I am sure some will see the thread title and instantly jump for something to complain about, but those people are sad people and aren't quite emotionally or mentally balanced. I say this because there will be a complaint about "not being happy with a win", but the truth is that I am really pleased with this win. Overall, there were only a few grimaces and grumbles, nothing to wet the bed over, but I'm sure that the staff will be barking about more than what I saw.
OFFENSE
The Good...
99 yards of hell
The tone was set by the 1st play. McElroy used a hard count and jumped the defense. It got them out of the hole and then the march was on. Ingram ran about 5 or 6 times straight, and got them in working room for a 3rd and long and Upchurch made a move or two on the swing pass that got them the 1st. After that you could see Arkansas defense have that "here we go again" feel to it. Hanks made a big catch and got the PI call later. After the end of the 3rd, it was pretty much textbook material for this team- mix in a few runs, get a play from the players, and on the 1 it is Cody time. Should I confess that I get a guilty pleasure in watching guys run away from Cody? I do.
2nd half perfection
The more McElroy plays, the more I wonder why the hell Wilson did. McElroy is so good at getting into a groove and when he does, the offense hits its strides. I thought the 1st quarter was choppy because of the drops, more on that to come, but once the players started hanging on to the ball, it gave Greg that drumbeat and the rest was downhill from there. There really haven't been that many bad throws from him thus far. He had 1 that should have been picked but he got away with it. The rest were drops and just miss fires. Just think, against UF last year, down and needing to throw, what if it is McElroy in the shotgun, would the world be a little different this morning?
Trent gets it done on his own
Richardson continues to build his folk lore with the campus and fans, and Saturday's will run will only add to it. The key to that play was when it happened. Bama was struggling to run the ball, and did after the run too, and his refusal to go down and shrugging off about 6 tackles was nothing short of amazing. I know CBS said 4, but there was a guy who wiffed and the guy in the endzone got hands on shoulder, so it counts to me. The thing Richardson continues to do that will keep him in good favor with the staff and frustrate defenses is that you don't get a clean shot on him very often. Richardson was well coached in high school about making the target small and when he sees the tackler coming, he gets his pads down and the defender gets the worst of it because all they get are helmet, pads and knees. By getting low, this also allows him to get more leverage and leg drive, and that results in the fan favorite of him carrying the pile.
Nice to see them again
Julio and Upchurch both made their return and both made big plays. Jones of course had the 50 yard TD catch on the wildcat, more on that to come, and Upchurch made a key 3rd down conversion on a screen. The offense really seems to get a boost when Roy comes in and makes a hit. I guess they feed off his energy, which is also what gets him hurt so much, but they need him in there as much as possible because good things happen when he plays.
The Wildcat finally strikes
The thing about the wildcat is that it needs really 3 things. It needs a running back who can take the direct snap, and pass occasionally, a quarterback who can do more than just stand out on the far end and smile, and a third player who can take a direct hand off and play the option with it. Saturday, they mixed in a little of all that. It was a nice option because Arkansas brought about 10 up in the box before the snap, signalling they had watched the film and read run, but the staff threw in the new wrinkle (FINALLY!!!!) and had a reverse to McElroy and sent Jones on a deep slant and the rest is pay dirt. If they do things like this with it, they might be able to run from it eventually.
Making the big plays instead of the "big play offense"
If you had said, one team would make 3 or 4 big plays and another would only make 1 or 2 big plays, I would have said the 3-4 was probably Arkansas after watching them rip UGA apart. Arkansas defense is pretty well 6 feet deep and just waiting for the dirt to be shoveled in right now. The worst job in the SEC today is the ARK DC job because you know he's out, there's no way they can be able to compete in the West giving up 30+ a week. However, you have to be able to make those plays, and Bama certainly did as McElroy and Co had probably their best day through the air.
The Bad...
The 1st series of the 3rd quarter
Hint, you will see this twice. It had a certain 2008 feeling, like the ones we saw against Ole Miss and Kentucky, where they had a lead and felt good about it. The good news is that they snapped out of it quick and lumped on 21 points almost at will in the 2nd half.
