DG's Takeaways from the Bama Game

[JMSqb11]

Very nice writeup. I do have a couple of disagreements.

I don't necessarily agree that Chaney is handcuffed. I personally feel the other way around. 3rd down plays are very questionable, even at third and 15 and being behind I don't like the rushing play.
Chaney is paid big bucks, and I think he is therefore calling the offensive shots. If he felt strongly about it, he could force a qb change.

I also question the development argument. I don't see a lot of player development yet. There is little progress in LB, DL, DB, even qb with Maurer and Shrout. OL is a disappointment, only
Palmer is playing well at wr. WR development is worrisome with no separation. Even the kicking game has not been impressive. I won't mention TE.

Finally, I disagree with your statement that Bama is one of the top defenses in the country. They avg. giving up 29 pts a game. They do have an AA db and a good dl. The rest of the def.
is very good but not elite.

Thanks for your writeups!!

That last part should scare you since we have a 5th year QB who only could muster up 17 points.

 

[USAFgolferVol]

All sales managers are the same. I actually had one that used something similar. When we were bitching about not so competitive pricing we were told "anyone can give this **** away, we don't need ass-holes like you for that."

I hope CJP does not crack to the pressure.
He should know about unrealistic expectations.
He has been around coaching all his life and knows the dark underbelly of the profession.

He's never been a head coach at the collegiate level. Power 5 at a traditional big time program seems out of his league at this point

 

[a vol n tears]

They were stronger. Our guys are in the 2.5 yr of good S&C. BAMA has had it since 2007.

That explains a lot. Bama was playing men that started college in 2007 and we are using boys that started college in 2017. They get a lot more eligibility at Ala. Guess Bama doesn’t play under classmen then. Too weak.

 

[SpookyAction]

Great post as always. I agree with about everything you said.

On the announcers, I agree. I am beginning to wonder what defenders are supposed to do. Your job is to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible, and put the ball carrier on the ground. His helmet was headed almost directly at the ball. If the ball carrier's head is in between the defender and the ball, what is he supposed to do? Just wave him on past, I guess.

I have heard coaches talk about discussing a play that went wrong with their QB. It is very important to them what the player was seeing on the field. This determines a lot of whether they pull him, and put in someone else. In the same way, I liked what I heard from our coach.

I think a lot of people are grading our team and coaches on a scale of a typical season. COVID-19 has had a major affect on practices, and likely physically on individual players. I know that all teams have had to go through it, but everyone's mileage likely varies quite a bit. So, there are a lot of unknowns in that department.

Having said all that, I like what coach Pruitt said after the game, and I believe like you said, we have a great opportunity to change gears, and prepare a lot of players to get on the field, who haven't had much chance yet. I believe COVID-19 has affected us a lot more than many other teams, especially UGA and Bama - and probably UK as well. We really needed the Spring for our freshman QB and receivers, and I don't think Fall practice was much better. Let's see where we are after the Arky game. I expect to see some steady improvement.

I recall last year after 3 or 4 games. These message boards had people firing everyone from the water boy, all the way up to the Governor. We all know what happened after we got past Alabama. Well, I expect we will see much the same scenario for the rest of the season...Am I predicting that we win out? No, but I have hopes, and even expectations, for gradual improvements in all areas.

I don't think this team is done. We are not at an elite level yet. There is no doubt about that, but we have some pieces that can at least get us pretty close.

Parting note: I think Alabama and Clemson are at elite levels that are going to be hard for anyone to match. They are probably going to have to come back to the pack. This will likely require Nick Saban to retire, and for Trevor Lawrence to move on to the NFL, or be injured. Hopefully, our own coach has learned enough from Saban to have implemented a system like Saban's, that will get us there, and keep us there for a long time. It's way more about the system than it is about on the field stuff, anyway.

Trevor Lawrence is just the shiniest cog in a powerful machine. With his backup playing, they are still a National Championship team, top to bottom. They are on a different level even than UGA. They are a very complete team. BAMA, too. Not much weakness to exploit.

