almost 1000 miles of driving later, my take --
This is the best and most physical Bama team I have seen in nearly 50 years. The one thing I am not sold on yet is how well they can pass and catch. Both looked a bit suspect.
The gap in speed between us and AL was as bad as it was when we played at Oregon a few years ago. Some of this is bc of our injuries probably, but only some. They are faster and bigger.
In the first quarter this had the makings of a good game. We were a bit unpredictable and our D did some good things.
Obviously the pick 6 was killer. Really thought that changed everything. Our bad punt was another.
Our return game looked so close to breaking one all day. That was probably the best part of our game, except for the return where we whiffed on the opening shot at tackling them and it led to a td.
I think after the midpoint of the third quarter we went very vanilla and had no interest in getting anyone else hurt. Frankly, this was a good decision.
Kiffin's play calling was a bit bizarre. I think they could have run it all day and scored 70 on us. We struggle mightily against teams with good misdirection or who can get wide.
Dobbs had a couple of chances to keep it early and failed to do so. Our screen game and quick swing passes are dangerous to our own players' health. Terrible blocking.
The challenge for this team will be to recapture the self-belief and swagger that we had in the first five games. If we do that, and get just a bit healthier we can run the table. But I will confess that after these past two weeks, it is not foregone that is the direction we will go. We never quit which was a good sign. But it will take some great coaching and senior leadership. Or we could lose a couple more games.
Lastly, we simply need to recruit better athletes at a lot of positions. This is a line of scrimmage league as Coach says, and we are a ways away from being really good there. We also still need a lot more speed at LB, cb and safety.
And Barnett remains as good as anyone anywhere.
This is the best and most physical Bama team I have seen in nearly 50 years. The one thing I am not sold on yet is how well they can pass and catch. Both looked a bit suspect.
The gap in speed between us and AL was as bad as it was when we played at Oregon a few years ago. Some of this is bc of our injuries probably, but only some. They are faster and bigger.
In the first quarter this had the makings of a good game. We were a bit unpredictable and our D did some good things.
Obviously the pick 6 was killer. Really thought that changed everything. Our bad punt was another.
Our return game looked so close to breaking one all day. That was probably the best part of our game, except for the return where we whiffed on the opening shot at tackling them and it led to a td.
I think after the midpoint of the third quarter we went very vanilla and had no interest in getting anyone else hurt. Frankly, this was a good decision.
Kiffin's play calling was a bit bizarre. I think they could have run it all day and scored 70 on us. We struggle mightily against teams with good misdirection or who can get wide.
Dobbs had a couple of chances to keep it early and failed to do so. Our screen game and quick swing passes are dangerous to our own players' health. Terrible blocking.
The challenge for this team will be to recapture the self-belief and swagger that we had in the first five games. If we do that, and get just a bit healthier we can run the table. But I will confess that after these past two weeks, it is not foregone that is the direction we will go. We never quit which was a good sign. But it will take some great coaching and senior leadership. Or we could lose a couple more games.
Lastly, we simply need to recruit better athletes at a lot of positions. This is a line of scrimmage league as Coach says, and we are a ways away from being really good there. We also still need a lot more speed at LB, cb and safety.
And Barnett remains as good as anyone anywhere.
