SB Nation - Kareem Jackson

Saturday NFL Draft watch notes: Florida/Alabama

Mocking Dan — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:30:13 -0000

Joe Haden, CB, Florida: There is no better college cornerback than Haden. He's come along this season as a complete corner capable of shutting down a side of the field and helping against the run. Although Haden struggles at times against shiftier receivers in man coverage, he has good speed and can out-muscle opponents. He'll get matched up today against Alabama sophomore Julio Jones.

Brandon Spikes, MLB, Florida: Spikes is an incredible linebacker who could have been a first-round pick this year. His production has dipped some this season, but he's missed two games and slowed by injuries. Spikes is an excellent leader and good all-around player. Spikes' instincts are that of an NFL veteran and he should start immediately in the pros.

Jermaine Cunningham, DE, Florida: Cunningham has quietly had a very good season, even while battling through injuries. Cunningham is at his best when he can rush the passer, which could limit him to being a 3-4 outside linebacker candidate. He's dropped into zone coverage at times this year and held his own. Where he struggles is against the run, especially when it comes right at him.

Aaron Hernandez, TE, Florida: Another short tight end prospect, Hernandez is dangerous with the ball in his hands. The Chris Cooley comparisons are apt. Hernandez can get open in space and is hard to take down after the catch.

Tim Tebow, QB, Florida: By now, everyone knows the strengths and weaknesses in Tebow's game. But a good game against a pro-style Alabama defense and Tebow could start to make people think differently about him.

Maurkice Pouncey, C, Florida: A junior, Pouncey has had a dominant season. He's very strong and anchors a line really well. He gets into position quickly and has the agility to move around. He plays with a low center of gravity and gets good leverage.

Michael Pouncey, G, Florida: The junior guard really burst onto the draft radar against Alabama last season when he routinely beat Terrence Cody in one-on-one situations. He's a power blocker and excels in the run game. He's not as agile as his brother, but he's a good all-around guard.

Riley Cooper, WR, Florida: With good hands and the ability to get open, Cooper projects as a classic fourth receiver possession target. Cooper doesn't run the best routes, but he's a heady player who knows how to get open.

Rolando McClain, MLB, Alabama: As mentioned on MTD before, McClain may be the best linebacker in the nation. Find more on McClain here. He'll be the best player on the field today.

Terrence Cody, DT, Alabama: The shine started to come off Cody against the Gators last season. He's proven to not have good lateral movement and doesn't break double teams. He's mostly just a space eater, and a big one at that.

Javier Arenas, CB, Alabama: Size and speed concerns will knock Arenas down in the draft. But he's a flat-out gamer. He's a good zone corner prospect because of his ability to makes plays on the ball. He closes really well and, like most Bama defenders, has good instincts. He's also a good return man with seven punt return touchdowns.

Kareem Jackson, CB, Alabama: While Arenas is a top zone prospect, Jackson will fit best in a man scheme. He can jam big receivers at the line and breaks up a lot of passes. He's a sound tackler and if he tests well he could go in the first 50 picks.

Mike Johnson, G, Alabama: Johnson just might be the best senior guard in the nation. He's a powerful drive blocker who uses his natural length to create space. His base could get stronger, but he has starter potential at the next level.

The Light of a Clear Blue Morning: Thoughts on the Iron Bowl

Todd — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:55:27 -0000

More photos » by Dave Martin - AP

24 days ago: Alabama's Roy Upchurch (5) catches a 4-yard pass from quarterback Greg McElroy (12) late in the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game as Auburn's Neiko Thorpe (15) and Antonio Coleman (52) pursue at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. Alabama won 26-21. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

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OTS will have his initial impressions up later, but there's a few things I wanted to note after looking at the box score and thinking back on all the things we said about this game over the past week. Although the Tigers managed to outgain us in total yardage (332 yards to our 291) and hold us to only 73 yards rushing (and a horrible 2.1 ypc average), there were quite a few other factors that played heavily into the Tide's victory:

1. QB Play: All week long "taking Ingram away and making McElroy win the game" was considered the key if Auburn hoped to pull the upset. Well, they succeeded in both aspects but it didn't turn out like Auburn hoped. Compare the stat lines.

	Comp	Att	%	Yds	YPC	TD	INT	Sack	YdsL
McElroy	21	31	67.7	218	10.4	2	0	3	7
Todd	15	25	60.0	181	12.1	2	1	3	32

When it came down to it, McElroy completed at a higher percentage and moved his offense while Todd gave Alabama two scoring opportunities with turnovers. Barron's INT set up the FG that drew Alabama to within 1 point, and his fumble on a sack by Eryk Anders resulted in a missed FG. And while we're talking sacks, both QBs took three, though Todd managed to lose 32 yards when getting hit while McElroy gave up only 7. Further, McElroy operated the two minute offense to perfection on the final drive, leading the Tide down the field on a 15 play, 79 yard TD drive to take the first lead of the game, all while completing 6 of 7 passes and converting three 3rd downs (including the TD throw to Upchurch). The closest Auburn came to mounting a similar lengthy drive was the 12 play, 58 yard second TD drive (after the recovered onside kick), which was greatly aided by a false start penalty and a unsportsmanlike call on Justin Woodall's boneheaded tantrum.

2. Number of Snaps: Thought it might not have seemed like it, we did flip the script on Auburn, holding them to only 59 offensive snaps while getting 67 ourselves. It was the lowest number of offensive plays Auburn has run in conference play (with 61 against LSU being the second closest).

3. Cheap Scores: On the Radio Hour we talked about the need to keep Auburn from getting cheap scores on our defense. I said repeatedly that Malzahn's offense is so good at it's misdirection and causing missed assignments resulting in big gains that it would present a challenge for our defense, forcing us to stay at home and take proper pursuit angles all while playing at the same aggressive speed we've come to prize. Sure enough, two of Auburn's three* TDs came as a result of missed assignments and Auburn's players making plays in space that could have been stopped short but for a) effort on their part and b) poor technique on ours.

Cheap TD the First: Terrell Zachary rushes for a 67 yard TD on a reverse. How did it happen? As Bamagrad noted, Eryk Anders lost contain on the reverse and let the play get rolling, but two other players could have kept Zachary from the end zone. Kareem Jackson had a shot at a tackle after getting off of a block by an Auburn offensive lineman, though it would have been an ankle tackle at best. Arenas also had a chance but he overran the play, allowing Zachary to cut back inside and reach the end zone for the score. A missed assignment and a bad pursuit angle gave Auburn their first score of the game.

Cheap TD the Second: In the 3rd quarter, with Alabama having tied the game back up at 14 before the half, Chris Todd finds a wide open Darvin Adams for a 72 yard TD. It was a two play scoring drive (Kodi Burns had rushed for four yards on first down) that put the Tigers right back in the driver's seat, and it came on a missed assignment. We'd been having success with the corner blitz and went back to the well, but Mark Barron, instead of staying over the top, stayed shallow and allowed Adams to blow right by him, resulting in the second "cheap" score of the game. That's 14 points given up by the defense because of missed assignments.