 

[SpookyAction]

That explains a lot. Bama was playing men that started college in 2007 and we are using boys that started college in 2017. They get a lot more eligibility at Ala. Guess Bama doesn’t play under classmen then. Too weak.

My point is, they have half their team that has been conditioned to a level superior to ours, longer. That difference tells when pushing the piles and after halftime.
I remember playing HS Left Tackle against guys faster and much stronger than me, with SEC schollys. Those were long nights. By the middle of the 3rd quarter, I was not pushing much at all. It got ugly on some plays.

 

[JacketVol]

Short and repetitive this week, but here were go.

Chaney is handcuffed and it's obvious. We constantly ran the ball on 3rd and 5s and even 3rd and 8s. And it's starting to become obvious that Pruitt is handcuffing Chaney and forcing him into a conservative game-plan that simply can't win in the SEC in the year 2020. Sure, we got lucky on some of those runs, but the 3rd or 4th time in a row, it started to feel a bit absurd.

JG is also handcuffing the offense. Sure, JG did not have the disastrous game he did against Kentucky. But the SEC has changed and you can't win by scoring 17 points and playing great defense any more. JG is a dinosaur. And it's becoming obvious that the coaches have no faith in him. Which is why we were running it on 3rd and 8. So right now, the entire gameplan revolves around not putting JG into situations where he will turn the ball over, which is unsustainable. You can't play scared (and with a 5th year Senior, no less!).

JG's performance. No INTs or fumbles, but 13 for 24 for 162 yards (6.8ypa) is stat line that wins in 1988, not 2020. Simply no comparison between Mac Jones (25 for 31, 387 yards, 12.5 ypa)

Maurer or Bailey. Ultimately, the coaches need to take this offweek and get ready to roll with Maurer or Bailey. JG is a game manager and can't be more than that. It doesn't win in today's game. Even Georgia, which is basically elite at almost every position on the field other than QB, got destroyed by Alabama with a game-managing QB.

4th Quarter. Seriously, why not bring in Maurer or Bailey at the start of the 4th? We were down 4 touchdowns. Makes me no sense at that point. For that matter, I want to see Eric Gray and Ty Chandler "on the shelf" at that point, given that they are our biggest offensive weapons. Get Jabari Small and Tee Hodge some playing time.

Pruitt. When we hired him, I thought the ceiling was Dabo Swinney and the floor was Will Muschamp. I really hope he's not becoming Will Muschamp. He's been recruiting well. We've seen a lot of player development unlike with Butch Jones. I've bought into him, but am concerned by his dogged persistence in sticking with JG at QB. We played better on offense this game than the last one, but it's also ridiculously obvious to me that we can't win big with JG.

D-line. That said, I'm starting to understand why Pruitt fired Brumbaugh, because the DL has clearly regressed from last season. I'll give Pruitt credit for spotting that before a lot of other people. Let's hope we can bring in someone like Tosh Lupoi in the offseason.

Jalin Hyatt. I've been saying all offseason that this kid would be special. He was one of my favorite recruits we brought in. And I posted that he was the 2nd best WR on the team and not getting enough playing time the morning before the game. Glad someone on the staff saw the same thing. Annoyed that he was robbed of that 2nd TD (and a 100-yard game) by the refs, but happy that he had such a great game against one of the toughest teams on our schedule. We are very fortunate to have landed him and it's crazy how many teams managed to somehow overlook him.

The other WRs. While I'm happy to see Hyatt get more playing time and it pay off big time, I still want to see more of these Freshman WRs. I think Malachi Wideman is probably our 3rd or 4th best WR already and he's not getting enough action. You might remember him as the guy who caught that great pass by Harrison Bailey in garbage time. But right now, Palmer and Hyatt are our only receiving weapons, as you might see from looking at the box score. Brandon Johnson and Velus Jones are not good enough to get open much against elite SEC DBs. Get Wideman in the game! He's tough to defend.

