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 3rd
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 3rd 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 4th 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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