Mississippi State Grades

Amid all the Cam Newton speculation and rumor; amid all the anonymous sources, and unconfirmed reports, there was only one question, the answer to which really mattered: How would Alabama react to the loss at LSU?

Would Alabama bounce back? With Trent Richardson likely unavailable, could Alabama bounce back? With only pride to play for, was there enough at stake for this young team to find a motivation, and an identity, that nine games into the season is still missing?

The sports staff at The Tuscaloosa News all predicted theTide to win, but only Cecil Hurt had the margin of victory greater than a field goal, and he predicted only a five point win. Some commentators were saying that this team was teetering on the brink of a late season melt down on the order of 2007. Which way would the 2010 Tide go, with no championship even as a  hypothetical destination?

Well, the players answered all of those questions Saturday night in Bryant Denny Stadium by beating Alabama's oldest rival by twenty points, in a game that was over before the end of the third quarter.

Doubts about the players' effort and intensity were put to rest early. The offense took the opening kick off and crisply moved 59 yards for a field goal on 9 plays in a no-huddle drive that featured a variety of formations. The defense played the whole game with an intensity that was AWOL in the second half of the LSU game. The pass rush generated good pressure on the MSU quarterbacks and produced a season-high 5 sacks. In three consecutive possessions, spanning less than three minutes of game time, Alabama ran seven plays, and scored 21 points. After the first play of the final stanza, GMac trotted to the sidelines and took a well deserved bow for what might have been his best performance of the season.

There remains much room for improvement with this team. Its greatest challenge is waiting on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Explosive plays aside, the offense still lacks the sort of line play that produces success in the inside run game, and gives the quarterback time to throw. The defense must build on a good effort against a Mississippi State team that runs Auburn's offense without Auburn's hired-hand quarterback. For now, though, we know the choices this team and these players have made. They chose pride over sell-pity. They chose effort over ease. They chose intensity over indifference. Hardware and titles may be out of reach, but those choices, and many more, are what can make the 2010 Crimson Tide, a team of winners.

Here's how I grade the game:

Offense:        A        The Tide gained 452 yards of total offense [175 rushing] on merely 59 plays for an average of 7.7 yards per play. Julio Jones was the leading rusher with 56 yards and a touchdown on one carry. Mark Ingram found precious little running room inside but was able to gain 53 net yards on 18 carries. Eddie Lacy added 35 yards on 8 plays and GMac ran the ball 3 times for 20 yards. Freshman Jalston Fowler [6-1, 236, Mobile, Vigor HS] added 15 yards on 3 carries and would have scored his first collegiate touchdown, but his fumble into the end zone was recovered by MSU for a touchback. The fumble aside, Fowler is an impressive player who runs hard and is going to be hard for opposing defenses to stop. The running game was hampered by 7 tackles for loss of which only 2 were sacks.

GMac completed 12 of 18 pass attempts for 227 yards and 2 TDs. He threw an interception in the third quarter, the first second-half pick of his college career. AJ took most of the snaps in the fourth quarter and completed 2 of 5 pass attempts for 50 yards. His longest, a 39 yard thing of beauty to Darius Hanks, nearly scored. A bad choice that fortunately went incomplete earned him a swat on the backside from Coach Saban.

Marquis Maze had a great night. He led all receivers with 5 receptions for 89 yards and a touchdown. Hanks had 3 receptions for 55 yards, and Julio added 41 yards on 3 catches. Mark Ingram caught 2 passes for 77 yards. Mark's longest reception was a 78 yard swing pass that he took the distance for a score. Julio threw a key block to spring Mark into the secondary and Ingram took it from there.

Maze was the leader in all-purpose yardage with 166 [88 receiving, 41 in kick returns and 36 in punt returns].

Bama had 6 drives that gained 40 or more yards [59, 45, 75, 78, 56 and 84] each resulting in points.

Defense:        A        The stop troops really got after MSU from the start of the game. Bama defenders recorded 6 tackles for loss of which 5 were sacks. C.J. Mosley was the leading tackler with 12 [1 solo] followed by Mark Barron who recorded 11 [4 solo]. Demarcus Millinor, Courtney Upshaw and Dont'a Hightower each recorded 8 tackles and Josh Chapman and Dequan Minzie were each credited with 6.

Robert Lester continued his intercepting ways, picking off 2 pass, one of which he returned for 12 yards.

Special Teams:

Punting:        C-      Cody Mandell only averaged 38.2 yards on 4 punts. Coverage was excellent, however, because MSU only returned 1 punt for 3 yards. Marquis Maze returned 3 of MSU's punts for 36 yards. Marquis would have returned a punt for an 86 yard touchdown but the score was nullified by a blocking penalty on the return.

Kickoffs:       A       Cade Foster averaged 68.7 yards gross per kickoff. Two kicks found the end zone and one was a touchback. Coverage was excellent, resulting in an average of 51.6 yards per kick. Alabama's return game averaged 20 yards per kick.

