Sunday Morning QB- Bad Time for a Time-Out Edition
1. Perfect weather. Perfect Tailgate. We even had an official decked out at the tailgate who flagged the van bringing in the SEC officials. Tito's was the MVP
2. Great gameplan by Dan Walsh. Really couldnt have done any better. The 1st play was beautiful, we just couldnt connect. We burned the clock. We were physical. The only problems we had were in the 4th Q. Mullen went too conservative when we got the ball at 24-24 with 2 mins left. Poor series that ended up costing us. Another problem was burning all of our time-outs on defense. We got confused too much. Not sure if it was because of what Bama was doing or because Bryant was out that caused us problems getting lined up. The 3rd one we called was really bad because we really looked like we had the right call and Hurts bottled up when they blew the play dead. That loses you ballgames. But with that said- the staff did a helluva job and we played as well as this team could possibly play. Very proud of my team and my school. The crowd was also perfect. Need to do it again in the Egg Bowl
3. Fitz was good. Missing that 1st one was tough tho. He made some good throws into tight windows. Ran very physical. Loved seeing him take it to the Bama LB on his TD run. Bama bottled him up for the most part but he had a couple of good runs that moved the chains.
4. Aeris ran angry for the 1st time this year. So did Hill. Aeris really stepped it up and did a helluva job of being patient when necessary and exploding when it was time. The gameplan was good in the run game and we stayed physical between the tackles. Helluva job by the OG's especially. Calhoun was really good pulling around and locking onto a LB to create just enough for Aeris to slip thru. Williams and Jenkins were good too. Thats the key when facing a 3-4 team- controlling the Nose. We did a really good job of it and it allowed us to rush for that 172.
5. WR play was solid but not great. Great back shoulder throw to Thomas for a big play but he dropped another huge one later on. Todd has leaped past Couch and is starting to make some plays. Finally becoming a viable target. Thomas had a couple of catches but the big one to get us to the 10 yard line. Just needed a few more throws and catches to get us where we needed to be.
6. OL was badass. Thats all that needs to be said. They battled the best defensive front in America and held their own. Eiland wont be as good as Rankin- but this bunch will be top 10 in the Country in 2018 if it can stay healthy. Probably looking at Rankin, Jenkins, and Calhoun getting drafted out of this group.
7. DL played well but struggled to get any pressure without blitzing. Hurts is a tough match-up and he slipped away a few times. But thats what he does. We controlled their inside run game but Bama killed us with the stretch read. They gouged us outside on the stretch and we didnt have an answer for it. Needed to make some type of adjustment there whether its putting an overhang opposite side of the RB or slanting your DL away from the RB to stop the stretch. We just didnt have an answer. Bama had 202 yards on the ground and 60% of it came in the 4th Q (which seemed like it took forever). We werent tired but we were starting to get beat up. Their RB's are absolute beasts. But as I said earlier- we played probably as well as we could play.
8. Been worried about the Secondary all year and last night was why. No answer for Ridley especially. We sacked Hurts on their 1st possession with a 3rd down blitz from Gray. We ran the same blitz on 3rd down in their 2nd possession and they burned us hitting Ridley underneath Mac. Mac just couldnt close on him to defend or make the tackle. We had more success later on blitzing from the right and especially in the middle. We had to blitz to get pressure and also to help our CB's not have to cover as long. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. And sometimes it rains. The burning away of the time-outs was big tho. With a bunch of veteran DB's- that shouldnt be happening 3 different times in 1Q.
9. Home field is huge in games like this- as we clearly saw yesterday. Auburn being at home was huge vs Georgia. Their Freshman struggled in that environment. It certainly helped us. Need that same atmosphere for the Egg. Nobody enjoys coming to Sville to play these days- especially at night.
10. While we are clearly better than UPig, we have to overcome the letdown game. We are bruised and beat up, on the road, at 11am. Got to soldier thru it and get the job done.
Proud of our team and the effort. Just came up short. Hail State
