Ole Miss Grades

What a glorious morning this is in Middle Tennessee!

As I walked out of the house this morning to pick The Daily Fishwrapper off the driveway, the air was crisp and cool, the sky was deep blue and the birds sang gleefully in the tree tops.  The subtle changes in the tint of the leaves provided a harbinger of more vibrant hues, arriving perhaps as early as St. Crispin’s Day, but certainly not later than All Saints.  It’s one of those soul-refreshing mornings where all of nature is in harmony.  It’s a morning after Alabama has won and Auburn has lost in football.

That’s good news in and of itself.  But what is even better news, is that from the way Alabama won, and the way Auburn lost, we are going to enjoy many more Sunday mornings just like this one.

Alabama demolished the Ole Miss offense in front of the largest crowd ever to attend a college football game in the State of Mississippi, and Arkansas, which was only able to score 7 points against the Tide, rang up the Awbs for 44.  By the time Alabama was finished with the Rebs, the team that once was ranked as high as number 4 in the polls lay in ruins and head coach Houston Nutt had twitched himself into a state of exhaustion.  Over in the Ozarks, the “Spread Eagle” offense had managed to score 23 points, including 20 in a flurry of big plays, but the Tiger defense was shredded for nearly 500 total yards and Coach Gene Chizik’s quest to achieve a career coaching win-percentage of .500 has been deferred until next season.

The Tide faced a team that was determined to play a physical game; a team that was literally one play away from winning each of its last five meetings with Alabama.  By the end of the first quarter yesterday it was clear that, barring some alteration of the laws of physics, Alabama would win the slug-fest.   The Ole Miss defense is the best that Alabama has faced so far this season; better even than Virginia Tech.  It particularly made things tough close to its goal line.  The Rebs coaching staff did an excellent job game planning for Alabama’s offense.  GMac had his worst statistical performance of the season due mainly to the pressure generated by the Ole Miss pass rush.  But Jevan Snead would have gladly traded places with him.   Bama’s receivers were limited as well by a hard pressing Ole Miss secondary that was determined to take away Alabama’s big play potential.  Either that, or else street crime has reached epidemic levels in Oxford, because Julio Jones was mugged a half dozen times yesterday.

The odds-makers handicapped this game to be another close one, with Alabama a 4 ½ point favorite.   To beat a good SEC team 22-3 is no small accomplishment.   After the Kentucky game a week ago, defensive captain Rolando McClain, vowed that the Bama defense would work hard and improve.  It was a statement that didn’t get anywhere near the media attention of Tim Tebow’s “I Promise You” speech last year, but the teams that Alabama will face the rest of this season had better take notice.  Alabama is coming …. and their bringing a 55 gallon barrel of Whoop-ass with them.

Here’s how I grade the game:

Offense:              B--          Despite Mark Ingram’s outstanding performance [28 carries, 172  yards, 1 TD, 3 catches for 16 yards] Alabama got into the end zone only once.   But it was a great play. Ingram took a pitch and ran 36 yards untouched through a gaping hole created by an unbalanced line and an excellent block by Julio Jones on the cornerback.  Julio drove his guy so far out of the play that he had to buy a ticket to get back in the stadium.

The Rebs have a very good defense, and generated a lot of pressure on GMac with a combination of outside rushes and creative blitzes.  The O Line had a hard time handling what Ole Miss was bringing; a fact that will not be overlooked by future opposing coaches.  GMac completed only 15 of his 34 pass attempts [there were at least 2 drops by receivers] for 147 yards.  He did not throw a pass for a touchdown, but neither did he throw an interception.  Trent Richardson gained 40 yards on 9 carries, but his performance was marred by a forced fumble at the Ole Miss 10 yard line.  For whatever reason, Ingram and Richardson got all of the rushing calls.  My guess is that the Ole Miss defense presented such a challenge up front that the coaching staff decided to stick with the two players that gave us the best chance to make plays.

Alabama gained 354 total yards [200 rushing], earned 17 first downs, and converted only 4 of 20 third downs; but was perfect 4 times on 4th down conversions including a faked punt [that makes 8 successful conversions on 20 “possession” downs]. 

Marquise Maze and Julio each had 4 receptions, Collin Peek and Mark Ingram each had 3.  Ole Miss was determined to take away the big play and they were successful.  The longest pass play gained only 16 yards.

Bama’s offense mounted three drives that gained 40 or more yards [12 plays 58 yards, 4:01, FG; 6 plays, 61 yards, 2:49, TD; 10 plays, 45 yards, 6:30, end of game] and  two resulted in points.  But it also had two more drives that nearly reached the 40 yard threshold [38, 36].  Bama scored 5 times in 6 trips into the red zone.  The lone failure to score was the consequence of Richardson’s fumble.  The second quarter was Alabama’s most prolific from a scoring standpoint as the Tide scored 13 points [2 FGs, 1TD] in three consecutive possessions starting with 8:24 left to play in the half.  After the defense held Ole Miss on downs with 6:30 to play in the game, the Tide offense did not surrender the ball again as it drained the clock on 10 running plays that gained 45 yards.