Place Kicking:  A+      Jeremy Shelley was good from 36 and 28 while Cade Foster was good from 45 yards. All three PATs were good.

Coaching:          A       The team was ready to play and came closer to playing a complete game than at any time this season. Phelon Jones started at corner in place of Dre Kirkpatrick. According to published reports, this was a disciplinary matter. Coach Saban told reporters after the game that if players do not do the right thing they will not play. [Yes, there is a message in that statement for the folks at the Barn.] There is speculation that the coaching staff is reading The Grades, because the participation report reflects that 33 players from the bench participated in the game along with the 22 starters.

After a short week, the Tide will welcome Bill Curry back to Tuscaloosa on Thursday night. If all goes according to plan, many players will see action.

I will have more thoughts about Auburn at the appropriate time. The appropriate time is after the Tide has dispatched Georgia State. Coach Saban made it clear in his post game remarks that Alabama respects all of its opponents.

So for now, make sure to read the sports section of your local daily fish wrapper. The Newton story is evolving every day.

Our players should pay no attention to it, however. Their tasks will be focused on preparation  and improvement. If the preparation and improvement that took place between the LSU and MSU games can be replicated, then we will all have a very joyous start to the Advent Season.

Stay tuned.

The Commissioner

LSU Grades

Les Miles out coached Nick Saban.
That is the inescapable conclusion from the 24-21 loss the Tide suffered at the hands of LSU. One team made good use of the open week. One team played with more intensity. One team made effective adjustments at the half. One team made better use of its personnel. That one team was LSU.

Consider this: according to the participation report, Alabama played only 15 players in addition to its 22 starters, LSU played 37. Alabama is supposed to be the better conditioned team, the team that can bring guys off the bench with no discernible drop off in talent. Not yesterday. LSU had three starters leave the game with injuries who were replaced by freshmen who played like seniors.

What's up with all these top-ranked recruiting classes? We can't find more than 37 guys who are worthy of playing time? LSU had 59!

There will be no SEC Western Division championship this season. There will be no third-straight appearance in a BCS bowl game. If we continue to play like we did today, we won't win another SEC game this season.

Those are the hard realities.

Alabama is a team with a young defense that after nine games still has not matured to the point that it can consistently execute the complex schemes devised by the coaching staff. Prior to the San Jose State game, Coach Saban told a room full of Bama supporters that he was not concerned about the three defensive players who make the "calls" on defense; he was worried about the 8 players who didn't know how to answer the phone when the call was made. From what we saw on display Saturday afternoon in Tiger Stadium, he still has reason to be worried.

Can you explain this: LSU shredded the Alabama defense for 433 yards of  total offense, and more than 300 of those yards were gained in the second half!  This is LSU for Goodness sake, the only SEC team that couldn't outscore Tennessee over 60 minutes of football this season!

In the second half, the Alabama defense made Jordan Jefferson look like Joe Montana. The Tigers gained 208 yards through the air.  Either we have plays in the play book where opposing receivers are allowed to run free uncovered, or else there is a disconnection between the plays being called and at the plays being executed. With 2:30 to play, needing to get the ball back in good field position, Bama had LSU in a 3rd down and 13 to go from their own 20 yard line. So Jarrett Lee completes a 47 yard pass to Rueben Randle. He caught the ball in space and weaved his way through the Alabama secondary who played like they wanted to see whether Randle had the same number on the back of his jersey as he did on the front.

What about the run defense? LSU gained 225 yards on the ground and the Tide defense allowed runs of 49, 21, 23, 19, and 11 yards.

These are hard things to write. No doubt they are also hard to read. The fact of the matter is that Alabama in 2010 is not nearly as good as it was in 2009. I don't doubt that the talent level is better than the 7-2 record would suggest, but this team is not playing to its potential.

Is it injuries? Three of our marque defensive players are nicked up and the biggest road-grader on the offensive line has missed the last three games. Immaturity? Our best defensive players from 2009 are playing on Sunday this fall.  A combination of both? Whatever the reason, the coaching staff's job is to identify it and take action to fix it. My guess is that there is nothing that pundits and fans observe that has escaped the coaches, and this staff, from the head coach to the GAs, is not going to spare any effort. Coach Saban has described the state of Crimson Tide football: "we have not played a complete game."

Yesterday, LSU sure played one. And the Tigers beat Alabama the way that Alabama is supposed to beat its opponents; with physical dominance, higher intensity and better execution. Yes, Les Miles out-coached Nick Saban. Maybe now the LSU fans will find closure to their irrational bitterness over Saban choosing Alabama for his return to college football.

More later about the road ahead, for now, here's how I grade the game:

Offense:        D-      GMac completed 21 of 34 pass attempts, he threw 2 TDs and was intercepted once-a ball that could have been caught-for 223 yards. Alabama earned 19 first downs and converted 7 of 14 third downs.

