Sunday Hangover: Louisiana-Monroe

Some team had to be the collection of poor bastardsto take on the Crimson Tide after a debacle poor showing in Tallahassee. 

Yes, it was only Louisiana-Monroe, but the team looked like they had their pride hurt. They played angry and motivated. 

Simpson went 17 for 17 passing, threw TD passes, and added a rushing TD. 

Both lines manhandled the Warhawks. 

Mack and Russell both looked solid as back-up quarterbacks. They had some zip on throws for sure. 

Running back Kevin Riley got the most touches as a back with 11 carries while Richard Young and AK Dear had a touchdown apiece. 

The receiving corps did well, but the guy that stood out to me was Lotzeir Brooks because we haven't seen much from him. 

Next up is a home game versus Wisconsin.  

Sunday Hangover: Florida State

This game started out as positively as an Alabama would have wanted it to. The Tide marched down the field on a long sustained drive that ate up over half the first quarter. 

Ty Simpson looked good, and we were running the ball. 

For the next 2 quarters the Crimson Tide defense looked confused, took bad angles, seemed unprepared, and got distracted with Florida State's eye-candy offense. The offense was equally inept. 

I like to think the defense would have looked at how Gus Malzahn runs his offenses. He's been around a long time, and there's tape out there of how he runs his show. 

By the time the Tide started getting its collective shit together, they had to go for it a number of times on fourth down. 

There were a number of notable blunders. The two unnecessary roughness penalties were just flat-out stupid. And on a crucial fourth down play, instead of throwing a bad pass to Williams, Simpson could have easily run for a fourth down. 

Florida State played well. Or should we just call them Transfer Portal State University? They had a revamped team based on the portal. 

In contrast, Alabama didn't lose anyone in the portal and only brought in a handful of players. 

It didn't help that the Tide didn't have its starting running back, left guard, and nose tackle playing in the game. Those missing in action made a difference. 

If a team is going to lose, it's better to lose early. 

However, the performance yesterday afternoon doesn't not inspire confidence in me that this team will make the playoffs. 

I hope they prove me wrong.   

Sunday Hangover: Michigan

It's not Sunday, but I was a bit hungover this morning. 

Yesterday's game was a major disappointment. 

The Tide had three turnovers in the first quarter. A team is not likely to win with such results. 

The Alabama defense did play well though under terrible conditions. 

However, the offense was inept. It had flashes, but there is no reason why the Tide cannot put up more points than they did. 

I would assume Milroe is going to announce for the draft. I don't blame him. He already has both a B.A. and an M.A., and I would think he'd be drafted in the first round somewhere. His athletic ability is unparalleled. 

One point that the commentators didn't bring up is that because of the transfer portal, the Tide only had two starting wide receivers left: Williams and Bernard. And I didn't recognize a number of players on defense. 

However, what Milroe put on tape in the bowl game yesterday would have to concern some GMs. He needs to go to a team that will develop a quarterback. 

Regardless, I'm interested to see what next season brings and who wins the QB1 competition. If I were a betting man, I'd bet on Simpson. 

Sunday Hangover: Auburn

A victory in the Iron Bowl is always a welcome outcome. The Tide beat Auburn by a two-score margin. 

Milroe had a three-touchdown game on the ground with 104 net yards. Jamarion Miller had 84 net rushing yards, and Haynes chipped in with a touchdown run. 

Bernard had his best game of the season with seven catches for 111 yards. 

One of the real positive trends in this game is that Milroe was targeting the tight ends more than he has in the past. If you go back and analyze past Sunday Hangover posts over the years, one consistent complaint I have had was that the Tide offense needs to pass to tight ends more often. 

They did in this game with a total of 8 catches: 3 to Dippre, 3 to Cuevas, and 2 to Ouzts. And if I remember right, there was a pass each to Dippre and Cuevas that could have been touchdowns if they brought in the passes.  

The defense gave up some yards but foiled the Tigers when they had their chances. I was worried because Lawson is out for the rest of the season, but I think Jefferson did a fine job as the defensive play caller. 

And Jihaad Campbell showed why he's likely to be a first-round pick. He led the team with 9 total tackles in the game. 

Next up is the great unknown because the likelihood of Alabama making the 12-team playoff is low. 

Sunday Hangover: Mercer

This game turned out the way we thought it would. 

It was the annual warm-up game before the Iron Bowl, but with the schedule changed with Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC, so Alabama had this game before the trip to Norman and the home game versus Auburn. 

Lots of players got into the game, which is good, and I don't think there were any significant injuries that I know of. 

Simpson and Mack looked good playing quarterback. And I think that will be the quarterback competition barring a new recruit who might make it interesting. 

It'll be a good game versus Oklahoma next Saturday. The Crimson Tide better be ready. 

