Due to the bank holiday and me taking full advantage of that holiday, the GBU comes a day late and always a dolla short. Overall, I wasn't surprised by the performance of the defense, and it was their best showing thus far, but it wasn't perfect and Saban let them know that Monday. Film study is always fun when a unit goes in thinking they did well and the staff micro rips them a new ass on details. Remember, you think I'm picky and overbearing, you have no clue folks. I am soft compared to the staff. On offense, eh, lots of work needed still. So with that....
OFFENSE
The Good...
Mark Ingram came, just wish the other 10 did too
Ingram is a lot like Hump and Alexander in that the more touches he gets, the better he gets. His first 10 touches are his worst and his best are the last 10. His conditioning and track background have him ready to be the 4 quarter guy and he's getting more comfortable with that 2nd gear burst when he gets to the secondary. Last year, he wanted to hit it at the LOS, but now he's gained a little more understanding on when to go wild and when to get what he can and not press.
1 good play call
The 4th and short call was the best call of the day. When you watch the replay of it, Ole Miss has sold the farm cow, the kids, and future spawns on the Tide running up the middle. They had single cover on the TE and WR (Peek and Jones) and when the play started, that was the key blocks to spring the play. Peek and Jones made the play happen by sealing the two defenders that could get to him and the rest was paydirt.
Throwing to Julio
You will see this twice unfortunately. I like that they wanted to get him some looks and it is good that they are trying to make him a key part in the offense because they need him to be.
Salting the game away
The best series of plays Bama had Saturday were late in the game when they geared down and brought in the "Jumbo" with Peek, Dial, and Williams and just went toe to toe with a worn down Rebel D.
The Bad....
Mental Fartation of a fixable nature
McElroy is a QB that has to be in a rhythm early to be effective. The added focus on Julio and not getting completions from that sent him on his worst outing of the day. It was a game where I just sat there and thought "damn they have spent too much time thinking about how they can show the media and fans how it is" but the results were that they couldn't stay functional long enough to be useful. The good news is this. They can fix the problem real fast. It also was a good learning moment for Greg in that he has some film to watch where he can see that the focus on what OM was doing up front was not where he needed to be, he needed to be looking on the FS and SS to see how they were going to shade and check down. The playcalling with some adjustments will cure a lot of what ailed it Saturday too.....still too cute.
The other big issue that shouldn't have been but was, was the blocking assignments. Whomever decided that Bama's tackles could go 1 on 1 with Ole Miss's DE's needs their head examined. If you thought they could go toe to toe with them, you have the shades, kool aid, and IV for it all in place because there was 0 chance that was going to be effective more than a couple of times. Some were complaining that McElroy didn't help by stepping up, but you have to have time to step up. Carpenter and Davis were abused often by a straight edge rush which to OM's credit they did their homework and knew the tackles were stiff. If they had dedicated more TE/H Back help on that, perhaps the offense functions a little better. Especially in the Red Zone.
The Ugly...
Red Zone inefficiency
Execution and play calling were holding hands on why Alabama couldn't get the ball in the end zone once from inside the red zone. I guess the play that was probably the ugliest for me to watch was the one where they had Cody in motion, like that meant jack shit to any defender, and then forced a fade to Jones who was doubled. It looked bad from pre snap to completion. The rest were just about as nauseating as the one mentioned. Lots of passes that were the same in theory over and over, and the runs were going into the teeth of the defense where they had not made a dent in all day. I would say the coaches meeting this week will be about as joyful as the film study when they start knocking the game plan out.
DEFENSE & SPECIAL TEAMS
The Good...
The best pass of the day came from the punter
It didn't rack up stats, but it was probably the most important pass of the game. After Bama faked the punt, Ole Miss went into protection mode on every punt thereafter and didn't rush again. It was also nice because Nutt has pulled about every trick known to man on Alabama over the years.
Jackson stepping up and stepping out
The INT and near pick six, he's going to hear it all week that he couldn't house it on a white boy QB, was a big shift in a game that was almost over, but after the pick was over. The biggest improvement in Jackson is that he is looking for the ball again. Last year, he would have deflected it by reading the receiver's body and eyes, but this year he's reading and turning for the ball.
Close to perfect game plan
Where the offensive game plan was confusing to understand, the defense was pretty well doing what most expected them to do....throw as much at Snead as was humanly possible. By the time the game was over, I don't think Snead knew if he was scratching his watch or winding his butt. The staff did a very good job of throwing a lot of looks at Snead and rushing from all angles and positions to keep him guessing. The dime formation continues to be a great formation for Saban's philosophy because he's been able to walk up Woodall, Green, and Barron at different times and use them like linebackers in a rush situation or pick up their man off the line instead of picking them up on the fly.
Cory Reamer shows off
There was a lot of carping about Reamer last week. One person said he wasn't really a SEC caliber player and was "doing the best he could". Folks, players from Hoover aren't exactly coming to the SEC ill prepared for football. Reamer came ready to play and did an outstanding job of sealing off the gap that he was assign to. The blocked punt will be what most remember from this game, but what caught my eye was that during the Kareem Jackson INT, he was the first guy down field to give him the gap and the heads up play to strip the ball. That was a work of art because the way he had to get the ball, wasn't the way that you usually get to the ball.
Turnover shortage? What TO shortage?
2 weeks, 9 turnovers generated. This week's was definitely more timely than last week's because the last thing you want a Houston Nutt team to do is get confidence. It seemed with each turnover, they broke the offense's will just a little bit more. By the 4th quarter, Ole Miss was really just trying to run the clock out as much as Saban was.
The Bad...
Taking the fangs out of the neck
They had the Rebs beat regardless of what they did, but Bama let off the gas pedal a bit and that was when Ole Miss started getting yards on the defense. It didn't really matter because they got all of 3 points off the yards, but the last few weeks we have seen this slow start out of the 2nd half. When Bama got tired of fooling with them, they cranked up the blitz and ended it, but there were too many easy passes to the tailback that were unattended to be "perfect".
The return of Ferdinand
Washington had played well up til the Ole Miss game. I would bet a Happy Meal that he heard it in film this week. I counted at least 4 plays where he didn't finish. He reminds me of a house pet. They want nothing more than to get out of the house, and the minute they do, they stop and don't know what to do. There was one play where he beat the lineman, had nothing but air between the QB and him, and he stops and hesitates like Snead was going to run past him. Now, if we were talking about Jefferson or Tebow, I could see that. Snead couldn't beat Cody in a race I don't think. For those who forget, I nickname Washington as Ferdinand the Bull because he needs a bee to sting him to get him playing hard. The good thing is that his issue is fixable, and next year he's graduated....
The Ugly...
None
Random Thoughts to come tomorrow....
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