Box Score and Such: Alabama vs Virginia Tech

by Todd on Sep 6, 2009 5:02 PM CDT Comment 15 comments


1st Downs	22	11
3rd Down Efficiency	6-17	2-12
4th Down Efficiency	0-0	0-1
Total Yards	498	155
Passing	230	91
Comp-Att	15-30	9-20
Yards per Pass	7.7	4.6
Rushing	268	64
Attempts	49	31
Yards per Rush	5.5	2.1
Penalties	10-83	6-45
Turnovers	2	2
Fumbles Lost	1	2
Interceptions Thrown	1	0
Time of Possession	37:08	22:50

Looking at the box score, there are three things that really jump out from last night's game:

Penalties, Penalties, Penalties: Last season the Crimson Tide finished 5th in the country in fewest amount of penalties with 57, but committed 10 last night for 83 yards, including two completely boneheaded decisions on the part of the usually level headed Rolando McClain. The mental discipline we showed as a team last year to avoid penalties was not on display last night and it's something that really needs to be worked on.
Statistical Dominance Doesn't Equal Scores: The old cliche "the only stats that matter are on the scoreboard" was certainly true last night. We held the ball for almost an entire quarter longer than the Hokies, doubled their first downs, and outgained them by 204 yards rushing and 139 through the air (343 yards total)....yet still only held a ten point advantage when the game was over and had the fight like hell in the fourth quarter for that. The Hokie red zone defense held us to field goals in the early goings (including one that could have sent us into the half with the lead that missed), and Roy Upchurch's fumble at the end of a long run that could have set up another scoring opportunity didn't help. Again, mental errors on our part kept Va. Tech in the game, and leaving scoring opportunities on the field like that isn't something we need.
Third Down Efficiency Needs to Improve: After watching Alabama play with some brutal efficiency last season, it was especially frustrating seeing us convert only 6 of 17 3rd downs (only 35%). The Hokies were stuffing our ground game on first down a lot of the time, and we were shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties as well, so hopefully this is something that can be rectified over the next few weeks.

Players of the Game:

Offense - Mark Ingram

vs Virginia Tech / 9.5.09	Rushing				Receiving
	Rush	Yards	Avg	TD	Rec	Yards	Avg	TD
Mark Ingram	26	150	5.8	1	3	35	11.7	1

With 99 of his 185 total yards coming in the fourth quarter, Ingram effectively iced the game for the Crimson Tide after struggling early on. His 150 yards rushing was a new career high for him, and he's shown that he is more than ready to fill Glen Coffee's shoes as the primary running back for the Tide.

Defense - Eryk Anders

Though Anders was our best edge rusher on passing downs last year, I'll admit that I was a little worried about him taking on an every down role. He's smaller than your prototypical Jack linebacker and really didn't do anything but rush the passer last year, so I didn't know how well he would fare against the run or in coverage. With 8 tackles (2 for loss) and a forced fumble last night, he's put some of my fears to rest.

Honorable Mention: Brandon Deaderick

Shot on Monday, lining up against Va. Tech on Saturday. You are not tough.

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Also...

… an honorable mention should go to long-snapper Brian Selman. Aside from doing a great job all night on the snaps, he hustled downfield and made a tackle on special teams, and also made a key fumble recovery on Williams’ muffed punt return.

by outsidethesidelines on Sep 6, 2009 6:09 PM CDT reply actions

TRUE...

…I remember him being in on both of those plays and thinking “if our LONG SNAPPER is showing that much hustle, they must really be getting after these kids in practice.”

Roll Bama Roll - The Champagne of Bama Blogs.

by Todd on Sep 6, 2009 6:23 PM CDT up reply actions

Agreed.

And it’s great to see that sort of effort coming from the snapper simply because he’s going to go unblocked on just about every punt return. A good, hustling snapper can get down field quickly and really give some assistance to the gunners.

by outsidethesidelines on Sep 6, 2009 7:20 PM CDT up reply actions

Second that

If it were up to me, I'd blitz on offense too.

by The Heffalump on Sep 6, 2009 9:51 PM CDT up reply actions

he also downed the ball inside the five on one of the punts.

by jsholt969 on Sep 6, 2009 9:55 PM CDT up reply actions

I also thought playing a

good game was PJ Fitzgerald. I don’t know what his stats were but he got every punt off nice, and they seemed to go high and long. I really feared he might 1- Get one blocked or 2- Kick a line drive VT would return for a TD.