4. Extending Drives: Alabama had 13 drives in the game (including the two play drive at the end of the first half with :39 left on the clock) and made first downs on 8 of them (62%), while Auburn managed 14 drives and managed a first down on only 6 of them (43%). That includes their two play, 72 yard TD drive. Going further, only 3 of their 14 drives resulted in a scoring opportunity, while six resulted in 3 and outs, two ended in turnovers, and the final drive...well, you know what happened there. Meanwhile, Alabama had four 3 and outs and a turnover on downs, but otherwise was generally able to extend their drives into scoring opportunities (punting only once after having previously converted a first down on the drive).

5. Taking Their Best Shot: Lost in the hoopla of Auburn's quick start and control of the scoreboard until late in the game is that Alabama won the final three quarters 26-7 and effectively stymied the Auburn offense through the latter half of the game. Credit the team's resilience and confidence for not panicking and continuing to grind away.

Putting it all together, the game played out like a lot of us expected. Auburn sold out to stop Ingram, threw everything they had at us early, and managed to catch us off guard for some easy scores. Thankfully, it also played out for us like we pretty well expected; we limited their snaps, took advantage of take aways and good returns by Arenas, and when it counted dug down and ground out a win against a thin and gassed defense.

* while the third TD came after an actual drive, that drive was forced to cover only 58 yards after a surprise onside kick that should have been tipped by the weird formation Auburn was using. I won't say Auburn didn't earn the TD, but I will say they caught us napping once again to set up the score.

Initial Impressions from the MSU Game

outsidethesidelines — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:40:01 -0000

A few thoughts from the initial aftermath of the Tide's 31-3 win over Mississippi State:

From the outset, you really could not ask for anything more than we did against Mississippi State last night. Considering that we control our own destiny, all we really needed to do was find a way to win, stay healthy, and if we could win in a route then that was all lagniappe. And, sure enough, we found a way to do all three of those things against the Bullies. Again, you really couldn't ask for anything more.
Credit Mississippi State for showing up ready to play with an intense crowd. It was the biggest crowd MSU has ever had in Starkvegas, and it was a very good atmosphere from the outset. Moreover, MSU came out firing on all cylinders and gave us some legitimate troubles early. We obviously took control as the game moved on, but it certainly wasn't from a lack of effort on their part.
Defensively, we had a really slow start to this game, and for whatever reason MSU gave us a lot of trouble. On their first two possessions, Mississippi State had 85 yards on only 11 total plays and had a few legitimate big plays to boot. I still don't know exactly what happened, but they gave us a lot of problems early and we were fortunate that they ultimately shot themselves in the foot on both occasions. Fortunately, though, after Mark Barron's interception, the defense simply became dominating. After that, MSU had four possessions the rest of the way in the first half, all of which resulted in three and outs (twelve plays combined for a net of four yards).
Speaking of Mississippi State shooting themselves in the foot, that was something they consistently did all night and it was to our great benefit. They had a touchdown on the first play of the game with a decent throw, they stopped themselves on the fourth down try on the first possession, and the interception was a terrible throw by Lee. And that was just in the first six minutes of the game. From there, it really didn't get any better. Bumphis stepped out on a would-be kick return for a touchdown, they missed a chip shot field goal, and had a busted coverage that led to an easy touchdown for 'Bama. All in all, we played pretty well for the most part, but MSU did a lot to help our effort.
Offensively it was really a boom-or-bust night. Overall things look very good -- 31 points, 440+ yards of total offense, and 7.7 yards per play -- but those numbers are inflated by a lot of big plays. We had five really big plays in this game that combined to generate at least 21 points and about 230 yards of total offense. Outside of those five big plays, we really had very little success offensively... around 53 snaps offensively for about 200 yards (fewer than four yards per snap). We were basically either hitting huge plays or getting shut down.

Largely the same story goes for Mark Ingram. His raw stat line of 19 carries for 149 yards and 2 touchdowns looks great, but he earned it the hard way last night. The big 70-yard touchdown run inflates everything, but when you factor that out he had 18 carries for 79 yards (only 4.3 yards per carry). He played very well, as is usually the case, but the stat line doesn't really do his performance justice. This was far from an easy romp for him, and far from it he had to fight like hell to get everything that he did.

And not surprisingly, the same thing goes for the passing game. We had three big plays in the passing game, but aside from that we had 15 passing attempts net only 57 yards (3.8 yards per attempt). Again, the general theme of the night offensively was that we were basically either getting huge plays, or MSU was shutting us down. No real in-between to be found.

The touchdown pass to Darius Hanks was a blown coverage by Mississippi State. We had two receivers to the left of the formation -- Hanks and Julio Jones -- and they blitzed a cornerback from that side. That left two defenders matched up against our two wide receivers, and for some reason the Mississippi State safety just kind of lingered out there in no-man's land and didn't really cover anyone. That left Hanks wide open, and a good throw and catch resulted in a touchdown.

Hat tip to Trent Richardson for good pass protection on that play. He came across from the other side of the formation and did a good job picking up the blitzing defensive back, and that allowed this play to develop. Without that, this play likely ends in a sack.

The touchdown pass to Julio Jones was a blown coverage, too, but it honestly wouldn't have mattered one way or the other. Even without the blown coverage, Julio would have been manned up on a safety and McElroy delivered an absolute strike. The blown coverage made it easier, of course, but in reality this would have been a touchdown either way.

Both touchdown passes came on a variation of the same play, and in both cases Mississippi State blew it. It was a post / corner route combo in both situations, and they couldn't cover it either time.

Marquis Maze had another good night, and we targeted him more often than any other receiver, something that is becoming a bit of a trend. His long catch and run was an absolutely incredible play, and it alone gave us three points. Even with Julio, he may very well be our best playmaker on the outside now.

Offensively, I really don't get why we aren't throwing the football down the field more often. We only threw the football beyond 15 yards from the line of scrimmage a grand total of two times all of last night -- both of which came on busted coverages -- and that really had a very big effect on us offensively. Mississippi State compressed the hell out of everything, and that was really the big reason that we struggled to move the ball outside of those big plays. I just don't get it at all, really. It's one thing to not be able to throw the football vertically, but to not even try to throw it vertically? That I don't understand.

One of the biggest positives for the offense was that we had a complete lack of negative plays. We didn't commit a single offensive penalty, did not turn the football over, and did not give up a single sack. Any time you can do that, particularly against a team with a struggling offense, you move a lot closer to victory.

Defensively, Anthony Dixon had a fair amount of success, but as a unit we did what we really needed to do. Any time you face a team with very few weapons offensively, all you really need to do is relatively limit what little weapons that they have, and we did that with Dixon. He had a decent amount of success, as expected, but again we did what we needed to do.

Something to keep in mind, we spent a lot of time in nickel package defending the Mississippi State version of the spread option. Keep that in mind when we face Florida.

Marquis Johnson played a fine game last night and made several big plays. Interestingly enough, though, MSU kept going after him time and time again, something we should all keep our eyes on. It is clear that opposing offensive coordinators generally consider him the weakest link we have at corner, and they try to go at him accordingly. That means that he will have to step up and get the job done in key situations, and that is exactly what he did against MSU. It's really just shows you what kind of a defense we have when a player of this caliber is the nickel back.

Kareem Jackson... I don't think MSU threw a single pass in his direction all night long. I think that speaks volumes about his level of play.

