gone to Medical School” the entire Tire Store crew said, “we agree”.  At least CBS doesn’t cover the championship series.

Instead, we’d like to talk a bit about the Heisman Trophy.  Derrick Henry is a candidate.  Like the old National Championship, though, this is a voting process that you really can’t predict very well.  The politics of the process are thick enough to spread with a trowel and ESPN is proud of its outsize, and to our way of thinking unwholesome, influence over the whole process.

Henry’s statistics are downright eye-popping.  He has 339 carries for 1986 yards with 23 touchdowns, that’s just this season.  Saturday, on another bruising run between the tackles, he passed the great Herschel Walker’s record for yardage gained in one season (1,891) which had stood for 34 years.  Henry did it on about 60 fewer carries.  We are not actually big fans of comparing different players’ achievements over different eras.  However, running the football the way Henry and Alabama have done it this year is not very different from how it was done in 1981 -- or 1881 for that matter. 

In various interviews after the game on Saturday, Henry was quick to deflect attention from himself and onto his teammates.  He said getting to play and break records was a privilege and a blessing.  He refused to look forward to the playoff series and instead talked about the need for the team to work hard and prepare.  Last Tuesday, after carrying the ball 6,327 times against Auburn, he squatted 500 pounds in the weight room.  Perhaps most telling was the comment from Coach Saban on Sunday.  He was discussing bringing Henry back in the game after Florida scored a quick touchdown and two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter.  Many would second guess that decision.  Coach Saban said that it made Henry happy to come back in the game and it made him, Coach Saban, happy to see Henry run the football.  Let that sink in just for a minute.  Something about football made Nick Saban happy.  That ought to be what the stuffed shirts say when they hand Henry the trophy Saturday night.  If they don’t give it to him, they ought to just melt the darn thing down into a lump and use it for a door stop.

We don’t get to see the Crimson Tide take the field again until late in the evening on New Year’s Eve against Michigan State.  It promises to be an exciting game.  We suggest you not miss it.

In the meantime, from everyone here at the Tire Store, we wish you a safe and happy holiday season.  Roll Tide, everyone.  

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SEC Championship Grades

It took us twenty two years, but we finally made it.

Winning back-to-back SEC Championships? No, that took seventeen years. It took twenty two years for The Commissioner and his Son and Heir to finally make it to the SEC Championship Game. Our 1993 drive to Birmingham ended at mile marker 40 on I-65 South when I hydro-planed in a torrential downpour. I woke from sedation in time to see the final quarter of Florida, led by SEC MVP Terry Dean, mauling the Tide in half-empty Legion Field.

Twenty two years on, however, the weather and the game were completely different. A cloudless sky and crisp temperatures, brought a perfect late-fall day to the deep South. And, led by college football's best defense, and the best player in college football, Alabama smothered and bludgeoned the Gators 29-15 before a wildly enthusiastic crowd in a sold-out Georgia Dome. 

The Gators did not make it easy. The SEC East is no great shakes, but do not discount what Jim McElwain has done in his brief tenure at Florida. Their's is the best defense the Tide has faced all year. They are big, fast and relentless. Alabama hogged the football for an astonishing 43:29 of game time, but the Gator defenders played the last snap of the game just as hard as the first. If there is a Florida counterpart to The Grades, the Lizzard stop-troops earned A+.

But enough about the opposition.

Surrounded by his players, and covered with celebratory confetti, Coach Saban said he has never coached a team like the 2015 edition of the Crimson Tide. Saban is all about The Process; follow it and results will take care of themselves. Yet the warrior-monk of college coaches told the world that he "never wanted a group to win a championship more than this one." That should send a cold shiver down the backs of coaches in Norman, East Lansing and Clemson.

Some might say that Alabama is one-dimensional, meaning that the offense consists of Derrick Henry and ten fungible labor units. I don't buy that. Henry has certainly been disproportionately called upon, especially over the last few games with Kenyan Drake recuperating, but starting with the Tennessee game, Jake Coker has grown into his role. Alabama is one dimensional? Were you binge-watching "Fargo" episodes the last two weekends? If you missed Jake's scrambling, back-footed 40 yard touchdown pass to Ardarius Stewart in the Auburn game, you could have caught the replay in the third quarter of the SEC Championship. Do you remember all those missed deep balls to Calvin Ridley back in September and October? Jake found the true freshman between a corner and safety for a completion at the Florida 3 yard line that set up Henry's rushinig TD and reminded me of Tyrone Prothro vs. Southern Miss. 

When Blake Sims graduated, did the Tide lose the threat of a running quarterback? Jake's toughness as a runner, his willingness to put his shoulder into a would-be tackler, earned him the respect of his teammates, established him as a leader of this team, and makes you wish that he had followed AJ McCarron to Tuscaloosa instead of taking a detour to Tallahassee. What could a Fully-Processed Jake Coker have been? Think Tim Tebow with better throwing mechanics.    

I would agree that Bama is one-dimensional if what you mean is that the defense pounds opponents into a flat line. That is certainly what the Tide did to Florida. When was the last time you saw an SEC offense fail to convert a single third down? Or have you ever heard of a championship contender starting the 4th quarter with fewer yards of total offense on the stat sheet than it had at the end of the 1st? The Gators suffered nine three-and-out possessions. Their leading rusher carried the ball 7 times for 8 yards. Florida held the ball in the third quarter for only 1:05. Alabama had four drives that consumed more clock than the Gators had for the entire second half!