It remains to be seen if Alabama can make the SEC Championship game if they win out. I don't know how they'll determine the two teams without divisions. 

Sunday Hangover: Mizzou

It's been a while since an Alabama defense had a shutout. I'd like to see more of them. 

Sure, Mizzou had some guys out and the Tide knocked out their starting quarterback, but it was good to see a number of three-and-outs yesterday. 

I've always been an advocate of having a strong running attack, and that's what we got in this game with Alabama rushing for 271 net yards. Miller had two touchdowns, Haynes had a phenomenal run for a TD, and Milroe had a rushing touchdown. 

The passing game was more modest, and it seems Milroe is still trying to force it to Williams. Bernard had a solid game as the leading receiver with five grabs. 

The second bye week comes at a good time to get players healed up before the trip to LSU.  

Sunday Hangover: Tennessee

That is three frustrating games in a row in which the massive talent that Alabama has on its roster did not come through. 

Three is a row is a trend. 

Milroe, who was a Heisman hopeful, was inconsistent as Hell. The interception in the end zone was just, flat out, a bad throw. He should do better than that. 

While Bernard caught some passes, Milroe has to get other receivers involved other than Ryan Williams. 

The defense played well in the first half, but as we've seen before, after the half the other team made some adjustments, and the Tide didn't seem to do the same. 

I don't know what Alabama will drop down to rankings wise, but the coaching staff has to right the ship because all those penalties are inexcusable. 

Get it together. 

Of the teams I hate Alabama losing to, the Volunteers is one of the top ones. 

Sunday Hangover: Wisconsin

What a difference a healthy starting offensive line makes. 

The Tide traveled to Madison and blew out the Badgers with lots of big plays. They scored on plays of 31, 26, 34, and 37 yards. 

Milroe accounted for five TDs, two of which were of the rushing variety. Those two long passes to Williams and Bernard were just beautiful deep balls. 

They seem to be calling more designed running plays for Milroe with the backs working as a lead blocker along with pulling linemen. 

I was frustrated with the defense at times because Wisconsin had some good running plays, and they're still really green in the secondary. 

The starting LBs, Lawson and Campbell had 12 tackles apiece followed by Moore and Sabb with 11 and 10, respectively. The DE Overton had a great game. He was a massive force against the run and in the pass rush. 

Two good signs were there were no turnovers, and the Tide only had four penalties. The number of penalties in the first two games were inexcusable. 

Sunday Hangover: South Florida

That was a frustrating three and half quarters of football to watch last night. 

With a reshuffled offensive, the Tide did not look good at all. With the starting left guard playing left tackle and the back-up right tackle starting, it was a flag fest with the right tackle picking up four holding calls by himself.

There were two touchdowns that were called back because of penalties.

And that was just in the first half. 

In the second half, Alabama had three fumbles that put the defense in tough positions on the field. 

Once the starting right tackle Pritchett came into the game, everything seemed to click. And the Crimson Tide pulled away. 

I'm concerned about the trip to Madison to play Wisconsin, especially if Proctor is still out. 

Sunday Hangover: Auburn

I enjoy watching Auburn students cry. 

This season's Iron Bowl was frustratingly glorious. 

4th and goal from the 31, and Milroe throws a dime to Bond in the back corner of the end zone. Apparently, the name of that play is "gravedigger." 

I highly doubt Alabama makes the four-team playoff even if they beat Georgia. They are just too many unbeaten teams, and I would bet that Texas beats Oklahoma State in the Big 12 championship game.

I still want the Crimson Tide to win of course.

However, I'm not confident at all because of the way Auburn ran the ball on us. Auburn is one dimensional. Georgia is not. 

As Coach Saban intimated in the post-game interview, Alabama finally got some good luck at Auburn. Usually it's the other way around.  

Sunday Hangover: Chattanooga

The outcome was expected. The Tide took care of business quickly in the game, and the Mocs got a great payday for their program. 

Surprisingly, Ty Simpson was the leading rusher of the game. He outgunned Jam Miller by one yard with 78 yards of rushing. People tend to label him as a pro-style QB, but if I remember right, we was classified as a dual-threat QB by recruiting services. 

In addition, he looked good when he was given a chance to pass the ball. 

The major positive is that Alabama got to give playing time to lots of guys. 

Next up, of course, is a trip to Auburn, a team that somehow lost to New Mexico State and paid them for the match. 

I expect it to be a tough game for the Crimson Tide regardless of how Auburn lost to the Aggies.  

Sunday Hangover: Kentucky

With Alabama's win versus Kentucky and with Georgia manhandling Ole Miss, we're back to a SEC Championship of Alabama versus Georgia. 

Alabama dominated Kentucky. 

