Nick makes the point that while not everything is perfect, there’s a lot of good things going on too.
Saban Has a Point, Dwell on What’s Good and Working and Here It Is
By: Larry Burton
Saban may not get points for contradiction, he once said that “Nobody has higher expectations than I do.” Yet this week he chided fans who he thought had expectations that were too high. But Saban does have a valid point. Fans were acting like Alabama had lost the game to Arkansas instead of winning it by one point.
A win is a win and at the end of the year it’s only the losses that hurt a team, not the close wins.
And instead of everyone moaning about all that was not right in the last two games, let’s look at the things that are going right and are working.
The Punter – Alabama has a world class punter who is able to flip the field. His punts may have had as much to do with the Alabama win Saturday as any other thing. JK Scott is a treasure and he’ll only get better. Last week he booted a 58 yard punt and kept the Hogs pinned inside the 20 with other well placed kicks. That’s a real star that will continue to help win games.
The Defensive Line – Was not only able to get quarterback pressure with just a four man rush, but they held Arkansas, a great running team with great backs to just 89 total yards rushing. That will win a lot of games in the SEC if they can keep that up.
Third Down Conversions – Though 51+% doesn’t sound like a high number, it ranks Alabama as the sixth best team in the nation in making third down conversions. When you move the chains good things happen and they will start happening again with that kind of conversion rate.
The Linebackers – Besides backing up the line with a great run stopping defense, which by the way is the third best run defense in the country, this group is also doing a fine job covering backs and the short routes, knocking down passes and making the right calls at the line. Reggie Ragland is becoming another Rolando McClain / Dont’a Hightower kind of linebacker and he’ll only get better.
The Backup Center – Bradley Bozeman is a redshirt freshman who never expected to be suddenly thrust into the starting job. While his work may not earn him SEC offensive lineman of the week status, he’s stepped in to the toughest job on perhaps the nation’s most scrutinized team and he’s done the job. Yes a few snaps may have been low, yes, he’s not ready to call the line blocking schemes like a veteran, but he’s been steady and with two games under his belt, he’s getting better. He was doing markedly better in the second half of the last game and whenever Kelly comes back, Alabama will have a more seasoned back up. The fact that a redshirt freshman could step in and hold his own as he’s done is great.
The Receivers – With Cooper leading the way, this group has astonishing yards after the catch. It seems that Sims only has to get the ball in their hands and they’ll do the rest. What’s better news is that last week Sims started dispersing the passes to more that just Cooper. This can only keep teams confused as where to focus their attentions.
Team Attitude – Right now the players all feel their backs firmly against the wall and they’re all pulling together instead of pointing fingers. This will pay off.
Coaching – This week Saban said he made a mistake. He overrode Kiffin on the 4th down play that didn’t work. Kiffin wanted the running back to go for it and Saban felt it was safer not to risk a hand off and to let Sims sneak it. Sims obviously forgot that the play was supposed to go forward not straight up and it failed miserably. Saban says he learned a lesson and he’ll let the coaches do their jobs from now on. If any staff can fix the problems, this one in Tuscaloosa can.
The teams ahead of them cannibalize themselves – Just as Alabama was knocked off the perch, so will other teams ranked ahead of them, many of whom still have to play head to head and since Alabama only has to be the fourth best team to make the playoffs, this will help more than just them winning out.
But the biggest thing? The remaining schedule – The three most dangerous team remaining on the schedule, Texas A&M, Mississippi State and Auburn are all at home where the Tide has done their best work. That could be the difference in all three of those games. Alabama has a winning edge over LSU lately when playing at LSU and Alabama would beat Tennessee on Jupiter.
And the Bad?
Yes turnovers have hurt the Tide but that is a quick, fixable problem. The offensive line is not great, but with the starting center out and a backup learning the position it is something that will only get better. The penalties from the linemen on offense will also dry up, this is something that’s awful abnormal for Alabama and they’ll revert to their old habits. One the offensive line gets gelled, the running game which struggled against the last two teams, will pick back up.
Lastly the quarterback play has not been great lately, mainly because teams have figured out what Sim’s tendencies are and they’ve effectively shut down his short passing game. Now Sims will have to throw more medium and long passes and he’ll get better with them as time goes on. With the game on the line and the Tide behind, Sims did mount a fourth quarter comeback in a great touchdown drive. That’s something some of Alabama’s great quarterbacks never did, like Brodie Croyle, who never led a fourth quarter comeback touchdown win.
Larry has been published in almost every media outlet for college sports and now primarily writes here for Touchdown Alabama. Follow Larry on Twitter for inside thoughts and game time comments at https://twitter.com/LBSportswriter
