Sunday Hangover: Kent State

It's hard to expect a close to flawless game on the opening game of the season. With Alabama's situation, however, I wanted to see the basics happen: a stifling defenisve effort, the running backs churning up yardage on the ground, and good decision making from the quarterbacks.

So I was disappointed.

Saturday versus Kent State showcased a strong defensive effort on the part of the Crimson Tide. Although it's hard to read too much into their solid performance because Alabama played a MAC team, the linebackers looked great, the defensive line got a decent pass rush, and the defense as a whole shut down the running game of the Golden Flashes.

Surprisingly, Alabama's ground game didn't look too good early on. Richardson didn't have a lot of yards though he did score three touchdowns. I was disappointed with the run blocking in the game since there were a number of plays where Kent State's defense got strong penetration into the backfield. As the sideline announcer for the game informed us, Hightower got into offensive linemen's faces during the game and challenged them to play with more fire and aggressiveness. Eventually, the run blocking got better, and both Eddie Lacey and Jalston "The Beast" Fowler had solid efforts.

Lacey had a long run in the game and showed off his signature spin move to avoid tacklers. I've been waiting to see Fowler at running back for some time since Alabama needs a dependable third running back like they had with Roy Upchurch in '09 when he came into games fresh to spell Ingram and Richardson. As we watched the game, Mrs. Nasty questioned whether Fowler was a tailback or fullback. He's a regular running back, but he's a big dude, at least 240 or so pounds, and has decent speed. He'll also bring the wood to defenders if they get in his way.

The quarterback situation is what most Tide fans are focused on early this season, and Saturday's game might have clarified matters. Or maybe it didn't once you interpret Coach Saban's post-game comments. He commented that both QBs did good things though there were some serious low points. Although two of the four interceptions in the game were the result of receivers not getting the job done, two of those four were really bad. One by Sims almost resulted in a pick 6.

I expect both quarterbacks to play in Saturday's game versus Penn State in Happy Valley. However. yesterday A. J. McCarron separated himself from Sims in the quarterback competition. As a whole, McCarron made better decisions, and he seemed to get the ball out more quickly. I expect McCarron to start again, and I hope both quarterbacks are better with ball security when they face the Nittany Lions.

When I watched the A-Day game (spring game), I felt Sims looked better when he played with the no. 1 offense, so McCarron playing better was kind of a surprise to me. Then again, McCarron had real game experience before yesterday, and Sims didn't.