Sunday, September 15, 2013

Alabama Is Still Alabama and Other Top 25 Happenings #AlabamaTexasA&M

Good morning college football fans!! It is 4am here in Colorado and I am bringing you only the best in college football insights! I feel bad about posting this so late because I usually have this blog up late on Saturday night, but I was exhausted last night. The day started at 10am with Nebraska/UCLA, then went to Bama/A&M, then it was straight into the night games where I decided to watch the 2 late Pac12 games which put my day ending around midnight Mountain Time. After being involved in open thread discussions with Nebraska and Alabama fans, and compiling my notes from the Alabama/A&M game, and tweeting with the college football world all day, I was beat. I know it's a hard life. BUT, since I make Top 10 predictions I know I needed to get this blog out to the world before the Coaches put out their actual poll. So after a 3.5 hour nap, here I am doing the deed.

Going forward I may need to change how I go about this. So I am going to ask all of you how I should change, or should I leave it the same? Would it be okay if I split the Saturday blog into 2 parts? I could post my Top 10 predictions Saturday night and then Sunday I could post the game analysis-es. Would this be too many posts to keep up with? Or is that okay? You tell me and I will do what you think is best!

Now onto some college football!!!

ALABAMA @ TEXAS A&M

WOW! What a game!! What would you expect from two great teams with everything on the line? But was the game really as close as the final score? This will be a two part break-down as I look at the game from the Alabama and the A&M perspectives.

Alabama perspective:
Not the typical game I am used to from Saban's Crimson Tide. Alabama played a sloppy game no matter how you cut it. They committed 12 penalties for 104 yards. A 104 YARDS! That's more than a football field. They didn't have enough players on the field, they had too many players on the field, they had numerous false starts, TJ Yeldon had an unsportsmanlike penalty after a touchdown....the list goes on and on. Where is the discipline? In week 1 they only had 4 penalties for 25 yards.

AJ McCarron was brilliant for most of the game, but even he struggled at times with spraying passes early. His receivers were dropping balls and in the first quarter things were starting to get worrisome. McCarron finished the day with 334 yards passing, 4 touhdowns, and most importantly NO turnovers. But it was not just McCarron, yes the pass numbers are huge, yes he made huge plays, but Alabama put this game away with the running game. The drive before half started seeing the holes pop up in A&M's defense like a moth eaten sweater. On their 93 yard drive at the end of the half, 65 of those yards were on the ground. On their second drive of the 2nd half Alabama went 83 yards for a score with 58 of those on the ground. Alabama finished with over 230 yards and became another opponent to run the ball for over 200 yards against the Aggies. Alabama only had 83 yards rushing at the half. This running created 35 minutes of possession for the Tide on 66 plays, why is that significant? A&M only ran 71 plays with their up-tempo offense which is supposed to generate a ton of offensive snaps (ie: Arizona State ran 93 plays later than night). Alabama controlled this game, although it did not seem like it on the surface. The offensive play-calling was great, and Alabama took what they wanted, when they wanted it.

The defense from the Tide was another huge blow to the perception of Saban's Alabama teams. They didn't get much pass rush, they didn't get consistent push on the Aggie offensive line, the tackling WAS solid for MOST of the game, but the pass coverage was brutalized ALL DAY LONG! Big play after big play was given up in the passing game. It had nothing to do with a mobile quarterback, it had everything to do with Alabama NOT covering the receivers; in the middle of the field, down the sideline, on swing passes, you name it and A&M found a hole in coverage somewhere. In complete honesty, the Alabama defense stopped the A&M offense ONCE or TWICE, all the other times, A&M STOPPED THEMSELVES. There were only 2 three and outs forced by the Tide D. But as we shall see, Alabama was able to make just enough adjustments to cause frustration and make sure this game went to the Tide.

