Crimson Tide steamroller
September 28, 2009
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The more you watch this Alabama team play, the more you appreciate just how physical the Crimson Tide are and how they methodically wear their opponents down.
Mark Ingram walked in for an easy fourth-quarter touchdown, and just like that, Alabama leads Arkansas 35-7 in a game that looked like it might be close after Arkansas scored on its first possession of the third quarter to pull within 14-7.
But even when Alabama isn’t running the ball all that well, the Tide just keep coming at you. And not only is this defense really good, but they’re in fantastic shape. With Alabama scoring a pair of touchdowns on one-play drives, the defense has been on the field a lot Saturday.
You wouldn’t know it, though, by the way Alabama has continued to harass Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett. Rushing the passer is the most tiring thing a defense can do, and Mallett has already thrown the ball 33 times.
Tags: ala, alabama team, Crimson Tide, fourth quarter, game, mark ingram, opponents, possession, quarter touchdown, shape, steamroller, team play, tuscaloosa, TweetsRelated posts
Halftime – Alabama 14, Arkansas 0
September 28, 2009
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama scored a pair of second-quarter touchdowns Saturday on big plays, and leads Arkansas 14-0 at halftime.
Here’s a quick analysis:
Stat of the half: Arkansas is just 2-of-10 on third down, and most of those the Hogs didn’t convert were third-and-long. The Crimson Tide held Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett to 7 of 21 passing in the opening half.
Turning point: Arkansas was hanging in there defensively until Alabama freshman running back Trent Richardson shook loose on a 52-yard touchdown romp to break a scoreless tie early in the second quarter. He broke four tackles on the play. Until that touchdown, Alabama only had four first downs in the game.
Best player of the half: Alabama cornerback Javier Arenas has been everywhere. He’s been a big part of the Crimson Tide’s pass rush, sacking Mallett twice. He’s also been solid in coverage and returned a punt inside the 5-yard line that was brought back because of an illegal block in the back penalty. Arenas has four tackles in the first half.
Tags: 14-0, Alabama, arkansas, Crimson Tide, halftime, Roll Tide, TweetsRelated posts
Once again, big plays are killing Hogs
September 28, 2009
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Big plays are killing Arkansas. They did last week against Georgia, and they are again Saturday against Alabama.
The Crimson Tide, leading 21-7, have three touchdowns, and all three are from at least 50 yards.
Greg McElroy’s 80-yard bomb to Marquis Maze came with Arkansas cornerback Rudell Crim in close proximity, but Crim never saw the ball.
Maze’s touchdown hurt even more for the Hogs, because they had just put together their first drive of the game and pulled within 14-7 on Ryan Mallett’s 18-yard touchdown pass to Greg Childs.
The last thing the Hogs can do is give up quick touchdowns if they want to still be in this game in the fourth quarter.
Tags: ala, alabama the crimson tide, close proximity, cornerback, fourth quarter, greg mcelroy, hogs, rudell, ryan mallett, touchdown pass, tuscaloosa, Tweets, yard bomb, yard touchdownRelated posts
Hogs getting Maze-d
September 28, 2009
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama’s Marquis Maze is making up for a dropped touchdown pass in the first quarter.
His 80-yard touchdown reception put the Crimson Tide ahead 21-7 in the third quarter, and he came back a few minutes later with the block of the game. Maze took two Arkansas defenders out on one block to clear the way for Mark Ingram on a 14-yard scoring catch and run.
Maze is one of the best examples of how this offense has been more diversified than it was a year ago. He’s made several big plays this season and has hurt teams when they’ve paid too much attention to Julio Jones.
Tags: Crimson Tide, few minutes, first quarter, game, hogs, julio jones, marquis, maze, tuscaloosa, Tweets, yard touchdown receptionRelated posts
Alabama notebook: Signs point to serious knee injury for Dont’a Hightower
September 27, 2009
TUSCALOOSA – Alabama linebacker Dont’a Hightower will have an MRI today to confirm the extent of a potentially season-ending injury to his left knee.
