Alabama 23, Arkansas 24: The Rant

by Nico2.0 on Sep 24, 2006 2:18 PM CDT in Football

(When I've had another day or so to recover from this loss, I'll breakdown the positives from this game. For now, I will rant.)

It is a grey, overcast day in Birmingham and I think that's a direct result of Alabama's performance in Fayetteville yesterday. I'm not one that doesn't believe in giving credit to an opponent for a victory, but good grief, Alabama could've put that thing away twice and didn't. I went with the homer pick against my better judgment (just like Todd did) and was proven wrong. I picked Arkansas to win in my preseason preview of this game and I was on the money with my assessment:

...I think we drop this game and it will be an insanely frustrating loss.

"Insanely frustrating" doesn't even begin to express the emotions I felt yesterday (and still feel today.) I now know what Auburn fans must've felt like after their 2005 loss to LSU. It's about much more than doinked field goals though. The play calling is the #1 source of my frustration in all of this.

Ken Darby is simply not getting the job done. He has 233 yards on 77 carries for 3.0 yards per carry (ypc) this season. If that's the case, why is he getting 20 carries per game? Jimmy Johns has 119 yards on 23 carries for 5.2 ypc. JJ's ypc is over 65% better and he's done it on 1/3 as many tries. He has half as many yards on a 1/3 as many carries. Yet they repeatedly call Darby's number. I know he's had back to back 1,000+ yard seasons, but when you have a player who hasn't even rushed for 80 yards in a game through three games against weak competition, why oh why do you continue to go to him when he hasn't produced all season and isn't producing in the current game?

If the rush isn't working (and hasn't been working all year), then it isn't your bread and butter no matter what your history is. The fact of the matter is that despite a few stupid mistakes (the fumble and throwing past the line of scrimmage), John Parker Wilson is a quarterback that can move the ball, so why not let him move it? Hall and Brown were fantastic yesterday and were going to make the big plays when they needed to be made. If you want to have variety on offense, then put the ball in the hands of the back averaging 5+ yards per carry, not the one averaging 3.

Don't even get me started on the penalties either. 11 penalties in one game? That equals the total amount of penalties in the first three games combined. That sort of lazy, undisciplined play will burn you. Speaking of lazy and undisciplined, what was our defense doing when Arkansas went for two after their second touchdown? Our defensive linemen weren't even fully down in their stances when Arkansas snapped the ball.

11 penalties
3 missed field goals
1 missed extra point
1 fumble returned for a touchdown
64 yards on 26 carries (Darby)

Despite having roughly 100 yards more offense than Arkansas and having twice as much time of possession, you can't win football games making the kind of stupid mistakes that are listed above (whether as players or as coaches.) It's a miracle we did all of that on the road and still had a shot at winning.

I love the Alabama Crimson Tide dearly, but we are in for a long, ugly season unless we show some guts in the play calling department. This team has the talent to win close games and to win big games, but you've got to let the talent play. Right now, Mike Shula is playing to not lose, and we need him to play to win. So, congratulations to Arkansas, but it's time to put this game to rest, learn from our mistakes and prepare for Florida.

Roll Tide!

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Comments

Don't worry, buddy

It only feels like you've been kicked in the stomach for a few days.

by Mike @ Roll 'Bama Roll on Sep 25, 2006 7:50 AM CDT reply actions

Ugh.

Just...ugh. Thirty-nine hours since the completion of hostilities in Fayetteville and I'm still at a loss for (non-profane) words.

I will say one positive thing, though: I'm actually kind of glad we didn't get Mustain. I think he's a little caught up in his own hype, and trying very hard to play the hero. JPW, I think, played a damn solid game Saturday, and is improving noticably with every outing.

by turnover on Sep 25, 2006 8:13 AM CDT reply actions

i see where the poll

has the kicking game has a slight lead over play calling as the cause of the loss.

maybe, i'm a big kool-aid drinker, but i think it was the kicking.

you can blame shula for other coaching failures in the game like the sloppy penalties, but he didn't lose that game for us. he could have been a little more aggressive, but cmon, the kid missed four fckin kicks!

by EZ on Sep 25, 2006 10:01 AM CDT reply actions

Shula did put us in a postion to win the game...

...SEVERAL times. It was conservative for him to set up for the FG in the 1st OT, but I think it was the right call. I mean, that was just a kicking disaster. We had 3 chances to win that game and missed the kicks.

To Shula's defense... I don't think he lost this game for us at all. People say we could have thrown more... but JP pulled it down and ran or got sacked 11 times. Shula was calling plays through the air and even opened it up for a couple long bombs.

