Tire Store Report API

Sadly, Commissioner, that set of The Grades was dead on target, though in some cases you might have needed some grade lower than F.

The worst cliché is that you win some and you lose some.  But why did it have to be this one?

It is another cliché that you lose as a team and win as a team.  The fact it is trite doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

Football has always seemed to us to be the ultimate team game.  We don’t know of another team sport where everyone on the field must handle their assignments in order for the team to achieve success in just the same way that football requires. (We think an argument can be made for its older cousin, rugby.)  Frankly, the intense team nature of the sport is one of its attractions. Yes, just occasionally one player’s miscue can be said to have led to a loss -- if the placekicker misses a last-second field goal that means the difference between a win and a loss it is easy to point at that individual player.  On the other hand, the rest of the team had 59 minutes and some seconds to keep that kick from being necessary -- if the defense had prevented a couple of first downs, if the offense had scored once more or gotten the kicker a little closer to the goal posts at the end, blah, blah, blah.  In short, typically the blame for a loss in a football game can be spread widely.

Unfortunately, the failures that led to Alabama’s loss on Saturday night were spread through every phase of the game.  The offense did not convert crucial third downs and missed scoring opportunities.  The defense allowed third down conversions and occasionally tackled like it was new innovation that they had been working on only since Wednesday.  The kicking game was the high point of the effort and earned an F by missing the snap on a chip shot field goal.  The coaching staff had done a poor job of getting the team ready to play and did a poorer job of making in-game adjustments.

At the simplest level, Auburn performed much better as a team than Alabama did on Saturday night and the final score pretty accurately reflected that.

In addition to the team failures you so accurately documented, Commissioner, we were quite surprised by what we identified as coaching failures in this game. It is always hard to gauge, especially over a television broadcast as opposed to in person, but Alabama just did not seem ready to play.  There was a missing level of excitement and urgency.  How can this happen?  These are not junior high school students.  At this level the players should be able to be depended on to have themselves emotionally ready for the game.  However, we also think inducing that sense of urgency is a coaching responsibility, though obviously there are limits.

However, neither individual responsibility nor inspiration by the coaches seems to have gotten the point home on Saturday.  Sadly, we wonder, if you as an individual player were unable to motivate yourself for this game, and the coaches were similarly unable to persuade you to be motivated for it, what can you get excited about?  This was the premier game in college football Saturday -- national television, a #1 ranking, a chance to play for conference and national championships, the opponent was your cross-state rival coached by a character that looks like a reject from The Muppet Show, and you come out flat?  It is just very difficult to comprehend.

It is another cliché that you have to limit Monday morning quarterbacking / Hindsight / Second-guessing.  We agree with that sentiment to a large extent.  It’s just too easy to have a different idea about whether the team should have gone for the touchdown or the field goal on the last play of the game when you know the outcome of that particular play.  We think a different rule applies, though, when you are instead considering overall game strategy and tactics.  Alabama’s plans on both sides of the ball were insufficient. 

The thinking down here at the Tire Store was that with our offense, holding the opponent to 26 points should regularly produce a win.  Despite the scoreboard, however, the defensive scheme was not sufficient to put the ball in the hands of the offense nearly enough.  The sellout blitzes left numerous passing lanes open as well as scrambling avenues for the quarterback.  Nevertheless, we continued to pursue that tactic all game long, managing exactly one sack.

Worse, the offensive production was, shall we say, spotty.  The first drive of the game was quite efficient, until such time as we decided not to attempt a fourth and less than a yard in the middle of the field.  That was puzzling and may have led the offense to question itself.  The play calling and execution in the first drive of the second half was a thing of beauty.  And it disappeared.  Either the opponent adjusted to it and we had no answer or we abandoned what was working.  Our offensive line was clearly having trouble with the pass rush, but we continued to call slow developing pass plays down the field.  Our quarterback appeared to be struggling and the remedy for that appeared to be to put more responsibility on his shoulders.  Enough, we’ve just sent Moses across the road to pick up Krystals for lunch and we are losing our appetite.

Regular readers know that we do not usually call out particular players in this space.  However, we hope that Damien Harris is suffering from some undisclosed condition which leads to him only getting a few carries a game.  He is the acknowledged starter, runs hard, averages 8.2 yards a carry, and often disappears from the offense for entire quarters or halves.  Against Auburn he carried the ball just six times, down from eight against Mississippi State, and nine against LSU.  In contrast, Auburn’s Kerryon Johnson left with an injury and still had 30 carries, which is to say more than Harris had against LSU, MSU and AU combined.  I will regret it very much if Harris decides to turn pro after this season (he is a junior and has played three years) if any part of his decision is based on how little he gets the ball. 

Another football cliché is that some teams play better at home or on the road.  We think really excellent teams are not much affected by where they play.  The 2016 edition of the Crimson Tide has not performed well in hostile environments, of which there were just three this year.  At Texas A&M (7-4, 4-4, and rumored to be firing their head coach) Alabama needed to recover an on-side kick to assure a victory in a game that should have been settled in the third quarter.  In Starkville, against a Bulldog team somewhat better than Texas A&M, things were cut even more closely, with the game tied with under a minute left.  Against an even more talented Auburn team, well, you can see where that is going.  At least whatever else this team does will be on a neutral field.

We are not just sure what all contributed to Saturday’s poor performance.  This is a very talented football team.  The team leaders are easy to identify and effective.  We have the best coaching staff in the nation and not by a little bit.  Injuries have certainly played a part.  The SEC’s usual sorry officiating didn’t help (though it didn’t decide the game).  Perhaps there is some truth to the idea that being the #1 team for too long leads to pressure that eventually hinders a team.  Maybe Alabama was just due to turn in a poor performance.  Whatever, at some point it will be possible to look back on the season and decide that an 11-1 record and major blowouts of many opponents was pretty dadgum good.  For now, though, it is hard to see the silver lining of an objectively great season through the dark clouds of the chances that have been squandered.

So, the punditry has been desperately trying to sort out whether Alabama can make it into the college football playoff.  We understand the reasoning that says there is a possibility, after all, Alabama ranks fifth with all of the teams above them facing challenging opponents.  We think a return to the CFP is relatively unlikely, though enough chaos in the games of the teams ranked ahead of Alabama may do the trick.  

Four things are working against Alabama.  First, Alabama Fatigue is a real thing elsewhere in the country and there is a collective smug smile around college football that the Crimson Tide has put itself in danger of being out of contention.  Second, unfortunately when you lose in the season has become critical.  Auburn’s opening week loss to Clemson has all but been forgotten.  Alabama lost in its last game.  Third, the establishment of the playoff committee got its last boost of momentum from people who objected to the All SEC Alabama/LSU championship game in New Orleans.  Whether they ever admit it or not, the playoff committee is going to bend over backwards to try to make sure there is “fair” regional representation in the seeded teams.  If that means taking a two-loss team over a one-loss team with some sort of justification about “better” losses or “tougher schedule” or “peaking at the right time” or “playing an extra game” or “being conference champion” or just “passing the eye test” then that is what they will rely upon. Fourth, sitting home this weekend while the other contenders are all involved in championships will hurt Alabama’s position with the committee – the Committee was quick to say there was very little difference in teams 5-8.  Let us hope we are wrong.

