LSU had not been shut out in Tiger Stadium since 2002. Team called Alabama did it. LSU was being coached then by a guy who was
slowly rebuilding their program named Nick Saban. Small world, is it not?
Thanks for a great winning edition of The Grades,
Commissioner. This annual Game of the
Century stuff is getting a little tiresome. Just to expand on a few things.
Offense: Plagued by
really bad field position and some play calling that left us scratching our
heads, Alabama just could not get going in the first half. Credit good hard defensive play by LSU for
part of that. To be honest, we also
think we probably made the wrong reads on a few plays. Coach Kiffin, I think, sometimes takes the
heat when the correct option was the quarterback keeper and we decide on the
field to hand it off, or we decide to throw it when a run would have been
better.
I understand that we have a lot of talent at receiver that we
just don’t get the ball to enough times.
Perhaps that will change. Hurts
seems mature beyond his years and we understand why the coaches want him on the
field. However, the places we have issues are when
running the ball straight ahead has been terribly effective and we suddenly go
away from that. Our first trip to the
red zone was earned by pounding the ball straight ahead with Bo
Scarbrough. Now, we understand he may
have had to leave the game with an injury that required going to the training
room, but still. From that point we
attempted three passes more or less into the end zone. Three difficult passes. Why?
We know there is a lot to offensive play-calling we don’t
understand. We do, though, know about
using tools. Sometimes you need a
relatively small, precision type tool that works in just one instance -- maybe like the little tool you use to
tighten a loose valve core stem. But
some jobs…. Some jobs just require
finding the biggest hammer you happen to have lying around and beating the
bejeezus out of something. Seemed to us
like on Saturday night that we’d take a few effective swings with the hand held
sledge, then switch over to the feeler gauge we use to gap spark plugs. Maybe it’s just a lesson learned and next
time we’ll keep swinging the hammer till the job is done.
Defense: Wow. Just wow.
Alabama gained 323 yards in total offense on Saturday night, on what was
clearly not its best night, partly owing to a talented and well-planned LSU
defense and partly due to its own miscues.
LSU gained 16 yards less than that over
the last two games against Alabama combined. Let that sink in just for a minute. Alabama did not improve its red zone
performance statistics because LSU never
got into the red zone. And let’s
recall, we aren’t exactly talking about the Little Sisters of Charity JV team
here. LSU recorded nearly 650 yards of
offense two weeks ago against Mississippi.
Granted that Mississippi is no defensive juggernaut, but it’s hard to
gain that kind of yardage against anyone.
LSU averaged gaining 3.8 yards per pass, which was more than three times better than its yards per rush.
The regular season, sadly to our way of thinking, is now 75%
done -- only three games remain. At this
point, it is not premature to consider this defensive team’s relative
place. Are they the best defensive team
in the SEC? Yes, and by a pretty good
bit. Are they the best defensive team in
the country? It’s hard to tell comparing
conferences/opponents/etc. (Of course,
given that some conferences have apparently abandoned it entirely *looks
askance at Big 12* the competition may not be as fierce as it once was.) It’s
safe to say any discussion of that point would include Alabama and there are
several metrics by which they could lay claim to the title.
Is this Saban’s best defense at Alabama? Too early to tell. We’ll get back to you in eight weeks or
so. We are willing to say they could
be. There are few, very few, teams that
could suffer the loss of a talented athlete and team leader like Eddie Jackson
and hardly miss a beat. Thinking back,
though, we are hard pressed to name a defensive down where things went badly for Alabama
because Eddie wasn’t back there. We’ll
just go with, we probably would have had a pick six with him in the game.
I’ve had a discussion with a couple of loyal readers about
the importance of the fact that this defense doesn’t rely on one star
player. Some defenses do (for Exhibit A,
you might look at what happened to Texas A&M after Garrett left Saturday’s
contest). Alabama has in the past. This defense has players that would be stars
on most any other team -- here they are part of the machinery. For example, Leonard Fournette had one carry
on Saturday night where the stars seemed to be aligning for him. Blocking was good up the middle. The play design had moved our defensive backs
to the edges, and #7 broke through the line.
There was a lot of green grass in front of him. It was a vintage play for him and usually results
in the next play being a PAT after he outruns everyone on the field to the end
zone. Something happened though. Shaun Dion Hamilton, lying on the ground,
reached out and grabbed his legs, stopping him for a short gain. His frustration was palpable. Players lying prone on the ground don’t tackle
Leonard Fournette with their arms. To
borrow a phrase “Alabama does”. You say
you don’t really know much about Hamilton?
You should. He’s a junior, second
on the team in tackles with 40, 7.5 for losses, plus two sacks despite being
thought of as a run stopper. If he
played for just about any other team in the conference, he’d be the best player
on their defense.
Don’t miss an opportunity to see this group of young men
play. They are really good at tackle
football. You’ll be able to tell your
grandchildren stories like, “I remember one time when Alabama went down to LSU,
they had this temporary head coach that didn’t really speak English and what a
lot of people say is one of the best running backs to ever play in the
conference, and they didn’t cross our 30-yard line all night. Now that was a defense.”
Special Teams: We don’t
know what is up with Adam Griffith.
Something in his swing mechanics is still causing him to pull longer
field goal attempts to the left. It hasn’t
cost us, yet. We hope he is not
suffering a recurrence of his back issues.
We tend to think not given the good length he is getting on his
kickoffs. And, actually, the field goals
we are missing have plenty of distance.
Gold Star to Cooper Bateman for getting an ugly snap placed on the
PAT. Seems like such a little thing, but
if you’ve never tried to do it you should some time. It’ll make you appreciate just how delicate the
timing can be.
Punt returns need a little more practice. Unfortunately, we don’t think catching them
in practice is at all like catching them in the game. Nothing for that than to just keep doing
it. We miss you #4.
Blocking the field goal was huge and deserves a high grade
in a game as tight as this one.
Punting itself is a weapon.
J.K. Scott is putting up numbers that should again have him in the hunt
for conference and national honors.
Playing with bad field position the entire first half, he helped give
the Alabama defense enough room to preserve the shut out.
Coaching. Despite
what we see as a few play-calling shortcomings, this was a well-coached
game. It’s hard to overstate how
difficult it is to play down there. LSU
figured out our snap count and regularly jumped it. They do that to a lot of teams when they are
at home. We handled them anyway. We thought Coach Saban handled
the snippy question from the on-field reporter who started out by asking him “LSU
managed to hold you scoreless for three quarters...” with an appropriate amount
of humor and pointing out the obvious.
We might have been a shade more condescending. And an extra gold star to Coach Scott
Cochran. The Alabama football team is in
extraordinary physical condition. In a
game like Saturday’s, they have to be.
On to Mississippi State.
In year’s past, it has been a challenge for Alabama to put the LSU clash
in the rearview mirror and give its best effort against Mississippi State. As usual, a team that has looked terrible for
the season suddenly seems to round in to shape at time to play Alabama.
Roll Tide, everyone.
Go teach the Bulldogs to behave.
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