JessN: Arkansas wrap-up: Bama wins big, but leaves for home with lots to fix

Redwood Forrest said:

Thanks for pointing out what many are ignoring and trying making excuses for. Honesty is the best policy.

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I do see our Middle Linebackers as playing poorly. They failed to make tackles, failed to stop the QB from running/passing. Arkansas was a bad team, yet we allowed them to score 31 points.

Our Kicking problem is 6 weeks old. What does it take to improve that vital portion of our Offense? IMO: Missing PATS that aren't blocked is inexcusable.
We miss enough FG to make me wonder why we aren't going for it on 4th downs.

Lastly... Did our coaches attempt to make any changes during Halftime?
I hope like hell our game plan isn't just to let TUA outscore the other teams,
and sit on a lead trying to run out the clock...
It might work, but why hasn't our Defence got their heads in the game?
Did out coaches and players take Arkansas that lightly?
Has out Defense regressed?
Our Defense needs a lot of work before we play the likes of LSU,
Auburn, or if we are lucky, Georgia.
IMO: Our Defensive coaches have to get off their butts, and get to work. Sorry for the rant.
I know I should feel better after a 34 point win, but my concerns run deep.

I agree some things need fixing....but I feel pretty good knowing Coach Nick Saban is our chief mechanic.

JessN said:

I guess I'm going to have to get you guys to tell me how I address shortcomings after a win. First of all, "doom and gloom" is an exaggeration on your part. However, if all I'm supposed to say after wins is "scoreboard," I don't think I'm doing you (or myself) a proper service.

Watching OU right now, even though they lost to Texas, gives me indigestion. Georgia was lucky to get past them last year and I wouldn't relish playing them right now the way the defense is playing. Now, OU would have no answer for Tua, but when you rely on offense to win games for you in Power 5 college football, you better darn well not have a Jeff-Rutledge-vs.-Nebraska day when the QB is off by a tad and throws 5 interceptions (his only 5 of the year, at that) or Tua gets hurt or it rains like it did in Columbia, S.C., this past Saturday or some other kind of horror show. A good defense is almost always the safer bet. The silver lining here is that Saban says the errors were correctable.

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Lets not forget - Chad Morris was an OC, and a pretty danged good one. So it took the hogs a while to pick up his system (they did outgain the Barn), and CNS warned about this being a trap game. Arkansas was never really “in” the game because they’re just not talented enough.
If Mizzou scores 31, I’d start to worry - I haven’t double checked but I read Locke hasn’t thrown a TD pass in the last two games. Bama has work to do, granted, but they’ve got enough skill players to get it done, barring any injuries.


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JessN said:

The silver lining here is that Saban says the errors were correctable.

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That is really the story right now - not the poor play in one game, and not a sense of dread over what might happen if Saban cannot get it fixed. The reality is probably a simple one - Saban will get most of the problems fixed, but not all of them. Alabama's defense will not be 2016 or 2011 great, but will still be one of the top 5-10 defenses in the country. Given what you lost to the NFL, that is remarkable.

Keep Tua healthy and you win it all. Lose Tua and the other teams have a chance.

CajunCrimson said:

I blame the defensive issue somewhat on Tua. Our TOP is horrible. Simply because we are scoring so quickly. We have little depth and they are back on the field in just minutes, sometimes in seconds.

I guess my point is. With this O, the D is going to get gassed quickly.

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+5.1

IMO, hard to coach up the D when they are on the sidelines for only 2-3 minutes...

twofbyc said:

Lets not forget - Chad Morris was an OC, and a pretty danged good one. So it took the hogs a while to pick up his system (they did outgain the Barn), and CNS warned about this being a trap game. Arkansas was never really “in” the game because they’re just not talented enough.
If Mizzou scores 31, I’d start to worry - I haven’t double checked but I read Locke hasn’t thrown a TD pass in the last two games. Bama has work to do, granted, but they’ve got enough skill players to get it done, barring any injuries.

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Not surprising he didn't throw a TD pass the last game...did you see the rain coming in 55-gal drums...

Bama_N_Va said:

Not surprising he didn't throw a TD pass the last game...did you see the rain coming in 55-gal drums...

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Both teams played in the same weather, as posted by others. Scarnecchia (sp) who is the backup QB for SC threw for three td’s.
Passing involves two people; both have to perform for it to be successful. If one doesn’t (and it matters not if the pass is two feet too high or it bounces off the receivers hands), the play is either wasted or possibly an interception. Missouri, despite Locke’s abilities (and I have yet to see anyone on here disparage those) is not doing great in the passing game.
I don’t see them putting up 300 yds + passing against Bama, unless he throws it 60 times. I do see their hurry up offense possibly causing problems with alignments and players being where they need to be.
If Mizzou doesn’t stack the box, Bama might get 300+ yds on the ground. If they do, Bama scores 60+ points again.
But knowing you have a weak secondary (currently 116th ranked pass defense), it doesn’t make a lot of sense to put them under the gun against Bama’s passing attack.
I guess it’s a “pick your poison” situation, and I like it.


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It's been poo poo'd every time it has been suggested, but I really thought the Arkansas QB looked like a good talent. It's not like he looked like a scrub player getting lucky out there. I know what Arkansas's record was going into the game, I know North Texas punked them, but from what I saw they have some nice pieces to build on going forward.

TideEngineer08 said:

It's been poo poo'd every time it has been suggested, but I really thought the Arkansas QB looked like a good talent. It's not like he looked like a scrub player getting lucky out there. I know what Arkansas's record was going into the game, I know North Texas punked them, but from what I saw they have some nice pieces to build on going forward.

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They played well in that game, and that is not because Alabama played poorly. Most teams, given the same opportunities, would not have had nearly the success that they had in that game. Maybe they played over their heads, or maybe they really have some talent at the positions leveraged in that game. But no team is going to perform better than they did in those situations. They were nearly flawless in their execution when Alabama was out of position.