Orange Bowl Grades

     Y’all, this game was not a contest between the best football team in America and the fourth best. There is no way Oklahoma was a better football team than Georgia. Not that the Dawgs deserved to be in the playoffs, mind you, but nobody can honestly say Oklahoma was a better team than Georgia.

      As I write these grades, the Dawgs have not yet kicked off against Texas. Perhaps the Canines will let Alabama beat them again and fail to show up for the Sugar Bowl. But I stand by my opening remark.The Orange Bowl was not a game between the number 1 and the 4 teams.

     Alabama beat Oklahoma 45-34. Don’t let the score fool you. Also don’t get hung up on OU outscoring Alabama in the second half. The score of this game could very easily have been 60-27.

    One team had the Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback. The other had the nation’s best quarterback. The Sooner offense was statistically the best in the nation. The Sooner defense was ….what’s the word I’m looking for?...Not. After Bama scored a touchdown on the game’s opening drive, Oklahoma never possessed the football with a chance to score and take the lead.

     In reality, the game was another playoff semifinal mismatch; not as laughable as Clemson 30 Notre Dame 3, but Alabama was clearly better than Oklahoma. Special teams’ malpractice, penalties (called and not called), and errors in execution combined to allow the Sooners to get back in the game. What should have been a blowout ended up a 4^th quarter stalemate. A breezy, relaxed tune up for yet another rendezvous with Clemson became a slug-fest of cheap shots, and unsportsmanlike play from both teams.

     Alabama’s fourth touchdown was a perfect metaphor for the Tide’s dominance.  Josh Jacobs took a perfectly thrown screen pass 27 yards, and knocked an erstwhile tackler into next week on his way into the end zone. Fortunately, the OU player was not seriously injured, beyond whatever social or psychic impact he might suffer from video of the play going viral.

     How the Tide mismanaged the opportunity to end the game in the second quarter, was a perfect example of the woes Bama has suffered all season on special teams. OU’s first scoring drive ended with two separate OU players flagged for personal fouls. So, with the score 28-7, Oklahoma had to kick off from its own 10 yard line. The Tide offense, which to this point in the game had been unstoppable, was assured of field position somewhere between good and excellent, assuming of course that The Other Jaylen, or Josh Jacobs didn’t score on the return.

     So, what happened? The forward return man, for some reason, stuck his arm in the air. Maybe he was pointing to himself on the Jumbo Tron? He couldn’t have been calling for the ball, because it sailed over his head right into the hands of Josh Jacobs who was primed to return the ball behind a phalanx of blockers. Instead, the refs interpreted the raised hand as a fair catch signal, and spotted the ball at the Bama 21 yard line.

Three plays later, the Tide punted the ball 34 yards, and Oklahoma returned the kick 5 yards. So, instead of answering the Sooner’s TD with a decisive drive of its own, the Tide allowed OU the ball, first and ten at midfield.

     The defense forced OU to grind out yards, and held the Sooners to a field goal. Alabama took the ensuing kickoff, and drove to the Oklahoma 15. On third and less and a yard, Bama was penalized three times. Each penalty was attributed to right guard, Jedrick Wills, Jr. [So.; 6-5, 309; Lexington, KY].  Of the three infractions, a false start was legitimate. The second flag, was a phantom holding call, and the third was a procedure call that nullified a touchdown pass. Alabama had to settle for a field goal and the score at the half was 31-10.

      OU scored on each of its four second half possessions, but had to run 40 plays, and consume 13:43 of game time to do so. The Sooners found yards hard to come by, and were not able to run the up-tempo offense they grew accustomed to in the Big XII. Bama meanwhile continued to drain the game clock while scoring two TDs and taking a knee at the OU 10 yard line to end the game. An earlier drive was thwarted by the video official reversing a catch called on the field. If the standard is supposed to be “indisputable video evidence” the play should have stood as called. Bama would have had the ball first down in the OU red zone instead of punting. More on the disgraceful performance of the officials a bit later.