It was twenty-two years in the making....but here's how I grade the SEC Championship game:

Offense: A Alabama gained the 437 toughest total offensive yards of the season [233 rushing] earned 25 first downs and converted 7 of 17 third down [1 of 1 on 4th down conversions]. 

Derrick Henry carried the ball 44 times for 189 yards. He scored a rushing touchdown, and eclipsed Hershel Walker's record for rushing yards in a season. Jake gained 23 yards rushing on 8 attempts, including two runs that earned first downs on a key drive in the third quarter. Kenyan Drake gained 14 yards on 4 runs. Stewart and Ridley each had a rushing attempt.

Jake completed 18 of 26 pass attempts for 204 yards, 2 TDs and had no interceptions. Despite being the focus of Florida's coverage, Ridley was the leading receiver with 102 yards on 8 receptions. Stewart added 64 yards and a TD on 4 catches. Richard Mullaney had 3 receptions for 22 yards and caught a blistering-hot strike from Coker for the Tide's final points of the game. Kenyan Drake caught 3 passes for 16 yards.

The Tide offense had five long drives [64, 58, 65, 81, 57] that produced all of the Tide's 27 offensive points. Due to Florida's defense, Alabama's first five possessions resulted in four punts and a lost fumble. The offense was forced to punt after only three plays five times during the game. The turnover and the three-and-outs justify not awarding the +, however, this was a big game, played on a big stage, and the complementary hats given to the players for the trophy ceremony all have the word "champion" on them. Therefore, extra credit yields A+.

Defense: A+ The first 11 times Florida's offense had the ball resulted in 8 punts, one interception, a safety and a blocked field goal. Florida failed to convert on each of its 11 third-down opportunities The Gators finally mounted a sustained drive for a TD in the 4th quarter. In his post-game presser, Coach Saban took responsibility for playing nickel when dime would have been the better call. Nevertheless, he said the Florida drive provides a good lesson for the defense. Although he did not elaborate on what that lesson might be, my guess is the stop troops are going to hear about the importance of being relentless and competing for the full 60 minutes of the game.

Ryan Anderson was the leading tackler with 4 solo stops. Jarran Reed, Marlon Humphrey, Jonathan Allen, A'Shawn Robinson, and Dalvin Tomlinson each had 3 tackles. The defense made 9 tackles for lost yardage [5 sacks], forced a fumble [Tony Brown], made an interception [Marlon Humphrey] blocked two kicks [D.J. Pettway, Keith Holcombe] and hurried the Gator QB 11 times!

Special Teams:

Punting: A JK Scott averaged 51.2 yards on 6 punts 5 of which were downed inside the Florida 20 yard line. The lone exception was returned 84 yards for a TD. Keith Holcombe is credited with blocking the punt that resulted in the safety.

Place Kicking: A Griff was good from 28 and 30 yards. He pushed one wide right from only 24 yards. He was perfect on his 3 PAT attempts. DJ Pettway is credited with the blocked field goal attempt.

Kick Offs: A+ Griff averaged 65 yards on 6 kickoffs, 4 of which were touchbacks. Both of Florida's two kick returns failed to reach the 25 yard line. Kenyan Drake returned one Florida kick for 22 yards and Cy Jones gained 24 yards on his lone return attempt.

Coaching: A+ Alabama had 527 all purpose yards and was penalized 5 times for only 35 yards. The participation report lists 57 players who saw action in the game. Alabama ran 84 offensive plays. The run/pass ratio was 56:28. On first down, Alabama ran the ball 27 times and threw only 8. I only quibble with the play calling when Alabama had the ball first and goal at the UF 3 at the end of the third quarter. Henry lost a yard on first down, and Coach Kiffin followed up with two pass attempts, both of which were incomplete.   

It was 1998 the last time a team won back-to-back SEC Championships. That team was Tennessee. How long ago was that? Well, in December, 1998 the World Trade Center towers graced the Manhattan skyline; Tiger Woods had only one major championship on his resume; facebook was a pictorial directory HR departments generated so you could recognize your co-workers; Bill Clinton was president and Mike Dubose was the head coach at Alabama.....one was embroiled in a self-inflicted scandal, the other was soon to be; and Tommy Tubberville was ensconced in the largest house in The Village just one-week removed from having declared that he would only leave his coaching job at Ole Miss "in a pine box." 

Don't get me wrong. I am not critical of coaches pursuing new opportunities. Kirby Smart will be missed in Tuscaloosa. He will leave with a deep reservoir of affection, appreciation and good will because of what Alabama has accomplished with him on its staff, but also for the way he has gone about his impending departure. If Kevin Scarbinsky has it right in his column today, then Smart will coach this team through the playoffs. That is as it should be.  

Winning consecutive SEC Championships in this competitive environment is a very big deal. Being the only team to return to the playoffs is another very big deal. Winning the next two games and completing the journey to a 16the national championship might well be the biggest deal of all. For now, however, we should enjoy the victory and for always I will remember this moment.....twenty two years in the making:

Roll Tide Y'all!

The Commissioner