In probably the most foreseeing transfer I’ve ever seen, Josh was unable to look at this recreation in the present day, and I agreed to deal with the sport recap.
Woe is me.
Alabama, who hasn’t misplaced to a bottom-feeder crew since L.A. Monroe again in 2007, was served a large slice of humble pie by the nerds of the SEC. Maybe it’s solely becoming that it’s by the identical QB, Diego Pavia, that broke Auburn on the finish of the season final 12 months.
The sport began with Alabama’s protection giving up a protracted scoring drive, and nothing a lot modified after that. The Commodores obtained a fast pick-6 off of a fortunate deflection, and abruptly had a 13 level lead that Alabama by no means recovered from.
For what it was value, Jalen Milroe and the Tide’s WR group performed spectacularly for a lot of the recreation, selecting up big chunks of yards and gobbling up scores – however finally it didn’t matter, as each time Alabama scored, Vanderbilt responded with one other lengthy drive for their very own TD and the Alabama protection was rendered successfully ineffective.
The Tide did have an opportunity to take the lead within the 4th, however RT Elijah Pritchett selected a nasty second to completely whiff a block and Jalen Milroe obtained blasted within the pocket and fumbled the ball, giving Vanderbilt the benefit again on the scoring/clock back-and-forth, and the protection by no means obtained one other cease.
It’s an enormous lesson for brand new head coach Kalen DeBoer. You do NOT take per week off within the SEC. Whereas the primary 1⁄3 of the season has felt like a fever dream for Alabama followers, dropping to Vanderbilt is one thing that completely can’t occur. It simply can’t, and it’s the type of wake-up name for a brand new teaching employees that may pressure them to relentlessly stop this from taking place once more, or else there might be a large sized weight of indignant Alabama fan expectations bearing down on them.
We picked an excellent 12 months for a 12-team playoff. Alabama has confirmed they will beat any crew within the nation – however they haven’t confirmed they gained’t lose to anybody, both. They’ve time to determine that out and lay waste within the playoffs… However will they? If the cracks are already uncovered, can they repair them? It stays to be seen…. And the whole nation might be watching, ready, and circling for the demise of Alabama. They’ve waited 17 years, and now there may be blood. Good luck, Coach DeBoer.
In any case, listed below are a number of observations in regards to the crew as a complete:
The Passing Sport is Legit
19/25 for 312 yards is absurd. The expansion we’ve seen from Jalen Milroe since his season underneath Tommy Rees final 12 months is astounding. From a start-and-fits offense primarily based on scrambling and first-read deep bombs to Milroe displaying he could be a true pocket passer and hit practically each route on the sector (even TE seams!!!), it’s been cool to see.
On prime of that, what extra can we even say about Ryan Williams? He retains this up, and he very nicely may be the very best WR in faculty soccer since….? I don’t know. Unsure I’ve ever seen something prefer it. And on prime of all of it, William’s perspective is simply so nice. He will get blasted and pops proper again up, and when he doesn’t get the ball, you’ll see him going all out along with his perimeter blocking regardless of being all of 170 kilos.
Previous Ryan, although, is Germie Bernard. The Washington switch has been a revelation too. He’s made some big robust catches (that one down the sidelines was an insane issue) and he additionally appears to make at the very least one particular person miss each time he catches the ball.
Protection….
I actually don’t even know the place to begin right here. Your entire protection failed in just about each conceivable means on practically each play. The choice offense was a throwback to 2012 when the pistol and browse possibility have been all the fashion in faculty and the NFL. The factor is… That went out of favor by round 2017 or so. It had largely been found out – there’s no excuse for a protection to appear like that they had no clue to how defend it.
The line of defense was successfully neutralized. They did subsequent to nothing all recreation. The linebackers have been subsequently given the unimaginable activity of deciding who to cowl, and have been at all times outnumbered. And the DBs…. Man, they appeared to overlook each sort out, obtained drug previous the road for first downs, AND nonetheless obtained beat deep.
Look, I spent all offseason singing the praises of Kane Wommack’s scheme and training type. It’s a system that I’ve seen work exceptionally nicely and one which I feel ought to be forward of the curve because the pendulum swings again away from the Fangio two-high defenses.
When a protection pulls an additional security as much as the field for a lot of the recreation, I can forgive the occasional gaffe on a deep submit. It’s the tradeoff of the scheme…. However you may’t run that formation AND nonetheless surrender a billion first downs within the run recreation and on QB rollouts.
I don’t know what the problem was there. Scheme, mentality, or what. Nevertheless it was a complete collapse, and it’s on Wommack to appropriate it, nonetheless that appears. The dearth of any changes after the early onslaught is an horrible indictment.
Offensive Line
This can be a bizarre one. The OL appeared to maintain Milroe fairly clear for a lot of the recreation, outdoors of the game-breaking whiff from Pritchett on the finish. On the identical time, whereas the yards per carry for the 2 working backs seems superb, it’s largely boosted by a 32 yard scamper from Jam Miller. Outdoors of that play, the backs have been largely bottled up, as was Milroe on his rushes.
It’s nonetheless good to the go safety do in addition to it has, however the line hasn’t appeared to essentially be capable of hold issues clear sufficient to get anybody blocking downfield. That’s a part of the tradeoff of working an influence blocking scheme somewhat than zone blocking… However proper now, they’re letting issues into the backfield extra usually than they’re getting second stage blocks.
For now, it is a impolite awakening for each Coach DeBoer and the Alabama fan base. The query goes to be – how does he reply, and can the Alabama followers give him slack to reply with out turning this right into a poisonous Auburn-like state of affairs?
It’s not like we have now a fame for unreasonable expectations, or something.
Roll Tide.