I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.

by 5026 on Sep 6, 2009 8:25 PM CDT reply actions

Fitzgerald had a great night...

Five punts and averaged right at 45 yards per punt. It may have been the best day he’s had to yet at ’Bama.

And for all of the vaunted “Beamerball” garbage, they literally did not come after one single punt. We punted five teams, and they put the return on all five times.

by outsidethesidelines on Sep 6, 2009 8:28 PM CDT up reply actions

Marquis Johnson

Not to dig up old bones, but are you MJ supporters still high on him? He made several mistakes last night and showed why, once again, he isn’t much more than a mediocre CB. Can’t wait until we get that position away from him and into someone’s else’s hands.

I’m as excited about watching this offense as I am about the impending decapitations our D is going to lay on people - Stuck in the Plains

by BamaReturns07 on Sep 6, 2009 11:45 PM CDT reply actions

Several mistakes?

How did he make several mistakes at corner? He, at worse, had one mental breakdown on the wheel route to Williams (that was also partially Barron’s fault, too), and he had one ticky-tack pass interference right before that which was a questionable call by the ref, and at any rate a penalty that only resulted because Johnson read the route and jumped on it a tad quicker than he should have. Aside from that, only one more pass was completed in his direction all night, and on that one he made a form tackle and limited it to about three yards. Again, several mistakes? He had one mental breakdown, and that’s about it. Aside from that there wasn’t a Hokie wide receiver that could do anything with him all night.

And, frankly, you people can keep pissing and moaning all you want over Johnson, but I’ll tell you this much… he turned Dre Kirkpatrick and Burton Scott into spectators. Maybe in 2007 and 2008 you could have made the argument that lack of quality depth is keeping him on the field, but with those two guys around now, that argument is no longer valid. I expect Kirkpatrick in particular will cut into his playing time some on down the stretch, but for now he’s a spectator, and you can rest assured that he wouldn’t be that if Johnson weren’t getting the job done like Saban wanted it done.

by outsidethesidelines on Sep 6, 2009 11:59 PM CDT up reply actions

Geez

Anyone else?

I’m as excited about watching this offense as I am about the impending decapitations our D is going to lay on people - Stuck in the Plains

by BamaReturns07 on Sep 7, 2009 12:37 AM CDT up reply actions

I hope...

… I’m not counting off as sounding like an ass because that’s certainly not the intention, but again I keep reading things like this, and I just don’t see it. At some point bad play as a cornerback has to be backed up by repeated throws at a particular corner and repeated completions for good gains, and none of that happened last night. Again, it was one blown coverage, period. Aside from that Taylor only completed eight passes all night long, and five of those passes went for five yards or fewer (and the other three went for fifteen yards or fewer). If anyone in the defensive backfield were really playing poorly, we couldn’t have had such a crippling pass defense all night.

I think with Johnson it’s just a situation to where no matter what he does, he’s going to be called out as the weak link. He’s basically in a no-win situation for much of the fan base now, I’m afraid.

by outsidethesidelines on Sep 7, 2009 12:56 AM CDT up reply actions

personally,

i hate all the individual player bashing. hopefully y’all don’t also teach your children through ridicule.

2008 Iron Bowl Bumper Sticker: Shut DOWN, Shut OUT, now SHUT UP!
Alabama 36 - Auburn 0

by LittleSis on Sep 7, 2009 7:17 AM CDT up reply actions

Fear. Humiliation. Sarcasm.

The three pinnacles of successful parenting.

Offense sells tickets. Defense wins games. - Paul W. "Bear" Bryant

by TheRedTideConsumes on Sep 7, 2009 7:28 AM CDT up reply actions

Thank you, OTS

MJ Haters need to back off. If you noticed on the sideline, Saban was chewing on Barron, not MJ. MJ was not the problem last night. The only real meltdown on defense came from our all American. That was unacceptable. He costs us at least 4 points, maybe 7.

by M. Johnson Defender on Sep 7, 2009 12:48 AM CDT up reply actions

Honorable Mention

I’d also throw in Roy Upchurch…hey, I was screaming as loud as anyone when he got stripped from behind, but that aside: it seemed like the running game never got going until he went in and provided a spark. Say what you want about the fact that he should have been more elusive on a couple of his carries, but when your RB is out there trucking defenders, it really fires up your football team.

by sandman227 on Sep 7, 2009 7:32 AM CDT reply actions