9/28 Arkansas Game
OK, I’ve whined enough about losing Hightower; so now I’m going to talk about our big win over the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday. Those of you that read last week’s blog are probably wondering where that high-powered offense that I warned everyone about went. Well, to be honest, I don’t know. We started out playing extraordinary defense. We had very consistent pressure on Mallett, both from our base defense and from our blitz packages. Marcel Dareus was again a force on the defensive line, and Eryk Anders continues to find a way into the opposing backfield.
On the offensive side of the ball, there were a few more areas for concern, but overall, I was very happy with our showing. We really couldn’t run the ball effectively throughout the game. Richardson had that one Heisman-worthy TD run, but other than that, our running backs simply couldn’t find any room to run. Part of that had to do with our offensive line, but I think a lot of it had to do with the defense that Arkansas ran. On several plays, I counted 9 men in the box, which opened up the deep passing game, but made it very, very difficult to run. However, unlike teams from our recent past, forcing us to pass works out very well, because we have a very impressive quarterback in Greg McElroy. I know it sounds like sacrilege, but I wouldn’t trade him for any quarterback we’ve had here since, well, I’m not sure when. He’s smart and accurate, and he’s very good at distributing the ball to the right receiver. I used to dread when other teams forced us to pass. Now I love it!
And speaking of our passing game, Saturday featured the first game back for Julio Jones after missing almost all of two games. He caught a long TD pass on a trick play from the Wildcat formation, and he also had a very impressive run-after-catch on the left sideline later in the game (exactly how many Razorbacks did it take to bring him down?). However, much of the game Julio was reduced to being a decoy, because Arkansas definitely focused their secondary on shutting him down. So as you might expect, with the defense jamming the line to stuff the run and then keying their secondary on Julio, we had some open receivers out there, and once 1) they decided to catch the ball, and 2) McElroy started throwing to the non-Julios, we started moving the ball very well.
However, even with our defense playing well and our offense moving the ball, the game was still in jeopardy early in the second half. Arkansas stopped us on three plays on our first series, and then walked the ball down the field, burning Kareem Jackson on a fade pattern for the TD making the score 14-7. Yes, I was worried at that point, because I felt like our defense was really starting to crack after losing Hightower, and I thought we were in for another classic Bama-Arkansas shootout. Admit it, you did too! However, that scenario never materialized, because on our next play from scrimmage, McElroy hit Maze on a deep fly pattern down the right sideline for an 80+ yard TD for a 21-7 lead.
I still wasn’t comfortable at that point, and soon after, Arkansas moved into our territory, and that’s when Petrino made a really stupid mistake. Arkansas faced 4th and inches from our 40 yard line, and instead of going for it which would have extended the drive, potentially cutting the lead to 21-14, he decided to punt. However, not only did they try to punt, but they tried that little roll-out punt to minimize the return. Unfortunately for them, the punter rolled right into Lorenzo Washington, who blocked the punt. We got the ball deep in their territory; scored to make it 28-7, and it was all over but the crying.
The final score was 35-7, and I’m of course thrilled to get such a great win over a tough conference and divisional opponent. However, as odd as it sounds, I’m still concerned about our defense. After we lost Hightower, I felt like our QB pressure was reduced. I guess that’s to be expected, but I kind of got the feeling that Arkansas was stopping themselves more than we were stopping them for most of the second half. It could be that I was so upset about losing Hightower that I was just seeing things that way; I really don’t know. Regardless, it was a huge win, and as you all know, beating Arkansas is an absolute must if we want to make it to the SEC Championship Game.
And one more thing, yes, I did notice Saban’s tactical goof right before halftime, but very few coaches know that little clock management trick. As a matter of fact, Mark Richt is the only coach that I know for sure understands it, because he used it against us in 2007. I’ll give Saban a pass on this one; I think he’s earned it!
That’s it for now. Next week we play Kentucky in Lexington, and even though we’re the better team, UK is pretty solid, and they are very well coached. This will be our first full game without Hightower, and I’m anxious to see how we handle ourselves without him. Kentucky has an offense that can exploit a weakness if they find it; let’s just hope we clear up any holes before next Saturday. To be honest, even though this is a road game, it doesn’t worry me as much as the Arkansas game. If we play our game; we’ll win.
Check back next week, and as always, feel free to send me any questions or comments.
Roll Tide!
Kenny
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