Getting Julio in the game to be "Julio"
I doubt Julio is complaining about the lack of touches or looks, and yes the team is getting 400+ yards a game with him getting what he's gotten, but the road ahead says he needs to become the guy again. I know that part of it is the change in QBs. Wilson was more apt to lean on Julio and throw to him no matter what. Greg seems more content to check down and throw short or away from Julio because that is his comfort level. The whole decoy or whatever you want to label it as thing is nice, but at some point teams aren't going to get sucked into putting 3 guys on Julio's shadow assignment and they will have better talent to cover the other 4 options. Florida comes to mind. I can't say it is just play calling because only the OC, QB, and Julio can answer that, but at some point this year, they really need to showcase him and make teams aware that Julio is still the guy who can beat any team in America when he gets 7+ touches. I am a little confused that they can spend time with gadgets where 3 tight ends go in motion, and that play looked like crap before the false start btw, or the Wildcat, but you can't get plays to your top offensive weapon?
The Ugly...
None.
DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS
The Good...
Making the statement
I will be the first to admit that I either overbought on the Arkansas offense or underbought on the Bama defense. I like being wrong in either case because they pretty well made Arkansas play on its back foot for all but 2 minutes and 17 seconds. They did what I thought they would- disguise blitzes, get more combos in their front 4 to get more pressure, play a lot of zone and keep the bubbles small, etc.- but I didn't think they could choke out the Petrino offense. They did, and it was nice to watch in action.
Stepping up for the fallen
Once upon a time, if Hightower or a guy like him went down, the team wouldn't have responded well. Reamer came in and did a bang up job on short notice. He isn't the ideal ILB, but he can do a lot of things that will help because he's smart, has good speed for a LB, and tackles well. The biggest change will be how much gap he's asked to cover because he give up a lot more weight than Donta. I look for the defense to do more of what they did after the injury. They let Reamer rush the blind side some, play a lot more space over the middle and let the 4 down cover that gap more.
Keeping the plays down to a minimum
Arkansas is a team that lives on the big plays. They had 9 plays over 10 yards, 2 on the scoring drive, and that was way down from the UGA game. Credit the defense and staff for seeing the game plan early and implementing the counter plan. Mallett is a good QB, and probably is the best passer in the conference (I can sense a crying from someone already), but is very slow and at 6-7 is a easy target. UGA failed to dust him enough, Bama hit him enough that he was hurried about all day.
Getting the 1st out of the way.
It was the end of the day for Mallett when the pick happened and it was nice that it was Bama that got the pick and the 1st for him this year. It was also good because Bama had not generated a lot of turnovers this year and has lived on withdrawals from what it had last year.
Anders
Big tip of the hat to Eryk for his play. We all know he can rush the QB. That's his thing primarily. However, when he moved to Sam, he did have to play some coverage and he did very well at it.
Keeping the ARK in the chest
We all learned in the 80s, you don't open the ARK, just don't. Tying into football, keeping ARK 3rd and long most of the day, at one point it was an average of 15 yards, was a good recipe for victory. The game ended with them converting only 2 out of the 14 they had and 1 out of 3 4th downs.
Kudos to Lionel Washington
Someone needs to give him a scholarship. Geez, you'd think someone in the truck would say "Hey Verne, it's Earnest, can ya say the damn name right you figure skater lovin sumbitch". Lionel did well on the punt block and it is something to teach young players on the punt block, when you see the protector go inside, you go out and keep going full speed until the ball is away.
The Bad...
The first series of the 3rd quarter
Told ya you'd see it again. It too had that last year feeling. Everything was tight, playing off the WR a lot and keeping everything in front of the defender. It was the exact opposite of the first 2 quarters where they played shut out ball. The end was the only 7 points and it was the end of the softness because the defense went back to what it had done prior to the series.
Mental farts
It has been a while since this crept up, but it did Saturday. Arkansas was making their fair share, but Bama was helping out too. Especially on special teams.....*&^&^%^&%&^%&&)**&*(%%^$^%%T^(^&(&()*&)(*&*&%%^$&%& of a mother's )(*()^&^%&%^*&**(^&^%.... ok, got that out of the way. 3 penalties on special teams is 2 too many. I will say that Reamer's 1st didn't look like much of a penalty, but it was called. I'm semi-ok with Dre hitting the returnman, even if it was a little early, but you can't give teams easy yards and you can't give them away either.