If not, then this edition of the Crimson Tide has one last game to play together as a team.  Will this team go to a bowl game fighting for pride and honor and destroy someone the way their predecessors did Michigan State in Orlando in 2011 or will they show up, pick up their “swag bags” and otherwise enjoy a nice vacation trip with the game as an afterthought, as they did against Utah in 2009?  I would like to tell you that we had the answer to that question.  As big a cliché as it is, after Saturday, we’d have to say we just don’t have a clue.

Roll Tide, everyone.

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Auburn Grades

When you get your hat handed to you, there are only two options. Put the chapeau back on, or walk around bare-headed. Those are the stark choices facing the Alabama football program this day after a 26-14 loss in the 2017 Iron Bowl.

Head covering, was not really the only thing Auburn handed Alabama, but this is a family friendly blog, so let’s just say the Tide was metaphorically dispossessed of many articles of clothing…..and a piece or two of their own anatomy….by the Auburn Tigers.

Like the emperor in the fairy tale, the team that has dominated the sport of college football like no other for a decade left the Village indecently exposed; no longer controlling its march to a seventeenth national championship but reduced to a state of near beggary, hoping chaos in conference championship games will somehow provide an opening for the fourth spot in the playoffs.

Auburn deserves credit for out playing and out coaching the nation’s number one team. But the sad truth is Alabama generously contributed to its exposure. Alabama was undressed in the Iron Bowl, and the injuries to the Tide’s dignity were largely self-imposed.

Let’s start a list: (i) stupid penalties on both sides of the ball, (ii) poor tackling, (iii) poor blocking particularly on pass attempts, (iv) poor adjustments, particularly on defense when Auburn was routinely recognizing the Tide blitz and completing passes to the open receiver, (v) poor communication between sideline and field, and among the players themselves, (vi) poor decision making in the course of play …. You get the idea, and can no doubt contribute several of your own.

I didn’t think Alabama’s self-destruction could get any worse than drawing a delay penalty on third and four at the Auburn 12 yard line. Boy was I wrong. The nadir of ineptitude was reached mid way through the fourth quarter, with consecutive fumbled snaps. Even when the officials gave us a mulligan on the second snap-snafu, the offense could not convert on a fourth and four when the receiver caught a short pass on a drag route across the middle.

After a sloppy first half, which mercifully ended with the Tide down by only three points, Alabama took the opening kickoff of the second half and responded with its best drive on the game; five plays, 79 yards and the go-ahead touchdown. A 12 yard screen pass to Damien Harris was followed by four running plays-two to Harris and two to Bo Scarbrough-the offensive line blocked crisply, the entire offense executed to perfection, and Alabama looked like ….. well, it looked like Alabama. The customary scenario has Alabama imposing its will on the opposing team; winning the trenches, draining the clock, forcing the other team to make mistakes. Instead, the Tide could not sustain its level of intensity. The defense continued to struggle on third down. The offense could not execute the passing game. Lack of discipline led to blown assignments and drive killing penalties.

As Cecil Hurt so cogently observed: a reputation for dominance takes a long time to build but can be quickly lost. For Alabama, the 2017 Iron Bowl was a team loss. So here is how I grade the game:

Offense:                      F                      Alabama gained 314 yards of total offense [211 net yards rushing] earned 18 first downs, and converted a measly 4 of 16 possession downs.

Jalen had his worst day as a player, completing 12 of 22 pass attempts for 112 yards and one TD [Jerry Jeudy]. He lost a fumble, ran out of bounds on a called pass play rather than throwing the ball incomplete, fumbled two snaps, and drew a delay of game penalty on 3^rd and 4 from the AU 12 yard line.

Calvin Ridley was held or interfered with on every play. Some were called. Even so he managed to make 3 catches for 38 yards. He dropped a pass down the right sideline on 3^rd and 4 from the Alabama 8 late in the second quarter. If he had finished the catch, Alabama would have had first and 10 with 3:00 to play in the half and the score tied at 7. Instead, the Tide had to punt and Auburn got good field position from which they scored a FG to lead by 3 at the end of the half.

Damien Harris, Bo Scarbrough and Josh Jacobs each caught 2 passes, mostly screens for a combined 32 yards. Robert Foster caught 1 pass for 3 yards on a 4^th down and 4.

Jalen carried the ball 18 times for 82 net yards rushing. Alabama’s running backs combined for 18 carries [6 apiece] on which they gained a total of 122 yards. Jalen averaged 4.6 yards per rush, the running backs averaged 6.8 yards per rush. For comparison purposes, Auburn’s excellent running back, Keryon Johnson, ran the ball 30 times for an average of only 3.5 yards per rush.

Alabama only mounted three drives that gained 40 or more yards [60, 79, 45] that resulted in 2 TDs and a turnover on downs.

Defense:                     F                      Auburn gained 408 total yards [168 rushing] earned 25 first downs, converted 9 of 18 third downs and controlled the clock for 36:02 of the game.

For the second week in a row, Dylan Moses led all defenders with 10 tackles. Rashaan Evans was credited with 9 tackles. Minkah Fitzpatrick made 8 stops. The defense made 5 tackles for lost yardage including 1 sack, broke up 2 passes and hurried the Auburn QB 5 times. The defense was just dreadful on third down. Auburn mounted four sustained drives [94, 52, 69, 74] three of which came in the third quarter alone.

Special Teams:

Punting:                       D                     JK Scott punted 4 times for an average of 46 yards per punt. He dropped one punt inside the AU 5 yard line. Two of his punts were fair caught. The down grade comes from the punt block/defense side of the punting game and is earned by an off sides penalty that gave the ball back to Auburn on a possession ultimately resulting in a score.

Place Kicking:             F                      A flub is as good as a block…..both are automatic Fs.

Kickoffs:                      B                      Scott averaged 60 yards per kick. Treyvon Diggs and Josh Jacobs had returns of 55 and 44 yards.

Coaching:                    F                      Alabama was penalized 9 times for 85 yards. Draw your own conclusions about the play calling…..I repeat: Alabama’s running backs averaged nearly 7 yards per carry and were never tackled for loss, nevertheless, they carried the ball only 18 times the entire game. I do not profess to be a schematic expert, but it looks like we have a very limited repertoire of passing plays. Most pass attempts begin with Jalen taking the snap out of the gun, then dropping back another five steps, at which time the rush in closing in forcing him to bail out. Either the offensive line needs to pass block better, or the plays themselves should take greater advantage of Jalen’s ability to get the ball out of his hands quickly. The participation report lists 53 players who saw action in the game.

The officiating in this game was about what we have come to expect. The best thing I can say about the officials is they did not determine the outcome of the game. Imagine, however, how outrageous it would be if Alabama lost by less than a touchdown. If that were the case, the decision to overturn the called touchdown when Hale Hentges appeared to catch a batted ball in the end zone for a score would have been game altering. The only reason Calvin Ridley did not catch Jalen’s pass is that he was being held by two Auburn defenders with no penalty being called.

To be perfectly clear: I am not blaming Alabama’s loss on the officials. The Tide own this loss 100%. But it is worth pointing out SEC officials are a sad joke.

