9/2 The Clemson Game
I’m sorry that it took me so long to write this blog, but since Saturday night’s game, I’ve been glued to the TV just hoping for more Bama highlights! In case you missed it (which you better not have), Alabama opened the season with a dominating 34-10 win over the ninth-ranked Clemson Tigers. Make no mistake about it; this game was a beat-down from start to finish. In fact, the game was not as close as the final score would indicate.
There were so many exciting aspects to this game that I really don’t know where to start. I guess the thing that struck me the most was the passion with which our players played. I was telling the folks with whom I was watching the game that we didn’t look like a hungry team; we looked like a starving team. Alabama played this game with a maniacal sense of urgency from the opening kickoff.
As for the game itself, when is the last time that you saw our lines (offensive and defensive) dominating the line of scrimmage like that? I remember one game like that around the first day of 1993, and we haven’t looked like that since. And don’t kid yourself; Clemson has a very, very good defensive line, but our offensive line continuously created holes for our backs. Speaking of our backs, holy smoke! Glen Coffee and Mark Ingram (true freshman from Michigan) hit the line like their butts were on fire, and the first defender to make contact typically regretted that decision.
We’ve been hearing for a while now how much our defensive line has improved, and seeing was believing on Saturday. Terrance “Mount” Cody consistently blew up the interior of the line, and our ends managed to collapse the pocket while maintaining their lanes, making running wide almost impossible. For the game, Clemson had a total of zero rushing yards. Usually when you see a stat like that, it’s a result of the defense getting lots of sacks (since sack yardage counts against rushing total). However, we only had three sacks; Clemson and their vaunted “Thunder and Lightning” rushing attack just couldn’t run the ball.
We were all excited about finally getting to see Julio Jones in action, and I for one was not disappointed in the least. Not only did he have a TD reception, but he also made a remarkable catch to convert a crucial third down when it looked like Clemson might make a run. Had John Parker Wilson hit Julio on that post pattern on our first drive, he would have had a huge day. As this season progresses and his timing with Wilson gets better and better, defenses are going to have an extremely difficult time simultaneously keeping him and our running backs under control.
As for John Parker Wilson, he missed a couple of passes that would have really been huge, especially the aforementioned post pattern to Julio, but in general, he played well. He made several accurate third-down passes to keep drives alive, and he and Nick Walker seemed to be in a nice rhythm. One more thing, can Wilson take a hit or what?! As well as our offensive line played, there were a few plays where their defensive ends either got free releases or simply whipped our tackles and had uncontested shots at our QB, but he stood in there, delivered the ball, and took the hit every time. He wasn’t sacked all day, but his decision making and surprising mobility played a big part in that.
I almost hate for this blog to end. I want to go into detail about every position on the field. I want to talk about Rolando’s phenomenal play right before halftime; I want to talk about the unbelievable one-handed catch Marquis Maze made on the dead ball in the first half; I want to talk about Lorenzo Washington making Clemson’s guard look ridiculous on that interior spin move; I want to talk about the fact that we put together a 7+ minute drive in the fourth quarter to remove any hope that Clemson had. The list could go on and on. Suffice it to say that this was best that I’ve seen Bama look since that one fateful night in January 1993. It’s hard to say how good this team can really be. Our schedule is still unbelievably brutal, and I’m afraid that some losses are simply inevitable. That being said, if we play with the same focus and passion we had on Saturday night, we can beat anybody, and I mean anybody!
That’s it for now. Next week we play the Tulane Green Wave, and even though they have some offensive weapons, I expect us to handle them pretty easily. Check back next week for my recap of what will hopefully be another dominant Alabama win. Until then, as always, feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.
Roll Tide Roll!
Kenny
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