      Because Alabama dominated OU in a manner that is not exactly reflected in the statistics, here is how I grade the game:

Offense:              A             Alabama gained 528 yards of total offense [200 net yards rushing], earned 28 first downs, converted 7 of 10 third downs, and controlled the ball for 36:08. Tua was nothing short of fantastic, completing 24 of 27 pass attempts for 318 yards and 4 TD’s. Jalen completed his only pass attempt for 10 yards.

DeVonta Smith was the leading receiver with 104 yards and a TD on 6 receptions. Jeudy and Jacobs each caught four passes for 73 and 60 yards respectively. Each made receptions for touchdowns. Henry Ruggs, III caught 3 passes for 14 yards including a spectacular TD catch while being interfered with. Nine different players caught passes.

Jacobs was the Tide’s leading rusher, gaining 98 yards on 15 plays (6.5 avg). Damien Harris gained 48 yards on 11 carries, and Najee Harris gained 45 yards on 6 runs. No Tide running back was tackled for lost yardage.

The offense gained more than 40 yards on 8 of its 10 offensive possessions [75, 55, 61, 48, 55, 87, 46, 49] resulting in six TD’s, one FG, and the end of the game.

Defense:             B             The defense surrendered 471 total yards to OU’s offense. However, the Sooners were only able to convert 6 of 13 third downs, and Kyler Murray was barely 50% in pass completions [19-37, 308 yds]. Murray also gained 109 net yards rushing, but 48 of those yards came on a single play at the end of the first half where the Tide was playing deep prevent.

Dylan Moses led all tacklers with 5 stops [4 solo]. Deionte Thompson and Isaiah Buggs each recorded 4 tackles. Xavier Mckinney was recognized as the defensive MVP for his 4 tackles and 4 pass breakups. All total Bama defenders recorded 4 tackles for lost yardage [3 sacks], broke up 6 passes and hurried the Heisman Trophy winner 2 times.

Special Teams:

Punting:               D+          Mike Bernier only averaged 28 yards per kick on two punts. The return team recorded no yards. The coverage unit allowed 5 yards on one return.

Kickoffs:               D             Joseph Bulovas averaged 55 yards per kick. Only 1 kick was a touchback. The coverage unit allowed 92 yards on 5 returns including a long return of 23 yards. The kick return unit committed an incomprehensible error discussed earlier.

Place Kicking:     A             Bulovas was good on his lone FG attempt [38 yards] and perfect on 6 PATs.

Coaching:            A             Alabama was ready to play. Although penalized 9 times, that will not factor in the coaching grade. The participation report lists 53 players who saw action in the game. OU only played 46 different players.

A few words about the officials, borrowed from the ACC: Take them back and don’t lend them out ever again.

Those guys were pathetic. I suppose they came into the game intending to “let the players play.” At least that is the only thing that explains absolutely ignoring blatant pass interference by OU DB’s and holding by the Sooner offensive line. Apart from the two personal fouls called following OU’s initial score, the officials totally ignored cheap shots and late hits. Perhaps they saw how Alabama’s return team mishandled OU’s kick off from the 10 yard line and figured there was no point in punishing other fouls. The result was that as the game progressed, the quality of play deteriorated….on both sides.

But enough on this topic. Fortunately, Alabama will not have to play another game with these officials.

Notwithstanding the confetti shower, the big trophy filled with oranges, and the TV hype, winning this game was not a stand-alone goal. It was, however an essential step towards a goal. For Alabama, it was just the last milestone on the Road to 18. The finish line is now in sight: Alabama’s annual post-season game against Clemson.

Saturday’s Wall Street Journal has a feature story about how Clemson has been working to turn itself into Alabama. It is worth reading.

Alabama has the chance to make history. No college football team has ever won 15 games in a single season. No team has ever won six national championships in nine seasons. Alabama has those opportunities. Stay focused, everyone. Do your film study. Work on improving every day. Out work yesterday.

And most importantly: trust The Process.

Roll Tide Y’all.

The Commissioner

TO COMMENT ON THIS POST, PLEASE CLICK ON THE ABOVE LINK.