Justin Woodall had a rough night, and I hate to say it but he has struggled in recent weeks. We're going to need him to play better football against Auburn and Florida.

Mark Barron, on the other hand, is becoming an absolute standout at safety. He gets better and better each week, and his amazing athleticism is showcasing itself even more as he gets more and more comfortable with his role. He's already one of the best safeties in the conference, and at this point the sky is the limit for him.

Kick coverage... what kick coverage? We effectively gave up the equivalent of two touchdowns on kick coverage breakdowns, yet MSU shot itself in the foot to the point that they didn't get a single point out of either one of them. Again, MSU was its own worst enemy for most of the night. As for us, well, we'll never beat Florida giving up yards like that, and they've got a much better returner than anyone the Bulldogs put on the field last night.

P.J. Fitzgerald did a nice job punting last night. He netted over 40 yards per punt, had no touchbacks, and downed two inside the twenty yard line.

Another 10-0 start for the Crimson Tide, it's 17th in school history. If that doesn't tell you all you need to know about our tradition, nothing will. It's incredibly hard to win football games in this conference, and to reel off 15 straight wins in regular season conference play really is an incredible feat.

All in all, it was a good night for the Tide. As I mentioned from the outset, all we really need to do until we get to Atlanta is to win and stay healthy, and we did that against Mississippi State. Tennessee-Chattanooga won't seriously challenge us -- the only thing that can get us there is injuries -- and that really leaves only Auburn left. I do think that Coach Saban is right... our best football is still out there, and we're going to have to play up to that level if we are indeed going to knock off Florida in Atlanta. For now, though, it's all a matter of positioning, and we are doing the things we need to do in order to put ourselves in the position we want to be in come the first week of December.

Final thought... Again, it's hard to win football games in this league, very hard. And any time you can start off 10-0 and go on the road in conference play and spank someone 31-3 in a game that their entire program had marked on their calender, that's just a great night. Again, it's very hard to win in this league, and it's even harder to do what we're doing. We basically wandered the wilderness for eleven seasons from 1997-2007, so just be glad that we are back where we want to be. Enjoy the spoils of success while they last.

Saturday NFL Draft watch notes

Mocking Dan — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:42:51 -0000

More photos » by Bill Haber - AP

3 months ago: LSU wide receiver Brandon LaFell (1) gets away from Louisiana-Lafayette linebacker Devon Lewis-Buchanan in the second half of an NCAA college football game in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. LSU defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 31-3. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

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• Even though they don't face off against each other, being on the same field could be enough to raise the gameplay of both Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh and Oklahoma's Gerald McCoy. Both are top five talents, but Suh is considered the better player by most.

One of the most disappointing players for me this season has been Oklahoma left tackle Trent Williams. He's showed he's a better player on the right side, which he played previously in his career. He could be given some trouble against Nebraska end Pierre Allen, a relentless player who doesn't quit until the whistle blows.

• Don't look now but Florida's Carlos Dunlap has four sacks in the last two games. He brutalized a bad Mississippi State team on Oct. 24 but has been pretty pedestrian this season. If he doesn't have a strong game against Vanderbilt, expect more dissenters to emerge.

• Pittsburgh quarterback Bill Stull has been gaining a good bit of attention as a draftable prospect. He's had an average career but is putting together a great season. If he can stay composed against Syracuse's front four, he could have another banner day.

• Entering the season, LSU wide receiver Brandon LaFell was considered the best senior wide receiver in the nation and a first round player. While the latter is still true, it's not a guarantee he gets taken in the first 32 picks. Alabama's cornerbacks, Kareem Jackson and Javier Arenas, are the best LSU will see this season. To improve his stock, LaFell needs to show he can beat physical coverage and make plays in the air.

• Penn State junior Stefen Wisniewski is arguably the best center in the nation. His signal calling will really be put to the test against Ohio State's experienced and crafty defensive line.

Against a very good Penn State offense today, Ohio State strong safety Kurt Coleman can really showcase his all-around skills. He's a borderline NFL starter who can make plays all over the field.

• This could be the day that Cal's Tyson Alualu becomes an early round pick. A gap-shooting high-motor player, Alualu could feast on an Oregon State offensive line that is 101st in the nation in sacks allowed.

• Few talk about him, but Arizona State junior cornerback Omar Bolden is loaded with talent and athleticism. He can get people talking today against USC, which features NFL talent at every starting receiving spot.

• Remember Georgia Tech defensive end Derrick Morgan? He of five sacks in the first two games of the year? He's come back on with three sacks in the last four games and could have another banner contest against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons allow a lot of pressure on their quarterbacks and Morgan can take advantage.

• People keep telling me I'm missing the boat on Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis. The senior is clearly having a good season. But let's see what he can do against North Carolina's rush-heavy defense.

Note: I will not be around today. I'll be at the Akron/Kent State game, which starts at 3:30 p.m. With tailgating before that and watching MMA afterward, there won't be time to get online.

It won't be a completely lost day, however. Kent has a couple possible NFL prospects. Tight end Konz Jameson is very athletic and reportedly runs a 4.4 40-yard dash. He's undersized but worth watching. Junior middle linebacker Cobrani Mixon is also worth checking out on the Flashes. He's a Michigan transfer and a great all-around player. By the time today ends, Mixon could have more than 100 tackles on the season.

BCS Profiles - Florida and Alabama

utesfan100 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:19:24 -0000

I received an E-mail with an idea that I transformed into the concept of adding profiles for the top teams in the BCS standings. Each week I will be adding a new profile for the highest ranked team in the BCS standings I have not yet profiled.

Since two week of BCS standings have been released I will profile the first top two teams in each of the first two BCS standings. This is somewhat fitting because Florida and Alabama are in virtually the same spot, with a lock down on the top 2 spots and appearing headed for an early December SEC Championship Game showdown.

BCS Race:

Both Florida and Alabama control their own NCG hopes due to the solid lead over the competition they currently have and the boost they would get from the SEC Championship Game. Even with a loss they could work their way back into the national title picture with an SEC Championship Game win. Both have one ranked opponent left in the regular season. Alabama has a formidable LSU team and Florida plays South Carolina.

Any SEC fan will tell you that the SEC is a tough conference to play in and every week is a test.

Offense:

Florida ranks #8 (457.0) in total offense while Alabama ranks #34 (410.0). In scoring offense Florida is #9 (35.3) and Alabama is #26 (31.8). Rushing Florida is #6 (258.3) and Alabama is #11 (217.6).

Florida is #80 (198.7) and Alabama is #84 (192.4) in passing offense. Alabama is tied at #53 (83%) and Florida is tied at #76 (80%) in red zone offense.

Alabama features the #5 rusher in the land Mark Ingram. He is also #18 in all purpose yards.

Florida's former Heisman winning QB, Tim Tebow, has the #14 passing efficiency rating.

Neither team has a top 50 QB or receiver in terms of yard per game.

Defense:

Florida is #1 (229.6) and Alabama #4 (240.9) in total defense. Florida is #2 (10.1) and Alabama #4 (11.4) in scoring defense. Against the run Alabama is #2 (64.9) and Florida is #12 (94.6). Against the pass Florida is #2 (135.0) and Alabama is #19 (176.0). Alabama is tied for #11 (71%) and Florida is tied for #38 (77%) in red zone defense.