Comparing Alabama to the emperor with no clothes, is not an exact analogy. The fairly tale emperor was a vain fool duped into believing he was wearing splendid clothing. He ate the rat poison. Alabama deserved its reputation as the dominant team in college football; it has been for most of Saban’s tenure. But Saban has been warning anyone who would listen, that this team has flaws. It has not been playing up to potential. Since the bye-week, this team has not improved, if anything it has gone sideways. That drift caught up to the Tide in an ugly loss in what the Wall Street Journal described as “the only rivalry that matters.”

Maybe championship weekend will knock enough teams out of contention that Alabama gets back into the playoffs. I think it is a very long shot. At 11-1, I believe the Tide is going to be out of the four-team-bracket. A non-playoff, New Year’s Day bowl against Ohio State, Wisconsin, Miami, or Notre Dame is about the best Tide fans can reasonably anticipate.

The haters have gotten their wish. The nation’s struggle with Tide-Fatigue appears to be over. For the first time in its four-year history, the CFB Playoffs will not include Alabama. It very well might include another team from the state, if Auburn can beat Georgia.   Only time will tell whether, by playing Keryon Johnson past the point of injury, Gus Malzahn cost Auburn the chance to beat Georgia, win the SEC CG, and become the first two-loss team in the playoffs. One thing is certain, the next 365 days are going to be unbearable in the state of Alabama.

The only way to get through all that is to put our hats back on, and get back to work. Trust The Process, y’all.

Roll Tide.

The Commissioner

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Mercer Grades

                The Alabama home crowd paid tribute to the 2017 senior class. Anthony Averett, Bradley Bozeman, Tony Brown, Hunter Bryant, Rashaan Evans, Robert Foster, Joshua Frazier, Bo Grant, Shaun Dion Hamilton, Da’Shawn Hand, Joseph Harvey, J.C. Hassenauer, Swade Hutchinson, Austin Johnson, Hootie Jones, Vohn Keith, Jr., Jamar King, Rogria Lewis, Andy Pappanastos, Jacob Parker, Jonathan Rice, JK Scott, Cam Sims, Turner Skehan and Levi Wallace.

What an outstanding group of young men these seniors have been! With at least one regular season game to play, they have compiled a record of 51-4 (.927), tying the NCAA record for wins set by last year’s Tide class. The 2017 seniors have won a national championship, three consecutive SEC championships, and made three appearances in the College Football Playoff, twice in the CFP championship game. 

Coach Saban told reporters after the game one objective set for today was to get every eligible senior, including walk-ons, into the game. Put a check mark next to that item on the To Do List. “It will be a best memory for them.” Saban said. Indeed it will.

“This senior class has been phenomenal.”, he added. Indeed it has.

You know what else is phenomenal?  The 2017 freshman class. It was Senior Day in Tuscaloosa, but it could just have easily been Freshman Day as well.

Three true freshmen, DeVonte Smith, Henry Ruggs, III, and Major Tennison caught touchdown passes; each pass thrown by true freshman, Tua Tagolaivoa. Two true freshman, Najee Harris and Brian Robinson, Jr., scored rushing touchdowns.

The Tide’s leading tackler was Dylan Moses, a true freshman from Baton Rouge who started at Mike Linebacker. He made 11 tackles [10 solo; 4 for lost yardage]. He also intercepted a pass and returned it 11 yards.

Daniel Wright, Christopher Allen, Jerry Jeudy, Xavier McKinney, VanDarius Cowan, Kendrick James, Thomas Fletcher, and Alex Leatherwood, rounded out the roster of true freshmen who saw action in the game. If you are keeping score at home, that is 15 players who were in high school this time last year.

Last week, Coach Saban said he believed Alabama was regularly playing more true freshmen than any other FBS team. He should know.

This weekend, the combination of 2017 seniors, 2017 freshmen and the rest of the Alabama roster fielded 75 players to deliver a 56-0 victory against the over-matched Mercer Bears. I don’t know how much Alabama had to pay the ursine visitors to make the journey from Macon to Tuscaloosa. I hope the Bears thought it was worth it. They certainly gave a good account of themselves.

Earlier in the season, Mercer traveled to The Village where they frightened all the Villagers by keeping the game close well into the fourth quarter. Archival research does not disclose what the world travelers from central Georgia thought about the charms, architectural and otherwise, of the Jewel Of Lee County. My money is on: “What a dump!” But I suppose: “Gee, look at all those double-wides” was a close second.

This was an important game for Alabama. Young players needed to gain experience, Expect Dylan Moses to see the field a lot against the Tigers on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. More about next week’s game in just a bit. For now, here is how I grade the game:

Offense:                      B+                   Readers will well recall the standard protocol of a one grade reduction on offense and defense for quality of opponent when Alabama plays non-conference opponents. Alabama amassed 530 yards of total offense [265 rushing], earned 22 first downs, and converted 4 of 6 possession downs. The offense lost 2 fumbles.

Jalen was a perfect 7 for 7 passing for 180 yards and 3 TDs. Tua completed 7 of 11 attempts for 85 yards and 3 TDs. Neither QB threw an interception, although only the velocity with which he throws the ball kept one of Tua’s passes from being picked off.

Calvin Ridley led all receivers with 3 catches for 103 yards and a TD. Josh Jacobs and Cam Sims caught 2 passes each and both caught throws for TDs. Ten different players caught passes.

Bo Scarbrough ran the ball 5 times for 54 yards. Brian Robinson, Jr. gained 50 yards on 7 carries. Josh Jacobs and Damien Harris each carried the ball 6 times. Nine different players ran the ball including walk-on sophomore, Austin Johnson [Jr. QB; 6-2, 202; Elba]

The Tide offense sustained 7 drives that gained 40 or more yards on its 13 offensive possessions [75, 65, 98, 40, 49, 58, 42] which produced 6 TDs and one punt.

Defense:                      B+                  Mercer was held to 161 yards of total offense [107 rushing] and 9 first downs. The Bears converted only 5 of 16 possession downs. They lost no fumbles, but Alabama intercepted 3 passes and forced 2 turnovers on downs.

Dylan Moses was the defensive star of the game. Ten of his 11 total tackles were solo stops. Deionte Thompson [R-So.; DB; 6-2, 194; Orange, Tx.] and Raekwon Davis were both credited with 5 tackles. Tony Brown and Ronnie Harrison each made 4 stops. Thompson and Hootie Jones accounted for two of the Tide’s 3 interceptions. Bama defenders broke up 5 passes and hurried the Bears’ QB once.

Special Teams:

Place Kicking:             A         JK Scott, subbing for Andy Pappanastos [or as Coach Cochran calls him: “Pappa-Nasty”] was perfect on 8 PATs. Coach Saban explained that Pappanastos had “a little tweak” during the week, and the training staff recommended rest.

Punting:                       A         Scott punted only twice for an average of 52.5. One of his punts resulted in a touchback, the other was downed deep in the Bears’ end of the field. Xavien Marks returned 2 of Mercer’s punts for a total of 52 yards. His longest return was 26 yards. His fielding decisions still make each punt reception a stressful play to watch.

Kickoffs:                     D         Scott’s punting was much improved over last week’s game in Starkville, but his kickoffs this week were not good. He averaged only 39.2 yards per kick. The coverage team allowed one return of 40 yards and another of 47. The return team had no opportunity, as Mercer’s lone kickoff was a touchback.

