Third Saturday in Blogtober is hosting this week for obvious reasons, so without further ado:
Both teams at some point or another have been described as an Evil Empire. If your team is the Death Star, what is it's planet-destroying weapon?
Nick Saban, the man that destroyed the old culture of Alabama football and remade it in his own image obviously. His recruiting alone has so far destroyed at least one wasteland "planet" I can think of, and his ability to coach up little used upperclassmen into all SEC caliber players as well as turn true freshmen into salty veterans over the course of fall camp set the destruction of another into motion. Let's face it, the man isn't happy until all before him is in ruins, or at the very least tears:
What is it's two meter wide exhaust port?
Complacency maybe, or at the very least a too soft game plan when we're up big at the half. Maybe it's just perception, but in all the games where we've struggled in the second half it seems like we got away from the kind of thing that got us there in the first place. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I can't say that we've really struggled as much in the second half as it seems. Hear me out: Against Tulane we didn't really know how to protect Wilson because we didn't have film on them (it was their season opener) and they came at us with a lot of corner blitzes and things that we hadn't prepared for and the backs didn't recognize, but even then we put together a very solid drive keyed by Ingrams power running to put the game away with a TD. Against UGA we did the same thing, putting together two scoring drives to keep the game out of reach and conceding a lot of yardage on D to keep the clock running. Against Kentucky we moved the ball very well but didn't cash in on the points. It was only against Ole Miss that we bungled around and really let things get too close for comfort, and I'd have to say we went soft on the game plan in the second half in that sense. They did a great job of shutting down our running game in the early goings, and we made them pay through the air for it, but in the second half (and especially after the INT) we seemed content to keep pounding the ball even though we weren't making a lot of headway with it.
Everyone is looking forward to Eric Berry vs. Julio Jones. What is the next matchup you'll be keying on in this game?
Josh Chapman vs the Vol O-line. With Cody out, we get to see how good a job Chapman can do against the run, and what I'm really interested in seeing is if they will try to man up and run the ball inside against us because Cody is gone. As we've come to find out, we still didn't give up much without Cody against Ole Miss, but my biggest concern is how this affects the play of the linebackers, especially Hightower and McClain. They've been able to flow to the outside with Cody and the line clogging up the middle, but are they going to have to stay home in rushing situations, allowing the UT backs to get outside easier? Time will tell, I suppose.
The Tide and Vols will scrap it out under the lights at Neyland. Do you like this arrangement and does the later kickoff time provide an advantage to either team?
I do since we've been most successful on the road so far. Plus, beating the Vols in Neyland will just be icing on the already delicious 6-0 7-0 cake we're eating now.
Since the Tide had a bye week and the Vols didn't bother to play that weekend either (zing!) we're going to say this is the Third Saturday in October just to justify the name of one of the greatest rivalries in college football. In three thousand words or less, turn over the kettles of white-hot liquid hate upon thine enemy.
Knock Knock
Who's there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you glad you're not a Tennessee fan right now? I know I am.