Florida's Carlos Dunlap is tied at #40 with 0.71 sacks per game.

Alabama has three players in the top 50 in passes defended per game: Mark Barron (1.38), Kareem Jackson and Marquis Johnson (1.25). Mark Barron also averages 1 interception every other game.

Other:

Alabama Kicker Leigh Tiffin is currently #5 in the nation in scoring at 10.5 points per game. 3 points per game are PAT's.

Alabama is #18 in turnovers per game at +0.88 while Florida is tied for #69 at -0.14.

Alabama is #9 in time of possetion at 32:36 while Florida is #32 at 31:17.

Prospectus:

Though both teams should be favored for their remaining games, rarely does an SEC team finish unblemished in conference play. Florida has the best chance this year due to a schedule taht avoids the top team in the SEC west and with the SEC west looking stronger than the SEC east this year.

How fitting would it be for Alabama to avenge Florida ruining their run at #1 last year in the SEC championship game this year?

Initial Impressions from the Ole Miss Game

outsidethesidelines — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:59:26 -0000

A few initial impressions from the Ole Miss game:

First and foremost, this is a big victory for the Tide. I know that some of the luster was taken off this game with Ole Miss' loss against South Carolina a couple of weeks back, but even so this game received lots of national attention yesterday, and it was the game that the pundits had circled all year long. To come out and win this type of game, on the road, is a big victory.
Aside from the fact that it was a big victory, everything becomes more impressive in context. We beat a top 20 SEC team, on the road, 22-3 -- a pretty good shellacking in its own right -- and truthfully the game shouldn't have been that close. As good as we have been, we continue to be unable to fire on all cylinders, and we left a lot of points on the board yesterday afternoon. It was a 22-3 game that, truth be told, should have been even more lopsided. No doubt about it... we absolutely trashed this Ole Miss team physically. It was like watching a heavyweight fight where one fighter is destroying his opponent, but cannot quite get the knock-out blow he wants until the late rounds.
The strength of the defense carried the day once again, and it's literally impossible to overstate the efforts those guys displayed. We got after Snead, completely shut down the running game, playing very tight coverage, and fought like hell for the football on every snap. If you were a coach putting on a clinic about how defense should be played, this is the game film you would put on as an example. I said this in the game thread yesterday, and in the sober reality of the day after I will reiterate here... this was the best defensive performance I've seen by an Alabama team since January 1st, 1993.
Offensively, well, that was another story, particularly with regard to offensive playcalling. It just never made any sense whatsoever to me, or just about anyone else for that matter, and it's just entirely too much to get into with an initial impressions piece. I'm going to have a full column up on this later this week, probably around Wednesday.
Greg McElroy easily had his worst day in crimson to date. I do think he was hampered a bit by poor play-calling, but even so he played poorly. He never looked comfortable in the pocket -- though the protection was probably about as good as you could expect against a front four like Ole Miss has -- and the way that he forced the ball to Julio Jones at times was almost laughable. He just looked like a completely different quarterback than we've seen to date. He honestly reminded me of John Parker Wilson circa 2006 or 2007 yesterday. I hate to be so negative about the kid, but... 43% completion percentage, 4.3 yards per attempt... all the crimson Kool-Aid in the world doesn't make that look good. It goes without saying that McElroy needs to play a lot better moving forward.
That said, it just shows you good of an overall team we have when we can have such, um, shall we say "questionable" play-calling and quarterback play, and still win in a romp over a quality SEC team on the road. Teams that could do this are very much few and far between.

Mark Ingram had an incredible day all the way around. He ran over 170 yards on the ground, and had a big catch out of the backfield for a first down. He's really turning himself into a complete back with his pass blocking abilities and his ability to catch the football out of the backfield. Honestly, the only real problem was that he just didn't get the ball enough. The 28 carries is really deceptive when showing how we used him, because so many of those carries came very late when we were running the clock.

Cory Reamer had a career day, easily his best day in crimson. He looked a lot better at strongside linebacker, and he was a special teams standout with two huge plays. Likewise, Kareem Jackson had easily his best day to date. He looked like a legitimate shutdown corner yesterday, and that is the best performance we've had from a corner in ages.

Robby Green is getting almost no publicity, but he is doing an outstanding job at safety. He forced a turnover on a well-timed safety blitz, and he continues to have a knack forcing big incompletions downfield by ripping the ball out. He isn't getting much attention, but he is playing a lot of snaps and is making some big plays. He has quickly turned into a fine player. Glad we have him for three more years.

Is there a more underrated player in the conference than Lorenzo Washington? He starts on a defense where the starter designation alone more than justifies your plate at the table, and he's playing damn well. He's tough against the run, and he's probably our most underrated pass rusher. He was just punishing Ole Miss offensive linemen yesterday. You've got to love Lo', no doubt about it. He spurned in-state Georgia for us way back in 2004, barely eight months after the Mike Price strip club fiasco, fought all through the Shula era, overcame injuries, played out of position in 2007, watched himself become demoted to a back-up with the rise of Terrence Cody, and somehow overcame it all. The young man bleeds crimson, simply put, and someone should recognize what he has done. At the very least, I bet he has some NFL scouts watching.

Give credit to our defense, Ole Miss did everything they could to get McCluster involved, and we made him a total non-factor. Nine touches for 37 yards and a big fumble. Goodness.

Jevan Snead yesterday... 11-34 for 140 yards, 0 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, sacked twice. That's a completion percentage of only 32%, averaging 4.11 yards per attempt, and a 43.4 QB rating. I know Snead is overrated, like I've said for ages, but still... that is one damn fine defense. He isn't anywhere near that bad.

I hated the fake punt call. Not because of the ball, but because we absolutely wasted a good, converted fake punt. You pick up a big fake punt, and four plays later Fitzgerald is punting it out of the back of the end zone. It was a huge risk that basically got us nothing. Hate to see that.

The Trent Richardson fumble late was disappointing, but I'm not complaining. It was a good strip by the Ole Miss defender, and in all fairness it was a good run too. He's played fine at tailback this year, and he'll overcome it. Besides, the kid can definitely pass block, always a rarity for a true freshman, and he may very well be our best player on the kick coverage unit. He blows people up left and right.

After the early drop, Julio played very well. The production wasn't there, but again it wasn't his fault. He faced double coverage all day, and most of the throws in his direction were just terrible decisions by McElroy. Besides, he got hosed on at least one pass interference call. He's not 100%, but he's still unreal good.

Emmanuel Stephens played a fine game for Ole Miss today. We couldn't block him off the edge. And he's a back-up, which ought to tell you how good the rest of the Ole Miss defensive end rotation is. Thank goodness he's a senior.

Speaking of senior Ole Miss defensive ends, thank God Greg Hardy is finally gone. After three years, our long crimson nightmare is finally over. And the scary thing is, he's that tough to stop and clearly not 100%. If he ever gets completely healthy, he'll fill a graveyard with quarterbacks.

