9/26 Arkansas Game
I don’t even know where to start with this one. I mentioned last week how worried I was about this game. I remember three years ago when Bobby Petrino bolted from the Atlanta Falcons to take over the Arkansas job, I knew the SEC West just got a lot tougher. Soon after, when Ryan Mallett decided to transfer from Michigan to Arkansas to play for Petrino, I immediately started to dread 2010, because I knew that we would be facing the nation’s toughest quarterback who was being coached by the nation’s best passing coach in one of the nation’s toughest environments. Had I known that we were going to be doing it with a secondary full of first year starters, and I might have had a heart attack. But that’s exactly what we faced on Saturday, and the end result was a landmark victory for the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The game started in nightmare fashion, with the Hogs scoring a TD in just two plays, both of which were busted coverages on the part of our young secondary. Our first offensive possession was just as bad, but the Hogs next drive was cut short after a fortuitous string of penalties when they neared midfield. On our next possession, Ingram made a scintillating TD run, and I thought maybe things were back under control. However, after a worst-case-scenario exchange right before halftime, we trailed 17-7, and the way our defense was playing, things were looking very bleak.
At this point, I thought we had three things going in our favor that made a comeback possible. First, the halftime score could have been much worse than it was, and I was thinking that those blown opportunities might come back to bite them. Second, I knew that Saban would make changes at halftime to improve the defense. Third, even though we only had 7 points, the offense was playing pretty well, and I had the feeling that if our defense could give us an opening, our offense could take advantage. So even though I was justifiably nervous, I still had hope.
However, the third quarter went by lightning fast, and with only a few minutes left until the fourth, Arkansas had actually increased their lead to 20-7, and we were definitely teetering on the edge of our first loss since the 2008 season. However, our offense put together a heroic drive highlighted by clutch third-down conversion after third-down-conversion, culminating in a perfectly executed screen pass to Trent Richardson. That’s the play that everyone will remember, but one happened before that one that I want to mention, because to me it set the tone for the rest of the game. With 1:35 left in the quarter, Ingram took the snap from the Wildcat formation and ran around the right end. The run was excellent, but look at the block that Preston Dial puts on the Arkansas defensive back. Dial faced that dude one on one and absolutely throttled him. That block sprung Ingram for a huge gain, and in my opinion, established Alabama as the physically dominant team. From that point on, we seemed to hit harder, and Arkansas was playing on their heels. It was of course not over, but Richardson’s TD cut the Arkansas lead to 20-14. Our next drive was also excellent, but a few miscues (mainly McElroy not seeing a wide open Trent Richardson in the red zone) forced us to settle for a FG, cutting the lead to 20-17.
So here we go. Trailing by 3 with a little over six minutes to play, having to stop Ryan Mallett and company to give our offense one more shot. Two big plays happened immediately. First, Cade Foster absolutely mashed the kickoff, forcing a touchback. Second, they got called for holding, pushing them back to the 10-yard line. On third and 11 from the 19, Ryan Mallett was pressured by Courtney Upshaw, aided by Marcel Dareus occupying two offensive linemen, and overthrew his receiver, allowing Robert Lester to snag his second interception of the day. Three plays later, Mark Ingram gave us our first lead of the day. But it still wasn’t over.
Mallett was getting the ball back with over 3 minutes left, only down by four. They moved the ball easily to midfield, but on second and 9, Damien Square pressured Mallett, forcing him to scramble to his right. He threw the ball over his tight end’s head, and Dre Kirkpatrick made a crucial interception on the sideline, managing to keep both feet in bounds. But it still wasn’t over.
There were still 1:48 left on the clock, and Arkansas still had two timeouts. Simple football math said that we needed one first down to run out the clock. Otherwise, they’d get the ball back with about a minute left. And with Mallett at the helm, I did not want that option. Apparently, Saban didn’t want that either, because after Ingram was stopped on third and 2, leaving us with fourth and inches, Saban made an extraordinarily gutsy decision. He went for the first down and the win. Now, I’m sure we were all thinking the same thing at this point. Not only do we need to convert the first down, but we need to make it by a full yard, because the referees in the last two games have made some moronic spots (all going against us), so I did not want to leave anything to chance. McElroy snuck it, made it by about half a yard, the refs made the proper spot (gasp), and the rest is history.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of this game in the grand scheme of this season. Losing to Arkansas would make the road to the SEC Championship very difficult, forcing Arkansas to lose two SEC games, and that’s assuming we could win the rest of ours. And maybe more importantly, it shows that we indeed can beat anybody. Don’t kid yourself about Arkansas. In my opinion, Arkansas in Fayetteville is the toughest opponent we’ll play this year, and I’m including the potential SEC Championship game and even the national championship game. They’re that tough, especially at home. I’m not saying that we’ll win the rest of our games; anything can happen. But I am saying that if we can beat these guys in their house, we can beat anybody.
That being said, we have no time to celebrate, because next week we face the mighty Florida Gators, and just because they’re not as good as they were last year, that doesn’t mean they’re not a threat, because believe me, Florida is always a threat. But I’ll worry about that later. For now, I’m going to revel in the memory of one of the gutsiest performances I can remember by an Alabama football team. Great job guys!
I want to talk about this game for pages and pages, but for your sake, I’ll leave it there for now. As always, feel free to send me any questions or comments. Until next time, Roll Tide!
Kenny
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