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. 

Musing of the Moment: Visiting Ole Miss

At the start of our spring break, Mrs. Nasty, my son, and I planned to go to a baseball game at Ole Miss on Saturday and then a baseball game at Alabama on Sunday. 

With the spring weather, we eventually couldn't see a game at Alabama since inclement weather was imminent on Sunday, so Alabama rolled out a double header on Saturday when we would be watching Ole Miss play Purdue. 

So we hung out in Oxford, Mississippi for a couple of days and saw Ole Miss win a baseball game on an opposite-field, walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th. 

Mrs. Nasty graduated with her Master's from Ole Miss over twenty years ago, so it had been a long time since we had been there. 

Of course, as one could expect, the campus and Oxford have changed quite a bit. There are new buildings everywhere. The football stadium is much bigger. There's another student recreation center. The baseball stadium is significantly more posh. 

With the new buildings, they have built within the campus, so the campus felt more cramped than I remember it. Mrs. Nasty felt the same way. 

At least a few things have stayed the same. The square is still vibrant. 

And Ajax Diner is still one of my favorite restaurants of all time. They need to update their main page of their website though. 

Sunday Hangover: Ole Miss

It was not a convincing win, but it was a win, nonetheless. 

In the first quarter, I was worried because the Alabama defense was not getting up to speed with the Rebels' fast-paced offense. 

I have continued to be frustrated with the offensive play calling because the Tide needs to run the ball much more effectively. 

Gibbs did not tote the rock in the second half with Saban going with McClellan and Williams at running back. That move was a bit surprising, but Gibbs did not do much of anything in the first half. 

A pleasant surprise was the play of Byron Young. He tied with Hellams as the leading tackler on the team with six solo tackles and five assists. He also had two sacks and two tackles for loss. 

Lawson also played a great deal, so that work is building for the future. 

It appears Brooks and Latu have become Young's preferred receivers. 

Barring a miracle of disasters among the teams ahead of them in the rankings, this year will not see Alabama in the championship playoffs. 

Bummer, man. 

Sunday Hangover: Ole Miss

I was concerned about this matchup after last season's score-fest in Oxford. Kiffin is typically a brilliant play-caller. 

The game was a pleasant surprise. The Tide defense held Ole Miss to 21 points, but 14 of those points came in the fourth quarter when the game was in hand. I reckon Saban will focus on the team's lack of intensity in the second half. 

Brian Robinson has a game that showcased his skills. He toted the rock 36 times for 171 net yards. That's Henryesque. 

Will Anderson showed why he's one of the best linebackers in the country. That guy is an absolute terror to offensive linemen. 

Next up is a wounded Texas A&M squad who can turn around their season with a win against Alabama. I'm sure we'll get their best shot. 

Sunday Hangover: Ole Miss

 I've been an Alabama fan since I went there for graduate school in '98. 

Last night's game was one of the most frustrating wins I've ever witnessed. 

The Alabama defense was awful. 

Downright awful.

A W F U L

The Tide offense was outstanding, and they should have put up another touchdown because Harris got stripped at the goaline. 

But good Gods, I hope to never see a pathetic defensive performance like that again. I know Kiffin is one heck of a play caller, but the defense has got to get it together. 

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. 

Sunday Hangover: Ole Miss

Apologies for my lateness. 

But that was an ass whooping. 

If you're an Alabama fan, that first play of game made you wonder what kind of night it was going to be. 

That sickly feeling didn't last too long because the Tide offense came out and picked apart the Ole Miss D with precise passing and basic running plays. 

I was kind of surprised that no back amassed 100 yards from scrimmage, but as is typical of these type of games, eight players gained over 200 net yards. 

The passing game shone brightly once gain with 306 yards receiving from various receivers. This offense has many weapons at receiver, and the quarterbacks are using all of them. The offenses in the past that tended to target one stud receiver -- Jones, Cooper, Ridley -- is no longer with us from what I can tell. 

Quinnen Williams led the team and tackles and is quietly becoming one of the best players on this team. In fact, he's played better, from what I can tell, than the highly touted Raekwon Davis. Christian Miller also had an outstanding game. 

Next up is Texas A&M at Bryant-Denny. 

Sunday Hangover: Ole Miss

Wow, I was feeling good about Alabama's chances versus Ole Miss, but damn, that was a severe ass kicking. By the time it got around to the middle of the second quarter, it seemed as though the Crimson Tide had broken the Rebels' spirits. 

The offensive game plan showcased a balance of run and pass. Hentges (TE), Ruggs (WR), and Jacobs (RB) all caught passing TDs. It's great to see Jacobs back because he is a serious threat coming out of the backfield to catch passes. The touchdown he scored on was executed perfectly. He came out of the backfield, slowed a bit to disguise himself, and then ran to an open spot in the defense. Hurts hit him in stride. 

The Tide played well defensively again. They gave up a few big plays, but that was to be expected playing against Patterson, a QB who styles himself as Johnny Manziel Lite. However, Ole Miss's third-down efficiency was 0 for 13. 

