I've been M.I.A. since last season due to work and various other things, but I've really missed posting/reading here.
Hope everyone is well, and while the games for both OSU and Alabama could have gone better this past Saturday, a W is a W.
On OSU: I saw a definite improvement in actual tackling mechanics, lots more wrapping up, which is a good thing. I was trying to talk my girl off the ledge at the number of yards Navy got on the ground, taking her back to Alabama in 2011. We had a stellar defense, only giving up 72 ypg on the ground. Then comes Georgia Southern. Those guys run an offense like Navy, and they lit us up for 302yds on the ground. These weren't 1 or 2 HUGE plays and then a chunk against our 3rd string, this was all game long. That offense, when executed properly, is a nightmare, and Navy is a better team than GS.
I thought the offense looked okay, though the couple of times we decided to run the option on 3rd down, against a Defense that sees that 90% of plays, every day in practice, kinda made me scratch my head.
Offensive line? Egads, we need considerable work there. I bet each and every one of them is hating life atm, getting worked double time in practice.
I thought JT played well, all things considered. Like any QB on his first career start, there were things he did wrong, but he did a LOT of things right. I think he'll improve a lot as this season progresses.
My favorite part of the game, was getting reintroduced with just how freaking fast Dontre Wilson is. Jesus Christ! If that guy gets a chance to get his shoulders turned up field, he has acceleration like nothing I've ever seen! That kid is special, can see him making plays all year long.
Alabama:
WVU dropped passes made this game a lot easier than it should have been. We had one dropped pass that would have been a TD, but they dropped multiple drive-killing passes that really bailed us out.
Offensive line was all over the place. Crappy one one series, stellar the next, then average, then good, then crappy. I can't get a read on these guys yet.
RBs looks great, it was nice to see Yeldon be able to carry the ball without putting it on the ground, and Henry looked about as good as we expected.
QB, Sims did better than I had expected, minus the couple of passes he threw at the dirt in front of wide open receivers coming across the middle. Seemed to display patience, much better pocket awareness than McCarron, and minimized mistakes (the one INT was pretty bad, though).
On defense, having DePriest and Jackson out really hurt. The lion's share of abuse went on Jackson's temp fill in, Sylve. He got worked over all game long. Couple that with the fact we were missing our D's leader, DePriest and it was a train wreck most of the time.
Bottom line for Bama is, if we don't figure out how to do a better job against these hurry up offenses, we're in for a couple of LOOOOONG Saturdays vs Texas A&M and Auburn. Hopefully things will shape up.
Anyway, great to be back. Excited for another year of college football!
BamaMike
