There is something quite special
about the 2016 Crimson Tide football team. It is reflected in their eight wins
so far this season; in the nation-leading twenty game winning streak; in the
twelve non-offensive touchdowns scored; in the nation's number one defense
against the run, against scoring, and in total defense.
It was displayed in a record
comeback against a good Ole Miss team in Oxford, and in twenty unanswered
second-half points sealing a convincing 33-14 win over Texas A&M in
Bryant-Denny Stadium.
So what is IT? It's the intangible
component that separates champions from the very good. It's what enabled the
2015 team recover from a home loss to Ole Miss, to play elimination football
against the toughest schedule in the country and defeat Clemson in the
playoffs. It's what the 2011 team displayed in a re-match against LSU in the
BCS Championship Game and the 2012 team showed in demolishing Notre Dame.
Without it, the 2009 team could not have used the loss in the previous season's
SEC Championship Game as fuel to drive its march to a rendezvous with Texas in
Pasadena and put Alabama football back among the national elite.
What do you call IT? Some call it
"heart" or "class". I think "character" says it
best. And where does IT come from?
Certainly The Process is critical in forming character in a team, and part of
The Process is recruiting elite athletes to be Processed. Coach Saban has
certainly excelled in that critical task, but not all elite athletes are the
same. Some buy into the culture of a program more than others.
I think this Alabama team has a high
buy-in factor. Here's one example: from a junior class loaded with NFL talent,
only two players opted to leave early for the draft. OJ Howard, Dalvin
Tomlinson, Tim Williams, Jonathan Allen, Reuben Foster and Eddie Jackson, could
all be playing professional football right now. Instead, they returned for
their senior season. That's buying into the culture. That is commitment to
success as a team. That is character. I will have more to say about Eddie
Jackson a bit later.
For now, let's talk about those 20
unanswered second half points, as well as the rest of Alabama's dominating
performance against the Aggies.
The Tide opened the game with a
brilliant, 9 play, 60 yard drive that stalled in the red zone but got on the
scoreboard with a 32 yard Adam Griffith FG. TAMU responded with six plays that
earned a first down before QB Trevor Knight was sacked in an amazing athletic
play by Jonathan Allen.
Following an Aggie punt, Alabama's
offense was back in business. The Tide drove 62 yards in 13 plays only to once
again bog down in the red zone. Griff added another three points, this time
from 28 yards. The defense again forced an Aggie punt. The offense drove 88
yards in 10 plays [7 rushing] culminating in a five yard pass to OJ Howard for
a TD. It looked at this point like the Tide had found its offensive groove and
was poised to make short work of the Aggies.
Then things went sideways.
An excellent A&M punt gave Bama
possession of the football at the Tide 1 yard line. There was little to do but
run the ball, earning a first down at the 12. A loss of 2 yards on first down
was followed by an incomplete pass, a pre-snap penalty and a running play that
merely made up the penalty yards. Both teams traded punts, then exchanged
interceptions. It looked for a moment as if Alabama would drive and score after
Marlon Humphrey picked off Trevor Knight's pass attempt at the Tide 25. Bama
drove 63 yards before once again stalling in the red zone. Griff missed a FG
attempt from 28 yards, so instead of adding to its lead, the Tide surrendered
the ball to TAMU.
Then things went from sideways to
backwards.
With only 2:20 to play in the half,
the Aggies put together a drive of 8 plays, covering 80 yards and consuming
only 1:42. So after dominating statistically, Alabama found itself in a
one-score game with TAMU set to receive starting the second half.
And what a start the Aggies had!
They drove 75 yards in 6 plays, scored a touchdown and with a successful PAT
try, they held a one point lead over the number one team in the country. Their
last two drives accounted for 155 yards of offense, more than double the total
offense they had generated in their first five possessions. Meanwhile, in its
last four possessions, the Tide offense had produced a punt, a missed field
goal and two interceptions.
Then the character of this team
asserted itself.
Bama returned the ensuing kickoff to
its own 23 yard line. From their, the Tide drove 77 yards in 6:21 and capped
the drive with a TD. The play selection to start at the drive was .... well,
let's just say even Gary Danielson thought it was odd. A personal foul on what
would have been a drive ending incompletion kept the drive alive. So, just as
we saw last week in the Tennessee game, Coach Kiffin flipped the Waffle House
menu over. Seven of the next nine plays were running plays. Calvin Ridley
caught the only two pass attempts, including the 4 yard toss into the right
flat that scored the go-ahead TD.
Following an exchange of punts, Ryan
Anderson forced a fumble at the TAMU 30. Jonathan Allen recovered and recorded
his second "scoop 'n' score" of the season.
Eddie Jackson returned an Aggie punt
to the TAMU 47 and the offense covered the remaining distance to the end zone
in only three plays.....all on the ground. The balance of the game consisted of
killing the clock.
Just like that, the game went from a nail-biter, to a blow out. The
sixth ranked Aggies went from giant killers to road kill. The Tide went from
being pummeled on the ropes, to knocking the challengers off their feet.
This team never gives up. It is
never out of a game. I believe the 2016 Crimson Tide has that special something
previous championship teams possessed. There is a lot of football to be played
between now and the Playoff Championship Game. The road ahead is not going to
get any easier, but when I look at the college football landscape, I see
Alabama at the top, and a big gap between the Tide and everybody else.
A few words
about Eddie Jackson in a bit. For now, here is how I grade the game:
Offense: B+ The
Tide still has not peaked. That's a good thing for Alabama and a very bad thing
for future opponents.