Coaching:                    A         If you like running the football…..and who doesn’t? … you would love the Tide’s game plan which included 42 called runs against 18 passes. Alabama was only penalized once. And a special hat tip to Coach Saban for awarding a full scholarship to former walk on, Levi Wallace. That young man has gone from freshman walk on to senior starter. Trust the Process? You better believe I do.

            Just in case college football’s most heated rivalry needed a few more BTUs, the winner of the 2017 Iron Bowl will claim the SEC West title, and enter the SEC Championship Game as the odds-makers’ favorite to beat the Eastern Division Champion, Georgia.

            The Tigers started the season with a loss to Clemson and did not reach the month of October without losing to LSU. Since that bungle on the bayou, Auburn has improved every week. They enter the Iron Bowl with a ferocious defense that features the best front seven Alabama has faced in the last ten games. They have an excellent running back and a seasoned, tough offensive line. The biggest improvement has been at quarterback, where Stidham has become a legitimate double threat.

            The Tide are going to need all of the seniors honored during the Mercer pre-game ceremony to bring their best game. They are also going to need all those talented freshmen and everyone else wearing Alabama colors to do the same.

            Keep in mind, however, notwithstanding how good the Tigers are playing right now, if Thomas Jefferson had founded API instead of UVA, he would not want that fact carved into his headstone.

Let’s all go be champions!

Roll Tide, Y’all.

The Commissioner

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Tire Store Report Mississippi State

That may be the best edition of The Grades yet this year, Commissioner.  We agree that this game was a lot better performance in hindsight than it seemed while we were living through it.

Speaking of, we may have to hunt a hobby a little less stressful than November football as played by the University of Alabama.  Our doctor is always going on about how getting our heart rate up to certain numbers is good for it, just like exercising other muscles, blah, blah, blah.  We are not just sure getting our heart rate up while sitting in the lucky recliner watching Alabama play football is what Dr. Mike has in mind.

So maybe something a little less dramatic -- we could take up tightrope walking or snake handling.  We saw a fellow on tv one night who juggled chain saws while they were running.  Pee Wee saw a fellow in a Billy Joel video juggling end wrenches and decided he could learn to do that.  After almost a full rainy Thursday afternoon of those things clanging around on the concrete in the service bay behind us we put a stop to it.  Pee Wee never got the knack of it, though he did bang his knuckles up pretty good.  (Just to be fair, we’re sure those guys in the video couldn’t bust down a tire like Pee Wee can, either.)  Made us wonder, though, how you learn to juggle something like a running chain saw -- there’s just not much room for error there.

Speaking of, there was not much room for error in Saturday’s ball game in Starkville.  As it turned out, Alabama found out just how many errors it could make and still win at football.  Seems to us that one more miscue -- fumble, interception, sack, dropped pass, missed kick, missed tackle, wrong defensive alignment, pass interference -- and things might have turned out very differently.

As noted, we agree with you, Commissioner.  The result turned out far better than the process looked.  We were very surprised to learn that Alabama had very close to 450 yards of total offense.  The announcers kept harping on how many minutes of possession Mississippi State had.  It turned out that they only ran about 70 plays in all those minutes, though.  So the defense was “on the field” a lot.  In this case, however, being on the field meant just that.  They weren’t on the sideline sitting down, drinking Powerade, and getting coached up.  Even so, they weren’t exactly lining up and thumping anyone either.  Mostly, they spent a decent amount of Saturday standing there watching Mississippi State stand in the huddle.  It was a decent strategy by Coach Mullen; however, it really did serve only the purpose of keeping Hurts, Ridley, Harris and company from being on the field to score rather than wearing our defense to a frazzle. 

Speaking of, the defense gave up a decent number of rushing yards and three rushing TDs, and we can’t quite recall when that last happened to an Alabama defense.  And Mississippi State did rush for a lot of yardage, as an absolute consideration.  However, they ran for more yardage against each of LSU, Georgia, and Auburn, even though they had an FCS opponent to deal with last week and this game was at home. Their quarterback, Fitzgerald, is a big guy and ran hard, especially for the first three quarters.  Given our situation at linebacker, especially middle linebacker, it could have been worse.  A lot worse.  The linebacker situation is an issue and not exactly a surprise.  Hamilton, whom the Saban guy says is one of the smartest players on our defense and the signal caller went out against LSU.  His back up, Wilson, also went out against LSU (CBS still hasn’t noticed).  So we started the third stringer at a key point and his backup, the fourth stringer, played significant snaps.  We recruit very well.  Thinking there would not be a drop off and it was just “next man up” is just hiding your head in the grease rack.  Especially when the player at the other inside linebacker position is working through a very painful groin injury.  The defense gave up 296 yards to the Bulldogs through three quarters, but only 34 in the fourth, when they should have been worn out.  That earns a good grade.

Special teams weren’t so special on Saturday night.  We might as well start with it.  We aren’t much of a fan of the whole “leaping” penalty.  I’m not sure we committed the foul to start with, the way the rule is written.  Sure changed the game, though.  We get it.  Player safety is an issue.  If a defender jumps up and over a blocker on the kicking team they are at risk when he comes down cleats first on top of them.  The “leaper” is even more at risk because it does not take much of a change of position by the blocker to flip him so that the first thing that hits the turf is the back of his neck or the top of his helmet -- neither of which should happen when it can be prevented.  That said, the rule specifically prohibits jumping over another player -- not jumping up in the gap between players in protection, presumably because that isn’t dangerous; it’s about the same as jumping up to bat down a pass.  We aren’t sure whether that is what happened Saturday or not.  What we are sure of is that the officials couldn’t tell either.  That penalty got called twice on Saturday and for the first time we can recall, at least in a long time.  We suspect there was some memo or email to the officials to be watching for it. 

If we intend to keep that rule, though, we think it should apply equally to offense.  A ball carrier who tries to leap over an opponent making a tackle seems to us to be at least equally at risk.  (Looking at you, Najee)  We’ve learned by now not to look for either consistency or good sense from the NCAA.  However, in the future you just have to try to block punts only from the side or behind the shield of blockers -- once again a rule that favors the team with the ball.  Don’t get us started on the way running backs (ours included) are free to grab any defender’s face mask and try to twist his head off, when if you change the direct object of the verb, the offense gets an extra 15 yards.  The penalty isn’t for “tackling by the face mask” it’s “grabbing the face mask”.  This ought to be called fairly. 

We’re also willing to give Pappanastos a break.  His field goal attempt was within a reasonable distance and he’s made further tries.  But his kick began to hook there at the very end.  Had the offense not managed to lose yardage on both of the plays before the attempt, that ball sneaks past the upright, at least.  We are more concerned about the play calls right before the attempt.  We seemed to be running the ball outside with authority. Therefore, we tried to pass a few times in a row and lost yardage.  Deliver me.

Speaking of, this offense is more than capable of delivering a lot of points against anyone.  Opposing defenses continue to overload the line of scrimmage and dare Jalen Hurts to beat them throwing or running.  We seem to be getting better at exploiting that.  We are not as efficient yet as we need to be, but things are moving in the right direction.  The offense seemed to be a little bit of boom and bust.  We had either long drives or three-and-out.  A little more consistency, just a little more, and Saturday’s game is a comfortable win for Alabama.  We especially seem to be a mixed bag on the offensive line.  It didn’t seem like it, but we ran on twice as many downs as we passed it on Saturday.  It still felt like there were times, especially in the second half, when we were throwing it when a running play might have been a better choice.  The coaches see and know a lot that we do.  For example, in the fourth quarter we were hollering for Bo to get the ball again so loud that the dogs ran under the coffee table.  We were not aware he was hurting and asked to come out of the game.  Re-watching it, that was pretty obvious.  A healthy #9 probably turns up field and scores on that last carry, in fact.  We were not aware he was even dealing with some sort of injury.  Oops.