Alabama rushed for 365 yards. They just brutalized the Rebels defense. 

The main concern coming out of this game is that Da'Shawn Hand came down with an injury because of an Ole Miss offensive linemen undercutting his knee. Thank goodness it is only an MCL strain. It's unclear, however, to what extent of the injury suffered by cornerback and primary punt and kickoff returner Trevon Diggs has. It didn't look good. 

Next up is a visit to College Station to take on the Aggies of Texas A&M.  

[Belated] Sunday Hangover: Ole Miss

What a crazy game that was. 

The Tide has played three games, and Eddie Jackson has scored a touchdown in each. The first two were pick-sixs, and Saturday's was a game-changing punt return. 

But just when you think a team has the other put away, the Rebels' onside kick was successful because of the ball talking a big hop over Ridley's head. Then Kelly threw yet another long, jump-ball throw, and the Ole Miss receiver came down with it in the end zone. 

As usual, my constant refrain when Alabama had the ball on offense was "Run the damn ball." They didn't early on. Kiffin kept running all kinds of short passes and end arounds that drove me crazy. Finally, later in the game they established the run with Harris and Jacobs, who surprisingly if I remember correctly, came in as the second back in the rotation. 

Stewart went out with what sounds to be a knee sprain, and I'm told that true freshman Diggs might get more playing time at wide receiver in the next few weeks because of Stewart's absence in upcoming games. 

Hurts was really the star of the game though. He didn't look that great early on but really manned the offense well in the second half. During the second half, they called a number of designed running plays for him, which I suspect was something Ole Miss didn't practice much on. He's a dual threat quarterback. Saturday he was the leading rusher with 146 net yards. Harris had 144 yards. 

Still in the future I'd like to see them run the ball in a more traditional manner by using the running backs inside or outside the tackles and using Hurts as a runner as a highly effective curveball. 

The defensive backs need to do a much better job going after contested balls. I'm sure that will be a strong point of emphasis in the coming weeks. When a quarterback hangs 421 passing yards on a defense mainly through big plays, something has to change for the better, especially with Saban coaching the defensive backfield. 

Sunday Hangover: Ole Miss

Last night was a manic-depressive fiasco. 

Coach Saban summarized the game well in his post-game remarks: 
"The key thing for the players is how they’re going to respond to a loss. I really was proud of how our players fought back in the game to get the game to 30-24. Then, we gave up a big play, and we got down by 20 points, and we fought back again, and actually had the ball with an opportunity maybe to have a chance to win the game.

“I really liked the resilience of our players. They played for 60 minutes in the game, and they fought back, but the mistakes that we made, and all that we gave away, we could not overcome. I don’t want this to sound as if I don’t think Ole Miss played a really good game. I think they played a really good game, and I think they’ve got a really good team. I think they deserved to win this game, and they outplayed us, but [five turnovers] is just the fact of the matter.”

I don't know of any game where a team has five turnovers and wins. 

What's more is that the offensive line play was inconsistent. A number of runs got no gain or lost yardage because of poor blocking. That must be cleaned up.

The surprise to me and others is that Cooper Bateman started the game at QB, yet Coker came in later. The latter guy clearly commanded the offense well, and Bateman showed some flashes, especially because of his arm strength. Then again, Coker threw some downright dumb throws. 

By most statistical categories, the Crimson Tide dominated the game except in turnovers and explosive plays. 

This one hurts because the Tide fought so hard to win the game and got pretty damn close a couple of times, but they couldn't overcome stupid turnovers. 

I'm glad the loss came early in the season, but Ole Miss has a favorable schedule going forward. They still play it the SEC West of course, but If recall correctly, their East opponents this season aren't too tough. Alabama, on the other hand, plays Georgia and Tennessee. 

From my amateur eyes, the two main concerns for Alabama going forward are consistent offensive line play and consistent QB play. 

Sunday Hangover: Ole Miss

What a horrific game. Kenyan Drake's injury rattled the Crimson Tide though they finally got it together in the first half. His season is probably over, but I hope he can still play football next year. 

In the second half it was a healthy smattering of stupid penalties, dropped balls, the anchor of the OLine going out with injury, two or three major blown coverages, and dumb turnovers. 

Alabama beat Ole Miss in number of first downs, net yards rushing, total net yards of offensive production, and time of possession, yet they lost the game. 

Cooper was limited early in the game but still had 9 catches for 91 yards. Yeldon had another 100-yard game. 

But Christion Jones's fumble on a kickoff really flipped the game. The Tide D was given a another short field to defend and fell behind by only six after Tony Brown blocked the point after the touchdown. 

Alabama did drive the length of the field at the end of the game, but Howard couldn't make the catch in the end zone, and an Ole Miss DB made a great interception. 

When a team dominates statistically, they'll still lose because of penalties and dumb penalties that negate solid plays. 

Next Saturday the Tide travels to Fayetteville to take on the Razorbacks. We'll see how this team responds after losing a game they could have easily won.

Coulda Shoulda.