Nearly fifteen years later, it is
still one of the most amazing things I have seen in a football game. Heck, it’s
one of the most amazing things I’ve seen anywhere, including a county fair and
a ride on the New York City subway.
I’m referring of course to The Catch.
I was there September 10, 2005 in
Bryant-Denny Stadium with Alabama trailing Southern Miss by two scores facing
4th down and 13 from the Golden Eagle 43 yard line and only :29 seconds to play
before the end of the first half. Brodie Croyle launched a deep ball to the
Tide’s most explosive play-maker, Tyrone Prothro, who was covered and being
interfered with by the Southern Miss safety. The interference was so bad, that
the only thing keeping the ball from hitting the defender in the back of the
head were Tyrone’s hands, as he reached completely around the safety’s head,
caught the ball, and hung on as they both flipped upside down and crashed, into
the end zone.
Prothro landed on his head, which bent
at such an angle it is a miracle he survived the play, much less that he
maintained possession. The crowd went crazy as the official nearest the play
signaled touchdown. Then the crowd went even crazier when the call was
overruled and the ball was placed down at the 1 yard line.
Bama scored on the next play to go
into the locker room with the score 21-17. Bama whipped Southern Miss in the
second half and won the game 30-21, and The Catch took its rightful place along
with “The Run In The Mud”, “The Sack”, “The Kick”, “Rocky Block” and “”Second
and 26” in the pantheon of famous Alabama football plays .
The 2019 edition of Alabama’s series
with Southern Miss did not produce any plays for the ages, but it did generate
a number of spectacular touchdown passes from Tua to Henry Ruggs,III, and Jerry
Jeudy. It also featured the reappearance of Alabama’s running game, missing in
action through the first three games.
As good as the offense played, there
is still work to do. Late in the second quarter, the offense seemed to have looked
at the scoreboard which showed a 28-0 lead. At least that would explain why we
had two lackluster possessions back-to-back as time expired in the half.
The defense played better than last
week against South Carolina. Tackling for the most part was crisper. Again,
much work remains. There is only one cure for inexperience: playing time. The
good news is we have plenty of games to play before LSU on the first weekend in
November. The bad news is one of those games is a trip to College Station.
Our kicking game’s performance did not
go backwards this week. That’s a good thing. But we still do not punt the ball
very well, and placekicker Will Reichard did not play for most of the contest
after suffering an injury to his”lower leg”.
A 49-7 win over Southern Miss is a
good win. Because this blog is about taking a dive that is a bit deeper than
the score, here is how I grade the Game:
Offense: A
The Offense gained 514 yards of total offense (the fourth time in four
games this season the Tide has gained 500+ offensive yards) achieving 24 first
downs, and converting 6 of 10 third down opportunities as well as converting
its lone attempt on 4th down. More significantly, the Tide running game has
begun to emerge. Bama gained 176 net yards rushing, primarily on the legs of
Najee Harris who gained 110 rushing yards, becoming the first Tide player to
rush for more than 100+ in a game this season. Alabama ran the ball on 35
plays. Brian Robinson, Jr. and Jerome Ford both scored rushing TDs
Tua completed 17 of 21 pass attempts
for 293 yards and 5 TDs. This game was the ninth time Tua has completed at
least four touchdown passes in a game and sets a new Alabama record previously
held by AJ McCarron. Tua was sacked once, but suffered no turnovers.
Mac Jones subbed for Tua late in the
third quarter. He attempted 3 passes, completing 2 for 25 yards and a TD. He
threw an interception. Taulia Tagovailoa replaced Jones in the fourth quarter
and completed his lone pass attempt for 20 yards.
Henry Ruggs, III was Bama’s leading
receiver with 148 yards and 2 TDs on 4 receptions. Jerry Jeudy caught 6 balls
for 96 yards and 2 TDs. The Other Jaylen [Waddle] gained 43 yards on 3
receptions. DeVonta Smith caught 2 passes for 26 yards. A total of 9 players
caught passes. Najee Harris added a receiving touchdown to his game stats on a
play from the So. Miss 5 yard line where he was so open he could have paused at
the goal line to sing the fight song, and still scored before a defender could
get to him.