“The initial prognosis is not good,” Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said. “We’re hopeful that it won’t be bad, but we’ll know for sure tomorrow.”
Hightower was injured during the first quarter of Saturday’s 35-7 victory over Arkansas. He had to be helped off the field. Doctors examined his knee for only a few seconds on the sideline before calling for a cart to transport him to the locker room.
Saban approached Hightower and shook his hand before the cart departed.
“There’s a guy right there, now, he doesn’t get talked about enough,” Saban said. “He’s a fine young man, a great leader on our team, one of our best football players on our entire team. … I hate to see any player get hurt ever, but that one there is a good one.”
Hightower returned to the sideline in the second half, wearing crutches and an optimistic attitude for teammates.
“The way he was acting on the field, he was in a good mood and he was happy,” linebacker Cory Reamer said. “You never know what could happen. I guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out.”
BACK TO THE WILDCAT: Saban was determined to use the ‘Wildcat’ again Saturday with a trick play that had Mark Ingram giving the football to Terry Grant who flipped it back to quarterback Greg McElroy.
McElroy then hit a wide-open Julio Jones for a 50-yard touchdown.
“That was a play that we were going to run in the first half, no matter what,” Saban said. “A situation at midfield, to take a shot, it was a good time to do it.”
McElroy said, “We knew he was going to be very open.”
“The ‘Wildcat’ is obviously a run-dominant formation for us,” McElroy said. “We do have a few pass plays out of it. We’ll probably show those in the coming weeks.”
JULIO RETURNS – AND SCORES: Former Foley standout Jones was watching ESPN last night and noticed a statistic mentioned that he hadn’t scored a touchdown in Alabama’s past 12 games.
To that, Jones said, “It doesn’t mean anything as long as you get the ‘W.’”
“I expect to get in there,” he said. “I’m a playmaker. It’s going to come. I didn’t get frustrated or anything like that.”
Saturday’s 50-yard touchdown catch broke that drought and was one of two receptions against Arkansas for Jones, who missed last week’s game against North Texas with a bruised knee.
“I could have (played against UNT), but I was just trying to get healthy,” Jones said, “trying to get 100 percent instead of 95 or 80. … I felt really good. Doing the treatment and everything, I feel a lot healthier.”
ROTATING LINEBACKERS: When Hightower departed, Alabama’s defense moved usual “Jack” linebacker Eryk Anders to the “Sam” (strong-side) position.
Usual “Sam” Cory Reamer moved to Hightower’s “Will” spot, and sophomore Courtney Upshaw was brought into the game at “Jack.”
“We just kept the pressure on,” Anders said. “That was our game plan coming in.”
HARRIS AGAIN OUT: Linebacker Jerrell Harris’ suspension for NCAA-related issues has reached four games. Harris did not dress for Saturday’s contest against Arkansas.
UA’s compliance staff has investigated Harris for possible impermissible benefits obtained by the sophomore from Athens resident Curtis Anderson, who was also tied to a preseason investigation of Julio Jones and Mark Ingram.
There has been no announcement from UA as to when Harris will be cleared by the NCAA to participate. Saban said Wednesday there was no update regarding his case.
DRESS LIST: Reserve tailback Demetrius Goode didn’t make the participation list for Saturday’s game while recovering from a hyper-extended knee suffered during last week’s victory over North Texas.
Goode was replaced on the list by true freshman tailback Eddie Lacy, a likely redshirt that was available if needed. Lacy, as it turned out, did not play.
CAMEO FOR PENNINGTON: After Trent Richardson’s 52-yard second quarter touchdown run, Alabama pulled him off the kickoff coverage unit and inserted Kyle Pennington, a walk-on from Chatom.
It marked the second consecutive game for Pennington, a junior.
KICKOFF TEAM CHANGES: True freshman cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick was inserted on Alabama’s struggling kickoff coverage team Saturday.