Lots of odd stuff today from 'Bama, play-calling aside. Why was there so little Terrence Cody? He was there, and he played damn well when he was in, but he barely played. He generally wasn't even in the game in obvious run situations, which is his specialty. I have no clue there. And what about Roy Upchurch, where was he? As much as we threw the ball, you would think he would get some time considering he is our best pass blocking back and our best receiver out of the backfield, but he never got off the bench. All in all, lots of odd stuff in Oxford.

Colin Peek... great catch early, but it went south quickly. He dropped a big touchdown pass, and cost us about 50 yards of field position on a holding on an Arenas' kick return. He's played great at times, but poorly at times too. If nothing else, he leads the team with dropped touchdown passes with three.

We are the kinds of pre-snap penalties on offense. I'm serious, we ought to get a trophy created for ourselves. Nothing gets you beat like pre-snap penalties on offense, and we are addicted to them.

Along those same lines, the red zone efficiency is terrible. Or better yet, I should say that red zone efficiency is decent. We do fine inside the 20, it's inside the 10 that we decide we're going to do everything in our power to keep from getting in the end zone.

P.J. Fitzgerald has looked much better this year on the whole, but he is still killing us with his inability to pin teams up deep. He's the king of hitting a 48-yard punt from the opponent 42-yard line. Unless Fitzgerald can do a lot better soon in this regard, we need to get a lot more aggressive in terms of going for it on fourth down. These punts netting 15 or 20 yards are killing us.

Big day from Leigh Tiffin today. I'm traditionally a big critic of Tiffin -- and I think rightly so -- but he did a good job today. He went 5-5 today, and while several weren't pretty, they got the job done. He came up big today, and if he had struggled, we would have been in a world of hurt. Kudos, Leigh.

Dear Pat Patterson and Bobby Massie, do you still feel good about picking Ole Miss? I hope you now understand why five-star recruits generally don't choose schools that haven't won their conference since the week after JFK got shot.

And speaking of Ole Miss' future, this team is going to be an absolute shell of its current self when it returns to Tuscaloosa next year. Snead returns, but from my count they are going to lose something like 14 starters. Jerry, Hodge, McCluster, Tillman, Hardy, Trahan, Green, Vaughn, and Lewis will all be gone, plus a lot of other starters on the offensive line. Anything can happen in any game, of course, but we've beat Ole Miss six straight years now, and this was clearly their best chance to get us for quite a few years. The Orgeron talent is quickly going away, and the recruiting hasn't been at a high enough level to not have a drop-off in the coming years. This was this their year -- both for beating us, and getting to Atlanta -- and we roughed 'em up good.

All in all, we still haven't played a complete game to yet. We're beating ourselves with dumb penalties, poor decision-making, and leaving points on the board. Nevertheless, we legitimately look this good even when not firing on all cylinders? All you can say is that we are one hell of a team, period. And if we ever can truly get it all together, we are absolutely going to smoke people.

Poll Question: Who is the Most Improved Player of 2009?

Todd — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:00:26 -0000

Certainly a little early for this since a whole season's body of work would probably tell us a lot more, but five weeks into the season we've seen some guys really step their game up from previous seasons and we'd like to highlight them a little bit.

Darius Hanks - WR

We've heard for so long now how Darius Hanks was going to be one of the next great wide receivers at Alabama, just you wait. And wait we did as Hanks struggled to turn his practice field heroics into game day production. Considered a "starter" in the slot during 2008's spring camp, Hanks effectively disappeared with various injury concerns before he could really get on the field. Though he was finally able to work his way onto the field near the end of the season, he only played in five games, grabbing eight passes for 88 yards with a long of 18 yards. So far this year he's played in every single game and has already topped last year's production with 9 catches for 160 yards and a TD while effectively becoming our most consistent and productive true receiver (though Ingram and Peek have more receptions with 14 a piece, Hanks is tied with Julio for most receptions by a receiver and leads all receivers in yardage).

Mark Ingram - RB

After Ingram's monster true freshman season it seems a little strange to think of him as a candidate for most improved, but let's face it, Ingram was behind Coffee all last year for a reason. As mean as he was between the tackles, he still struggled with following his blocks and finding the hole and would often try to bounce it outside, usually into the arms of a waiting linebacker or safety. He also struggled at times with pass protection, tipping our hand offensively when he was on the field since opposing DCs knew Ingram was out there to run and run alone. This season, though, Ingram has become a complete back, pass protecting like a true veteran, catching the ball well out of the backfield (in fact, his three TD receptions lead the team) and, most importantly, showing the kind of patience and maturity a running back needs to allow plays to develop and to hit the hole as it opens instead of trying to break everything wide.

Marquis Maze - WR

Finally, the speedy deep threat we've all been salivating over and a QB that can get him the ball. Maze, like Hanks, is one of those kids that always sounded like he was going to be a world beater from the practice reports but was never really able to show it on Saturday. So far this season, he's finally flashing the kind of play making ability we all suspected he was capable of. Though his two memorable TDs from last season were fun to watch, he only got into seven games and caught 11 passes while he's already grabbed 8 in four games this year and has two TDs already as well. Though he is our best deep threat so far, he's also shown good ability to get open undernearth instead of just burning DBs with his speed downfield.

Eryk Anders - LB

This kid gets my vote, hands down. Anders has gone from being a virtual no name (Rivals didn't have him ranked at all, while Scout gave him a single star) to a starting linebacker position on an elite SEC defense. Though he played sparingly in '06 and '07 (mostly on special teams and as a reserve), he came out of nowhere in 2008 to be our best pass rusher from the linebacker position and was frequently on the field on 3rd down. In 2009, he's solified himself as a true every down Jack linebacker despite his relatively small size and has proven versatile enough to play out in space as an outside linebacker after Dont'a Hightower's unfortunate injury shuffled the linebackers around. He's currently fourth on the team in tackles with 22, and his 2.5 sacks is 3rd behind Marcell Dareus (3.5) and Javier Arenas (3.0), while he's also responsible for 5.5 tackles for loss (leads the team), an INT, a pass breakup, a forced fumble, and 4 quarterback hurries.

Marquis Johnson - CB

I'm sure this pick will go over well. Despite the many criticisms that Johnson has gotten in the comments section of this blog, he has locked down his role as our third corner and, considering we've played so much in the nickel with Arenas at Star, has effectively been a starter on the outside this year while B.J. Scott (whom Saban has said he expects big things from in the future) is looking at a redshirt and Dre Kirkpatrick is relegated to special teams and mop up duty. If we had done a poll before the season as to who should be the third CB, Johnson, Scott, or Kirkpatrick, I could guarantee you that y'all would have voted for Kirkpatrick or Scott in a landslide. Instead, the guys that are getting paid the big bucks to evaluate talent and put the best players on the field have Johnson out there every Saturday instead.

Mark Barron - SS

Though Barron saw a lot of action last season, he generally struggled with grasping his role on the defense after being asked to do too much, a fact that Saban himself admitted earlier in the year. Now that Barron is a stong safety and a strong safety only (he's started all five games there this season despite Robby Green's push for a start during the spring), he's blossomed into one of our better defenders. Barron is second on the team in tackles with 28 (behind Rolando McClain's 35), his two interceptions and 6 passes defended lead the team, and his four pass breakups are behind only Kareem Jackson's five.

