Western Kentucky Grades

Western Kentucky Grades

I hate it when Alabama plays mid-major directional schools.  I’m not saying that Bama shouldn’t take on cannon-fodder opponents.  An eight game SEC schedule combined with one game against a major conference opponent like Southern Cal is more than enough to bolster Bama’s strength of schedule.  But the team never seems to take these opponents seriously.  The game plan is vanilla, the players are unfocused, and the final score never seems as lopsided as it ought to.

God forbid you bet on Bama.  The extra point following Western Kentucky’s last minute touchdown allowed for a backdoor cover of the 28.5 point line, and likely inspired a lot of heavy drinking.

While the defense showed up and played to the standard that we’ve come to expect, the offense was a mess.  It’s obvious that the coaching staff wanted to give true freshman Jalen Hurts the opportunity to get comfortable throwing the ball, and as a result the game plan was very pass-heavy.  But when the Tide did run, they found very little success.  At times I found myself wondering if the offensive line was choosing not to block for the rushing game, because they seemed to be putting in absolutely no effort.  And the penalties…  I’ll go into detail on the penalties later.  Hopefully my brain doesn’t explode while I’m thinking about them.

Look, I don’t mean to be unduly critical.  It is perfectly natural for a team to experience a lull when an inferior opponent is sandwiched between two huge games.  And Bama’s “lull” resulted in a four touchdown victory over a mid-major conference champ.  It’s simply frustrating when we all know that this team is capable of a much better performance.

Here’s how I grade the game, with the standard letter grade deduction for the quality of the opponent:

OFFENSE – D+

The offense constantly fell victim to self-inflicted wounds.  Blocking was mostly awful, particularly in the run game.  Two sure touchdown passes were dropped.  Bama was hit with four false starts and a substitution infraction.  There was a clear lack of focus from all involved.

On the plus side, Jalen Hurts has cemented himself as Bama’s starting quarterback.  He went 23 of 36 for 287 yards and two TDS.  More importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over.  Hurts’ favorite target was Calvin Ridley, who had been kept in check by USC last week.  Ridley had 9 catches for 129 yards and a touchdown.  Ardarius Stewart had another fine performance. Catching 5 balls for 90 yards and a TD.  Gehrig Dieter, OJ Howard, and Robert Foster all caught multiple passes.

This might have been the worst rushing game in over half a decade.  The team rushed 39 times for a paltry 124 yards.  That’s a putrid 3.2 yards per carry.  Damien Harris led the way with 11 touches for 45 yards.  Bo Scarbrough and BJ Emmons both ran for scores.  Hurts rushed 11 times for 19 yards, but that number includes sacks.  Hurts was not as committed to the run as he was against Southern Cal.  That may have something to do with the game plan, but it’s something he needs to improve upon.

As noted earlier, the offensive line was garbage in the run game.  I don’t know if that has to do with spending most of the week working on pass protection, but the big fellas gave the runningbacks nothing to work with.  The Tide only managed 3 runs of longer than ten yards, and the longest was a late run by BJ Emmons that went for 14 yards.  More than any other issue, run protection must be a major focus during practice this week.

DEFENSE – B

The stop troops had another fantastic outing.  While I deducting a letter grade for the quality of the opposition, it should be noted that Western Kentucky is a prolific offense, and have been for the past few seasons.  They are especially adept at throwing the ball.  Topper QB Mike White was the only passer to throw for more than 500 yards in Week 1.  The closest that White came to 500 yards against Bama was the ground he covered while running for his life.

Once again, Jonathan Allen was the lead man for the Bama defense.  He harassed the passer on almost every snap.  He’s credited with 1 sack, but he often forced the opposing QB into the arms of his teammates.  The team had four sacks and six QB hurries, forced a fumble, and picked off two passes, one of which was returned for a touchdown by Eddie Jackson.  The secondary blanketed WKU’s receivers all day, leaving no windows for their QBs.

Western Kentucky was only able to manage 239 yards, which includes an embarrassing 23 yards rushing.  That’s a pretty steep drop from the 649 total yards they put up in Week 1.

So why no “+”?  I’m not docking the defense for the late TD that WKU scored against our backups; that score was the offense’s fault for not properly executing a snap.  The slight deduction comes because there were several dropped interceptions, and because Eddie Jackson chose not to fall on an easy fumble.  It’s nitpicking, but these are the kinds of plays that this defense must make against conference opponents.

SPECIAL TEAMS – C+

Adam Griffith missed a field goal, but it was a 49 yard attempt, which is by no means a gimme.  However, it hooked so badly that I’m not sure it would have been good from 30.  He nailed a shorter kick, hit all his extra points, and kickoffs were mostly fine.  Bama also blocked a long field goal.

JK Scott had another great effort.  He punted 5 times for an average of 46.4 yards with a long of 58.  He put 3 inside the 20.  Scott has reestablished himself as a weapon.

We saw a welcomed change this week.  Freshman Trevon Diggs replaced Calvin Ridley at punt returner.  Ridley is too important to the offense to have him fielding punts.  Thankfully, Diggs performed well in the role, returning 2 punts for 15 yards with a long of 13.

 COACHING – F+

I really wish I could chalk this performance up to a vanilla game plan that was focused on getting Hurts comfortable under center.  But the team was simply unfocused, particularly on offense.  Bama committed 12 penalties for 84 yards.  That is absolutely inexcusable.  That will get you beat by any decent team.  4 false starts AT HOME proves that the offensive line simply wasn’t paying attention.

In fairness, the officiating in this game was abysmal.  I’m sure my colleague at the Tire Store will have more family-friendly words for the zebras than I can currently muster.  I’ll just say this: a video came to light from a small college game of a player punching the head ref in the face and knocking him cold.  The player was rightfully arrested and charged with assault.  To paraphrase Chris Rock: after yesterday’s game, I don’t condone what that player did, but I understand it.

I have all the faith in the world that this staff will get the issues fixed before the team heads to Oxford to take on the Rebel Black Bears.  But some of the problems we saw against WKU should never have been issues in the first place.  Film study should not be very much fun.

Next week is a huge game.  Ole Miss is the lone black mark on Bama’s last two regular seasons.  The Rebels look to be a good team once again (for the money they’ve spent, they darn well should be).  Bama must be focused, and every man must do his job.  The Process works when everyone follows the Process.  I’m just thankful that we’re facing Ole Miss, and not East Central Western State.

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