Kent Gidley/UA
Hey guys; I’m Tider N Florida. I will be bringing you a look at the Highs and Lows of the Alabama vs. Vanderbilt game, and if all goes well maybe it will become a weekly feature. I hope to touch on important issues for this team moving forward and spark some good discussion between us all. A special thanks to Tony for inviting me.
Alabama came into this week looking for its sixth win. Last year at this time, nobody expected the letdown that was to come. After that disappointing finish, the 2011 squad is well aware of the dangers of not being one hundred percent focused each week. Expectations are extremely high, and they handled their business against the Commodores.
HIGHS:
The running game didn’t take a week off. The Bama O-line finished as strong as it started, and pushed Vandy’s defensive line all over the field at will.
No Eddie Lacy? No problem. With a few nifty spin moves, Trent Richardson made us do a double take, to make sure it wasn’t Lacy wearing number 3. I’m a huge Lacy fan, and was glad to learn he’d get time off to get to full strength with LSU coming to Tuscaloosa in four weeks. This is also a testament to the depth at running back; some “experts” questioned that depth back in the Spring. Jalston Fowler, the powerful third string back, is no drop-off from Lacy or Trent in terms of pushing the ball down opposing team’s throats.
237 yards passing? Wow. Coming into a game against the SEC’s interception leaders, I didn’t expect it to be the day AJ got his career high. Receivers continued to step up and make plays. I was sure we would be cautious with the pass, but was happily proven wrong. AJ has never been lacking in confidence, but earlier this season it was clear he didn’t fully trust some of his young receivers. He made some throws into coverage against Vandy that you just don’t make unless you know your guy can come down with the ball.
We have receivers fighting each other. The receiving corps are fighting it out for the number three role, and the team is benefiting from the competitive nature of DeAndrew White and Kenny Bell. After a good first showing for White earlier in the year, he was practically invisible in the last few games. White put the ball on the ground and made some rookie mistakes, like running backwards on a couple of plays which didn’t go unnoticed by Coach Saban. Bell recently emerged as the third option, until tonight when White came from nowhere, impressing Tide fans with catches reminiscent of Julio Jones. As long as these two keep going at it, the offense will reap the rewards.
The entire team is finishing. Last year’s Crimson Tide almost always came out firing, jumping all over opponents and running away in the first half. In the second half, however, three teams came back and took the game away. This year’s team seems to come out after halftime a totally focused, determined and very hungry ball club. This leads me to believe if you’re going to beat these guys you had better score forty points in the first quarter, and do your best to hold on to until time runs out.
Highest high. The Tide are 6-0 after the Vandy game and have no major injuries going into week seven. This team seems to have only one weakness: the kicking game. When Florida’s Trey Burton was interviewed following their loss to LSU, he was asked to compare Bama’s defense with the Tigers. “Alabama’s hands down a lot better. A lot more physical, just tougher guys.” Burton went on to say, “If I had to pick one to not go against, it’d definitely be Alabama.”
When trying to find lows in a shutout by a team playing as good as Alabama, you have to look at the team as Coach Saban would; looking at what could have been a problem, instead of what actually was a problem. At the risk of being nitpicky, here they are:
LOWS:
AJ’s decision making. I praised AJ’s play earlier, but he also makes an appearance here. AJ scrambled out of the pocket on third down in Vandy’s red-zone and threw a strike to White for an amazing TD catch. Saban however, wasn’t very happy. MaCarron could have literally walked into the endzone untouched, but chose instead to ignore a guaranteed touchdown and throw a risky pass that could have been dropped, resulting in three points instead of six. He made several throws into double coverage that would have been disastrous against a more experienced secondary. He did play a good game, throwing for a career high, yet still needs to work on his decision-making and accuracy. Where Greg McElroy struggled to get the ball up on certain throws, McCarron often lets the ball sail on him. Hopefully he gets it fixed soon.
The kicking game. Where to start. We missed an extra point. It wasn’t blocked; there was no bad snap. We just flat missed it. We cannot kick the ball into the endzone on kickoffs, and only get it to the five-yard line every ten kicks or so. Rumors were flying that this was by design, but Saban killed that rumor in his press conference last week, saying “I wished he’d kick it in the stands; I don’t know why we can’t do it.” Thanks go to special teams headhunters Vinnie Sunseri, Trey Depriest, Hasean Clinton-Dix and Will Lowery; the kickoff coverage hasn’t cost the Tide any points. Not directly, anyway.
Two seconds left and Alabama down by one, needing forty-yard field goal to win the game. Going into the Vanderbilt game, I would have said we had a fifty percent chance of making the kick. I would say now we are staring at a thirty-five percent chance at making that game-winning kick. Let’s hope we never need it.
Another dropped touchdown pass. This was a combination of yet another high throw, and maybe a lack of concentration by the receiver. He did stumble a bit, but was all by himself in the endzone, and just couldn’t come down with the ball. AJ has to make that ball easier to catch, and our receivers need to be prepared for the high throws since they seem to be frequent. The best receivers know the tendencies of their quarterback, and the best QBs know the habits of his receivers. The more reps they get, the more improvement we will hopefully see.
The team has a lot to work on going forward, but even more to be excited about. We have the experience, talent, dedication, support and the hunger to go all the way to New Orleans in 2011.
What were your highs and lows for this game? Let us know in the comments.