Another new face in the unit was tailback/wide receiver Terry Grant.
TEAM CAPTAINS: Senior left guard Mike Johnson remained as captain for a third consecutive game. He was joined by Grant and linebacker Rolando McClain.
NEXT WEEK: Alabama gets its first true road game of the season and an early wake-up call next Saturday at Kentucky. Kickoff is at 11:21 a.m. in Lexington. The game will televised by the new SEC Network.
Tags: best football, coach nick saban, Crimson Tide, entire team, espn, greg mcelroy, hightower, Insider, julio jones, left knee, linebacker, mark ingram, reamer, tide coach, tuscaloosa alabama, wildcat, yard touchdownRelated posts
Bama vs Arkansas Over View
September 27, 2009
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The truth hurts: Take-no-prisoners Alabama is the best team in the land
September 27, 2009
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Let’s get the formalities out of the way, shall we? Here is Alabama, everyone.
You wouldn’t know it listening to perfectionist coach Nick Saban, but Alabama is the most complete team in the country.
Maybe you remember the Tide, last seen skulking off the field at the Superdome as the poster team for all that is wrong with the BCS while the entire free world – and a few blowhard congressmen – embraced the insanity that is overreacting to the moment.
How fitting that in this gotta-claim-it, gotta-name-it weekly BCS frenzy, one team now clearly stands alone among all the uncertainty. Not defending national champion Florida. Not Texas or Oklahoma or any other Big 12 wannabe. Not the latest flash from the Pac-10 or, for the love of God, the ACC.
It’s Alabama. And frankly, it’s not that close.
The Tide’s latest seal clubbing, a 35-7 victory over Arkansas, underscored all that is right with the most complete team in the nation. And very little of what’s wrong.
Unless, of course, you’re perfectionist coach Nick Saban.
“We have a lot of things we can improve on,” Saban said. “My message to the team was, ‘If you haven’t sold out for the team, what are you waiting for?’”
Sounds a lot like my message: if you’re not sold on Alabama yet, what are you waiting for?
The defense lost one of its best players (linebacker Dont’a Hightower) to a knee injury, and still held Arkansas’ point-a-minute offense 43 points and 212 yards under its season averages. Freshman tailback Trent Richardson, meanwhile, Tommie Frazier-ed the Hogs by breaking four sure tackles on a 55-yard touchdown run that opened the scoring and set the physical tone for the day.
That’s the way it works here at Alabama. The game is about imposing your will on both sides of the ball; it’s me against you and someone is going to submit. And anyone who knows anything about the meticulously fanatical Saban, knows the guys in crimson aren’t giving in.
“It’s our mentality,” said Alabama tailback Mark Ingram. “We’re taking it right at you and you better be ready. We’re only going to get better.”
Just don’t tell the Nicktator. He’s not happy about the offense, which wasn’t consistent in the running game (134 yards, two TDs) and didn’t throw enough deep balls to take advantage of mismatches the staff recognized earlier this week. Tide quarterback Greg McElroy, gaining confidence and momentum each week, threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns.
The defense didn’t escape Saban’s wrath, either. Despite overwhelming the Hogs and making white-hot quarterback Ryan Mallett look like Ryan Seacrest, the Nicktator wasn’t happy that the secondary blew a basic coverage and gave up a lousy seven points in 60 minutes.
“He doesn’t like us making mistakes,” said Tide linebacker Cory Reamer. “Not one.”
After that one mistake, after Arkansas closed to 14-7 early in the third quarter, Alabama peeled off 21 points in a span of 12 minutes that featured a little bit of everything — special teams (blocked punt), defense (two three-and-outs) and offense (a 99-yard touchdown drive) — plus a whole lot of Tide mentality.
This isn’t Florida and its fancy-schmantzy spread option, or Penn State’s Spread HD, or any other hokey, funky scheme that makes one coach look smarter than the other. This is what it is: pain. Line up, trade blows and the toughest, meanest guy wins.
