News Article: Utah wrap-up: A breakdown of Bama’s breakdown

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Utah wrap-up: A breakdown of Bama’s breakdown
By Jess Nicholas
TideFans.com Editor-in-Chief
Jan. 3, 2008

Thanks largely to a laptop computer that died in New Orleans at the worst possible time – as in, when it was powered up just a few minutes after the clock hit 0:00 – there was no immediate game recap story posted Friday night. Unlike Alabama, we’ll take advantage of an opportunity to make a positive out of a negative.

It’s been awhile since this space was used to do a specific, point-by-point breakdown of an Alabama loss. Part of that is, well … Alabama hasn’t lost very much this year. But another reason is that it causes heartburn, particularly since the loss to Utah showed that Alabama hasn’t come nearly as far as many of its fans would like to think.

This game smelled quite a bit like Louisiana-Monroe 2007, albeit against a much better opponent. The similarities boiled down to one key factor: Alabama failed to rebound from adversity and show the spirit of a killer.

Actually, the Louisiana-Monroe loss of 2007 was the second in a series of three failure-to-rebound moments. Those moments began with a late, emotionally crushing loss to LSU in Tuscaloosa, 41-34. Had Alabama won that game, the Crimson Tide probably would have won the SEC West. There would have been no way Alabama would have let down against Mississippi State and then flagged the game against Louisiana-Monroe. But after late mistakes by Alabama and big plays by LSU brought the Tide down, Alabama went on to hang its head against MSU, ULM and finally Auburn to cap off a four-game losing streak that the Tide finally corrected against talent-outmatched Colorado in the Independence Bowl.

The Utah team that Alabama lost to Friday was probably more talented than Colorado, and had Utah competed in the SEC West, the Utes would probably have been the SEC’s Cotton Bowl representative. The Utes still have talent left around from the Urban Meyer years, but more importantly, have some of the best coaching top-to-bottom of any college team.

Nonetheless, it was a game Alabama should have won, but the adversity on 2008 – namely, a loss to Florida compounded by the loss of Andre Smith – was apparently enough to fracture Alabama’s psyche. Here’s a rundown.

1. Andre Smith’s absence
I’ll say this with a straight face until I draw my last breath: With Andre Smith, Alabama not only beats Utah, but beats Utah by at least two scores. Smith’s loss did two things. The first was create a monumental distraction. The second was trigger a shuffle of Alabama’s offensive line.

One of the most controversial policies of Alabama line coach Joe Pendry is that, if one of the top five linemen exits the game, Pendry prefers to shuffle the remaining players on the roster to get the next best five. Doing so required guard Mike Johnson to move to left tackle and reserve David Ross to be inserted into the starting lineup at left guard. Unfortunately, this just weakened two positions instead of one – a scenario Alabama watched play out in 2007, as well. A better move would have been simply to flip right tackle Drew Davis to left tackle and install John Michael Boswell at right tackle – a much easier swap than moving Johnson – but Ross was apparently ahead of Boswell in the pecking order.

The result? Johnson looked terrible at left tackle and then got hurt, which triggered the Davis-Boswell switch anyway. If Johnson had been left at left guard, chances are he would have left the field upright. And Alabama’s tackles performed better after the injury than before.

As for Smith, whoever messed up – him, a family member, a combination of both – made what turned out to be a very selfish, stupid mistake that cost the rest of the roster dearly.


2. Lack of emotional preparation
Pregame warm-ups don’t often tell you what you need to know, but they did Friday. For an hour leading up to kickoff, Utah looked ready to play, while Alabama looked ready to leave. Utah had something to prove. Alabama looked like it needed Utah to prove something.

It should be noted that one of Alabama’s best attributes in 2008 was to play with a determined, almost unemotional consciousness. The problem is there’s not much that separates unemotional from uncaring, and Alabama apparently jumped over that line Friday.


3. Alabama’s defensive coaches were outmaneuvered
No one, not even Nick Saban, is perfect, and Friday was one of the worst outings of his recent, post-Michigan State career. Utah showed very early that it had no intention of even trying to run on Alabama, but Alabama was slow to adjust. The score was 21-0 before Alabama made the bulk of the defensive changes that allowed it to win the rest of the game 17-10. Included in those changes was removing Terrence Cody in favor of Marcel Dareus and Luther Davis (more on Davis in a moment) and shuffling coverages. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late.

Utah gets credit for doing its film study. Just about every offense or defense in this world has a weakness, and Alabama’s is over the middle 5-10 yards past the line of scrimmage. Louisiana-Monroe beat Alabama by exploiting these holes and putting itself in an endless string of 2nd-and-twos. Utah did the same thing. Part of the problem is the scheme and part of it is that Alabama’s inside linebackers don’t cover the middle particularly well.

