On November 17, 1968 the New York Jets, led by Joe Namath, were playing the Oakland Raiders and NBC was broadcasting the game live from Oakland. With a minute to play, the Jets kicked a field goal to break a tie and take the lead 31-29.
As the game clock showed :50 Oakland's Daryle Lamoica completed a 20 yard pass to Charlie Smith. A Jets penalty added 15 more yards, and the line of scrimmage was on the Jets' side of mid-field. On the east coast, Jets fans were going crazy, screaming at their televisions to inspire the defense to stop the Raiders. Suddenly, every fan watching NBC's broadcast saw a little girl with braids skipping through a meadow in the Swiss Alps. NBC had switched from the live game to stay on schedule with the next show, a television broadcast of the movie Heidi.
Outraged football fans melted the NBC switchboard with angry phone calls. There is no telling what else furious New Yorkers did in the wake of missing Oakland's improbable comeback win. Certainly, they blamed NBC for depriving their Jets of the psychic energy generated telepathically from Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.
NBC's snafu gave rise to what became known as "The Heidi Rule." For fifty years, the practice has been for broadcasters to stay until conclusion with the game being played, irrespective of how lopsided the score. At least that was so until Alabama 62 - Ole Miss 7.
ESPN threw the Heidi Rule into the dust bin of history mid-way the fourth quarter, and Tide fans were forced to find ESPN-News, or some other outlet to follow the play of Mack Jones, and the rest of the Alabama third-team getting practice reps against what was left of the Rebel-Black Bear-Land Shark-Hotty Toddies. One member of a particular live game email thread was able to find the game in a Spanish language broadcast. (Fortunately, he understands football better than he does Spanish, so the language barrier was irrelevant.)
It just goes to show you .... the rest of the college football world, including the elite media, disrespect Alabama. Or as they say in Elba, Alabama: "Ain't nobody for us but us."
OK. I confess. That is pretty much absurd. Truth be told, just about everybody with a microphone, or laptop is talking and writing about nothing but how good the 2018 Alabama team is. Last season, Coach Saban correctly identified that sort of media hype for what it is: rat poison.
The coaches have to find ways to protect the players from that poison; to keep them focused on getting better. For instance, with the score 49-7, Holly Rowe asked Coach Saban to assess the performance of the offense at the half. "We missed a few reads on some pressures" Saban said.
Darned right we did! Better get those missed reads cleaned up before Texas A&M comes to Tuscaloosa.
Fans can get caught up in the hype just like players. Alabama's success is unprecedented. It is easy to assume the Tide's offensive success will continue unabated; that nobody in America can defend against the Tide.
Readers of this blog will remember, however, that it took a total effort to come back against Georgia. Alabama could not convert a makeable field goal to win the Championship Game in regulation. Through three games, the 2018 team has not faced a legitimate SEC defense. Ole Miss certainly does not possess one. There are challenges a-plenty coming on the schedule. The quest for daily improvement must continue.
Because I need to keep myself from getting caught up in the hype, here is how I grade the game:
Offense: A Alabama gained 516 yards of total offense [210 rushing], earned 27 first downs, converted 6 of 13 third downs, and possessed the ball for 34:20 of game time. Tua started and completed 11 of 15 pass attempts for 191 yards and 2 TDs. Jalen Hurts played from mid-way the second quarter, completing 7 of 10 passes for 85 yards and 2 TDs. Mac Jones played part of the third, and all of the 4th quarters. He completed 1 of his 3 pass attempts for 39 yards.
Damien Harris caught 4 passes for 23 yards. Jerry Jeudy made three receptions for 136 yards and 2 TDs. Let me add here, that Jeudy is a phenomenal receiver. He is lightning fast, runs great routes, and has excellent ball skills. Don't be surprised if he eclipses Julio Jones and Amari Cooper before his career is over. If he doesn't claim the lion's share of receiving records, it will not be because opposing defenses have figured out how to cover him, it will be due to the skill of his teammates who also had eye-popping games against Ole Miss. Irv Smith, Jr., caught 3 passes for 42 yards and a TD; DeVonta Smith added 28 yards on 3 receptions; Henry Ruggs, III scored a TD and caught 3 passes for 25 yards. Jaylen Waddle made only 1 reception, but he made it count for 30 yards. Eight different players caught passes.
Damien Harris led all rushers gaining 62 yards on 5 runs, and scored a rushing TD. Najee Harris added 38 net yards and a TD on 9 carries. Brian Robinson, Jr. gained 32 net yards on 10 runs. Josh Jacobs scored a rushing TD and accounted for 18 net rushing yards on 6 runs.
The Tide offense put together 7 sustained drives [72, 80, 62, 60, 52, 50, 46] resulting in 5 TDs, a FG and one missed FG. The offense suffered two turn overs, and punted twice. Both punts came on three-and-out possessions.
Defense: A+ Ole Miss was held to 248 yards of total offense [115 rushing]. The Whatevers made 9 first downs and converted only 4 of 16 possession downs.
Quinnen Williams led all tacklers with 6 stops [4 solo]. Christian Miller made 5 tackles including 2 sacks. Mack Wilson and Deionte Thompson each were credited with 4 stops. Collectively, the defense made 6 tackles for 21 yards of lost yardage [4 sacks]; forced [Xavier McKinney] and recovered [Phidarian Mathis] a fumble; broke up 6 passes, hurried the Ole Miss QB 4 times, and made two interceptions [McKinney, Thompson (TD)].
The Tide have scored 4 non-offensive TDs in their first 3 games.
Special Teams
Punting: A Skyler DeLong had time to work on his English Literature term paper until the last minutes of the game. He only punted twice for an average of 37 yards. Both punts were fair caught. Ole Miss punted 9 times. The Tide return game produced a single 37 yard return [Jaylen Waddle] that was a shoe-string tackle short of a touchdown.
Kickoffs: A Joseph Bulovas handled kickoff duties and achieved a net average of 43.5 yards per kick. Josh Jacobs returned 2 Ole Miss kicks for a total of 101 yards [74 yards longest].
Place Kicking: B+ Bulovas missed a 38 yard FG attempt, but was successful from 20, and 44 yards. He was perfect on 8 PATs.
Coaching: A Alabama was penalized 8 times for 60 yards. The participation report lists 66 players who saw action in the game. ... Oh, and in the second half I think Alabama fixed that problem with missing pressure reads.
Ole Miss is not finished losing games this season. The Reb defense is not very good. They ought to be favored when they play Arkansas, but that may well turn out to be a game to determine which team finishes at the bottom of the league. The rest of the SEC West is starting look like the toughest conference in college football. LSU did not earn any style points, but the Bayou Bengals drove the field and kicked a game winning FG as time expired to beat Auburn in the Village. Auburn's offense leaves much to be desired, but the Tiger defense is very good. Mississippi State deserves its national ranking and had a decisive win over Louisiana Lafayette 56-10.
Jimbo Fisher has A&M playing very well. The Tide will have its hands full this coming weekend. Forget all that rat poison about how good Alabama is. Stay focused on improving. Outwork yesterday. See you in Tuscaloosa on Saturday ...
Roll Tide, Y'all
The Commissioner
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