So the Commissioner was busy giving
away a bride on Saturday and asked if we could get Pee Wee and Big Willie to
handle busting down the tires and running the alignment machine to write The Grades
this week. We are happy to do so, though
a little nervous -- the Commissioner leaves a big keyboard to fill and, well,
Pee Wee is still a little scared of the fancy computer-controlled alignment
machine. Best wishes to the happy couple, Commish.
Saturday was another blazing hot day in Tuscaloosa, with the
on-field thermometer needling over to near 110 degrees. The other thing that was scorching hot was
the Alabama offense that lit up the scoreboard the way a lightning strike
sometimes lights up entire counties out in California. The defensive performance left some to be
desired given usual expectations.
Nonetheless, a blow out win against a divisional opponent is never to be
taken for granted, especially this divisional opponent.
Look at it this way if no other -- Alabama beat Mississippi
31-0 in the second quarter. Did the players seem to lose a little focus
and energy in the second half? Yes, they
did. Although we’d have been happier to
win every quarter by a score of 31-0, we understand that in that heat and with
those levels of success, yeah a group of 18-22 year olds may have a little
trouble staying in the game. More
below.
As CBS and Gary Danielson found no end of reasons to
reference, Mississippi defeated Alabama two seasons in a row, including one
game where they had enough lucky breaks to equal walking into your kitchen on a
stray Saturday evening and finding a unicorn standing there. A red and blue
unicorn. With a striped horn. Wearing a bow tie.
So Saturday was satisfying in that Alabama logged another
blowout win against an over-matched opponent, maintained its undefeated season,
and perhaps by the time it returns to the field in Tuscaloosa in a few weeks,
the weather will be a little more temperate.
We hope, however, that the team is hotter than a set of drum brakes on a
Plymouth Roadrunner.
Here is how we grade the game
Offense: A+ Let us not mince words. This was an excellent offensive
performance. A few years back we told
the lug nut crew to pay special attention to Julio Jones, because he was such
an excellent wide receiver we probably did not have enough football watching
years left to see his equal. And then
Amari Cooper. And then Calvin Ridley. And now?
OK, Jerry Jeudy was generally considered to be the best WR on the team
in August and we think he still is, frequently drawing double team coverage and
still getting plenty of catches.
Saturday, apparently having become the all time rock, paper scissors
champion, DeVonta Smith caught 11 passes for 274 yards, setting records for TD
receptions in a half, game, becoimg the all time receiving TD leader in Alabama
history (at least for now), etc. Neither of those guys is
as fast as Henry Ruggs, III. On perhaps
100 of the top division college teams, Jalen Waddle would be the best receiver
by a good bit…..
Tua Tagovailoa passed A.J. McCarron for TD responsibility in
a career, in fewer games. His six TD
passes was a career and program high.
Overall, he was 26/36 for 481 yards.
Let us be realistic, Mississippi’s pass defense is somewhere between
atrocious and putrid, but these numbers are difficult to achieve against air.
The Mississippi run defense, however, was relatively
respectable coming into Saturday. The running game showed signs of life, with 30 carries for 155 yards and Harris and
Robinson combining for 19 carries for 131.
And if you haven’t yet seen the video of Jedrick Wills, Jr. tossing a hapless
Mississippi defender backwards like a rag doll, look up the video -- it’s worth
10 seconds of your life for sure. In all
Alabama tallied 573 yards of offense in the contest.
In short, the offense was basically unstoppable and could easily
have scored in the 70s. That’s at the top end grade
of an excellent performance
Defense: C A “C”
grade represents a fair performance.
Which this was. Coach Saban said,
rather tellingly, after the game: “The
players we have are the players we have.”
Terrell Lewis was a force to be reckoned with -- on the downs he was in
the game. The same was true for D.J. Dale. The injury losses have been, perhaps,
over-documented elsewhere. Mississippi
rushed for 279 yards and passed for 197.
