Tennessee Grades

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It has gotten to the point where The Daily Fishwrapper is just not worth reading. If I didn't want people to think that we weren't home, there are days on end where I would not even bother to pick it up off the driveway. But not today!

On this gloriously beautiful and cool Sunday morning there is nothing I looked more forward to than drinking my coffee out on the back porch and reading every single word in the newspaper. At least every word in the sports section that is. And what interesting news! Both of the major college football programs from the State of Alabama traveled to Tennessee to play SEC opponents and left their mark.

The one from Tuscaloosa painted East Tennessee crimson, while the one from The Village came to Nashville and left sort of a brownish stain at the corner of West End Avenue and Natchez Trace. First responders were seen in Haz-Mat suits scrubbing down the area even before the Tigers' convoy cleared the Davidson County line.

The Fishwrapper's columnists are huffing and puffing this morning about how time is running out on Derek Dooley's tenure as Tennessee's head coach. They do have a point. Yesterday's game was Nick Saban's sixth consecutive victory as coach for the Tide in this border-state rivalry which, apart from the squeaker in 2009 when the faithless Lane Kiffin was coaching the Vols, have all been blow outs.

Alabama dominated Tennessee. The Vol offense had been highly productive, averaging 30 plus points per game. Against the Alabama defense, however, they were limited to 13 points on 203 total yards. Tyler Bray, who was once touted as a possible Heisman candidate, completed barely 50% of his pass attempts and threw two interceptions while the UT rushing attack was held to a mere 79 yards.

Tennessee's defense, still trying to adjust to Sal Sunseri's 3-4 concept, has struggled somewhat, but they came into the third Saturday in October fired up and talking trash. Defensive end, Darrington Sentimore, a student-athlete whose name could be part of the answer to a trivia question: "List three highly-recruited players kicked off the team by Coach Nick Saban", attracted lots of attention and several barrels of ink this week with his comments about how cold, unfeeling and off-putting he considers Coach Saban to be......OK he didn't use the words "off-putting" or "unfeeling" but he did say that Coach Saban would pass him in the hall and not speak to him and for that reason he really wanted to beat Saban more than Alabama. I suppose that in all their hallway chit-chat Dooley couldn't get it across to Sentimore that Coach Saban was not going to be on the field and he really ought to be thinking about containing the likes of TJ Yeldon who had his third 100+ yard rushing performance of the season, and Amari Cooper, whose 162 receiving yards against the Vols set a record for a true freshman.

Like every game this season, last night's contest was not a perfect performance for the Tide. It is unreasonable to expect otherwise. Tennessee gave a decent account of itself, especially in the first half, but was ultimately out manned and out played. And does that ever make for some great reading on a Sunday morning.

Here's how I grade the game:

Offense          A+       Alabama earned 23 first downs [11 rushing] on 539 total yards [233 rushing] and dominated the clock [36:47 to 23:13]. AJ completed 17 of 22 pass attempts for 306 yards and 4 TDs, all career highs, and was a perfect 7 for 7 in the second half.

TJ Yeldon gained 129 yards on 15 carries [8.6 avg.] and scored 2 rushing TDs. Eddie Lacy gained 79 yards on 17 attempts while Kenyan Drake added 22 yards in his 4 runs.

Amari Cooper led all receivers with 7 catches for 162 yards and 2 TDs. Lacy caught 3 passes for 18 yards. Kenny Bell, Kevin Norwood and Michael Williams each had 2 receptions. Bell and Williams each caught a pass for a touchdown. Christion Jones rounded out the receiving with a solo catch for 9 yards.

Alabama had 8 offensive possessions that gained at least 40 yards [47, 43, 72, 53, 47, 67, 80, 58] resulting in 5 TDs, 1 FG and 2 misses. These long drives were made possible by very good efficiency on third down; the offense converted 6 of 12 possession downs and was perfect in the Tennessee red zone, scoring 2 TDs and a FG on its three trips inside the UT 20.