Against the Aggies, Alabama gained
451 net yards of offense [287 rushing] earned 28 first downs, and converted 7
of 14 third downs. Jalen completed 15 of his 25 pass attempts for 164 yards and
2 TDs. He threw 2 interceptions. OJ Howard was the leading receiver with a
career high 8 receptions in the game for 69 yards and a score. Ardarius Stewart
caught 2 passes for 57 yards, and those receptions were made in spite of really
tight coverage. Calvin Ridley added 27 yards on 5 receptions and scored a TD.
Josh Jacobs gained 11 yards on his lone reception.
Jalen also rushed for 93 net yards
and scored a rushing TD. Damien Harris gained 125 net yards rushing on 18
carries. Josh Jacobs gained 36 yards on 10 runs and Bo Scarbrough added 33 net
yards on 8 running plays. The O Line's run blocking keeps getting better each week.
Pass blocking remains inconsistent.
The offense executed 6 sustained
drives [60, 62, 88, 63, 77, 47] producing 3 TDs, 2 FGs and a missed attempt.
Defense: A TAMU
managed to gain 278 yards of total offense [114 rushing], earned 17 first downs
and converted 5 of 16 third down plays. TAMU's offense was held to only 3
possessions of "three and out" but one of those possessions was a
single play that ended in Marlon Humphrey's interception. After the Aggies
gained 155 yards in successive possessions to end the first half and start the
second, the Tide defense shut them down. Following their go ahead TD, A&M
held the ball five more times. Here are the results in net yards: 16, (-4),
(-6), 28, 18. Now the results in production: punt, fumble, punt, downs, downs.
Reuben Foster recorded 12 tackles [8
solo]. Ronnie Harrison and Jonathan Allen each were credited with 6 tackles.
Hootie Jones and Ryan Anderson each made 4. Eddie Jackson, Marlon Humphrey,
Minkah Fitzpatrick, Dalvin Tomlinson and Tim Williams each were credited with 3
tackles.
The defense recorded 11 tackles for
loss. Ryan Anderson was credited with 3 of those TFLs and 5 of the 11 were
sacks of Trevor Knight for 50 lost yards. Knight was hurried 9 times and 4 of
his passes were broken up. Anderson and Tomlinson both forced fumbles.
Special
Teams
Place
Kicking: B- Oh, my! Griff was good from
32 and 28. He missed....badly from 29. He was perfect on PAT tries.
Punting: A JK Scott punted twice for an average of 53.5
yards. TAMU only returned on punt for an insignificant 2 yards. Eddie Jackson
returned two Aggie punts for a total of 21 yards. He was injured on his final,
17 yard return.
Kickoffs: A- Griff kicked off 7 times for an average of 65
yards. Five of those kicks were returned, for a total of 81 yards. Ardarius
Stewart returned on Aggie kick for 23 yards and Dakota Ball fielded a pooch
kick at the end of the first half and returned it 13 yards to give the Tide
offense an opportunity to get into scoring position.
Coaching: A- The participation report lists 54 players who saw
action in the game, and Alabama was penalized 7 times. The game plan was sound.
Alabama moved the ball against a very good A&M defense but left too many
points off the board by having to settle for field goals after having the ball
with a first down inside the A&M 10 yard line.
Broadcast: Oh, for goodness sake! If we
can put a man on the moon (I realize that many of our readers have no memory of
America actually landing humans on the moon. Trust me. It really did happen.)
can't someone please come up with a computer application where you can listen
to Eli call a game during the broadcast without a two play delay?
It's one thing for coaches to try
working the officials, it is entirely something else for Gary Danielson to do
it. But that is exactly what was going on when Danielson was lobbying the
replay officials to call targeting on a hard, blow-up tackle of an Aggie kick
returner. It was ridiculous. The next time Gehrig Dieter blocks an opposing
player into the seats, I hope he will just take the elevator up to the press
box and slap the sass out of Gary Danielson.
I will leave further critique of
Verne and Gary to our Tire Store Correspondent. I will also defer to Andy any
extended discussion of the well-deserved ejection of the Aggies' thuggish DB,
Donovan Wilson [number 6]. That guy was chippy from the outset.
In his post-game comments, Coach
Saban revealed that Eddie Jackson had sustained a broken leg ending his season.
Saban was highly complimentary of Jackson as a player, a person and a leader on
this team. He is all of those things.
I was at BDS in 2013 when Jackson
made his second career start against Ole Miss. The Rebel Akbar plan was to
challenge the rookie cornerback. What a mistake that proved to be. Jackson made
4 tackles [3 solo] [1 TFL], broke up 2 passes and logged his first career
interception. In the spring before his sophomore season, Jackson tore his ACL.
He recovered in record time and started 10 of 11 games that season. Last year,
he moved to safety and was selected All-SEC First Team at that position by the
conference coaches. In the playoff final against Clemson, Jackson made his 6th
interception of the season, and was named the defensive MVP for the game.
His contributions on the field will
be missed. But I fully expect that like D'onta Hightower, Will Lowery and
Kenyan Drake, he will work the sidelines during every game, encouraging and
inspiring his teammates. As I write these Grades, I do not know any details of
his anticipated treatment and recovery. He could have tossed his hat into the
draft ring last year, but chose instead to return for another championship run.
Here's hoping Eddie Jackson is able to make the leap to the NFL that his
talent, skill and work-ethic have earned.
The Tide has a much needed open date
this coming Saturday. Then they travel to Baton Rouge for the most important
game of the season so far.... I hope you agree with me that this team is
something special. I believe they have what it takes to win it all. And I
intend to follow them the whole way. It will be fun to have y'all along.
Roll Tide
Roll
The
Commissioner
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