Offense did play better. People are laughing about Pruitt calling this the best offensive performance of the season, but he's right. We should've had 24 points against one of the better defenses in the country. It's not enough and we need an elite QB, as well as to get more of these Freshman plyamkers at WR in the game, but I at least saw some progress yesterday on the offensive side of the ball.

Defense sucked, but everyone's D has sucked against Bama. We gave up 41 points, but even Georgia gave up 41 (you can adjust that down slightly for turnovers, but still probably have to say 30 - 35 points given up by Georgia's D). I don't know how to gauge our performance. I'm not happy about it, but there were also plays where I felt we played perfect defense and Alabama still managed to have some WR make a spectacular catch and pick up huge yardage. But I did feel like the front 7 didn't play well enough and we're still not tackling as well as we should.

Gary Danielson. Seriously getting sick of his bias: 'That's textbook targeting by Tennessee. No way that gets overturned.' Call then gets overturned. As it should. It was not targeting. The offensive player led with his helmet and initiated the contact, not Jaylen McCullough. Yeah, there was some subjectivity there, but the replay officials made the right call overturning that IMO. I don't see how, as a defender, you can be charged with targeting when the offensive player is the one charging into your helmet. Good reversal by the refs, bad call by Gary Danielson.

That's all.

Happy for the bye week. Let's hope the coaches figure things out better for the 2nd half of the season. At least we're through the worst 2 games on the schedule, but getting blown out to Kentucky is really what strings the most to me.

GBO!

Agreed with almost all of this and since it was a lot then pretty spot on IMO. Only disagreement for me is that Bama has one of the top D’s in the country. Top offense then yes. Defense absolutely not.

 

[i2amavol]

Trevor Lawrence is just the shiniest cog in a powerful machine. With his backup playing, they are still a National Championship team, top to bottom. They are on a different level even than UGA. They are a very complete team. BAMA, too. Not much weakness to exploit.

Full discloser: I have seen no more than highlights of Clemson this year. You may very well be right. I simply assumed there would be a significant drop-off without him, and surely there would be at least some. However, you are right. They are elite as a program.

 

[i2amavol]

My point is, they have half their team that has been conditioned to a level superior to ours, longer. That difference tells when pushing the piles and after halftime.
I remember playing HS Left Tackle against guys faster and much stronger than me, with SEC schollys. Those were long nights. By the middle of the 3rd quarter, I was not pushing much at all. It got ugly on some plays.

I think this is an aspect that is lost on most UT fans. I agree with you completely, except that I am concerned about one assumption that you seem to have.

Coach Jone's biggest failure, in my opinion, is that he let the culture get away from him (or from where it should have been). Secondly, and partially as a result of the first thing, he let strength and conditioning go to complete shambles.

My concern is that I am not sure that we have that aspect fixed yet. This team seems to have regressed a bit this year. I hope that I am wrong, and/or that COVID-19 is to blame. This is one area where we have to be elite, not just average.

 

[i2amavol]

You know it is a sad sad season when you are hoping Vandy does not cancel their season so that we can hope for our 3rd win!!!!

I am not concerned about that. We have had a tough 3 game stretch, but now is an opportunity to build off what we have learned, and I think that is what this team is going to do. We are not going to win any championships this year, but all is not lost either.

 

[a vol n tears]

Lane Kiffin put up 48 pts on Ala in his first season. That is not because of S&C

 

[Rickyvol77]

Short and repetitive this week, but here were go.

Chaney is handcuffed and it's obvious. We constantly ran the ball on 3rd and 5s and even 3rd and 8s. And it's starting to become obvious that Pruitt is handcuffing Chaney and forcing him into a conservative game-plan that simply can't win in the SEC in the year 2020. Sure, we got lucky on some of those runs, but the 3rd or 4th time in a row, it started to feel a bit absurd.

