10/26 Tennessee Game
So were you guys blaming me at halftime on Saturday’s UT game? It probably was partially my fault; after all, I did step out of my comfort zone and state with certainty that Tennessee had absolutely no chance against us whatsoever. I didn’t see any way they could move the ball against us, and I didn’t think they could stop our offense. Put those two together, and I was very confident that we would wipe the field with those jokers. Then the first half happened, and I was not a happy little dude sitting there at 6-6. To make matters worse, an objective fan that watched that half wouldn’t have thought that Bama was the better team; they were controlling the line of scrimmage against us pretty well. All that being said, I was still very confident that we would take control in the second half and win going away, and that’s certainly what happened.
Tennessee had the ball to start the second half, and thanks to an incredible play by CJ, punted the ball back to us after three plays. We then came out with the most aggressive play-calling that we’ve had all season, throwing the ball until we got inside the five, and then scoring on a scramble by AJ. We got the ball back after a 4th and 1 stop, and then scored on a deep pass to Kenny Bell on a 1-play drive. At that point, the score was 20-6, and for all intents and purposes, the game was over. When all was said and done, the final score was 37-6, and we had defeated the hated Tennessee Vols for the fifth straight time.
Here are a couple of notes about the second half that I thought were interesting. First, though obvious, it bears stating that we outscored them 31-0 in the second half. It certainly could have been worse if we didn’t shut it down about half way through the fourth quarter. More interestingly, we didn’t allow Tennessee a single first down in the entire second half. As a matter of fact, they only had 6 first downs for the entire game, which is pretty hard to believe seeing as how they seemed to control the ball for most of the first half. I expected to see the dominance that we displayed in the second half for the entire game, but far be it from me to complain too much about a 37-6 win!
As for individual performances, I have to immediately point out the incredible effort displayed by Darius Hanks. He made three absolutely spectacular catches, all three of which you could argue were very important from a momentum perspective. Along the same lines, Marquis Maze made two great catches himself, though one was out of bounds. There is only so much that a receiver can do, and both Hanks and Maze did those things on Saturday night.
McCarron made a couple of nice deep throws, including one to Maze in the first quarter and the aforementioned TD pass to Bell. However, he continues to struggle with his progressions. As an example, look at the 3rd and 7 play near the goal line in the first quarter. He ends up scrambling around the right end and throwing the ball away, and we kicked a field goal. However, watch Darius Hanks on that play. He’s lined up in the left slot, and does a stop route right at the goal line. He is all by himself for the TD right in front of McCarron, but AJ never moves his eyes from his primary target that was covered in the right corner of the end zone. Also, I mentioned the great catches that Hanks made, but the problem is that he had to make those great catches because McCarron threw such poor passes. In all three cases, Hanks was wide open, but he had turn into Dr. Octopus to reach the ball, so had no run after catch. I know I shouldn’t be complaining, especially after I said that I wouldn’t in the third paragraph, but we have a fairly important football game coming up in the very near future, and our margin of error is going to become razor thin. I just hope McCarron can put it all together sooner rather than later.
Speaking of the important game coming up, I know that’s really what’s on everyone’s mind right now, and I suspect it was on our players’ minds during the first half on Saturday night. I won’t preview it right now; I’ll post a full preview next week as game time approaches. I think that the preview of the first regular season 1 versus 2 matchup in Alabama’s storied history merits its own blog, don’t you?
But for now, let’s just revel in the fact that we are 8-0, and we have just demolished those brain-dead hicks from Knoxville for the fifth consecutive season, and that just never gets old. As always, feel free to send me any questions or comments, and until next time, Roll Tide!
Kenny
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