Defense         A+       Tennessee was held to 11 first downs, 282 total yards of offense [79 rushing] and was able to convert only 2 of 13 third downs. UT managed a field goal on its last offensive possession of the game when Bama was going deep in the roster. Otherwise, the Vols' second half offensive possessions resulted in 2 punts, 2 turnovers on downs and an interception in the end zone. That pick [Robert Lester] which came in the third quarter on a drive where Tennessee had gained 41 yards to the Alabama 21 and was threatening to score, ended the game for all intents and purposes.

CJ Mosley was the defensive player of the game with 7 tackles [4 solo] and an interception. Vinnie Sunseri and Trey DePriest each recorded 6 tackles while Dee Milliner and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix each made 5.

In addition tot he two interceptions, Tide defenders broke up 5 passes. Tyler Wilson was not sacked but Jesse Williams is credited with a QB hurry.

Special Teams

Punting:         A-        Cody Mandel averaged 44 yards on his two punts. Cyrus Jones returned 4 punts for 59 yards and would have had more but for a holding penalty on the return.

Place Kicking:          D         Jeremy Shelly made every PAT that he had a reasonable shot at. The one missed PAT was due to a muffed hold by AJ. Cade Foster missed from 44 and 45 yards.

Kick Offs:                   C         I don't know why, but Foster was very inconsistent in kicking off for a touchback. Perhaps it was deliberate and we were trying for hang-time in order to pin the Vol offense inside their own 25. If that was the plan it did not work every time. Cyrus Jones returned one UT kick for 27 yards and nearly broke it for a much longer gain.

Coaching      A         The participation report list 52 players who saw action against the Vols. Alabama suffered 4 penalties and gained 634 all purpose yards. Amari Cooper's 162 receiving yards earned the top spot for all-purpose players.

Derek Dooley is not the only SEC coach whose future is in doubt this morning. The newspaper does not report whether Gene Chizik returned to Auburn with his team or was trundled off to the bus station with a ticket back to Iowa. We also know that Joker Phillips is on his last legs at Kentucky and John L. Smith has never been more than a single-season head coach at Arkansas. All this coaching turmoil is fodder for speculation about who will be coaching where next season.

Vol fans are filling up the sports-talk radio shows with calls for John Gruden to be their next coach. I personally think that UT will get to 7-5 this year and make a bowl trip to Florida. Coach Saban gave Dooley lots of respect in his post-game remarks. Perhaps his comments were directed more to AD Dave Hart than to the assembled media. Tommy Tubberville would be the best fit for the Arkansas program. Like him or hate him, you have to admit that Tubs knows how to coach football and he would no doubt love to be in a position to coach against Auburn every year. Kentucky will probably hire somebody obscure whose task will be to be a place-holder between the end of the NCAA basketball tournament and Midnight Madness.

So what does Auburn do? I would prefer that Chizik be given a contract extension with a no-cut clause. For some reason, however, I do not think that is very likely. Therefore, I think that Jay Jacobs will search for a replacement who fits these criteria: (i) head coaching experience including in the SEC, (ii) popular with the sports media, and (iii) acceptable to Pat Dye. I think I know just the man, and maybe one day soon I will open the newspaper and read this headline: "AU Hires John L. Smith To Coach Tigers."

The Tide has no time for such idle speculation. Mississippi State is undefeated, nationally ranked and coming to Tuscaloosa this weekend with a potent offense and a tough defense. The Bulldogs are the team that Alabama has played more than any other. Coach Dan Mullen has done an impressive job and MSU will be ready to derail Alabama's season and the chance to play for the National Championship.

I think the Tide will be ready as well. Next Sunday's Fishwrapper will not devote very much coverage to the game, but you can be assured that The Grades will do so.

Roll Tide

Missouri Grades-The Report From The Tire Store

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I thought that was a very good and fair set of grades, Commissioner.  It was an odd game on an odd day.  It was interesting to hear Coach Saban critique himself after the game.  Because he did so, I feel free to, as well.  I know that going into the locker room with a delay of at least 30 minutes (but really no telling how long) must have been strange.  For an obsessive planner like Saban, it must have been disconcerting.  I’m not sure what the right thing to do was, but given results I’m pretty sure changing clothes and eating wasn’t the right thing to do.