JG is also handcuffing the offense. Sure, JG did not have the disastrous game he did against Kentucky. But the SEC has changed and you can't win by scoring 17 points and playing great defense any more. JG is a dinosaur. And it's becoming obvious that the coaches have no faith in him. Which is why we were running it on 3rd and 8. So right now, the entire gameplan revolves around not putting JG into situations where he will turn the ball over, which is unsustainable. You can't play scared (and with a 5th year Senior, no less!).

Baffling gameplan. While we're at it, this was one of the most baffling gameplans I've ever seen. We decided we were going to try to run down their throats and rely on our defense, but also decided "let's play hurry-up!" Seriously? If you're going to rely on your defense and running game, you want to shorten the game and grind down the clock. It makes no sense to play hurry up, which plays more into Alabama's hands. It felt like there was a disagreement at the coaches' meeting and they came up with this "worst of all worlds" compromise.

JG's performance. Better than last week, but still far from great. No INTs or fumbles, but 13 for 24 for 162 yards (6.8ypa) is stat line that wins in 1988, not 2020. Simply no comparison between JG and Mac Jones (25 for 31, 387 yards, 12.5 ypa)

Maurer or Bailey. Ultimately, the coaches need to take this offweek and get ready to roll with Maurer or Bailey. JG is a game manager and can't be more than that. It doesn't win in today's game. Even Georgia, which is basically elite at almost every position on the field other than QB, got destroyed by Alabama with a game-managing QB.

4th Quarter. Seriously, why not bring in Maurer or Bailey at the start of the 4th? We were down 4 touchdowns. Makes me no sense at that point. For that matter, I want to see Eric Gray and Ty Chandler "on the shelf" at that point, given that they are our biggest offensive weapons. Get Jabari Small and Tee Hodge some playing time.

Pruitt. When we hired him, I thought the ceiling was Dabo Swinney and the floor was Will Muschamp. I really hope he's not becoming Will Muschamp. He's been recruiting well. We've seen a lot of player development unlike with Butch Jones. I've bought into him, but am concerned by his dogged persistence in sticking with JG at QB. We played better on offense this game than the last one, but it's also ridiculously obvious to me that we can't win big with JG.

D-line. That said, I'm starting to understand why Pruitt fired Brumbaugh, because the DL has clearly regressed from last season. I'll give Pruitt credit for spotting that before a lot of other people. Let's hope we can bring in someone like Tosh Lupoi in the offseason.

Jalin Hyatt. I've been saying all offseason that this kid would be special. He was one of my favorite recruits we brought in. And I posted that he was the 2nd best WR on the team and not getting enough playing time the morning before the game. Glad someone on the staff saw the same thing. Annoyed that he was robbed of that 2nd TD (and a 100-yard game) by the refs, but happy that he had such a great game against one of the toughest teams on our schedule. We are very fortunate to have landed him and it's crazy how many teams managed to somehow overlook him.

The other WRs. While I'm happy to see Hyatt get more playing time and it pay off big time, I still want to see more of these Freshman WRs. I think Malachi Wideman is probably our 3rd or 4th best WR already and he's not getting enough action. You might remember him as the guy who caught that great pass by Harrison Bailey in garbage time. But right now, Palmer and Hyatt are our only receiving weapons, as you might see from looking at the box score. Brandon Johnson and Velus Jones are not good enough to get open much against elite SEC DBs. Get Wideman in the game! He's tough to defend.

Offense did play better. People are laughing about Pruitt calling this the best offensive performance of the season, but he's right. We should've had 24 points against one of the better defenses in the country. It's not enough and we need an elite QB, as well as to get more of these Freshman plyamkers at WR in the game, but I at least saw some progress yesterday on the offensive side of the ball.