Javier Arenas - CB/KR

Another strange one to consider "improved" after turning into one of the best corners in the SEC last season on top of being a true playmaker as a kick return, Arenas continues to develop in both roles in 2009. As a DB, Arenas has spent a lot of time at Star so far this year as we've stayed in a 3-3-5ish nickel look against the many spread teams we've faced. With teams routinely throwing away from him, we've utilized him in different ways, and surprisingly his 3 sacks are second on the team behind Marcell Dareus, while he's third on the team in total tackles with 26.

As a kick returner, he's shown better patience and maturity while fielding kicks. Instead of catching any and everything that came his way and trying to break it (which resulted in some great returns last year, no doubt, but also some serious frustaration fumble wise), he's picking his battles a little more carefully. Though he has yet to take one back for a score yet, he's still managed to set up the offense on several occasions with great run backs.

P.J. Fitzgerald - P

Last but not least, young Fitzgerald continues his trend of improvement this year with an average of 42.3 yards, and improvement over his 41.1 yard average last year and the dreadful 38.7 in 2007.

Poll

Who is the most improved player of 2009?

Darius Hanks

127 votes

Mark Ingram

68 votes

Marquis Maze

99 votes

Eryk Anders

144 votes

Marquis Johnson

18 votes

Mark Barron

129 votes

Javier Arenas

9 votes

P.J. Fitzgerald

44 votes

638 votes | Poll has closed

Arkansas Penalties Breakdown

outsidethesidelines — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:32:38 -0000

After the penalties largely went away in our thumping of North Texas, unfortunately they were back when the Hogs came to Tuscaloosa to the tune of seven penalties for 60 yards. Let's take a closer look at all of the penalties that occurred, and how they impacted the Tide this past Saturday.

Delay of game penalty on the punt team on a 4th and 5 at the Arkansas 46-yard line. This came at the end of the Tide's first possession when we were lining up to punt. The five yard penalty moved the ball back to the Alabama 49-yard line, but ultimately the penalty turned out to be meaningless. Even after being moved five yards further back, P.J. Fitzgerald's punt still sailed into the end zone, and Arkansas started their ensuing possession on their own 20-yard line.

Pass interference penalty on Javier Arenas on a 3rd and 7 for the Hogs late in the first quarter. This was an incomplete pass and would have forced an Arkansas punt from their own 10-yard line. Instead, it was a close call that went in the Hog's direction, and it gave them new life with a first down at the Arkansas 21. The Tide would get the stop immediately thereafter, but a conversion on a fake punt gave them yet another new life. Arkansas ultimately drove it all the way to the Alabama 30, but Javier Arenas redeemed himself and largely negated the penalty by getting Ryan Mallett on a sack that ended the drive. Arenas called for a fair catch at the Alabama 14-yard line.

False start penalty on Drew Davis on a 2nd and 9 from the Alabama 15-yard line, immediately following the aforementioned stop of Arkansas. This continued a long string of pre-snap penalties on the right side of the offensive line, but ultimately it turned out to be harmless. It created a 2nd and 14, but Mark Ingram picked up the first down on the very next play. Four play later, Trent Richardson went 50+ yards over right end to put the Tide up 7-0.

Block in the back penalty on Cory Reamer during Javier Arenas' punt return with approximately 6:00 remaining in the second quarter. The penalty erased a 13-yard return by Arenas that would have given the ball on the Alabama 43-yard line. With the penalty, 'Bama was moved back to our 33-yard line, and we went three and out after we narrowly avoided an interception on a forced pass by Greg McElroy to Julio Jones on third and four.

Block in the back penalty on Cory Reamer during Javier Arenas' punt return immediately after the preceding block in the back penalty. This one was the really costly one, as it wiped out a very long return by Arenas that would have had Alabama knocking on the Arkansas goal line. The first block in the back on Reamer was a solid call, but this one was a bit more tacky. Reamer barely got into the back of the Arkansas defender, and it was a defender who would have been unlikely to get to Arenas at any rate. At any rate, this penalty ultimately cost the Tide points, and combined with the next penalty, it ended the Tide's chances of making this a three-possession game at halftime.

False start penalty on James Carpenter on a 4th and inches play from the Arkansas 35-yard line. This one was particularly costly, and annoying, because it forced the Tide to punt the football with approximately 90 seconds remaining, and also because Carpenter -- who flinched because of a slight movement by the Arkansas defensive end -- was the last person who should have been jumping. The penalty forced a Tide punt, and Fitzgerald sailed another one into the end zone. Arkansas ran a play straight into the line, thus ending the half, and the Tide went into halftime with a 14-0 lead.

Kick catching interference on Dre Kirkpatrick on the Alabama punt that immediately followed our three and out to start the second half. This one was a clear penalty on Kirkpatrick, and wasn't a controversial call at all. Kirkpatrick did a great job of playing gunner on special teams, but he just got there a split second too soon on this one. The Hogs would have gotten the ball at their own 30, but the penalty gave it to them at their own 45. And it proved fairly costly, too, as five plays later the Hogs scored their only points of the game when Ryan Mallett hit Greg Childs on an 18-yard touchdown pass after Kareem Jackson found himself caught in no-man's land.

All in all, the penalties did return, but thankfully they didn't cost us in this game. Some of the penalties were meaningless, and while a couple of them did legitimately cost us some points, this game was a glorified blowout in which they didn't make any major impact. At most, they probably turned a potential 38-0 game into a 35-7 game, so it was largely a meaningless result one way or the other. Moving forward, though, if some of these penalties occur in a closer game, we might not get so lucky.

Week Four Preview: #3 Alabama vs Arkansas Overview

outsidethesidelines — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:00:33 -0000

More photos » by April L. Brown - AP

Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett is the best pure passer Alabama has faced this season.

Browse more photos »

The 49-14 thumping that Alabama put on Arkansas last year in Fayetteville was easily the most lopsided game this series has seen in a decade. Last year's game, however, was also an anomaly as this series generally sees close, hard-fought contests, and none should expect another crimson landslide for a second year in a row.

There are two majors reasons for that: One, Arkansas looks to be a much better team this year than they were a year ago, and two, last year's game was much closer than the scoreboard indicated. Lopsided score notwithstanding, last year's game was actually played pretty evenly by the two teams, and the massive disparity on the scoreboard resulted from four major players all going Alabama's way. Those four plays were Glen Coffee's long touchdown run, Casey Dick's two interceptions (while driving) that were returned for touchdowns, and Terrence Cody's goal line stand to end the first half, and all of them directly resulted in Alabama touchdowns. Don't expect all of the big plays to go the Tide's way this year, and thus a much closer game this time around.

Let's take a closer look at the match-ups.

Alabama Offense v. Arkansas Defense

On the surface, this seems like a lopsided match-up in the Tide's favor. The Alabama offense has been surprisingly effective to date -- 500+ yards of total offense in each of the first three games, and 127 total points -- and Greg McElroy has exceeded all reasonable expectations. The offensive line was a major question mark coming into the season, and while penalties have hurt them somewhat, they've still generally gotten the job done. Even with Julio Jones not even playing in more than half of the offensive snaps to date, nothing has really been able to slow down the Tide's offense. On the other hand, Arkansas' defense has been nothing short of abysmal to date. It was a very bad unit a year ago, and unfortunately for the Hog faithful it's one that has shown little or no improvement since.