It’s just a little hard on the old ticker when we need to score 31 to put the game away.  At least we can.

On to Mercer, a team that gave Auburn absolute fits early in the year.  It’ll be Senior Day and this has been a truly special bunch.

Roll Tide, everyone.

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Mississippi State Grades

Sometimes things are not nearly as bad as they seem. That worrying ache in your lower back? Turns out it was just a muscle strain, not a slipped disc.  The unopened letter from the IRS? When you finally get around to reading it, the tax-man says you made a math error and you actually owe $10 less than you thought. That “check engine” light in your car turns out to be a loose gas cap instead of a blown head gasket…….sorry, Andy, I am stepping into your wheelhouse with that one.

My point is, at first blush a situation can look worse than it actually turns out to be once you look into it a little more.

That is what I think about Alabama’s 31-24 win over the Starkville Bellringers. Through three quarters of the contest, it looked as if Alabama were going to join Georgia and Notre Dame in having post-season playoff prospects crushed. State was playing about as smart as it could, milking the game clock on every possession and keeping the Tide offense on the bench. MSU’s tall receivers were making plays, while their QB, Nick Fitzgerald, proved he was as much a threat running as passing.

The Tide did not have the lead until Andy Pappanastos’ 30-yard field goal early in the third quarter made the score 17-14 in Bama’s favor, a lead that was lost on State’s next possession (13 plays; 69 yards; 6:30 of game time).

Alabama responded to this reversal of fortune with a three-and-out that lost two yards. The Bulldogs then added to their lead with a 10-play drive, gaining 56 yards, consuming 5:37, capped with a field goal less than one minute into the 4th quarter.

Mississippi State 24 - Alabama 17 …… From the noise level, I can only guess there was not a cowbell to be had from any souvenir store or feather-merchant in eastern Mississippi; any ‘80’s cover band would have had to scratch “Don’t Fear the Reaper” from its set list.  ESPN’s broadcast crew were researching the last time the top three teams in the country each lost on the same weekend in the regular season.

Then, Alabama seemed to say: “By golly, that’s enough!” The rest of the quarter belonged to the Tide. Three offensive possessions gained 82, 57 and 68 yards, accounted for 26 offensive plays [nearly half of Bama’s 57 total plays], drained 9:35 from the game clock, and scored 14 points. …..  And I will go ahead and tee this issue up right now: if Coach Daboll had let the offense keep running the ball on the second drive, there is no reason why the Tide would have had to attempt….and miss….a 41 yard field goal.

Credit for the Tide’s 4th quarter performance has to be shared with the defense. In the first three quarters, Bama’s stop troops were on the field for nearly 34 minutes of game time, during which, MSU converted 8 of 12 possession downs. There is a reason why Alabama’s off-season conditioning program is “The Fourth Quarter”, and that reason was on display Saturday night in Starkville. Bama’s players were better conditioned than State’s. The Tide defense surrendered 125 yards to the Bulldogs in the third quarter. In the fourth, MSU could only gain 33 yards without the aid of a penalty.

 Having taken some time to look more closely at things, this is how I grade the game:

Offense:       B+          Bama gained 444 yards of total offense [202 rushing], earning 19 first downs, but converted only 4 of 11 possession downs, and controlled the clock for only 21:04.

Jalen completed 10 of 19 pass attempts for 242 yards and a touchdown [DeVonta Smith]. Calvin Ridley led all receivers with 171 yards on 5 receptions. Five different receivers caught passes.

Damien Harris only touched the ball 8 times. He gained 93 yards for an average of 11.6 yards per rush. Josh Jacobs averaged 6 yards per rush on six carries. Bo Scarbrough was handed the ball a grand total of 5 times. He gained 33 yards [6.6 average]. No Tide running back was tackled for a loss. For those keeping score at home…..that’s 19 carries by running backs, for 172 yards. Jalen carried the ball 19 times himself, for 40 net yards after deducting 30 lost yards, including 22 yards lost to the 5 sacks made by MSU’s constantly blitzing defense. The two crucial pass completions made on Bama’s final drive were quickly thrown balls; the sell-out rush never had time to reach Hurts before the ball was out of his hand.

Alabama had ten offensive possessions. Six of the ten gained 40 or more yards [75, 75, 63, 82, 57, 68] and one gained 38. Those six sustained drives resulted in 4 TDs a FG and a missed FG. The offense was held to “three-and-out” on 3 possessions. Each “three-and-out” included a sack, two of the three included two incomplete pass attempts.

I believe it is better to show than to tell. I have shown you the offensive statistics. I leave it to you to decide for yourself what they tell us about Alabama’s running game, the O Line’s pass blocking proficiency, and the play selection.

Defense:         C+            Coach Saban was clear in his post-game remarks: injuries to the linebacking corps are having an impact on this team. Never in Saban’s coaching career, has he had a season where so many injuries were incurred by players at a particular position. Young players called upon to play are talented, but they lack experience. This results in assignments being misunderstood, or incorrectly executed. Look for this to be a focus in practice for the next two weeks……and, hopefully, beyond.

State gained 330 yards of total offense, earned 24 first downs, and converted 8 of 15 possession downs. In the 4^th quarter, however, when it mattered the most the defense played its best.

Hootie Jones led all tacklers with 10 stops. Rashaan Evans recorded 9 tackles and Raekwon Davis added 8. Tide defenders recorded 4 tackles for 16 lost yards, broke up 4 passes and hurried the State QB 4 times.

Special Teams:

Punting:           B          After a career game last week against LSU, JK Scott had a merely good night punting against MSU. He averaged 43.5 yards per punt and allowed no returns. The return game had a moment of high anxiety when Xavian Marks made a risky catch behind and over his shoulder.          

Place Kicking:      B        Pappanastos was good from 30 yards, he missed from 41 yards, and was perfect on 4 PATs.

Place Kicking:             C-        Oh my word!  Scott averaged only 58.2 yards per kick on 6 kicks. He managed a touchback only once, and kicked the ball out of bounds on the most crucial kick of the night immediately following the go-ahead touchdown with :25 seconds to play.

Coaching:        C-        The Tide was penalized 5 times for 60 yards, including a critical “leaping” penalty committed during the attempt to block MSU’s first punt. The drive resulted in the Bulldogs flipping field position and pinning Alabama inside its own 10 yard line. A potentially costly penalty for unsportsman like  conduct following Damien Harris' TD to tie the game at 24, gave State the ball in good field position. Another potentially costly penalty was the pass interference infraction called on State’s first attempted “Hail Mary” at the end of the game. 

The participation report lists 53 players who saw action in the game. Coach Saban told reporters after the game he thinks Alabama is playing more true freshmen than any other FBS team.

Perhaps the coaching grade is too low. I do believe the play calling placed insufficient emphasis on establishing the running game. At the same time, however, I give all the credit in the world to the great job done by Coach Cochran and his strength and conditioning staff.

