News Article: Ole Miss wrap-up: Defensive dominance, not offensive stagnation was the real story

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Ole Miss wrap-up: Defensive dominance, not offensive stagnation was the real story
By Jess Nicholas
TideFans.com Editor-In-Chief
Oct. 10, 2009

It’s easy to look at Alabama’s 22-3 win over Ole Miss and bemoan the offense’s troubles in the red zone, or Greg McElroy’s mis-read on what would have been a sure touchdown to Preston Dial (presuming he had caught the football). However, that would be missing the point.

The story of this game was the clinic given by Alabama’s defense. The blitz packages and wrinkles came so fast and furious that it became abundantly clear early on Alabama had not shown the true power of its defensive unit thus far in 2009. To paraphrase a line from “Return of the Jedi,” Alabama’s defense – beset with questions about its safety play and seemingly weakened by the injuries to Damion Square and Dont'a Hightower – was truly a fully functional and very powerful battle station.

And when Ole Miss came into view, Alabama pushed the button.

Rebel quarterback Jevan Snead didn’t fare as well as the Rebel Alliance of “Star Wars” fame, however. Snead threw four interceptions (although two of them were the direct fault of receivers so shaken up by the defensive pressure that they couldn’t be bothered to catch the football). He failed to throw a touchdown pass in this game, which ended his pursuit of an Ole Miss school-record string of consecutive touchdown-producing games that harkened well back into the Archie Manning years.

Most impressively, however, was the way Alabama delivered hit after hit and blitz after blitz, and turned one of the country’s top pro quarterback prospects into a doddering, flummoxed stiff who began collecting intentional grounding flags like they were stuffed pandas at a carnival dart game.

The individual performances on defense were too numerous to mention. Rolando McClain is simply the best linebacker in college football at the moment. But the sometimes-maligned Cory Reamer – whose greatest sin up to this point was not being Dont'a Hightower – played a tremendous game filled with tackles for losses, a blocked punt and a manhood-stealing, caused-and-recovered fumble on a special teams play.

Even true freshman Nico Johnson, who got lots of time at Will linebacker in Hightower’s place, played a solid game despite not really knowing what state he was in on several snaps. It didn’t matter. The Alabama defensive scheme covered up his inexperience, and then some.

It also didn’t hurt that Leigh Tiffin was solid as a rock, not only on his field goals but also on his kickoffs. Even though Alabama’s offense bogged down in the red zone multiple times, Tiffin converted on all his field goal attempts, putting up points on the board Chinese water torture-style.

About Ole Miss, several things were learned. First, the national media missed badly on the Rebels when they underestimated Ole Miss’ weakness along the offensive line. Second, South Carolina probably deserves a little credit for beating the Rebels, as the Gamecocks look a lot better than advertised. Third, the Rebel defense – especially its defensive line – is better than thought, and defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix might have his pick of a few head coaching jobs soon as a result.

Even though the offense struggled, championships are won with defense, and Alabama fans ought to be smiling more tomorrow than they were prior to this game. If Alabama’s defense plays at a level commensurate with its effort against Ole Miss, there won’t be many teams – for that matter, there might not be any team at all – that will be able to seriously threaten the Crimson Tide.

Tennessee’s shocking win over Georgia aside, Alabama’s season now breaks down to a tough game against LSU, a major-league showdown against Florida in the SEC Championship Game and then whoever shows up in Pasadena for the BCS title game. The rest of the teams on Alabama’s schedule are tough in one way or another, but not in entirety.

For Alabama fans wondering when the SEC West was going to get back to “normal,” with Alabama consistently at the head of the list, the time has again arrived – and it arrived on the backs of a mauling, bad-tempered, ruthless defense.