Defense sucked, but everyone's D has sucked against Bama. We gave up 41 points, but even Georgia gave up 41 (you can adjust that down slightly for turnovers, but still probably have to say 30 - 35 points given up by Georgia's D). I don't know how to gauge our performance. I'm not happy about it, but there were also plays where I felt we played perfect defense and Alabama still managed to have some WR make a spectacular catch and pick up huge yardage. But I did feel like the front 7 didn't play well enough and we're still not tackling as well as we should.

Gary Danielson. Seriously getting sick of his bias: 'That's textbook targeting by Tennessee. No way that gets overturned.' Call then gets overturned. As it should. It was not targeting. The offensive player led with his helmet and initiated the contact, not Jaylen McCullough. Yeah, there was some subjectivity there, but the replay officials made the right call overturning that IMO. I don't see how, as a defender, you can be charged with targeting when the offensive player is the one charging into your helmet. Good reversal by the refs, bad call by Gary Danielson.

That's all.

Happy for the bye week. Let's hope the coaches figure things out better for the 2nd half of the season. At least we're through the worst 2 games on the schedule, but getting blown out to Kentucky is really what strings the most to me.

GBO!

Everything you said is spot on!

 

[SpookyAction]

Lane Kiffin put up 48 pts on Ala in his first season. That is not because of S&C

definitely true

 

[whodeycin85]

I want to know what happened with him. He looks nothing like he did the first 2 games and last season.

the players have no longer believe in thier coaches or head coach

 

[USAFgolferVol]

My point is, they have half their team that has been conditioned to a level superior to ours, longer. That difference tells when pushing the piles and after halftime.
I remember playing HS Left Tackle against guys faster and much stronger than me, with SEC schollys. Those were long nights. By the middle of the 3rd quarter, I was not pushing much at all. It got ugly on some plays.

We opened holes on them all day. We also gave JG plenty of time to find the wide open WRs

 

[TJVol95]

On point!

 

[99gator]

I just simply disagree. I have no idea what people have seen that the come up with this conclusion. I think people have a soft spot for the defense for a couple good stops against UGA, but other than that I've seen no passion or hussle from the D at all this season. They're out of position all the time, can't cover the middle of the field and they have too many players that just have no mojo.

They have let ****** offenses such as UGA and Kentucky score on them at critical times and they were at points long before they whole "well they have been on the field too long" argument could be made. They always seem to give up TDs in the redzone and hardly ever force FGs outside of the Mizzou game. Dline is non-existent. Linebackers are slow to react and are a mess. The secondary is either out of position or when they are, they can't catch a damn ball. The defense was miles better last year when it had veteran Butch Jones players at the helm, that's all I need to know.

You made this point in another thread and it was a good one.

With the offense, it does feel like it's one guy and if there was better play at one position, it would change everything.

On defense, it's everybody. And I am big fan of Henry T, but the reality is that he is really damn good in run support and below average (being kind) in pass coverage.

 

[cgrish]

I want to know what happened with him. He looks nothing like he did the first 2 games and last season.

I think he lost too much weight

 

[1972 Grad]

I’ve been watching football since the 1965 NFL Championship Game (Jim Brown’s last game for those keeping track at home). So what exactly is a "game manager". If seen that term get created and used over the years and in every case it is applied to someone that simply can’t play the position. So they dumb down the playbook so that person essentially doesn’t have to play the position while on the field. Anyone have a more positive interpretation?

Dr. Frank Ryan, for those keeping track at home.

 

[Vol Main]

My impression was that Pruitt coached the first team players to dig deep and make plays necessary to get back into the game, as we sometimes see happen in college football. That did not happen as much as was needed against bammer, but I do not agree with the thinking that coach just gave up.