While at times, things looked pretty bad last Saturday night, it turns out the Tide out-gained the Dogs by more than 100 yards of offense, out played them in the 4^th quarter, and won the game. More importantly, the way Alabama won the game might pay dividends on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and maybe the Saturday after that.

This was a “character win.” Down by seven, and getting beaten in the trenches for three quarters, Alabama’s players rallied. They displayed the competitive spirit that is the trademark of Alabama football. That sort of character is what enables teams to overcome adversity…..like being behind in the 4^th quarter….or being without the contribution of injured starters…..or playing in a hostile environment in a game where the officials’ copies of the rule book are written in Braille.

It is the character Alabama will need to finish this season in Atlanta on January 9, 2018.

Before all of that, however, the most important game of the season is this Saturday against Mercer. It’s scheduled for an 11:00 am kickoff. It will be Senior Day……..more about that next edition of The Grades. For now, suffice it to say, sometimes things turnout as good as they seem!

Roll Tide, Y’all.   

  

The Commissioner

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Tire Store Report LSU

Welcome back, Commissioner.  Your S&H did an excellent job in your absence, as you know.  Glad you got to be on campus for the game.

The Grades were a little lower than we would have hoped, except for Special Teams.  But they were fair and right.

Offense: The offense was just plain out of synch on Saturday evening.  Some of that is credit to a good plan by LSU.  Some it was just … off.  As the Commissioner points out, sometimes the play calls just seemed off.  When the play call was good, the execution was lacking -- sometimes the line didn’t block well at the point of attack, sometimes the quarterback made the wrong read, sometimes the line blocked, the quarterback made the right read, and the receiver dropped the ball.  On one pass play Calvin Ridley slipped and fell down trying to run a crossing route.  Many of the running plays were stuffed because we had five blockers to take on six defensive players (or even six to take on seven) and the extra man made the tackle.  It was just that sort of night for the offense.  Sometimes even a good motor just sputters -- you can clean the injectors, change the fuel filter, fill it up with high test and still....

We hope that the offense has shown just what it can do on an off night.  If their “fair to poor” performance is defeating LSU by 14 with missed officiating calls galore, then there is a lot of room to hope. We choose to expect they'll be all tuned up by Saturday night.

Of course, you can lose track of that with the “expert” commentary of Gary Danielson ringing in your ears.  For example, on the running play from our own 10 where Arden Key tackled Bo for a 4-yard loss, Gary was quick to accuse either Jonah Williams or Irv Smith of “missing” a block on a key defender.  Watching it a few times, I’m pretty sure Gary was wrong.  I think the play is designed to let whomever is in that position through.  What I think happened is that Jalen and/or Bo misread it.  I think Key (or whomever is at that spot) is supposed to come free and if he chooses to run into the backfield, Hurts is supposed to keep the ball and follow a pulling lineman straight upfield while the running back delivers a block on Key.  Instead, Scarborough and Hurts did the hand off, which was only to occur if Key stayed at home at or behind the line of scrimmage.  We read it wrong and he blew up the play.  And, in all honesty, running that play against Key, who is a future NFL talent and one of the best defensive players in college football probably wasn’t good play design to start with.  It’s fair to say that very few players would get there that quickly.

We thought Hurts had mostly a good game, though.  He made a few wrong reads and waited a second or two late on a couple of passes.  However, our receivers dropped more balls (and got interfered with and held even more) than he made incorrect reads.  He stepped up into the pocket several times and had key scrambles with the pocket broke down.  His achievements were far better than in last year’s LSU game.

LSU’s defensive game plan was sound and was well-executed.  Put at least seven defenders within three yards of the line of scrimmage.  Line up in the neutral zone until you get flagged for it (they never did).  Sell out to crush the ball carrier or get to the quarterback as quickly as possible.  Leave the cornerbacks one-on-one with wide receivers.  If someone gets by you, then do whatever is needed to prevent the completion -- we’ll hope they don’t call it and if they do, 15 yards is better than a touchdown.  Sell out to try to get Alabama in third and long.  They executed this plan quite well.  Other teams will try to match this plan.  They need to hope they have as much talent at defensive back and a crew of officials who have the same eye chart scores as Frank Slade.

Defense

Maybe the offense has to carry the defense for a bit.  Not how we like our football.  In fact, we just don’t like those games where teams speed up and down the field of play and you pretty much expect a score every possession.  That’s a different game.  It’s called “basketball”.  However, we may well have to outscore a few teams until some of our linebackers are able to return to competition.  At least we have the skill to do it if needed.

Yes, we are worried about the injury situation on defense.  By our count four potential starting linebackers are out of commission, though word is today that Mac Wilson could be able to play again in 4-6 weeks after breaking his foot (don’t bother to look for CBS’s report about him being taken from the sidelines on a cart, they didn’t seem to think it important).  So sad for Hamilton, who is one of the smartest players on our defense and for the second year in a row saw his season come to a premature end -- this time on an iffy cut block by an offensive lineman.  Get well soon.

Bottom line is the defense was just on the field for too many snaps and some of that was the fault of the offense.  They owe the defense one easy game.  At least.

Coach Saban explained the long run at his press conference.  Basically, the defense was confused.  If everyone stays in the originally called defense, it’s a short gain.  If everyone shifted to the last minute audible defense, it’s a short (or maybe no) gain.  Instead, half the team shifted and half didn’t.  That, added to Keith Holcombe being tackled like he was the ball carrier instead of the inside linebacker allowed their running back to be off to the races.  As much motion, shifting, and other stuff as LSU does, the surprising thing is that we didn’t give up more long runs than just that one.  Especially considering the injuries, the defense played quite well.  Frankly, any time we hold a team to 10 points, we should win easily -- and we did.  And holding most any team on our schedule just 10 points merits a good grade.

We don’t have enough good things to say about the kicking game, which was not the case at the beginning of the year.  We cleanly fielded every punt, some with LSU players circling like sharks.  Field goal kicking is now solid.  We aren’t likely to make any 55 yarders, but this team shouldn’t need to.  We are kicking the football off (mostly) into the dadgum endzone.  And the punting.  Gracious.  Not only is Scott putting them down inside the 20 (if not the 10), the balls are going high enough that the video screen in Dallas could be in jeopardy.  In case you weren’t counting, that was eight punts for over 400 yards.  Hurrah for him.  Still, I hope next week he doesn’t have to kick any.

Officiating  So, our regular correspondents have raised a couple of theories this week about officiating.  First, there is some concern that the redistribution of The Grades has made it even to the SEC Offices and they are taking our rhetorical flourishes out on the football team.  That does appeal to our ego in a twisted sort of way but because sorry SEC officiating predates our blogging efforts, we tend to discount that.  But, thanks. 

Second, there is an idea that Alabama has become so dominant that the SEC officials have decided, consciously or unconsciously, to just leave the flags stuck in their belts because of the idea that Alabama will win anyway -- why slow things down and call a bunch of penalties.  Other than, you know, “fundamental fairness” and “because it is your freaking job”, of course.  Whatever, the effect is real and quantifiable.  In the category of Opponents Penalties Against, Alabama still ranks 118/130, even with LSU helping the average after 5 flags (two, we recall, for illegal procedure).  We haven’t even thought about taking out the ones where no judgment is involved, like kickoffs out of bounds or too many men in the formation.  We have enough trouble sleeping at night as it is.