It’s not scoring a ton of points one week, and overreacting to the moment the next. It’s not losing the last two games of last season – after sitting at No.1 in the BCS standings for five weeks — and packing it in for 2009.
Losing to Florida in the best game of 2008 was hard enough for Alabama. Losing to Utah in the Sugar Bowl with zero intensity and effort was a mortal sin. That’s not overreacting to the moment.
That’s embracing reality.
“Last year is never out of our minds,” said Alabama wideout Marquis Maze. “It’s up to us to make up for it every day this year.”
If you’re not sold on Alabama yet, what are you waiting for?
Tags: bcs, blowhard, coach nick saban, formalities, freshman tailback, hightower, hogs, Insider, lost one, mark ingram, national champion florida, perfectionist, season averages, SEC, skulking, superdome, yard touchdownRelated posts
Greg McElroy: ‘I’m sick and tired of hearing about Arkansas’ explosive offense’
September 27, 2009
Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy made his fourth career start Saturday, and he had his best game yet in the Crismon Tide’s 35-7 victory over Arkansas. He talked with reporters, including Sporting News’ Matt Hayes, afterward about his growth in the offense and Alabama’s first month of the season.
Greg McElroy passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns in Alabama’s rout of Arkansas.
Q: You’ve used the Wildcat offense this year, but this is the first time you’ve thrown off it. Will we see more of that?
A: That’s a play we’ve had since the beginning of fall camp. We kind of kept it in our hip pocket. Today was really the first time we had an opportunity to run it. I got back there and saw (Julio Jones) so wide open, I was scared to death to miss him. I just wanted to make a completion at that point.
Q: Is this team more explosive on offense this year because of better balance within the offense?
A: Explosive plays are a big part of our offense. Our two keys to the game are explosive plays and no turnovers. All we heard about was their offense, and we wanted some respect, too. We have a group of wide receivers and running backs that are as explosive as any group in the country, and we feel very strongly about that. I stood up at the team meeting Friday and said, “I’m sick and tired of hearing about Arkansas’ explosive offense. We can be that way, too.” And the guys went out and made plays.
Q: The offensive line was a question going into the season. How has the first month played out?
A: The pass protection has been fantastic. All four games, I’ve been hit minimal times. That’s been a big confidence-builder for me and the offense. We struggled a little bit in the running game, but we’ll get that worked out.
Q: You’ve been called an efficient quarterback. Are you tired of that?
A: Being efficient is the best compliment you can have as a quarterback. The more you take what they give you, the more efficient you become. Obviously I want to be an explosive passer, but being called an efficient quarterback doesn’t bother me.
Tags: beginning of fall, best game, compliment, confidence builder, explosive offense, four games, greg mcelroy, Insider, julio jones, little bit, matt hayes, offensive line, rout, running backs, running game, sporting news, Tide, turnovers, wide receivers, wildcat offenseRelated posts
Alabama rolls Arkansas
September 27, 2009
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ? On a big play day, the third-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide scored three touchdowns on plays of over 50 yards to defeat the Arkansas Razorbacks, 35-7, at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Alabama, 4-0, moved to 1-0 in Southeastern Conference play while the Razorbacks, 1-2, fall to 0-2.
“I am disappointed in our performance,” Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino said. “Alabama is a good football team and they do a lot of real good things, but I am disappointed in the way we played and in our execution. We have a lot of work to do to get to be the type of football team that we need to be.”
The Razorbacks stay on the road next weekend as the home team at the inaugural Southwest Classic at Dallas Cowboys Stadium versus Texas A&M.
“That was a good football team we played out there today, very good offensive team,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. “I was really pleased with the defensive effort out there today. To hold those guys to seven points is really good and it was a team effort.”
Senior running back Michael Smith had 12 carries for 61 yards and quarterback Ryan Mallett hit 12-of-33 for 160 yards, scoring the Razorbacks’ only touchdown on an 18-yard pass to Greg Childs.
