Game Thread: Official PostGame Thread Bama vs. Hogs...

OK - my bad....I'm a fanatic....Our D is good...I just lose my guts when we give up 30 pts. Sorry for losing my mind......

It was 5 or 6 first downs that were made because of defensive penalties. That one stat makes it seem like a completely different performance.

They definitely have some work to do by players and coaches.

I don't think focus will be an issue next week like I think it was against the hogs.

KrAzY3 said:

So far this Alabama defense reminds me a little of the Saints defense the year they won the Super Bowl. That defense did give up big plays, but they also made some really big plays. Obviously I think this Alabama defense is better relatively speaking, but this defense doesn't have to shut a team out to win the game. They can give up the big play and then go out and get those points right back.

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B1GTide said:

All the talk about the secondary being terrible is nonsense. Could they have played better? Absolutely. But they held the best passing QB in the SEC to a 52% pass completion percentage and QBR of 38, with three interceptions.

It is shocking to see that Arkansas scored 30 points in that game. I get that. But your secondary has more NFL talent than any other team in the country, and it isn't close. This is what happens when you get up big early and force the other team to throw the ball on every down. They are going to hit some of those passes.

There is a reason that you have to have a short memory to play DB at this level. Your DBs are going to get beat when you play good QBs. But you won by 19 on the road in the SEC. Life is good.

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I really wanted to reply earlier but have been busy all day. I can't believe how negative some folks have been, but I totally agree with the above posts. First, stats don't always tell the whole story, and while we gave up 30 points and 400 yards in the air, when you watched the game there was no question which team was getting whooped and which was delivering the whopping. Did we make a few mental errors? Sure. Where there a few things to clean up? Yes. But, on the whole, not only did we hit them harder on offense and defense (their players played valiantly but were totally beaten up), but we ran whatever play Kiffin felt like calling, while they ran an offense that was totally dictated by the fact that we owned the line of scrimmage and the short field, so all they had left were throws down the field. Not only did we force them to be 1 dimensional (less than 1 dimensional even), but we forced them into no alternative but to play a very high risk high reward game. Under those circumstances, I love our chances to win.

Consider the difference in the turnovers. We had 3 (lost 2 fumbles and 1 INT). To Arkansas' credit they caused the turnovers, but none (or at most one) of them was due to their defensive scheme. One of the fumbles even came at the end of a 65 yard play. (These 3 TO, BTW, were the real reason we didn't crush them by 35+ points, and if we fix these we will annihilate everyone in our path this year). My point is, our turnovers were mostly accidents rather than forced by schematics and the probabilities. Their turnovers, on the other hand, were schematic probabilities that were by and large caused by us and were unavoidable for them in the long run. There's no way a QB can drop back 60 times under that kind of insane pass rush and not experience regular catastrophes. (60 includes 48 pass attempts, 6 sacks and 6 scrambles.) Of course, with 60 tries, a good QB is going to get his completions and yards, but nobody is going to escape disasters under those circumstances. We create enough opportunities that, in terms of probabilities over time, we more or less guaranteed that they would throw INTs at some point. It was also the pass rush that caused Allen's fumble, so schematically, even though we gave up 400 yards, we benefited by forcing them into the high risk game that lead to 4 of their turnovers. (Their 5th TO was not due to scheme, just to a good strip.) In other words, yes, they got theirs, but we got ours and we made our chances for ourselves and made them play the game according to our decisions.

It's kind of like playing poker. Everyone gets some good hands and some bad beats, but if you play the percentages, force your opponents into making high pressure high risk bets, you will inevitably win in the long run. Of course, there will be days (like Ole Miss 2015) when the run of accidents, mistakes, and bad beats wipes you out that day, but that reality of bad results is no excuse for going on tilt and abandoning the principles of good betting. Same with football, just because there are the times when the other guy's high risk high reward play turns out in his favor, doesn't mean you abandon consistently winning strategy. And that's what is so great about the composure of this team. They know they have you playing the game by their dictates, and they are totally unfazed by the big gains because they know they forced you to take that risk and they are just waiting for the mistake that inevitably is coming.

Did we have some mental lapses in the secondary? Yes, of course. But not really that many, when you figure there were 60 dropbacks. I thought the secondary was for the most part quite effective. Allen threw some lovely passes down field and into the end zone that were simply impossible to defend. Credit him; he got his. On two of their touchdowns the refs let the receiver push off to create the separation. (It's possible this is what Pruitt was saying to Saban when he was getting chewed for letting the same play score a second time.) Not much a DB can do unless he's willing to grab a jersey (which is probably what he should do, as those refs were so bad I doubt they would have noticed). Also, the refs sustained several of their drives with highly dubious calls and noncalls. Not trying to make excuses, but let's just see what really happened in that game and credit the secondary and the whole defense for what was, on the whole, an extremely effective performance that executed a winning strategy very well.

TIDE-HSV said:

RTR!

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Been a long absence for me since the NCG but it was great to log in again and see your post E.

Hope you and yours are well.

RTR

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CrimsonForce said:

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I'm just quoting this to make sure everyone who has been hit in the head with an acorn can see it.

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