Coaching  Finally, as to the coaching, we think that Coach Saban just coaches differently for LSU.  I’m sure he would tell you that no game is any more important and doesn’t require any more or less attention and effort than any other.  He would say that we should be coaching and playing against our own standard of excellence, not just the other team.  And that wins are just the natural outcome of doing that.  Finally, each win only counts one W.  Yeah, well, we don’t believe it.  That’s seven in a row, Coach.  Good job.  Keep rolling.

On to Mississippi State and their headache-inducing cowbells (just remember, those are NOT artificial noisemakers designed to disrupt the other team, they are “tradition”.  The SEC Office says so.  Roll Tide, everyone.

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LSU Grades

     There are lots of great things about going to an Alabama football game in Tuscaloosa. Especially games with prime-time kickoffs. Breakfast overlooking the Black Warrior at Another Broken Egg. Buying your boo an anniversary present at The Shirt Shop. Tailgating with old friends, and new ones, on the Quad. Yellowhammers.

     Perhaps the best thing about going to a game in T’town is the complimentary Sunday edition of The Tuscaloosa News provided by the hotel. The TN's coverage of Crimson Tide football is to newspapers what Dream Land is to smoked ribs: ain’t nothing like it nowhere.

     Today’s edition is a case in point. Cecil Hurt, perhaps the best reporter ever to cover the Crimson Tide has it exactly right. For Alabama football, November is all about survival. The Tide survived LSU’s determined effort and notched a hard-earned 24-10 victory; extending Alabama’s win streak over the Tigers to seven games. The Tide have not lost to its SEC West rival since the regular season meeting in 2011. 

    On an unseasonably warm November night, Alabama was out gained and out rushed, but not outscored. LSU dominated time of possession by eight minutes, and with potentially season-ending injuries to Shaun Dion Hamilton [knee] and Mack Wilson [foot] Alabama suffered more losses to its already depleted corps of linebackers.

    The contest was not decided until the Tide defense forced a turnover on downs deep in LSU territory with just over two minutes to play in the game.

     Close games are often decided by a few things. This game was no exception. The first deciding factor was punting.  On a night when the offense could not stay on the field, JK Scott delivered his best performance. The Tide punter was called upon eight times; he averaged an astounding 51.6 yards per kick and kept the Tigers in bad field position all night. The other key factor was winning turnovers. Ronnie Harrison made what turned out to be the deciding play on the first snap of LSU’s third possession when he perfectly timed QB Danny Entling’s screen pass and out fought Tiger running back Derrius Guice, for an interception at the LSU 37.  Four plays later, Bama scored its second touchdown. In the war of attrition that followed, both teams managed ten more points.

     Yes, Bama survived the 2017 LSU game. The first weekend of November is in the books with a win. Three more weekends remain, however, and if the Crimson Tide are going to stay on course to compete for the CFB Playoff Championship, they will have to play with more consistency than they did against LSU, and young players will have to prove the validity of number-one recruiting classes.      

So here is how I grade the game…….

Offense:        C+.      The Tide gained 299 total yards of offense [only 116 rushing] earning 14 third downs, and converted only 5 of 14 third downs.

Jalen Hurts played the entire game. He completed only 11 of 24 pass attempts for 183 yards and 1 TD. Four of his incompletions were dropped balls. Jalen was sacked 4 times, but he had no interceptions.

Calvin Ridley was the leading receiver with 3 catches for 61 yards. Seven different players caught passes.

Jalen was also the Tide’s leading rusher, gaining 44 net yards on 14 runs [his 4 sacks cost him 27 rushing yards]. Bo Scarbrough gained 39 net yards on 11 rushing plays and scored a rushing touchdown. Damien Harris ran the ball 9 times for 33 yards.

Of Alabama’s 12 offensive possessions, 6 ended with a punt after only three plays. The Tide offense managed only three sustained drives [90, 56, 52] resulting in two TD’s and a FG. With 2:55 to play in the third quarter, Bama scored its third TD. The offense then opened the fourth quarter with a drive culminating in a field goal, and it looked as if the offense might be winning the line of scrimmage. The next two possessions, however, were both “three and out” and netted zero yards.

Defense:        B-        In spite of surrendering 306 yards including 151 rushing, the Stop Troops made LSU punt 8 times, intercepted a pass and forced a turnover on downs to seal the win. LSU mounted only two drives that gained 40 or more yards [71, 67] each of which yielded points. The Tigers’ longest rushing play was a 54 yard run by Darrel Williams out of the Wildcat formation, that set LSU up, first and goal, from the Bama 2 yard line. LSU converted 9 of 19 third downs, and only had 2 possessions end after three offensive plays. LSU held the ball for 34:07 of game time.

Rashan Evans led all defenders with 10 tackles. Raekwon Davis was credited with 9 stops, while Ronnie Harrison and Levi Wallace each made 6. All total, Tide defenders made 9 tackles for lost yardage, 6 of them sacks. Four passes were broken up and Tiger QBs were hurried 4 times.

Special Teams:

Punting:           A+       JK Scott averaged 51.6 yards per punt on 8 punts, and downed 6 of his punts inside the Tiger 20 yard line. LSU only returned 1 punt for 2 yards. Bama’s return game was nothing to write home about [3 returns; 11 yards], but Xavian Marks fielded each LSU punt cleanly.

Kickoffs:          A          Scott handled kickoff duties and averaged 63.2 gross yards per kick on 5 kicks. Three of his five kicks were touchbacks. The two kicks that were returned netted LSU 29 and 23 yards. It appeared that Scott mis-hit one kick that came downs around the 20 yard line. Good coverage prevented a bigger return.

Place Kicking:      A        Andy Pappanastos was good from 40 yards on his only FG attempt, and was perfect on tree PATs.

Coaching:        B          Alabama was penalized only once for 11 yards. Fifty six players saw action in the game. Play calling was frustrating to watch. Coach Saban told the CBS on-field reporter at the half that the Tide had not been able to establish a consistent running game. Perhaps this was due to play selection. At the half, Tide running backs had been given the ball only 9 times. Running backs rushed only 21 times the entire game. They averaged 4 yards per carry. One particularly frustrating series came on Alabama’s third possession. The Tide took over at its own 9 yard line following a Tiger punt. Damien Harris gained 11 yards on two running plays over the right side of the offensive line. So, on first and ten from the Tide 20 we did what? If you guessed “ran the ball” you would be wrong. On first down Jalen was hurried and threw incomplete to Calvin Ridley across the middle. Second down was an incomplete pass attempt to Harris., and third down was a sack for loss of 7 yards. I don’t get it……but then again I am not paid to call football plays.  

Not to be overlooked in this complaining about play calling, is the fact Alabama has now defeated 21 consecutive SEC regular season opponents dating back to a 38-10 win over Georgia on Oct. 3, 2015. Over the last five games, the Tide defense has averaged nearly 5 sacks per game. Jalen now holds the school record for rushing TDs by a quarterback [20]. And…..this one is worth repeating…..the Tide win streak over LSU is now 7 games in a row. All of this is a reminder to keep complaints about esoteric issues like play calling in proper perspective.