Texas A&M Perspective:
Anyone think Johnny Manziel can't ball? Here's to 28 of 39 passing for 464 yards, 98 yards rushing, and 5 touchdowns. Wow. Simply wow. Anyone think Johnny Manziel gave the game away? Two costly turnovers led to 14 Alabama points. One was an interception in the endzone which Alabama then drove down the field for a TD, and the second interception was returned for a TD. The interception return proved to me that the A&M offense tackles as well as the defense. As stated before, A&M only stopped themselves, they had 2 three and outs, but after the 2 INT's A&M had drives stall due to offensive pass interference and other such nonsense. The interceptions were purely Manziel's fault. He was not being rushed, Alabama didn't fool him with coverage, he just threw some bad passes and he paid the price. The first pick in the endzone was a product of the play that had happened moments before. Manziel broke out of a potential sack, ran what seemed to be 50 yards backwards trying to get away from everyone else on the Bama D lin before he finally threw the ball 45 yards for a 12 yard gain. It was a play that you only see once in a great while and a play that ONLY Johnny Football makes. And let me say this to the dis-tractors before I move on, it was not a bad decision on Manziel's part to throw the ball on the spectacular play; the worse that happens is it is picked and Alabama has worse field position than if A&M had missed the field goal. It was 3rd down and Johnny M didn't take the huge sack. But then he got cocky and threw a pick. The second interception was just a forced throw. It was the first time Johnny had ever been behind against Alabama and he may have been pushing too hard. Speaking of pushing to hard, A&M kept with their up-tempo attack most of the game. A&M had scoring drives of 1:38, 1:30, and 1:34, but when they needed to really go fast, it took them 2:13 to score at the end of the game when they only had 2:28 to go.

Lets talk about Mike Evans. He torched the Tide D with 7 catches for 279 yards and a TD. He was running loose all over the field in the first quarter. That's right, not the game, just the first quarter.  He had 4 catches for 135 yards in the first. Then Bama made the adjustments, Evans had 1 catch for 17 yards in the 2nd quarter, no catches in the 3rd quarter, and finally made 2 catches in the 4th for 127 yards. One catch was for 95 and a touchdown; this was simply one of the most exciting plays of the game and cut the Bama lead to 7. The pass protection on Manziel was solid all game, of course the RT for A&M was completely mugging any Alabama lineman he could get his hands on....I guess the officials were just letting them play...except on the non-targeting call on Clinton-Dix of the Tide, more on that in a minute.

The A&M D was at full strength for the first time this year...Maybe they were just rusty from not playing together all year? Kid yourself if you want, this defense is bad. This is NOT a National Championship defense. Sorry to everyone in College Station, but this mess won't cut it. No pass rush on McCarron, the tackling was atrocious, and as I stated before Alabama took what they wanted, when they wanted it. Alabama only had 3 third downs in the first half and converted 2 of them. I will give the Aggie D props on the goal-line stand that led to the Yeldon fumble which led to the 95 yard TD. Alabama was slamming the ball down their throats and A&M stood up and said, "NO MORE." They almost stuffed Alabama again on the next drive and only a brilliant play action pass on third down messed that up.

A few more thoughts on A&M: I wish I had recorded this game, because I thought I saw something in Manziel's deep ball deliveries that I didn't like. It seemed like he was bailing out on some of them, ie: the second interception. The follow-through did not seem to be there. I will be watching A&M as much and possible this season to see if there's something there or if I am just crazy. Also, Manziel had 301 of his 562 yards of offense in the first half. Not a shut-down by the Bama D in the second half, just ball control, which is something A&M needs to learn from. The Aggies have 2 good running backs in Malena and Carson and I hope someone from the A&M coaching staff is reading this because A&M DID NOT USE THEIR RUNNING BACKS ENOUGH IN THIS GAME! Look at these numbers:
Against Rice, Malena ran 12 times for 82, Carson ran 14 for 76 and the running backs totaled 183 yards rushing.
Against Sam Houston, Malena ran 9 times for 68 yards, Carson was 9 for 51, and running backs totaled 178 yards rushing.
Against Alabama which is a tougher run D, Malena was 11 for 42, and Carson only 5 for 18, the running backs totaled 66 yards....
When the score was 14-14 A&M ran the backs 3 times on the first interception drive. Then when it was 21-14, A&M ran the backs 0 times. After halftime with the score 28-14 on their 2nd drive of the 3rd, A&M scored a touchdown and ran the ball with the backs for 34 of their 58 yards. Then POOF no more running back carries in the quarter. Now some of this might be because they were behind, but let me make this point: A&M is going to have to search their souls and change some things that they like to do. I know they like, we like, everyone likes to see Johnny M running all over the field making big pass plays, making big scrambles, making the offense go fast, etc etc; but if you have a struggling defense and a stable of stud running backs it gets real simple: RUN THE BALL. That felt good I am going to do it again: RUN THE BALL, chew up some clock, keep that defense off the field, control the game in another way. I truly believe if A&M does not make this change and play to the strengths and weaknesses of their team, the better teams will do to them what Alabama did to them and the results will be a loss every time. Any defense that can force a turnover or a few 3 and outs from A&M will put their team in a position to beat the Aggies. You can't win a National Championship like that.