So is it just a given that the Alabama offense is going to rack up points left and right against Arkansas? Perhaps, but let's not be so fast.

An objective look at Arkansas' defense yields a group that is very light on elite top-end talent and quality depth throughout the roster, but even so this unit may not be as hapless as many would make it seem. Clearly the Hogs had a disastrous performance last week against Georgia, but it is worth noting that performance came almost entirely without the presence of two of Arkansas' best defenders: middle linebacker Jerry Franklin and cornerback Rudell Crim. Franklin is the leader of the linebacker corps and he was ejected in the second quarter, and Crim is the team's best cornerback, but he went out with leg cramps early. And as if missing two of their best players wasn't a big enough issue in its own right, their replacements -- Terrell Williams and Greg Gatson -- were effectively outright disasters. Franklin will be back this week, however, and you can rest assured that the Arkansas medical staff will have Crim properly hydrated this time around, so their returns alone will go a long way towards improving this Arkansas defense.

The big concern for Alabama, most likely, comes in the running game. The offensive line is still a bit of an unknown commodity, and for all of the criticisms of the Arkansas defense, we really haven't been challenged in the way that this Hog front seven will challenge us. Given our proclivity towards using two-tight end sets, we practically lost five starters at the point of attack from a year ago (Andre Smith, Antoine Caldwell, Marlon Davis, Travis McCall, and Nick Walker), and the replacements for those five starters simply don't have the size that their predecessors did. Combined we are about 100 pounds lighter at the point of attack than we were last year -- which is to say nothing of the fact that the combination of Preston Dial and Brad Smelley isn't near the blocker that Travis McCall was, size differential notwithstanding -- and that alone probably means that we cannot dominate teams in the trenches like we did a year ago.

And that is where Arkansas really challenges us. For all of the criticisms of their defense, this is a big, strong unit in the front seven, and that is something we really haven't seen this year. Virginia Tech openly traded size for speed, and both Florida International and North Texas were clearly outmatched physically. Arkansas, however, is a very different animal altogether. They average nearly 280 pounds in the front four, the linebacker corps averages around 235 pounds, and with Malcom Sheppard manning the defensive tackle position, they will be able to match our physical style of play. In all likelihood, if the Arkansas defense is to slow down the Alabama offense, this is likely how they will have to do it.

Unfortunately, however, the rest of the match-ups for the Hogs simply do not look good.

Looking at the rest of the defensive backfield, even with a healthy Rudell Crim, the secondary is still one of the worst in the conference. Starting opposite Crim is Ramon Broadway, but Broadway has made news for three things this year, none of which are good for the Hogs: Getting arrested for not showing up to traffic court, running his mouth before the Georgia game, and ultimately getting lit up by A.J. Green. He's a below average corner in coverage, and the same thing goes for the rest of the rotation at cornerback. Highly-touted true freshman Darius Winston -- a consensus five-star prospect -- has not been able to make any impact whatsoever. Likewise, the safety play from Tramain Thomas and Matt Harris has impressed no one to date.

Largely the same thing goes for the linebacker corps as well. Jerry Franklin is a fine player at middle linebacker, but while the starters surrounding him, Wendel Davis and Freddy Burton, have a good bit of size, neither of the two look to be particularly good players right now. The aforementioned Terrell Williams struggled greatly last weekend trying to fill in for Franklin, and while Jerico Nelson is a good player against the pass, at barely 200 pounds he struggles to get on the field on running downs, thus limiting his effectiveness.

The best match-up of all may very well come against the Arkansas defensive line in the passing game, which has struggled to rush the passer. Jake Bequette and Adrian Davis start at defensive end, but neither are particularly adept pass rushers, and while Sheppard is more active than your typical interior player, there's only so much you can legitimately expect when you need your interior defensive linemen to generate the bulk of your pass rush. Despite Georgia being without its starting left tackle last week, Arkansas still couldn't muster any pressure whatsoever on Joe Cox, ultimately racking up only one sack and one hurry on approximately 30 passing attempts. Alabama may still have some issues protecting off the edge, but Greg McElroy ought to find himself with plenty of time to throw the football.

All in all, the Arkansas defense may be a bit better than it has been given credit for, and at any rate Alabama is still going to have to come out and execute successfully over the course of 60-70 plays to get the job done. Nevertheless, you still have to think that the Tide will put up more than their fair share of points this weekend. Arkansas may make running the football tough, but Arkansas' porous defensive backfield mixed with a lack of a consistent pass rush is likely a lethal combination in and of itself if Greg McElroy continues to play like he has so far this year.

Alabama Defense v. Arkansas Offense

While most expect the Alabama offense to have a big day against the struggling Arkansas defense, it's clear to everyone that it will be strength on strength when the Arkansas offense comes on the field. Both the Alabama defense and the Arkansas offense have the ability to be among the nationally elite with regard to their respective units, and making matters even more intriguing both units are led by two of the most advanced football minds in all of college football.

The Arkansas offense is a scary group, no two ways about it. Ryan Mallett has the arm strength of JaMarcus Russell, and he is easily the best pure pocket passer that Alabama has faced in years. The backfield is loaded with talented tailbacks that bring experience along with their unique mixes and matches of different physical builds. Tight end D.J. Williams is clearly the best in the conference, and back-up Ben Cleveland is a very valuable threat as a possession receiver. The wide receiver corps, too, is a good one from top to bottom. They don't have a true superstar ala Julio Jones, but they do have five or six high quality wide receivers who have good athleticism and who run good routes -- Greg Childs, Jarius Wright, and Joe Adams are good enough to begin with, and Lucas Miller is returning this week from injury. That alone makes the Hogs very difficult to defend on the perimeter, even without saying anything with regard to Mallett. Bottom line, at the very least, this is the third-best offense in the conference, and it could easily be the best.

The only real weakness of the Arkansas offense comes up front at the point of attack, where the Hogs offensive line is seemingly still a relic of the Houston Nutt era. All five starters committed to Nutt, and not surprisingly they are generally the big, physical mashers that Nutt loved so much in his run-heavy offense. The "smallest" player on the line comes in at around 6'5 and 305 pounds, and truthfully that fact is probably doing the Hogs few favors. This line is, on the whole, a fish out of water. They are more physically built to pave the way for a run-heavy offense, but with the coaching turnover they are now being asked to pass protect against highly athletic pass rushers in a pass-happy offense. On a fundamental level it's effectively a recipe for disaster, and not surprisingly it's a team that has struggled to a degree to protect the passer. Starting right tackle DeMarcus Love probably needs to be playing inside at guard, and starting left tackle Ray Dominguez was absolutely atrocious against Georgia with four penalties and one sack allowed. The left tackle of the future is Anthony Oden, the younger brother of basketball star Greg Oden. He'll be a star one day, and the Arkansas coaches have indicated he may play some this week against Alabama, but he's a true freshman and given Nick Saban's love for giving multiple fronts that confuse offensive linemen, I'm not sure exactly how eager the Arkansas coaching staff is to put him in front of 93,000 fans. Nevertheless, if Dominguez' struggles continue, the Hogs' hand may be forced.