Defense:             A+          There is no other grade that is appropriate.         

Ole Miss had 8 possessions in the first half.  It managed to run only 20 plays that gained a total of 19 yards and four “drives” gained zero.  That’s right: zilch.  Zip.  Nada.  The second half was a bit more productive for the Rebs as they managed a FG on a 10 play 60 yard drive on their second possession of the third quarter, but with 6:30 to play and Bama with the ball, Ole Miss allowed the game to end with timeouts to spare [Note to Houston Nutt:  Time outs are not like AT&T “roll-over minutes”; you don’t get to keep them for next week].
 

Bama held the Ole Miss offense to a grand total of 212 yards  and intercepted Jevan Snead 4 times [Kareem Jackson, McClain, Justin Woodall, Javier Arenas].  Jackson returned his interception 79 yards.  His pick was a drive-killer and came when it looked as if Ole Miss might be finding some offensive momentum.

McClain, Javier, Corey Reamer and Jackson each had 4 solo tackles, and Mark Barron, Woodall, and Marcell Dareus each had 3 solo.  McClain, Reamer, Barron and Dareus were each credited with a tackle for loss.  I dare say that Ole Miss waterbug Dexter McCluster will have PTSD from the hit that Dareus laid on him.

Officially, Snead was hurried only 5 times and was not sacked.  Those stats do not convey adequately the relentless pressure that Alabama put on the Ole Miss signal caller who managed to complete only 11 of 34 pass attempts. 

Special Teams:

Field Goals          A+          Leigh Tiffin was perfect on 5 FG attempts [25, 21, 22, 21, 31] and his lone PAT.

Punting:               A+          Fitz averaged 40.8 yards on 6 punts, one of which pinned Ole Miss inside their 10.  The return effort only gained 5 yards on two returns.  But the outstanding grade comes from Corey Reamer’s block of Tyler Campbell’s attempted punt in the second quarter and the take-away fumble recovered during a punt return in the third.

Kicking:               C             Tiffin averaged 64.7 yards per kick off and got a touchback.  But the coverage allowed an average of 24 yards per return including one return for 34.  Javier would have had a return of 61 yards but it was wiped out by a holding penalty.   I find myself holding my breath every time we kick off.  It remains the one aspect of our game where the Tide has glaring weaknesses. 

Coaching:             A             It is a mark of how far Alabama has come under the coaching of Nick Saban that I actually had to think about whether to ding the coaches for only scoring 22 points in a road game against a nationally ranked SEC West team.  Bama gained 478 all-purpose yards and controlled the ball for 38:19.    We were penalized 4 times for 30 yards.

We have arrived at that tipping-point in the season where a team that aspires to compete for the BCS Championship cannot overcome a subsequent loss.  Virginia Tech, despite its opening game loss to Alabama, has a path it can follow that, with some luck, could lead to a birth in the BCS Championship Game.  Florida might conceivably overcome a loss to either South Carolina or Florida State but only if it won convincingly in the SEC CG, the poll voters surrender to their man-crush on Tim Tebow and it somehow manages to be a stand-alone one-loss team.  For Alabama, however, there is only one path and that is to win them all.  Coach Saban analogized Alabama’s situation to that of a mountain climber: “The higher you go the tougher it gets.”

Is Alabama tough enough to reach the summit?  Let’s ask those guys in Oxford who, for the first 30 minutes yesterday, managed to gain less than 3 feet on every play.

The Commissioner

Kentucky Grades

Officially it was second down and twelve.

Actually it was more like second and a grunt shy of thirteen.  For all practical purposes it was the second time in consecutive games for Alabama to make a statement about the kind of football team it claims to be.  The first opportunity came last week against Arkansas, and the Tide made the most of it with a 99 yard,  13 play scoring drive.  This week, Alabama repeated last Saturday’s performance.  The drive chart will reflect that Alabama gained 97 yards in 13 plays and consumed 6:50 off the clock.  But the stats fail to convey the reality of what happened.
 

On first down, Trent Richardson was tackled for a loss of two yards, two feet and six inches.  Few running backs have the strength that allowed Richardson to avoid the safety.  Richardson gained five yards on second down, and on 3rd and 7, GMac found Colin Peek for a perfect 21 yard pass that earned a first-down; the first of four in the drive.  Over the next ten plays from scrimmage, GMac completed passes to three of his wide receivers-Julio, Darius Hanks, and Earl Alexander-while Mark Ingram rushed for 19 yards, Richardson added 4 more and Peek snagged another reception to end the drive with a touchdown.  Along the way, the Tide offense converted three third downs and GMac completed 5 of 7 passing attempts.  An offense that had been AWOL since scoring on its opening possession had come to life.  Alabama had imposed its will on home-standing Kentucky.  And momentum in the game turned completely in Alabama’s favor.