     And one more great thing about being present for the game ……the pregame show was quite special….the game ball was flow into Byant Denny Stadium by a unit from the US Army Special Operations Command, who flawlessly executed a three-man, HALO [High Altitude Low Opening] sky dive…..at night…..landing on the mid-field logo:

     Cecil Hurt observed that November is all about survival. These Army paratroopers have survived very demanding training, an inherently dangerous profession, and bad people shooting at them. The Crimson Tide football team, along with the rest of us, can take heart from their example.

Get ready, Mississippi State……

Roll Tide Y’all.

The Commissioner 

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Tire Store Report - Tennessee

Another excellent effort by the Commissioner’s Son & Heir.  Many thanks.

We have heard it said that the worst thing you can receive from an enemy is not hate, but pity.  So, for the last few days, we’ve tried to work up a little sympathy for the Tennessee Vols.  It even seemed to be working there for just a bit.  Safe to say that Tennessee has suffered through a raft of injuries, has a terrible record against the SEC, has a coaching staff that appears to be, shall we say, struggling, and has missed a chance to take charge of the eastern division of the conference during an era when it has been relatively weak.   Plus, they have to wear that “puke-inside-of-a-pumpkin-orange”.  And then there was the game.

We tend to think the word “mistake” is getting stretched far beyond its original meaning.  When we leave the store at night and forget to lock the front door that is a mistake.  Not tightening the lug nuts on a wheel before the boss takes the car on the test drive down the Atlanta Highway is, too.  (Looking at you, Mr. Poole).  The point being, there’s a difference between a mistake and exercising really poor judgment -- not to mention demonstrating just out-and-out rottenness.   

This shows up on the football field.  Both wide receivers standing near the line of scrimmage watching the game when the play call was the flea flicker was a mistake on someone’s part.  Forgetting the snap count and false starting, yes, that’s a mistake, too.  We feel some pity in those situations. 

However, there were events in the game on Saturday that, despite the descriptions we’ve heard from several sources, were not “mistakes”.  Not once, but twice, the same Tennessee defensive lineman was flagged for “Hands to the Face.”  That was putting it about as nicely as possible.  That rule is in place to keep (mostly) linemen from grabbing their opponent by or under the facemask and pushing them backwards.   Such should be against the rules.  The physical dangers are obvious.   On Saturday, “hands to the face,” didn’t really accurately describe what happened.  The Tennessee defensive lineman was  grabbing Jonah Williams by the throat and (we presume) squeezing as he pushed him backwards towards the quarterback.  So that wasn’t a mistake, it was a choice.  I mean, once you find your hand grasping someone’s throat, is it that hard to, you know, let go?  We do not mean to imply that the Tennessee coaching staff is teaching that move.  However, it happened twice.  We do blame the coaching staff for not putting a stop to it after the first time.   An old coach of ours used to say “once is a mistake, twice is a habit.”  That move looked like a habit.

Then there was the “mistake” by the Tennessee player in the Alabama end zone.  He chose to make a gesture to the crowd at a time when he was sure the cameras would be on him.  For a family-type blog let us just say that he chose to express the utmost disdain and disrespect he could manage while not being able to be heard verbally.  With both hands.   Again, we heard this described as a “mistake”.  We have a hard time stretching the concept quite that far.  Crass?  Yes.  Classless?  Most certainly.  The functional equivalent of adding one and one and getting eleven? 

And so, despite the predicament that the football program up in Knoxville seems to have worked itself into, we are going to have to say that as much as we’d like to pity them, we just can’t do it. 

Speaking of pity, we feel sorry for everyone who had to sit through the lousy officiating job done by the Three Stooges Crew of Mark Curles.  Or, as we like to call them, Curles, Larry and Moe.  (Actually, that’s an insult to Moe.)

As usual, there were egregious calls and non-calls in this game.  For our money, the very worst was the non-call of the block in the back on the Tennessee interception return that changed the play from being a Tennessee first down at about the 45 to a touchdown.  We will certainly listen to an argument that the block in the back they did call, as ably described by the CS&H, was worse.  The crew seemed to need to have an extensive huddle to figure out which rule to apply and how.   Fumbles out of your own end zone are a weird and relatively rarely-presented situation.  We don’t claim to know all the rules and how to explain them all -- but if we wore striped shirts, whistles, and knee socks every Saturday, we’d darn sure understand the rule book.

For what it is worth, this is not particularly new.  Back in 2009 Curles and his crew gained the distinction of being the first SEC officiating crew ever publicly-suspended for poor work. 

The pitiful part for us is the expression on the faces of the coaches as they watch events unfold.  It reminds us of when we used to have a youth baseball team.  The umpires for the younger leagues tended to be in the 15 and 16 year old range.  They had taken the job because it was better than working the drive thru window at Taco Bell.  On a basis about as regularly as you would expect, they would miss an obvious call, not understand when a play was a force play or whether a tag had to be applied, etc.  Your first season or so dealing with them could be terribly frustrating.  After that, however, most of the coaches would just adopt an attitude of “life’s too short” and after a minute or so of trying to explain that the first phrase of the infield fly rule reads “When less than two are out….”  When it went against you, the other coach would just give you a sympathetic shake of the head.  When it was for you, then you just figured this sort of thing evened out over a season and it wasn’t like you were trying to get in the NLDS.  They were minimum wage jobs and you get what you are able to pay for.

All that to say, we have started to note the same expressions of frustration, disdain, and well, resignation on the faces of SEC head football coaches.  Saban occasionally still has a hissy fit at the officials, but you can tell his heart really isn’t in it.  He’s protecting his players, but he knows nothing is going to improve the situation.  He is the dean of SEC football coaches so he knows better than anyone alive, us included.  The consequences of sorry officiating are great in each circumstance – Jones trying to save his job, Saban trying to reach ever loftier heights in the coaching pantheon while putting his deserving team in position to play for a championship.  We cannot imagine the pressure of doing that knowing that you’re going to have all of it hanging in the balance while Shemp and Curly Joe do everything but poke one another in the eyes and say “Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk”.

In any event, the regular season is now two-thirds over.  It doesn’t quite seem possible.  Alabama definitely needs to rest and heal.  Little things (which could become big things down the stretch) need to be cleaned up.  A couple of guys look just a step slower than in the past.  Punt catching has turned into an adventure that would drive a middle school coach crazy.  Former starters who have been healing need to resume their places on the field.  Fundamentals, from swing passes to open field blocking, have gotten a little sloppy.  We’ve probably developed some tendencies that tip off our play calls and blitzes.

On the other hand, it is important to remember just how outstanding the Alabama football program is at this juncture, on both a current and an historic level.  Without the two kneel downs to end the game, Alabama would have outgained Tennessee by 500 yards.  In this week’s polls, Alabama received every single first place vote, both in the AP and Coaches’ versions.   Sunday marked the 98^th time that Alabama has been ranked #1 in the AP poll.  A new poll will be released next Sunday and it seems highly unlikely that with Alabama’s bye this week another team will pass it into the top spot, which will give Alabama sole possession of third place on the list of Most Weeks Ranked #1.  (Oklahoma has been #1 ranked for 101 weeks.  Ohio State holds the top spot at 105.) 

Next Saturday night, the first College Football Playoff poll for this season will be released.  Alabama has participated every playoff since the program was instituted.  Tennessee?  Not so much.

Hate the Volunteers?  You bet.  Feel sorry for them?  Nah, not so much.

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