Bottom line is Alabama will probably take some heat after this game, but they went into a hostile environment, against a Top 10 team and got the "W." I never felt A&M had a chance to pull this game out after Alabama got up 21 points and started running the ball. I admit, it got interesting after the 95 yard TD, but then Alabama went right back down the field. This was a sloppy slug fest from what are supposed to be two of the top teams in the SEC. And they are two of the top teams, but both have issues that need to be fixed. I also believe those issues are more glaring because they played each other. Alabama will not look that bad out of conference, unfortunately that A&M D will, unless A&M fixes their approach. But as far as SEC play goes, LSU has to be down right giddy after seeing this game.

As a side note I was infuriated at the pass interference and the "targeting" call that was made on Alabama DB Clinton-Dix. A defender has as much right to the ball as an offense player. He did not interfere and he absolutely was not targeting. The review got half of this call right. I personally am waiting for the day when the new rule is that a defense can only have 10 men on the field, I know it's coming.

On another side-note: WHO WANTS TO SEE OREGON AND A&M PLAY IN A BOWL GAME?!?!?

Other Top 25 Action:

TCU and Texas Tech from Thursday:
WHAT DID I SAY?!?!? I said in a previous blog, "Why not Texas Tech?" Wake up world, here come the Red Raiders into the Top 25. Boykin did not deliver how I expected, in fact the entire TCU offense looked like they had never played a game together in their entire football careers. Boykin made bad decisions, did not look ready for prime-time and the offensive line was ridiculously bad. It was a highly penalized game on both sides. Texas Tech tried to make some bone-head plays too, like dropping the ball before you get to the endzone...I thought that usually resulted in a touch-back? But that's not the first time I was wrong this weekend about the rules of football. The officials made questionable calls down the stretch that impacted the game which is really sad. But all in all, good showing by Texas Tech as the TCU bus starts to run out of gas.

UCLA and Nebraska
It was a tale of 2 halves. In the first half Nebraska looked sharp. Martinez was making throws, his TD pass to Kenny Bell was out of this world. The defense looked solid with strong plays from CB Jean-Baptiste, and linemen Gregory, and the freshman Moss. But you could see the cracks, there were some coverage break-downs and you just got the feeling that for every play Nebraska made, UCLA shot themselves in the foot too. Nebraska's play calling was good too with a 17 play drive for 92 yards which ate 6:42 off the clock. THAT'S HOW YOU MAKE A SUSPECT DEFENSE LOOK GOOD! KEEP THEM OFF THE FIELD. I'm looking at you A&M. Then half-time came and that's when the wheels fell off. Poor half-time adjustments, poor play-calling, poor tackling, and no heart caught up to the Huskers and UCLA rolled to 38 unanswered points and handed Nebraska their first non-conference home loss since 1998. It was ugly. My hat's off to UCLA who I said was poised for a big year and for Nebraska it's just more of the same. The Huskers struggle with offensive identity and the players don't understand what it takes to win.

Vanderbilt and South Carolina
Did Vanderbilt not watch the tape of the last 2 Gamecock games? Why did they not run their offense AWAY from Clowney like everybody else? Very frustrating to watch. The Gamecocks however brought their offensive A game. At one point they were 8 for 8 on 3rd down, Connor Shaw had an outstanding game and the defense looked better. If not for a turnover on a kick return this game would not have looked as close on the scoreboard. The defining moment was when Vandy threw a pick at the South Carolina 1 yard line in the 4th quarter and South Carolina then went on a 17 play play drive that drained over 7 minutes off the game clock and left Vanderbilt hopeless for a comeback. How do you make a suspect defense look good?

