Sunday Hangover: Ole Miss

Welcome to the Tua and Devonta Show, a game where Tua connected with Smith for a record five touchdowns (for Smith) and a recording-setting number of yards for a receiver. He broke Amari Cooper's record of 242 yards in a game with 274 yards on 11 receptions. 

Those highlights will be shown on all of the sports programs, but there are some aspects of the game that those of us who watched it didn't miss. 

While Tua looked great for the most part, he did miss Ruggs a couple of times on what would have been touchdowns. Alabama could have easily scored in the 60s or 70s if he doesn't overthrow some receivers. 

Also, while the passing game will get much of the attention, the running game, much to my enjoyment, looked pretty dang good. Both Harris and Robinson had many solid runs on the day. It's just that the Tide scored on passing plays. 

It's hard to say how good the Ole Miss Rebels are on defense, but both the running and passing game looked good for Alabama. Sarkisian called a really good game. 

For the most part, the defense looked fine, but the freshman QB of Ole Miss was impressive. He was their leading rushing on the day. He's super fast. He has wide receiver/defensive back speed.  

Next up is a bye week before the Tide travels to College Station. 

Music Friday: "Thank You"

I've been listening to this tune often this week. Of Mellencamp's greatest hits, it's one of his underrated songs. 

Random Notes from a Crank

I've been catching up on my magazine reading. 

In Harper's there's a solid article by Andrew Cockburn titled "The Military Industrial Virus: How Bloated Budgets Gut Our Defense" that everyone should read. 

Here's a ¶ that you should read now: 
"Yet deep scrutiny indicates that defense contracts are not particularly efficient job generators after all. Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have calculated the number of jobs spawned by an investment of $1 billion in various industries, ranging from defense to health care, renewable energy, and education. Education came in first by a wide margin, producing 26,700 jobs, followed by health care at 17,200. Defense, generating 11,200 jobs, ranked last. 'All economic activity creates some employment,' Pollin told me. "That isn't an issue. The relevant question is how much employment in the U.S. gets created for a given level of spending in one area of the economy as opposed to others.' The fact is that defense spending generates fewer jobs than green energy, education, and other critical industries." 

Nick Hanauer's "Better Schools Won't Fix America" in The Atlantic (titled "Education Isn't Enough" in the magazine) is a worth a read. He lays out the myth of "educationism," the belief that better schools will fix America's problems. Based on his experience and data analysis, the real problem is that we're living in a new Gilded Age. The article reminds me of the adage that my Dad liked to say: "A wise man will change his mind, but a fool never will." 

Parts of what's left of my hair has been turning gray for a few years now, but now I have a single gray hair in one of eyebrows. It looks weird. I don't want to pluck it like I'm some vain person, but I need more gray hair in my eyebrows, so it doesn't stand out so prominently. 

What's really gotten gray is my beard when I grow one. 

Sunday Hangover: Southern Miss

Alabama opened a can of whoop-ass versus the Golden Eagles. 

The running game got going again with Harris gaining 110 net yards on only 14 carries. Overall, the Tide gained 176 net yards. Robinson had some really nice runs. 

Tua shone again with a five touchdown day: two to Ruggs, two to Jeudy, and one to Harris. Slade Bolden surfaced in the passing attack with an outstanding catch late in the game. 

The two freshmen linebackers played well, Overall, the defense had seven tackles for loss and a couple of sacks. 

I don't know what to think going into the home game versus the Ole Miss Rebels. I'm still adamant that the Tide needs to run the ball more effectively. 

Music Friday: "I'll Stick Around"

On my way back from doing some errands, this older Foo Fighters song came across my SiriusXM radio. 

I only have a couple of this band's more recent albums. I never got in on the ground floor when they got going way back when, but I've always enjoyed their tunes. 

Sunday Hangover: South Carolina

Lots of passing and running after the catch from the Tide in this one. 

Najee Harris excelled as a receiver in this one, which is a wrinkle to the offense we didn't see much of from Harris last year. 

I am still concerned about the running game, however. Alabama only gained 76 net yards. The Tide needs to improve in that part of the offense. I pine for an offense that "has balance" as Coach Saban likes to say. 

And they need to improve on defense. They gave up 102 yards in rushing to one guy, and the Gamecocks had 135 net yards gained. 

After looking at the individual stats, I was astonished that the SC QB attempted 57 stinking passes. 

It was good to have the defense get three sacks though and five quarterback hurries. But with 57 attempts, those numbers should be higher. 

But in the end, Alabama only punted once. It was a crappy punt, but DeLong only had to punt once. 

Music Friday: "Sing Along"

As I was driving today as Mrs. Nasty and I went over to buy her a new car, this song came across The Spectrum on SiriusXM. 

Mr. Simpson is experimenting. I like it. 

Sunday Hangover: New Mexico State

The Tide scored on the first play with a backwards pass (run) to Jerry Jeudy. After the second touchdown it was clear the Crimson Tide were going to dominate. 

The defense played well against what could be described as inferior competition. 

There was a concern about Diggs that came across my phone, but if anyone was actually watching the game, it looked like it was cramps, which is understandable since it was triple digit temperatures in T-Town. 

I'm still concerned about the running game. 

Sure, the Tide gained 318 net yards. But it was mainly from Harris and Robinson, and I think the offensive line could have done a much job of blocking for the backs. Jerome Ford only got one carry. 

Next up is South Carolina in Columbia. 

Sunday Hangover Addendum: Duke

This week I finally got around to watching the full Alabama-Duke game. 

The main aspect of the game I focused on was the defense. 

I thought both of the middle linebackers played well for freshmen. Shane Lee is one large fellow. Christian Harris was second in total tackles, but I think I remember him getting burned on a pass route. 

It was great to have Diggs back playing well at cornerback. A Duke receiver made an outstanding catch against him when he had the receiver well covered, but other than that, he looked good. 

The secondary, however, had two really bad pass interference calls. That has to get cleaned up. 

The defense only had one sack, which was from Terrell Lewis, so I"m a bit concerned with the pass rush. 

I do like the three-man front of Davis, Dale, and Ray. True freshmen D.J. Dale could turn into a heck of player, and Davis has a lot to prove to NFL scouts during his senior year. 

Music Friday: "Rooster"

Here's a classic that was a staple on alternative/hard rock radio in the 90s. 

"Here come the rooster."

"You know he ain't gonna die." 

Sunday Hangover: Duke

I don't have much to say about this game other than what I saw on highlights because we went to Hulu over the past year, and in our area, the local ABC channel is not carried because its one of those damn Sinclair broadcasting stations. Also, I was coaching during the game. 

From what I can tell from the stat sheets, the defense must have played well because they only gave up 3 points. With the two starting middle linebackers out for the season, I was worried about how the new guys were going to do. I am hoping the game will be on YouTube, so I can watch the darn thing. 

From the compressed highlights I got from the ACC network, Tua looked good, and Jeudy was back at his dominant ways. 

Next up is New Mexico State in Tuscaloosa.