Alabama vs. Florida: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Saturday afternoon senior quarterback Blake Sims led the third-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide to a 42-21 victory over SEC rival Florida and quieted many of his critics in the process.
The Tide pulled away in the second half and despite several turnovers, the Florida defense never really could stop the Alabama offense which was shockingly led by the passing attack.
The Good
Blake Sims cannot throw the deep pass. Blake Sims isn’t talented enough to beat the better defenses. Alabama cannot win with Blake Sims at quarterback. Those are some of the things that “experts” and even Alabama fans have said about the senior signal caller and on Saturday, Sims shut up every single one of those detractors.
On the very first offensive snap for Alabama, he threw a beautiful 87-yard touchdown to running back Kenyan Drake. He never looked back after that.
Sims shredded the Florida defense just as he shredded the “game manager” title en route to 445 yards and four scores through the air. Sims was accurate, he was poised, and he threw the deep ball better than anyone thought he could. The touch he was able to put on passes like the beautiful fade to Amari Cooper for a touchdown in the second half, and the heat he put on several third down passes to receivers over the middle of the defense added to Sims shutting up his critics.
Sims did get banged up at the end of the third quarter on a beautiful scramble but he was able to return. If you want to ignore Sims incredible numbers by saying that Florida’s secondary is weak then fine, whatever, but you cannot ignore the Tide offense converting 12 of 16 third downs into first downs. This offense is humming under Sims and only seems to get better each week.
Amari Cooper once again continues to dazzle as he caught 10 passes for a career-high 201 yards and three scores. The much talked about matchup between Cooper and Florida cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III was decisively won by Cooper.
Surprisingly Florida didn’t have Hargreaves follow Cooper around the entire game and when he didn’t, Cooper certainly made the Gators pay. But even when the All American was covering Cooper, he still was able to win the matchup. There is not a receiver in the country playing like Amari Cooper at this point.
The defense allowed just 200 yards of total offense and under 100 passing. Despite starting free safety Nick Perry being forced to miss the first half and cornerback Eddie Jackson banged up, the Tide secondary played lights out.
After an early TD pass allowed on a busted coverage by Jabriel Washington, Florida QB Jeff Driskel had a tough day the remainder of the game. Washington even made up for his mistake with a huge interception in the first half. Florida attempted to counter Alabama’s pass rush with quick passes, but the secondary’s tight coverage and sure tackling blew that plan up.
Freshman cornerback Tony Brown also played a hell of a game in his first start and looked like a veteran in the Tide secondary.
Safety Landon Collins had possibly his best game thus far in his Alabama career, making numerous massive hits along with breaking up passes and a dazzling one handed interception in the second half. The leader of the Alabama secondary made his presence felt in the game early and often against the Gators.
Jacob Coker threw just two passes in the game but one of them was a terrific fade to Amari Cooper for a score. It was Coker’s best pass wearing crimson so far, and it was a big throw especially following the injury to Sims.
Despite a slow start, Alabama’s offensive line and running backs completely wore the Florida defensive line down in the second half. Derrick Henry ran for 111 yards and we saw the return of the wildcat for the first time since 2011. Every time running back T.J. Yeldon ran the wildcat he turned it into first downs. This is just another added dimension to Lane Kiffin’s offense that rolled up a staggering 645 total yards.
The Bad
Alabama was penalized 11 times in the game, and there were a few questionable calls, as well as missed calls like the horsecollar on Florida’s defense in the second half. But Alabama allowed far too many mental errors to hurt the offense. This has got to get better going forward.
While Kenyan Drake’s fumble in the first quarter was bad and he still hasn’t solved this issue, he is much too much of a weapon to allow him to sit on the bench for almost two full quarters in the dog house. Drake showed just how much of a unique weapon he is on the first play of the game, and the coaches can’t allow one mistake to keep him out of the game completely; especially when he wasn’t the only one making that mistake.
The Ugly
The turnovers were horrendous and many of them just mental errors like the penalties. DeAndrew White wasn’t covering the football when he fumbled, Kenyan Drake was being careless as he went for extra yardage, and Sims should have handed the ball off on the read option instead of running right into a waiting defender.
Sims’ lone interception was a good play by the defender, but you can argue that he should have just thrown the ball in the dirt. Against teams like LSU, Ole Miss, and Auburn, Alabama simply cannot turn the ball over like this.
Final Stats
PASSING
Blake Sims: 23-33, 445 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT; 8 carries, 12 yards
Jake Coker: 1-2, 4 yards, 1 TD
RUSHING
Derrick Henry: 20 carries, 111 yards, 1 TD; 1 catch, 29 yards
TJ Yeldon: 18 carries, 59 yards; 1 catch, 37 yards
Kenyan Drake: 4 carries, 15 yards; 1 catch, 87 yards, 1 TD
Tyren Jones: 2 carries, -1 yard
RECEIVING
Amari Cooper: 10 catches, 201 yards, 3 TD
DeAndrew White: 6 catches, 48 yards
OJ Howard: 2 catches, 22 yards
Jalston Fowler: 2 catches, 21 yards, 1 TD
Christion Jones: 1 catch, 4 yards
DEFENSE
Reggie Ragland: 8 tackles, 1 fumble recovery, 1 quarterback hurry
Trey DePriest: 7 tackles, 0.5 tackle for loss
Jarran Reed: 5 tackles, 1.0 tackle for loss, 1 pass breakup
Landon Collins: 5 tackles, 0.5 tackle for loss, 1 INT, 2 pass breakups
Cyrus Jones: 2 tackles
Denzel Devall: 2 tackles, 1.0 tackle for loss
Geno Smith: 2 tackles
Tony Brown: 2 tackles
Reuben Foster: 2 tackles
Ryan Anderson: 2 tackles
DeAndrew White: 1 tackle
Derrick Henry: 1 tackle
Maurice Smith: 1 tackle
ArDarius Stewart: 1 tackle
Leon Brown: 1 tackle
Rashaan Evans: 1 tackle
Jonathan Allen: 1 tackle
Dalvin Tomlinson: 1 tackle
A’Shawn Robinson: 1 tackle, 1 quarterback hurry
Jabriel Washington: 1 INT
DJ Pettway: 1 pass breakup, 1 quarterback hurry
SPECIAL TEAMS
Adam Griffith: 0/1 FGs, 7/7 XPs
JK Scott: 2 punts, 43.5 yards per punt, long: 57 yards
Christion Jones: 2 punt returns, 17 yards; 3 kickoff returns, 70 yards