Wisconsin and Arizona State
And the paper badger goes out west and gets taken down. This was a maddening game to watch. The first half was ugly. I was starting to wonder why the Arizona State QB had been a starter for over a year. All he did was make bad throws and bad decisions, not necessarily because of the D either. The Wisconsin offense didn't look much better with Stave throwing balls all over the field. But that Sun Devil defense looks fast and alive. They had pressure on Stave all game but struggled against the big offensive line and the running game of the Badgers. Gordon is a scary fast running back for the Badgers and will be making a lot of plays this year. The first half was only as close as it was because of a botched punt attempt by the Sun Devils which led to a touchdown recovery for Wisconsin. The sad part about this great game was the end. The Sun Devils offense stated to gel in the second half and gave them the lead, then Wisconsin got the ball for a last chance shot down only 32-30. Now, for reasons that I don't understand, AFTER Wisconsin got into field goal range with less that 20 seconds and no time-outs, they continued to run plays. The worst being a quarterback run to the middle of the field to set up the kicker. On this run Stave took the snap, ran to the middle, stopped, and put the ball down on the ground! IS THAT NOT A FUMBLE?!?! He didn't take a knee, no body part hit the ground, he just set the ball down!!! Arizona State jumped on it, the head referee signals to Stave that he is calling him down, no one tells the umpire who is letting Arizona State lay on the ball, the ump finally gets them up, gives the D time to set before letting Wisconsin snap the ball and by that time....time has run out and the game is over. What the hell people? For the second time in a week I am confused by the rules and the officials dictate the outcome of a game. Not acceptable. Now, as far as I know, I think it should have been a fumble and the game was over anyways, but if you are going to rule him down then do Wisconsin a favor and get the ball set and ready for play! AND...where was the official review? Is the last play of a game non-review able?? I expect we will be hearing about this later in the week.

Oklahoma - How come Blake Bell didn't start the season? He was 27/37 for 413 yards and 4 touchdowns. Oklahoma didn't start slow and led 27-7 at the half en route to a blow-out. Someone is going to have to win the B12 and Oklahoma seems to be making a very strong case.

LSU - Jeremy Hill is back with a couple big TD runs and LSU continues to roll up the lesser opponents in dominating fashion. The defense is young, but they seem to be hitting on more cylinders than Alabama's or South Carolina's or Georgia's or A&M's right now. They only get better from here. All LSU needed last year was decent quarterback play, this year they are getting outstanding quarterback play.

Washingon - I put them on Nathan Scheelhaase alert and they listened. The Illinois QB went 9 of 25 for 156 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT and Washington rolled over Illinois. At least Washington is living up to the hype I gave them in the pre-season unlike...

Texas...which lost to another team I hyped, Ole Miss, so I can't be too upset. McCoy was serviceable in the loss but was shut-out in the second half. Ole Miss scored 27 un-answered and that's just as well because Texas doesn't have answers for anything.

Michigan - Every team has an emotional let-down game and the talent usually prevails when its against a lesser opponent. Devin Gardner threw 3 INT's and Michigan came out on top in a squeaker.

Ohio State - Took care of business a long ways from home with a back-up quarterback. Nice job. It still doesn't change my mind about the B10.

Notre Dame - They barely got by Purdue....someone who writes on this blog called Notre Dame over-rated, too soon to say they were right? Maybe, but it's getting close.

Florida State - Winston completed 83.3% of his passes for over 200 yards and FSU rolled up over 600 yards of offense. They only allowed 214 as well.

Oregon - Lets get one thing straight: Tennessee is a bad team no matter what conference they play in. Mariota was 23/33 for 456 and 4 touchdowns. Mariota vs Manziel......trying not to drool....

Oklahoma State used sex, drugs, and rock and roll to defeat somebody, badly.

And last but not least: how did the rest of the teams on my watch list do?

Oregon State almost let another one get away....they cannot play defense in crunch time...if they can play defense at all

Georgia Tech rolled up Duke with 344 yards rushing. Teams do still run the ball Virginia.

Rutgers played a game, not sure what happened, don't really care. If they get relevant again I'll let you know.

With the performances of TCU, Texas, and Oregon State I am close to throwing them off of my watch list and replacing them with Texas Tech, Utah, and Miami, stay tuned!

And now for the part we have all been waiting for (at least I have) my predictions for the TOP TEN!

Here's how I did last week: (actual ranked team in parenthesis)

1. Alabama (Alabama)
2. Ohio State (Oregon)
3. Oregon (Ohio State)
4. Stanford (Stanford)
5. Clemson (Clemson)
6. Texas A&M (Texas A&M)
7. Louisville (Louisville)
8. Florida State (LSU)
9. LSU (Florida State)
10. Georgia (Georgia)

Here is my new prediction:

1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Ohio State
4. Stanford
5. Clemson
6. LSU
7. Florida State
8. Louisville
9. Georgia
10. Oklahoma State

Thank you for reading!!! Don't forget to subscribe at the bottom! All it takes is an email address! And I am on twitter Aubrey Mos @simplyNCAAF. Have a great day and I will see you back when I preview next week's up coming games. I will also be doing an investigation this week of "Whatever happened to the SEC playing defense?"

No comments:

Post a Comment

Want to call me out on something I've said? I encourage it! Lets have a discussion!