Milroe was excellent again, and Alabama seems to have found an identity. The OC has built in some QB runs. That wrinkle coupled with Milroe's improved passing has created a fun offense. 

There were some significant mishaps though. McKinstry having a ball go through his hands on a punt return, which then gave the Wildcats great field position, and Milroe throwing a pick when he should have thrown it away were not good.

But the dude threw for 234 yards and three touchdowns. And he ran for 36 net yards and three touchdowns. 

I thought the Tide's defense would get a few more sacks. They only had three. But they totally shut down Kentucky's run offense. One of the best RBs in the SEC only gained 26 net yards. 

The Tide had 9 tackles for loss. 

For whatever reason, Lawson was out, but Campbell played admirably as the defense's signal caller. 

Next up is Chattanooga before the Tide travel to Auburn, who is a team that has improved. 

Sunday Hangover: LSU

The second half didn't start out well for Alabama. LSU got the kickoff, marched down the field, and scored a touchdown. After that negative though, they didn't score again. 

The Tide dropped 42 points on the Tigers. 

Alabama featured a run-centric offense for the most part with a lot of key runs from Milroe, who had four touchdowns and netted 155 yards of rushing stats. 

I think we'll see more of this kind of game plan with Milroe doing more with his legs. The great development is that Milroe seems comfortable passing too. Usually he's excellent with the long passes. 

But last night he didn't hit any of the long, deep pass plays but instead did well on the short and intermediate routes, which is a significant change of form. 

During the broadcast, the commentators were intimating that Turner could have been called for targeting Daniels on the play that knocked him out. I don't think so. To me, it was a clean, hard hit. He didn't use his helmet as a weapon. He just hit him hard. 

Sunday Hangover: Tennessee

The first half of this game made my dog go into hiding in our walk-in closet because I was yelling so often in anger at the TV. 

Then Mrs. Nasty and I went to a retirement party for her former boss, so I only followed the game via my cell phone in the second half. When we got back, I watched the second half.

And what a second half it was. Tennessee didn't score, and Alabama scored 27 points. 

As crappy as Alabama's offense and defense were in the first half, they really got their shit together in the second half. 

The defense played like I expected them to do. 

The offense played much better because of the offensive line, and the OC ran more designed runs for Milroe, which I think is key to keeping opposing defenses off kilter. 

Another key was that Alabama only had one penalty. 

I'm hoping the bye week helps Alabama focus on playing a complete game because they'll need it when LSU comes to town in two weeks. 

Sunday Hangover: Arkansas

The second-half offense of the Crimson Tide in yesterday's game did not inspire confidence. 

The offensive line is just giving up too many sacks. 

The Tide ran the ball well for the most part, for 217 yards. But they lost 40 yards on five sacks. They have to get better in pass protection. It's that simple. 

The one drive in the second half in which a stupid facemask penalty kept the Arkansas drive alive resulted in a touchdown that kept the Hawgs back in the game. 

And then the Tide's offense sputtered mightily in the second half. They only scored a stinking field goal in the third quarter, which was the difference in score. 

I haven't watched a Tennessee game at all this year, but the Tide need to get it together if they want to win at home this coming Saturday. 

Sunday Hangover: Texas A&M

What a second half. 

But as Mrs. Nasty likes to question, "Why do we always have to wait until the second half to get it together?"

Fair point. 

The Aggies had 17 points at halftime, and they ended the game with 20 points. The defense really stepped up in the second half and even did so with one of their leaders in the defensive backfield, Malachi Moore. 

The return of Lawson to the linebacking corps helped. It was good to see him back playing. 

With A&M's stingy run defense pretty much shuttling down the Alabama running attack - and this Alabama team really wants to run the ball - the weight of the offense rested on the shoulders of Milroe. 

And he looked good. He threw for 321 yards, three touchdowns, and one unfortunate interception that was quickly followed by an interception by true freshman safety Caleb Downs. 

A defensive lineman, Tim Keenan, led the squad in tackles. In the second half, the defensive line and backers turned it up a notch and shut down the Texas A&M offense for the most part. 

But if you think back to the first half, A&M had two early drives that only accounted for 3 points. 

The Alabama offense found a weak link in A&M's coverage, which created a great day for Jermaine Burton. He was Milroe's go-to receiver for a good part of the game, garnering 9 receptions for 197 yards and two TDs. 

And Isaiah Bond featured prominently with 7 receptions for 96 yards and a TD. 

The incident that burned the hell out of me is when the refs denied a block, scoop, and score for Chris Braswell. 

They called Alabama on a blindside block, a call that is utter nonsense if you watch the play. All the Alabama player, and I believe it was Dallas Turner, did on the run-back was give an A&M defender a meager side nudge while Braswell was running ahead for the score. 

Total crap. 