The Ugly...
Fan knowledge
Probably gonna get a nasty gram, but you'd thought Arkansas had gone Tonya Harding on Donta Hightower to read this site and others. I am guessing either a) not many played as much as they claim or b) none played linebacker. Most who did can tell you that you get cut out at least 2 or 3 times a game and the injury to Hightower wasn't dirty. It is just football. You get hit, it hurts like hell sometimes, and there are injuries. You play, you know that's part of it. Yes, Arkansas got caught clipping, but that doesn't make them dirty. Bama was called for clipping earlier in the year, are they dirty? They also cut block, does that mean the staff teaches dirty football???? No. The other thing that was sad was that while mourning the loss of DH, the glee some got from seeing Tebow get nailed. My feeling is that if Arkansas fans were dancing around over DH's injury, this board would have been ready to mount up and charge west. Class gets tossed around these sites way too much for a bunch of folks that can only hold the last 3 letters of it.
RANDOM THOUGHTS....
Who replaces Hightower? It has to be Jerrell Harris right???
In a word, no. There are two things that I can hold on to regardless of all the variables in this subject. First is that the Saban way is to lean on veterans as much as possible. Second is that trust is a big thing with Saban and the staff, and they will go with who they trust even if there is higher star ratings and talent behind them. See Cory Reamer v. Jerrell Harris to this point for reference there. Harris is a highly recruited player and highly hyped by fan boards, Reamer is a coach on the field and rarely is out of place, he wasn't as highly touted and is a refugee of the prior staff. Harris is still suspended and what I get from it is that it is more an internal thing than the NCAA. If he comes back this week, I don't know that Reamer moves back to Sam just yet. Will is a key position in the 3-4, it covers a lot of field and it requires a lot of reading. Harris has the speed and is a good tackler, but he hasn't played enough ball yet even at Sam to feel real comfortable with him yet. If Reamer is moved back to Sam this week, look for it to be the forgotten due to staritis member Chris Jordan. Nico gets a lot of mention from fans, but he's still learning how to play at this level in this system. Bama's in a championship hunt and looking good at doing it, sending high named recruits out for fan pleasure isn't on the menu this year. The bottom line is this folks, Donta Hightower is a special guy and he played straight out of high school because he is that good. Will is a position that just doesn't gap fill with whomever.
Who is the best?
QB- Tim Tebow is until dethroned. The best passer is Mallett, but the best field general is McElroy right now.
Team- I was impressed by Florida's take care of business approach to a hostile Kentucky game that has been a trap in the past. However, Bama has done a better job the last 2 games of taking care of the business. This may be a horse race where week by week either could be argued. The key is how hurt is Tebow and can he suit up for LSU? They may be culled out of the race if he has to sit out. This year, like last, the SECC game is going to determine the front runner and possibly the national champion. Of course, if Tebow is hurt, it could be a total mess in the SEC/BCS if LSU beat UF, Bama beat LSU, and with Tebow back Florida found a way to beat Bama. You have 3 teams, 1 loss to each other, and with the new BCS rules that only conference champs can play in the BCS championship, you have 2 teams with equal bragging rights in all honesty.
Dark horse- Auburn is the team that has started catching my eye of late. The thing about their schedule is this, while it isn't powerful, it has given Auburn a 4 week live scrimmage to get their offense in tune and ready for the SEC schedule that looms ahead. Remember, even Shula snagged enough magic to get 10 wins but wilted with the last 2 games.
Surprise in the nation- Houston is the dang where'd they come from, but 2 big wins over Big 12 opponents has them in my top 10. Also surprised by how much parity there is this year. This is probably one of those years where all but 1 team loses, or everyone loses 1 time at least. I thought Cal could be the team that knocks USCal out of the Pac10 throne, but that isn't happening. Oregon looked remedial against Boise. USC, PSU, OSU, OkieSt, etal all have been caught by surprises, or to them surprises. Iowa is about to start their march boys and girls, I don't know if Michigan has the defense to keep them down and Iowa has the D to shut down Michigan (I think) and then from there it is just Ohio State in their way.
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