4. Missed field goals
When playing in a dome and with the home crowd (which Alabama was – Alabama had about 45,000-50,000 fans there if not more), as long as the kick is within a kicker’s range there’s no excuse for missing one. Leigh Tiffin’s two misses, had they hit, would have put Alabama at 28-23 late in the game and the Crimson Tide would still have been able to run its base offense rather than going into panic mode.

On Tiffin’s two misses, one looked like a straight miss and the other was never aligned properly. Tiffin has had a problem lining up before and it’s something that must be fixed.

5. The OL failed to run block
This was such a problem that it gets its own separate note. Alabama could have taken some pressure off QB John Parker Wilson by maintaining a semblance of a running game. Had Johnson stayed at left tackle, Alabama probably would have. But Ross was there, not Johnson, and Ross was consistently beaten at the point of attack all night long.

If nothing else, this speaks to the depth problem Alabama has in its interior line. Unless Alfred McCullough, who is redshirting this year after swapping over from defensive end, isn’t ready to step up, Alabama may be in trouble trying to replace Marlon Davis. Many observers have already seen this coming, and the fact Brian Motley was never even given a look Friday despite technically being Johnson’s backup is quite telling.

When Alabama couldn’t run, it forced Alabama to pass using a makeshift line against a defensive line built on speed. And that led to …

6. Mistakes from the quarterback position
It’s hard to fault John Parker Wilson completely given that he had roughly one-third the time he’s grown accustomed to having in the pocket. Example: On three consecutive plays in the third quarter, a Utah defensive linemen went from a three-point stance to touching Wilson in less than 1.5 seconds, one of those less than 1 full second. And it wasn’t a problem isolated to that one possession.

But Wilson also reverted to 2006 and 2007 form somewhat by taking chances that his average arm strength couldn’t deliver. And his miss of Nikita Stover on a bomb on Alabama’s second possession could have really turned the game around.

One final note: If Alabama’s offensive line can’t be sufficiently rebuilt in 2008, the first two characteristics to look for in the next Tide quarterback will be escapability and durability.

7. No pass rush from the defensive front four
Aside from Bobby Greenwood – who seemed at times to be the only Alabama player playing with passion – Alabama never got a pass rush it could count on without having to bring a blitz. And in order to blitz, Alabama had to void the middle of the field of linebackers, and Utah QB Brian Johnson simply dumped the ball where no defender was.

Brandon Deaderick was the man who replaced Wallace Gilberry in 2008. While Deaderick was a decided upgrade against the run, he wasn’t nearly the pass rusher Gilberry was. Alabama went to Luther Davis several times in the game and Davis was making a difference – until, at a crucial time, simple bad luck jumped up and bit Alabama when Davis had to leave the game with a broken helmet. Although the helmet was, of course, eventually repaired, that was just one example of Alabama never getting into a constant flow.

8. Alabama’s corners got torched
This was the worst game for Alabama cornerbacks since Florida State 2007. None of the three played winning ball, but Arenas was the closest. On a key 3rd-and-10, Kareem Jackson looked confused as to whether to go for the ball or the man, went for both, and got neither. Touchdown, Utah.

Marquis Johnson had his second poor game in a row, and it looked clear that Urban Meyer had told his old friend Kyle Willingham just how to pick on Johnson’s weak points. There is a reason Alabama continues to work to add cornerbacks in the upcoming recruiting class despite having at least nine on the team already on scholarship.

9. The safeties weren’t much better
Rashad Johnson has been an extra coach on the field all season but looked lost for most of this game. And when he did step up to change the defense, it went against Alabama as often as not. Johnson added insult to his own injury by getting a late-hit penalty late in the game that was, being frank, dumb.

Ali Sharrief was put on the spot in this game and given coverage responsibilities. Sharrief’s strengths are his hitting power and run support; his weakness is one-on-coverage and he was burned several times. But he had a great night compared to Mark Barron, who in limited opportunities had both a key blown assignment and a key missed tackle.

Barron’s build and athletic ability make him the likely pick to succeed Johnson as a starter in 2008, with Woodall becoming the quarterback of the secondary. The good news is that time and more practice reps will help Barron, and Woodall played the best of the safeties in this game, so he can build on that.

10. A game of inches
What happens to this game if Wilson hits Stover on the bomb? If Brandon Fanney picks off the Utes’ last third-down pass, which he was within a hand’s reach of doing? If Alabama makes 3rd-and-short just prior to Tiffin’s second missed kick?

Those are called breaks, and Alabama got them for the first 12 games this year but not the last two. And it shouldn’t have mattered, anyway.

Had Alabama showed up to play – and you can define “showed up” simply in emotional terms of you can include the technical aspects as well – the Crimson Tide would have sent its seniors out with a 13-1 record. Alabama didn’t, and the seniors didn’t get their reward. If championship teams are judged by how well they deal with adversity, Alabama got a teacher’s pet D-minus in that category in 2008 despite its accomplishments.