Sunday Hangover: Mississippi State

I haven't gotten to watch the whole game since we were on the road the spend the night in a hotel before my son went to college baseball clinic/showcase today. I was able to listen to the first half in the car, and once we got to the hotel, I was able to watch the second half. 

The Tide put the game away basically in the second quarter. 

However, the Bulldogs' first drive in the third quarter didn't inspire confidence in the Alabama defense. 

But Alabama righted the ship and closed out the game. 

I don't have a lot of analysis to provide right now. 

But I know Texas A&M, who is up next at their place, has a good offense the Crimson Tide will have to contend with. 

Now Alabama needs to show more consistency on offense and a stronger defense. From what I saw of the game, I didn't notice Lawson at the LB spot. I hope he can get back for this next game. 

Sunday Hangover: Ole Miss

I haven't had a chance to watch the whole game yet since I got back from Nashville this afternoon. However, I did get to watch the majority of the game at a bar there. If I remember right, I think I got started watching the game when Ole Miss was up 7 to 3. 

So I got to watch the ineptitude on offense in the first half from Alabama, and then the offense played much better in the second half. 

What's a major positive is that the Tide held Ole Miss, who is usually a high-scoring offense, to only 10 points. 

The Rebels hit some long pass plays, notably one on 4th and forever that made me blow a mental gasket, but overall Alabama had a good pass rush with five total sacks and nine quarterback hurries. 

A major concern is about how hurt Lawson might be, but I haven't heard anything about that injury yet. 

In contrast to last game, McClellan was the main contributor at running back with 17 carries for 105 net yards and a touchdown. 

Another star on offense was true freshman Jalen Hale. When he caught his first pass in the game, I was confused about who he was. 

During the game I bitched about the offense not throwing to the TEs enough. The TEs caught four passes out of a total of seventeen, but I'd like to see them pass to them more often because of the obvious mismatches they create. 

The game saw Alabama get more of its murderball personality back. I'd like to see more of that come out when the Tide travel to Starkville on Saturday. 

Sunday Hangover: South Florida

That was a win that doesn't inspire much confidence in Alabama making the playoffs. 

If the Tide can only muster a meager win against the Bulls of USF, I think we're in for a rocky season in the SEC. 

Buchner got the start and looked shaky at best. They finally went to Ty Simpson in the game. He did okay. 

But just okay is not good enough if you want to challenge to win the SEC West. 

I'm worried. 

Based on what I've seen, I think they either go back to Milroe or stick with Simpson. 

The shining light on the shit show that was yesterday's game was Roydell Williams. He had an outstanding game, racking up 129 net yards. He may take over as first back in the game when Alabama plays Ole Miss. 

The Tide has to improve and do so soon. 

Sunday Hangover: Texas

There isn't enough beer or bourbon in the world to erase that performance from the Crimson Tide last night from my memory. 

It was a bipolar game from Alabama--mostly on the depressing side. 

The lot was made about the penalties from the broadcasters during the game because of the terrible amount of penalties in the previous matchup. It's true penalties were a factor. 

However, the main factors that lost that game were giving up big pass plays, the state of the Tide's pass blocking, and quarterback decision making. 

Alabama gave up too many explosive plays in the passing game. It's that simple. There are the two bombs for touchdowns, which were great throws by Ewers, but there were also intermediate passes with the TE and other receivers roaming free. 

The Tide has talented personnel in the secondary along with a number of veterans, but Sark, like I expected him to, targeted the green players. 

The offensive line play has to get better, especially at pass blocking. Left tackle Proctor surely has a game that will make him get better by working harder, but he had a horrible game. It was bad. I was surprised he didn't get pulled and replaced in the game. 

While pass blocking was poor, Milroe didn't exactly distinguish himself by passing the ball to open receivers. Sure, he was pressured, but in the first half especially he acted like he was looking to run more than actually passing the ball. 

At least from what I read from the armchair quarterbacks on the Huddle forum of TiderInsider, it sounds like there were receivers open. Milroe was just too quick to run. 

I got frustrated at times from the play calling of both the offensive and defensive coordinators although I wonder how much of the offensive problems last night rest more with the play of the offensive line and the quarterback. 

I got pissed a number of times when we only rushed three on third and long, and Texas easily picked up a first down because Ewers had all kinds of time. Even with rushing four or five, the Tide usually didn't get enough pressure on the Texas QB. 

But what a lot of people will focus on are Milroe's interceptions. They were terrible reads. Texas translated two interceptions to 10 points. 

The Tide lost to the Longhorns by 10 points. 

I don't know if the quarterback competition is back on, but I have to think the coaches are thinking about it based on what they saw Milroe do--both good and bad--last night. 

My son is a big proponent of Simpson getting a shot. 

I agree with him.