Julio Jones was GMac's favorite target and no. 8 did not disappoint. He caught 10 passes for 89 yards including a 19 yard TD strike. Julio waged a day-long battle against LSU's star corner, Patrick Peterson, who was credited with 3 pass breakups. Julio won the fight; a fifteen round split-decision.

Marquis Maze caught 4 passes for 35 yards, Darius Hanks caught 2 for 40 and Preston Dial caught 2 passes for 35 yards. GMac completed passes to 7 different receivers.

Mark Ingram gained 97 yards on 21 carries and scored 1 TD rushing. His longest run from scrimmage was 13 yards. Trent Richardson gained 28 yards on 6 carries, and caught a 1 yard pass for Alabama's first score. GMac suffered 3 sacks for a loss of 28 yards.

Ball security was a big issue for Alabama. In addition to the first quarter interception, GMac lost a fumble when he was sacked in the fourth quarter. LSU converted this turnover into a field goal that proved to be the margin of victory. Bama fumbled the ball a total of 3 times, losing one.

The offensive line was inconsistent. Bama's three touchdowns came on drives of 81, 73 and 74 yards that combined for 14 minutes of game time. These three drives, however, were the only bright spots in a day that otherwise consisted of 6 drives with three or fewer plays, 6 punts and two turnovers. On Bama's first scoring drive, with the ball inside the one yard line, LSU stuffed two attempts to run between the tackles. The TD came on a play action pass to Trent Richardson, who managed to score only on individual effort.

Defense:        F       I have no explanation for the disappearance of the Alabama defense in the second half.

In the first 30 minutes, LSU had great field position due to a shamelessly poor punt and GMac's interception, but only netted 3 points. The rest of the Tigers' first half consisted of 4 punts, and a drive the ended when time expired. That last drive of the first half, however, was a harbinger of things to come.

After intermission, LSU had 6 possessions. The results, in this order, were: missed FG, TD, FG, TD, FG, punt. The length of LSU's scoring drives were: 94, 53, 77 and 6. The missed FG came on a drive of 52 yards that featured a first down conversion on a fake punt. See the grade for coaching.

Dont'a was the leading tackler with10 [2 solo], including 1 for loss yardage and a QB hurry. C.J. Mosley was credited with 9 tackles [2 solo, 1 TFL] and Josh Chapman made 8 [3 solo, 1 TFL]. Mark Barron and Demarcus Milliner each had 7 tackles, and Robert Lester and Courtney Upshaw each had 6.

LSU converted 6 of 17 third downs, and both of 2 fourth down attempts.

Special Teams:

Punting:        D       Cody Mandell averaged 41 yards, had one punt in excess of 50 yards and downed 2 inside the LSU 20. These respectable stats are marred, however, by the fact that his first punt, from poor field position, was only 23 yards. Marquis Maze was only able to return one punt for 3 yards. The Alabama coverage team limited LSU's Peterson to 22 yards on 2 returns.

Place Kicking:  A       Jeremy Shelly was 3 for 3 on PATs.

Kick offs:      B+      Cade Foster had a gross average of 64 yards per kick off, with one touchback. The coverage unit achieved a net average of 47.8 yards per kick. Bama's return effort resulted in LSU having a net kickoff average of only 41.5 yards per kick.

Coaching:        F      OK. You know that Les Miles has never faced a fourth down that he wouldn't consider going for. You know that he has faked more punts than any other coach in the SEC. In the first half, we played it safe. But the first punting situation in the second half, we give LSU the look that invites a fake, which the Tigers execute to perfection. In the fourth quarter, facing 4th and 1 we get burned on a reverse that nearly scores. There is no question about it, Les Miles won the play calling chess-match. Moreover, LSU was more reach to play than Alabama. This manifested itself particularly at the beginning of the game in poor ball security by the Tide.

Alabama fans are unfairly described as having unreasonable expectations. We are accused of being fickle and quick to call for changes in coaches, starters, and the guys who paint the field whenever Alabama fails to cover the betting line. I think those characterizations are wrong.

Tide fans are very passionate, knowledgeable and dedicated. They don't take losing very well and they expect the same attitude from the people who are entrusted with the Program.

So with all of that as prologue, let me say this: If Alabama plays the rest of its games the way it played LSU we will not win another SEC game this season. Mississippi State will beat Alabama next weekend if the Tide does not correct its mistakes and play better than it did in Baton Rouge. Forget about the rent-a-team from Lee County Industrial and Mechanical. Dan Mullen, who deserves to win Coach of the Year honors for the job he has done in Starkville, will have his team ready to play this coming Saturday night. Nobody associated with the Alabama program should be looking any further ahead.

The championship goals with which Alabama began this season are now unattainable. That we have come to this pass on the first weekend of November, is unacceptable. But there are goals, both individual and collective, that remain very much within the grasp of this team: Improve, Finish, Dominate, Execute. And these goals, if achieve, provide the foundation for everything else.

My thoughts about the Cam Newton situation will be in this week's column in the Williamson Herald.

The Commissioner