We can blame Shula for a lot of things... but I don't feel like he lost us this game by any means. I just hope Christensen is ready for to hit a game winner in the Swamp cause now that everyone is going to be looking past us, we are about to start pulling off some huge upsets

Was it for this my life I sought?

by Chalkdust Bama on Sep 25, 2006 10:39 AM CDT reply actions

Agreed

How could you EVER expect a kicker to miss four kicks wide right? Unless you're from Florida State, of course...haha.

Bottom line is this -- if he hits any one of three field goals from inside 37 yards, we're talking about Florida right now. Shula did exactly what he was supposed to do. He made the correct coaching decisions in a game like that. Especially an SEC road game. All we need is a 30+ yarder and we'll undefeated going to Gainesville. It worked 3 times last year.

I'm amazed at how everyone wants to talk about getting rid of Shula, or how it's going to be an ugly season, etc. We're 13-3 in our last 16 games. 2 of the losses have come in OT (and ironically, had we made our field goals in regulation, we would've won both games) and one on the road at our biggest rival. We hit field goals when we're supposed to, we're 15-1 out of our last 16 and everyone in the country is talking about us rather than overlooking us.

I like the direction we're going in. This is MUCH better than going to Arkansas and being beaten 42-6. We'll get there...give Shula time to find a place kicker. Hey, even Auburn needs one...right? :-)

- G Money in M-Town

by garymatrixx on Sep 25, 2006 11:56 AM CDT reply actions

Check out the redzone playcalling...

Click here to see what plays were called in the Redzone.

Roll Tide!

by Nico2.0 on Sep 25, 2006 11:59 AM CDT reply actions

Re: Redzone playcalling

Um, Nico....I hate to bring this up, but let's examine those numbers:

12 running plays to 5 passing plays (yes, sacks are passing plays, too)

Redzone Running: out of the 12 running plays, 5 went for five yards or more (one of those resulting in a first down)...two other shorter runs also went for first downs. One running play went for -3 yards (with JJ running, incidentally) and one went for no gain (Castille's first try at the endzone).

We can sit here and 2nd guess the playcalling all week, but the fact is we scored two TD's in the redzone, and shanked 2 field goals. I realize that criticizing coaching decisions is popular, but for God's sake: you DON'T play for the touchdown in overtime if the other team failed to score, you DON'T risk incompletions at the end of regulation instead of running time off the clock, and you DON'T put in a new kicker for an extra point shattering Tiffin's psyche for life.

I know that he's an 18 year old kid from a great family, but can't we just say that the coaches had us in position to win 3 times, and the friggin' kicker blew it?

by sandman227 on Sep 25, 2006 12:24 PM CDT reply actions

Don't get me wrong...

...I know Tiffin blew it...I'm certainly not trying to defend him.

BUT, I hated the call at the end of regulation (I was fine with the first OT call.) Even if we scored at the end of regulation, we left plenty of time for those guys to get in field goal range and force OT. We're the worst OT team on the face of the planet. We should've gone for the jugular at least once out of three downs and thrown to the endzone.

I think Newspaper Hack summed it up pretty well:

There's a billion ways you can second guess a single-point loss (but I'm looking squarely at Tiffin, missing two close game-winning FG attempts). Those who don't like Shula can pin it on him. Or Dave Rader. Or Li'l Tiffin.

In the end, it's like Gore losing to Bush by 573 votes in Florida. Anything that close has a myriad of things that could have been done differently, and doesn't change the fact that it should have never, ever been that close.

Roll Tide!

by Nico2.0 on Sep 25, 2006 12:31 PM CDT up reply actions

No disagreement here....

on the idea of throwing one into the endzone during the last possesion in regulation. That's a "could've/should've" thing to me and very open for debate.

I guess what kills me is that we roll up more than 100 yards on the team we're playing on the road (who before the season was the prognosticator's darling), against the latest sooper-genius from Springdale and his "2nd coming of Dan Marino/Joe Montana/Jesus Christ Almighty" quarterback...and people STILL bitch about the playcalling. At some point, players have to stop fumbling, jumping offside, and missing blocks.

Let me stipulate: 1. Darby is sucking...While I understand the motives for keeping him in there, Johns should get the start. 2. We have a quarterback that has exceeded expectations, and I hope we throw a bit more late in games.

by sandman227 on Sep 25, 2006 12:52 PM CDT up reply actions

correction

"that we roll up more than 100 yards on the team we're playing on the road"....should have read: "THAN the team we're playing on the road"

by sandman227 on Sep 25, 2006 12:54 PM CDT up reply actions

Just to clarify...

...my major playcalling gripes are about the repeated handoffs to Darby.

Roll Tide!

by Nico2.0 on Sep 25, 2006 12:58 PM CDT up reply actions

And...

Let me put this another way: If JJ is averaging twice the yards per carry that KD is (with the same coaches calling the same plays), I think it's perfectly legitimate to question the decision to keep Darby in the game.

by sandman227 on Sep 25, 2006 1:04 PM CDT reply actions