Mayden had a nice pick and return.
Plumee rushed for 109 yards on 25 carries but managed a QBR of only 34. In his post game press conference, Coach
Saban mentioned that the officials failed to give Alabama a chance to substitute
after Mississippi did so. We don’t know
why Williamson’s crew didn’t do a better job at this. Oh, wait, they are SEC
officials. Never mind.
The problem is that this is a game where you’d like to get a
good bit of experience for your second team players and a number of snaps for
your third string. At some positions,
Alabama is starting its second string and the third is pressed into service
early in the game for standard relief. Again, the defense was on the
field for over 80 plays, which is unsustainable. Some of that is due to an offense that is a
threat to be in the end zone on every play.
However, some of that is due to not being able to force a
three-and-out. However, when the game
seemed competitive near the end of the first quarter, Alabama forced (we think)
five straight short scoreless possessions by Mississippi until things were out
of reach.
To our eyes, it looked like the defense got hot, tired, and
bored with the contest. Such is
youth. The coaches have work to do here.
Special Teams: ?+/-
Well, we really wish the Commissioner had to issue this grade. Normally, a game with a blocked punt
recovered in the end zone for a touchdown would earn an automatic A. Fumbling a punt that lead to the other team
scoring a touchdown would earn an F. A
game allowing blocked punt -- we still aren’t sure if it was blocked or not
because CBS was too busy showing us some graphic about how much better Y.A.
Tittle was than Sonny Jurgensen or something equally less relevant should also
earn an F. But Waddle was otherwise
electric on kick returns and will eventually take one all the way this year so that
deserves a good grade. Except that one kick
return was called back to inside our 10 because of a block in the back.
With the backup handling place kicking you
are inclined to grant some extra credit, but this kicker is an upperclassman
who was the starter last season. (And,
we hope Reichard gets well soon after he hurt his leg by kicking the kicking
tee. Perhaps we should get rid of the cast
iron model and/or not nail it into the turf with a spike from here on.) Most
kickoffs forced fair catches and coverage was generally excellent. But we kicked off out of bounds one time --
an automatic low grade. We made a
36-yard field goal, which is great. But
we hit the upright on a 28-yarder that was probably attempted just to help the
kicker’s confidence because at that time we didn’t really need the points. We don’t know the conference
and overall NCAA record for most uprights hit in a season (we are guessing
someone does) but with 3 or 4 that we recall in just four games, we have to be
getting close. Though, is that really the
record you want to have writ in crimson flame?
We think not.
And for all of you who took our grade above to be characters
representing a swear word, well, if the kicking tee fits….
Coaching: B-. The
offense was well-prepared and handled the not very good Mississippi defense
with ease. New wrinkles appeared in the
offensive play calling. Defensively,
this team was not well prepared for the quasi single wing style of ball
Mississippi was playing. Not to mention
their special technique where the tackle or tight end was permitted to Bear hug on the
edge till the runner was around the corner.
In fairness, Plumee played a very good game and having only had about
two series of tape on him before Saturday, most of the coaching had to be done in game. It was somewhat like playing one of those pesky triple option teams late in the year with an offense you see about annually.
The markdown is more for the way the team, particularly the
defense, seemed to lose interest in the contest after the lead stretched out to
about five touchdowns. Maybe that is
human nature. Unfortunately, this is the
opposite of what the Process ™ teaches -- each play has a life of its own and
you play for success and excellence on every play. In short, win each play. Then the game outcome takes care of
itself. It is a process and there is
work to do with this team. Good thing we have such an excellent staff.
Because of a little quirk in the calendar, every SEC team
will have two open weeks this season.
Alabama’s first is next Saturday.
We think it falls at a good time.
Players are getting dinged up.
Some fundamentals need work. A
long trip to College Station is next.
We encourage you to get some household chores done next
week. The next three games are all
against SEC opponents. We’ll see you in
two weeks.
Roll Tide. Beat Texas
A&M.
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