 

[Tnphil]

Good write up OP

I agree with JG and game manager....But it's more of them not having faith in JG and they are managing him more than having JG being a game manager.....True Saban had QB's play this way but those Bama QB's had talent all over the field on offense and had RB's that banged the defense into next week and by the 4th quarter the defense was waving the white flag. They had world class WR's and good TE's they used several times per game.....We don't know what a TE is. We are basically trying to score points with RB's that we hope gets 3-4 years and rarely breaks away....and throwing to WR's hoping they go up and get 50% of them.....We pretty much just use outside the hash marks in the passing game so the defense just has to defend half the field.....We don't us a TE....we don't use our RB's out of the backfield in the passing game hardly ever. Chandler is pretty good catching the ball in space and a couple of years ago we used him more doing that than we have the past 2 seasons...Why?

In the last 10 quarters we've scored 24 points....In those 10 quarters we've scored 3 TDs.....And the opposing defenses in those 10 quarters have scored 4 TDs

I watch a lot of college football and I see offenses that keep the defenses on their heels.....I see the new era of offensive football pretty much every game I watch except us. For the life of me I don't see how a top QB recruit can look at us and our offense and say that's where I want to go.

 

[cgrish]

Lane Kiffin put up 48 pts on Ala in his first season. That is not because of S&C

Cause they had a good offensive scheme with just a decent qb. We have neither with jg and i strongly feel because of jg chaney is forced to be very conservative on offense, and probably by pruitt. To win in todays college football you havd to score lots of points even if you have a very good defense hence ga. Beat down by bama

 

[i2amavol]

Lane Kiffin put up 48 pts on Ala in his first season. That is not because of S&C

Yes, it is. He had Fulmer's players. I don't doubt they were already in shape. They just weren't as talented as in years past. Alabama was also nowhere near today's Alabama.

 

[a vol n tears]

Yes, it is. He had Fulmer's players. I don't doubt they were already in shape. They just weren't as talented as in years past. Alabama was also nowhere near today's Alabama.

I needed to be clear. I’m talking about Kiffin at Ole Miss 3 weeks ago. Put up 48 pts Against Ala. How is that possible with a whole new coaching staff.

 

[American_PitVol]

Henry needs to put his weight back on. He played great at 245. And for the life of me...our linebackers need to get depth. Teams just have easy pitch and catch when our linebackers bite up on the play action but then just stand there. GET BACK in the void. Happens every week.

 

[ETSU VOL]

Short and repetitive this week, but here were go.

Chaney is handcuffed and it's obvious. We constantly ran the ball on 3rd and 5s and even 3rd and 8s. And it's starting to become obvious that Pruitt is handcuffing Chaney and forcing him into a conservative game-plan that simply can't win in the SEC in the year 2020. Sure, we got lucky on some of those runs, but the 3rd or 4th time in a row, it started to feel a bit absurd.

JG is also handcuffing the offense. Sure, JG did not have the disastrous game he did against Kentucky. But the SEC has changed and you can't win by scoring 17 points and playing great defense any more. JG is a dinosaur. And it's becoming obvious that the coaches have no faith in him. Which is why we were running it on 3rd and 8. So right now, the entire gameplan revolves around not putting JG into situations where he will turn the ball over, which is unsustainable. You can't play scared (and with a 5th year Senior, no less!).

Baffling gameplan. While we're at it, this was one of the most baffling gameplans I've ever seen. We decided we were going to try to run down their throats and rely on our defense, but also decided "let's play hurry-up!" Seriously? If you're going to rely on your defense and running game, you want to shorten the game and grind down the clock. It makes no sense to play hurry up, which plays more into Alabama's hands. It felt like there was a disagreement at the coaches' meeting and they came up with this "worst of all worlds" compromise.

JG's performance. Better than last week, but still far from great. No INTs or fumbles, but 13 for 24 for 162 yards (6.8ypa) is stat line that wins in 1988, not 2020. Simply no comparison between JG and Mac Jones (25 for 31, 387 yards, 12.5 ypa)

Maurer or Bailey. Ultimately, the coaches need to take this offweek and get ready to roll with Maurer or Bailey. JG is a game manager and can't be more than that. It doesn't win in today's game. Even Georgia, which is basically elite at almost every position on the field other than QB, got destroyed by Alabama with a game-managing QB.