And this is the weakness that the Alabama defense must successfully attack to limit the Arkansas offense. The performance of our defensive backfield has been solid but not spectacular to date -- the overall statistics look good, but safety play has been shaky and highly inconsistent, Kareem Jackson has been hit or miss, and Marquis Johnson had a key penalty against Virginia Tech -- but the simple truth of the matter is that if Ryan Mallett consistently has the time to throw, it's going to be a very long day for the Tide. The Arkansas wide receiver corps is too good and Ryan Mallett has too much arm strength and accuracy to expect to be able to consistently stop the Arkanas offense if we cannot get pressure on Mallett.

Fortunately for the Tide, however, you have to like how we match against the Arkansas offensive line. Marcel Dareus is having a breakout year, Lorenzo Washington is playing better than ever, and we've gotten great pressure from the linebacker corps with Rolando McClain, Dont'a Hightower, and Eryk Anders. Moreover, on obvious passing downs, we have been moving the defensive ends inside in a four man front, and then putting Hightower and Anders at end. The results have been very good, to put it mildly, and we have consistently harassed passers all year long. Given the struggles Arkansas has had at the tackle positions, all signs point towards the Tide having some success getting to Mallett.

Even with that said, though, expect the Arkansas offense to have a reasonable amount of success against the Tide regardless. The running game has the potential to be a very good one -- you mix a bunch of big, strong offensive linemen with a group of highly talented tailbacks, and that is usually what you get -- and unless the Arkansas coaching staff is blowing smoke, they plan to use the rushing attack more prominently this weekend. It could have some success, and realistically no matter how well you can pressure Mallett, all of the outstanding components of the Arkansas passing game will guarantee that the Hogs hit more than a few plays in the passing game. These guys are going to score points, period.

Putting It All Together

All in all, I don't think there is much questioning the notion that Alabama is the better team here. We have more top-end talent, more quality depth, and probably a tad bit more experience as well. As long as Greg McElroy continues to play like he has to date, you have to imagine that Alabama will score more than their fair share of points tomorrow, and we should come away with the victory. Nevertheless, this game is far from a given, and it is likely to be a closely fought contest that goes into the fourth quarter. Arkansas is at worst a solid SEC team, and the difference between the two teams is far from gaping.

While it seems like we should be able to take full advantage of the Arkansas defense, truth be told we are probably going to have to do just that in order to win this game. Bamagrad has talked about these spread passing teams before, and I think he makes a good point: You can have a good defense and play well, but at the end of the day they are still good enough offensively to put up 24-28 points on the board. That could very well happen to us on Saturday, and if our special teams breakdowns continue, we could very easily be needing to score 31-35+ points in order to be able to get the victory. Arkansas is an improved team over last year, and they pulled off some pretty big upsets even then -- another victory over LSU, and came within a hair of knocking off Ole Miss as well. Rest assured, the Hogs will collect some more scalps this year, and it won't be a shock if they head back to Fayetteville with a crimson scalp in their possession.

Hope for the best.

FIU Penalties Breakdown

outsidethesidelines — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:00:16 -0000

After the Virginia Tech game last week we took a closer look breaking down the penalties and how they harmed the Tide.As long as the penalties keep up I figure it's a good idea to keep a running tally of these things, and unfortunately with seven penalties for 65 yards in the FIU game, I'm afraid to say that the rash of penalties did continue. Thus, here's a closer look at the penalties themselves:

False start penalty on Barrett Jones in the first quarter, when the Tide had a 2nd and 6 at the FIU 10 yard line. The penalty effectively negated a four-yard run on first down by Mark Ingram, and combined with the penalty that followed on the next play forced the Tide to settle for a field goal.

Holding penalty on Drew Davis in the first quarter, immediately following Barrett Jones' false start penalty. The hold wiped out an eight-yard reception by Mike McCoy that would have set up a 3rd and 3 situation for the Tide, and moved 'Bama into a 2nd and 21. Trent Richardson ran for six yards the following play, and Ingram took a dump pass for another seven, but ultimately the Tide was faced with a fourth and long situation and was forced to settle for a Leigh Tiffin field goal.

Pass interference on Kareem Jackson early on the second quarter on a 2nd and 17 from the FIU 49. Florida International had a clipping penalty before this which set up a 1st and 25 situation, but the interference call erased what would have been a third and long situation for the Golden Panthers, giving them new life with a first down at the Alabama 36-yard line. Six plays later, Paul McCall would hit Greg Ellingson for a touchdown pass, temporarily giving FIU a narrow 14-13 lead.

False start penalty called on Marcell Dareus on the extra point after Mark Ingram's touchdown run in the second quarter. Ordinarily this penalty would not have cost the Tide because the extra point try was ultimately successful, but in this unique situation it actually did cost us. The five-yard false start penalty moved the ball back to the 8-yard line, and when FIU was called immediately thereafter for having twelve men on the field, the ball was moved half the distance to the goal, thus putting it on the four-yard line. Had we not had the false start penalty, the ball would have been moved to within 4.5 feet of the goal line, and Nick Saban was planning to send Terrence Cody into the game to be a lead blocker on the two-point conversion opportunity. The false start penalty on Dareus, then, forced the Tide to forgo the possible two-point try.

False start penalty on Barrett Jones early in the third quarter. We had just taken the ball over on the FIU 42 yard line after 29-yard punt return by Javier Arenas. This was Jones' second false start penalty of the night, but fortunately it did not cost the Tide here, as Trent Richardson gained 18 yards over the course of the next two plays with a fine run and a nice catch out of the backfield. Unfortunately, after the Richardson first down, the Tide was unable to convert on third and short with Mark Ingram in the game, and a Leigh Tiffin field goal attempt sailed wide left.

Holding penalty on William Vlachos early in the fourth quarter at the Alabama 46. The penalty occurred on a 1st and 10 and wiped out a two-yard run by Trent Richardson, but it ultimately turned out to be harmless. Even despite the fact that the Tide had the game well in hand with a 33-14 lead at the time, Trent Richardson immediately hereafter ripped off runs of 10 and 12 yards, respectively, and the following play Terry Grant raced around left end for a 42-yard touchdown run.

Facemask penalty called on Ali Sharrief early in the fourth quarter. I really have no clue what happened here because the play-by-play data at RollTide.com only says "Team Rush," but either way it was a fifteen yard penalty that gave FIU a 1st and 10 at the Alabama 21-yard line. Ultimately, though, it was pointless because the next three plays for the Golden Panthers only netted four yards, and Mark Barron intercepted a pass on the fourth down play.

So, all in all, seven penalties for 65 yards, and to be quite frank a lot of them were really costly. The last two penalties padded the penalty yardage by 25 yards, but they were in effect meaningless. We overcome both with relative ease and even had that not been the case the game was well at hand by the time they occurred. The other five penalties, though, were really costly because each and every single one of those penalties directly cost us points. We ended up winning by 26 points and putting 40 points up on the board in our own right, but without those five penalties, we score more points, FIU scores fewer, and the margin of victory is a good bit higher. And perhaps most concerning of all, four more penalties were called on the offensive line this week. Bottom line, as has been the general theme of the FIU postgame, there's no major room to complain, but there is still clearly room for work to be done for the Tide.

Editors note: Click here for the Virginia Tech penalties breakdown.