The offense had ten meaningful
possessions. It engineered sustained drives in 8 of the 10 [54, 91, 91, 56, 77,
68, 43, 43] resulting in 7 TDs and an interception. Bama’s last two drives of
the first half gained only 19 and 2 yards respectively, and the Tide was forced
to punt on both possessions. On the plus side, Bama mounted three offensive
drives that ran 9 or more plays, and collectively accounted for nearly 15
minutes of game time. The Tide’s quickest possession was a 3 play drive that
covered 91 yards and scored a TD in :59 seconds.
Defense: B+. Southern Miss was held to only
226 yards of total offense [52 net yards rushing], and limited to only 15 first
downs. The Golden Eagles were only able to convert 3 of 12 possession downs.
The defense yielded only two drives that gained more than 40 yards [74, 55] the
first resulted in a TD the second ended with a turnover.
Jared Mayden led all defenders with 8
tackles [5 solo]. Christian Harris had 6 tackles. Xavier McKinney, Anfernee
Jennings, and Shane Lee were each credited with 5 stops. Defensive Lineman
Phidarian Mathis [RS Soph. 6-4, 312; Wisner, La.] forced a So. Miss fumble that
Jordan Battle [DB, Fr. 6-1; 201; Fort Lauderdale, FL] recovered. Trevon Diggs
made an interception to give the Tide defense two take-aways on the game.
In addition, Tide defenders made 7
tackles for lost yardage, broke up 2 passes and hurried the Golden Eagle QB
twice.
Special Teams:
Punting: A- Skyler
DeLong averaged 37 yards per punt on two punts. Jaylen Waddle returned one So.
Miss punt 41 yards, and the coverage team allowed only 1 return yard.
Kickoffs: B+ Will
Reichard and Joseph Bulovas shared kickoff duties [Reichard suffered an injury
on his second kick off of the game] and averaged 51 and 59 yards per kick respectively. The coverage team surrendered one long return
[25 yards].
Place Kicking: A. Reichard and Bulovas were 7 for 7
on PATs. Bama did not attempt a field goal.
Coaching: A- Alabama
was penalized only once. The participation report lists 66 players who saw
action in the game. Five true freshmen [Evan Neal, DJ Dale, Shane Lee, Justin
Eboigbe, Joseph Battle] started the game.
The 2019 contest between Alabama and
Southern Miss may not have produced a play to join The Catch on the all-time
highlights reel, but I think it provided Alabama with what it needed at this
point in the season: an opportunity to improve as a team in a game against a
competent opponent. We came out of the game relatively healthy. DJ Dale left
the game in the first half, but Coach Saban did not seem too concerned about
the talented freshman being back in action soon.
Around the league, the Villagers held
off the Aggies in the second half to win 28-20 in College Station. Speaking to
reporters about the play of Auburn freshman QB Bo Nix, Gus Malzahn said “It’s
going to be a lot of fun to have him around in the future, I’ll tell you that.”
This is Coach-Speak for: “As long as Nix is starting, there is no way Pat Dye
and the rest of that bunch of cut-throats will dare to fire me.”
The Tide notched its second win of the
season over the Fighting Chickens. That’s right. After losing to Alabama last
week in a game where they gained 459 yards of total offense, made 31 first
downs, and scored 23 points, the Yard Birds got turned into Chicken Pot
Pie by Missouri. South Carolina barely managed to score two
TDs in a game where they gained only 271 yards total offense and gave up 421. I
have not been able to confirm whether the South Carolina training staff had to
restrain Will Muschamp with a straight jacket.
In Athens, Georgia defeated Notre Dame
23-17. The six-point loss by the Irish was immediately declared to be a moral
victory by the nation’s elite sports media. …. If you think I’m exaggerating
check out the game summary on the CBS Sports app which contains this sentence
in the second paragraph: “For No. 7 Notre Dame, it was another big-game loss
but a performance that should bring more respect.”
In what might be called The Battle of
the Bears …. or maybe not …. the Golden Bears from Cal beat the black variety
from Oxford 28-20. Which means it is time to start thinking about The Most
Important Game of The Season So Far for Alabama: this coming Saturday’s contest
against Ole Miss.
The Commissioner will not be available
to write The Grades next weekend as we solemnize the nuptials of The
Commissioner’s Middle Daughter. Our Correspondent From The Tire Store has
graciously agreed to grade the game. Over the next few days, I will be working
on figuring out how to get wedding bells to play “Yeah Alabama”, and trying to
convince the Commissioner’s Long Suffering Spouse that leading the reception
guests in a chorus of “The Rammer Jammer” is a time-honored tradition.
Roll Tide, Y’all
The Commissioner
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