4th Quarter. Seriously, why not bring in Maurer or Bailey at the start of the 4th? We were down 4 touchdowns. Makes me no sense at that point. For that matter, I want to see Eric Gray and Ty Chandler "on the shelf" at that point, given that they are our biggest offensive weapons. Get Jabari Small and Tee Hodge some playing time.

Pruitt. When we hired him, I thought the ceiling was Dabo Swinney and the floor was Will Muschamp. I really hope he's not becoming Will Muschamp. He's been recruiting well. We've seen a lot of player development unlike with Butch Jones. I've bought into him, but am concerned by his dogged persistence in sticking with JG at QB. We played better on offense this game than the last one, but it's also ridiculously obvious to me that we can't win big with JG.

D-line. That said, I'm starting to understand why Pruitt fired Brumbaugh, because the DL has clearly regressed from last season. I'll give Pruitt credit for spotting that before a lot of other people. Let's hope we can bring in someone like Tosh Lupoi in the offseason.

Jalin Hyatt. I've been saying all offseason that this kid would be special. He was one of my favorite recruits we brought in. And I posted that he was the 2nd best WR on the team and not getting enough playing time the morning before the game. Glad someone on the staff saw the same thing. Annoyed that he was robbed of that 2nd TD (and a 100-yard game) by the refs, but happy that he had such a great game against one of the toughest teams on our schedule. We are very fortunate to have landed him and it's crazy how many teams managed to somehow overlook him.

The other WRs. While I'm happy to see Hyatt get more playing time and it pay off big time, I still want to see more of these Freshman WRs. I think Malachi Wideman is probably our 3rd or 4th best WR already and he's not getting enough action. You might remember him as the guy who caught that great pass by Harrison Bailey in garbage time. But right now, Palmer and Hyatt are our only receiving weapons, as you might see from looking at the box score. Brandon Johnson and Velus Jones are not good enough to get open much against elite SEC DBs. Get Wideman in the game! He's tough to defend.

Offense did play better. People are laughing about Pruitt calling this the best offensive performance of the season, but he's right. We should've had 24 points against one of the better defenses in the country. It's not enough and we need an elite QB, as well as to get more of these Freshman plyamkers at WR in the game, but I at least saw some progress yesterday on the offensive side of the ball.

Defense sucked, but everyone's D has sucked against Bama. We gave up 41 points, but even Georgia gave up 41 (you can adjust that down slightly for turnovers, but still probably have to say 30 - 35 points given up by Georgia's D). I don't know how to gauge our performance. I'm not happy about it, but there were also plays where I felt we played perfect defense and Alabama still managed to have some WR make a spectacular catch and pick up huge yardage. But I did feel like the front 7 didn't play well enough and we're still not tackling as well as we should.

Gary Danielson. Seriously getting sick of his bias: 'That's textbook targeting by Tennessee. No way that gets overturned.' Call then gets overturned. As it should. It was not targeting. The offensive player led with his helmet and initiated the contact, not Jaylen McCullough. Yeah, there was some subjectivity there, but the replay officials made the right call overturning that IMO. I don't see how, as a defender, you can be charged with targeting when the offensive player is the one charging into your helmet. Good reversal by the refs, bad call by Gary Danielson.

That's all.

Happy for the bye week. Let's hope the coaches figure things out better for the 2nd half of the season. At least we're through the worst 2 games on the schedule, but getting blown out to Kentucky is really what strings the most to me.

GBO!

Great analysis and objective review of the game. I agree that the dline has regresse and feel this is hurting our defense on multiple levels. Pruitt has been openly not happy with them since training camp. A lot of Bama’s success in the passing game was due to little to no pressure early on. Later we started manufacturing pressure but it was at a cost.

I am curious what is going on with our team during halftime? They have came out unfocused 3 weeks in a row now. This could be partly explained by how hamstrung our offense is by what JG can’t do.