Coach Saban, in his locker room interview with Eli Gold, said the long drive was the turning point of the game.  Indeed.  It was the hinge around which the rest of the game turned.  Without the long drive, Rolando McClain does not force the fumble that Courtney Upshaw returned 45 yards for 6 points a mere 14 seconds later. 

How many times has Coach Saban talked about the need to “finish”?  The 2009 Crimson Tide has proven that it knows how to do just that.

This was not a pretty game.  Alabama played poorly at times in all phases of the game.  But when Bama can play poorly and still beat a conference team on the road by 18 points, there’s something happening in the program that promises greatness.

Here’s how I grade the game:

Offense:              B             After the first quarter, the offense was working on a D+. From the 12:07 mark in the first quarter to the 8:21 mark in the second, Alabama’s offense had four consecutive possessions that went three and out. During this dismal stretch, the Tide had only 61 yards of offense and GMac completed only 4 of 9 pass attempts.  For the rest of the game, Bama made the most of its seven possessions, scoring 5 TDs, and a field goal while only punting once.

GMac completed 15 of 26 attempts with 2 TDs and no interceptions. The passin game earned 148 yards and surrendered one sack. Seven players caught passes and Colin Peek led all receivers with 6 receptions for 65 yards and a TD. Darius Hanks caught GMac’s longest pass of the day, 27 yards.

The running game netted 204 yards. Mark Ingram gained 140 on 22 carries. Richardson added 28 on 13 attempts.

Defense:             B             You would think that four take aways [three interceptions and a forced fumble] would earn any defensive unit an A.  But this is Alabama and the defense has played at such a high level that standards are higher and when the defense gives up 20 first downs, 133 yards rushing and 301 total offensive yards, a full grade deduction is deserved.

Rolando McClain was selected Player of the Game and he richly deserved that honor. Number 25 had 12 tackles [8 solo], a forced fumble, an interception a pass breakup and a QB hurry.  Stop Troops were credited with 5 tackles for a loss of 20 yards including 2 sacks. Courtney Upshaw added a sack and a hurry and  4 tackles to his TD scored on  the fumble return.Mark Barron and Eryk Anders each contributed interceptions to give the Tide its highest number of take aways so far this season.

Special Teams:

Punting:               C+           Fitz averaged only 39.8 yards per kick on 5 punts and for the first imte in memory, Javier Arenas did not return a single punt. The coverage unit gave up 58 yards on 4 returned punts.

Kickoffs:               C+           Leigh Tiffin averaged less than 38 net yards per kick off. Javier had an electrifying 60 yard return to start the game, but the coverage unit continues to be an area of concern as Derrick Locke returned one kick for 39 yards and Randall Cobb returned one for 34.

Place Kicking:      A+          Tiffin was 5 for 5 on PATs and made his only attempted FG.

Coaching:              B             Alabama gained 520 all purpose yards, was penalized 6 times for 47 yards.  The participation report lists 53 players who saw action against the Cats. I was surprised that the play calling in the first half appeared to favor passing plays against the Kentucky defense that is among the worst in the league against the run. Coach Saban’s post-game comments were all about improvement. The same is true for Roland McClain. To listen to his answers to a reporter’s questions you would never have guessed that he had turned in such a monster day. He was more focused on the fact that the defense had been vulnerable to Kentucky’s running game.  It was as if he anticipated what his head coach would say 15 minutes later.

Around the league, as I write these grades, Georgia lost to LSU after the officials imposed a ridiculous celebration penalty after the Dawgs scored to take the lead with barely a minute to play in the game. That sort of absurdity has to stop. Arkansas is pounding the stuffing out of Texas A&M proving that a team in the middle of the SEC West is way better than its Big 12 counterpart.  Auburn is shredding the UT defense late in the 3rd quarter. There is still time for a piece of space junk to fall from orbit and smash into big “T” at the 50, but short of that, it looks as if the Tigers are going to beat the Vols with an offense that is better than any to come out of the Village in several years.

In Nashville, Bama’s next opponent, Ole Miss, is taking care of business over on West End Avenue as it has a sufficient lead over Vanderbilt. The Rebs have talent, and have played Alabama close every year for the last several.  The Tide needs to stay focused on the task of getting better every week. If it does, there isn’t a team on the schedule that Alabama can’t beat. And won’t THAT be a statement about the kind of program Alabama football has become again.
 

The Commissioner