It is easy to blame the weather delay for Alabama’s relatively mediocre performance after that time.  There may be something else going on, though.  In his interview after the initial BCS standings were announced, Coach Saban said, “Mindset is so important in this day and age and this game."  He talked about keeping the players focused on what they needed to do.  After the weather delay, Alabama seemed more focused on getting off the field and home without anyone else getting hurt than it did on taking the game to Missouri.  To be fair, they didn’t have to.  It’s almost like they became slightly disinterested in the rest of the proceedings.  I hope the fact that this team really hasn’t yet had to play for a full 60 minutes doesn’t mean that when they are called on to do so, they don’t know how.

Special teams play was a regression Saturday, but some of that regression was based on injuries.  DeAndrew White was a key contributor on kick coverage.  His being out may not be the reason Missouri ran one back, but it didn’t help.  We had bad field position on a couple of occasions because Dee Hart is out with a knee injury and not fielding kicks.  Why our punter mishandled a snap that was picture perfect I have no explanation for –none.  If he was going to muff one, though, Saturday was the day to do it.

A couple of notes.  I thought the officials handled any number of things badly on Saturday.  From accounts I have read, both coaching staffs and media members were suggesting it was time to get players and fans out of the lightning for several minutes before the officiating crew decided to accede.  With all the emphasis we currently have on “player safety” isn’t this an easy one?  Wouldn’t the zebras like to be out of harm’s way, too?  I just don’t get it.  Also, holding on the offensive line on pass plays was apparently deleted from the rule book when I wasn’t looking.  Teams (our included) are taking advantage.  Same thing with the so-called horse collar tackle, which probably could have been called about four times Saturday, on both teams.  Perhaps the rain obscured the officials’ vision.

My biggest gripe was the end of the game.  There is less than a minute remaining, Missouri had a fourth down near mid field in miserable conditions in front of a crowd the size of one at a mid-size Texas high school game.  The game was out of reach.  Most importantly, Missouri had a player lying immobile on the sideline about two yards off the field of play (we read he is in good shape and will be rejoining his teammates soon, thank heaven).  Trainers from both teams are looking at him.  They were bringing on the stretcher/backboard assembly….  How much wisdom does it take for the referee to say to both coaches, let’s just wind the clock and let the 50 seconds run off?  Instead, we go through the silly ritual of Missouri taking a knee on fourth down (thereby losing something like half of their net rushing yards for the day), stopping the clock, running respective offensive and defensive players from each side back onto the field, marking the ball for play, snapping it again….  I suppose I should be the last one expecting common sense and a humane reaction from the likes of a SEC officiating crew.

As I mentioned after the Arkansas game, I’ve had it with the CBS broadcasting crew.  For the second game of ours in a row, it was obvious they didn’t really want to be there.  As with Arkansas, Alabama’s opponent was weakened by not having its starting quarterback and best player available for the game.  Tough, it happens.  Some of their comments were silly.  Mr. Lundquist’s mispronunciation of names is a running joke (though no longer a funny one) on SEC football message boards. They seem not to like solid defensive efforts, apparently preferring the currently fashionable quasi-arena football being played by the likes of Oregon and West Virginia.  It is no big deal, but emblematic of the dunderheads at CBS, that they posted that ridiculous map about the “travels” of Jesse Williams.  Would it have been too much to do a little research and report about why he came to America in the first place?  Perhaps something about his family?  His fans in Australia who are now following American college football for the first time?  His interesting ethnic heritage?  No, instead we get a cartoony graphic map of the world and introduced to the fact that someone on the crack research staff at CBS thinks the best way to get to Arizona from Brisbane (which they put in the wrong part of Australia, by the way) is across the Atlantic Ocean.  Verne and Gary will be broadcasting from a Columbia for the second week in a row, so maybe Verne can get that right.  I just hope they don’t let the graphics folks set up their travel schedule, or they may go through Canada to get there….

More later in honor of UT Week. Roll Tide. Beat Tennessee.

The Correspondent From The Tire Store