“We just didn’t execute,” Mallett said. “That hurt us and you can see that throughout the whole game. We have to execute.”
After a rough first half, Mallett guided Arkansas on a five-play, 55-yard touchdown drive. Three straight completions by the 6-7 sophomore highlighted by a 23-yard pass to D.J. Williams before the 18-yard fade route to the deep left corner for the score. Alex Tejada’s PAT made it 14-7.
“We came out and scored a touchdown to make it 14-7, but we just lost it,” Mallett said. “We came out playing good in the second half and just didn’t keep it up.”
Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy put the margin back to 14 on the first play of the ensuing Alabama possession as he found Maze on a post route for an 80-yard touchdown with 10:21 left in the third and a 21-7 lead.
Mallett moved Arkansas downfield, but on fourth down Breeding’s rugby-style punt attempt was blocked by Lorenzo Washington. McElroy connected with Ingram for a 14-yard touchdown to take advantage of the miscue and a 28-7 lead with 5:33 in the third.
The Razorbacks looked like they had a big break as Dylan Breeding’s punt was downed inside the one yard line. Alabama went on a game clinching 99-yard drive that soaked up almost six and a half minutes of clock before Mark Ingram’s two yard dash made it 35-7 with 13:12 left in the game.
After giving up over 50 points to Georgia in the last game, the Razorback defense opened the game by holding the powerful Alabama offense scoreless in the first quarter.
“I really thought in the first half our defense played well,” Petrino said. “They did a nice job of stopping the run. They did a nice job of tackling, except for the long run, and that was a heck of run. I just thought we didn’t play the way we’re capable of playing.”
Defense held sway almost the entire opening quarter as a combined two offensive first downs, and two more by penalty, was the highlight early. The teams swapped field position advantages early until Alabama pinned Arkansas for consecutive possesions inside the Razorbacks’ 20.
Petrino went with a fake punt with a direct snap to Ronnie Wingo, Jr., on fourth and five at the Hogs’ 25 yard line to spark the first sustained drive for either team. Mallett connected with Joe Adams for a 19-yard first down play to put the Razorbacks at the Bama 47 to close the first quarter. He backed it up with another first down pass to Wright to push the Hogs to the 33, but Javier Arenas’ 8-yard sack of Mallett ended the drive.
The Tide broke the scorless start with a six play, 86-yard drive capped by a 52-yard touchdown run by T. Richardson. The Alabama back evaded a potential tackle for loss for the scoring run with 9:30 left in the quarter for a 7-0 lead.
After a first down seemed to have Arkansas moving, Arenas picked up his second sack, a 13-yard loss for the Razorbacks. Arenas returned the ensuing Hogs’ punt to the 50. Saban calls for a Wildcat reverse, ending with a McElroy 50-yard touchdown pass to Julio Jones and a quick 14-0 Alabama lead.
Arkansas’ defense settled down after the 14-point outburst sending the teams to halftime with the same 14-0 spread.
The Tide racked up 217 first half yards, but 102 of Alabama’s yardage came on the two touchdown plays. Mallett hit his first two passes, and had a series of three straight in Arkansas’ one sustained drive, but went only 7-of-21 in the first half for 74 yards. McElroy was 8-of-15 for 103 yards and a TD in the first half. The Razorbacks had only 101 yards at halftime.
For the game, McElrory finished with a career high 17-of-24 for 291 yards and three touchdowns.
While Breeding suffered one block, the Razorback punter also had a career day. Breeding punted nine times for 358 yards and an average of 39.8, all are career highs. His 52-yard punt is a career long and was his third 50-yard punt of the season. Breeding also put three punts inside the 20-yard line including one inside the one.
Tags: Alabama, arkansas, beats, Crimson, Crimson Tide, Roll Tide, SEC, TideRelated posts
Bama vs North texas- OverView
September 19, 2009
| North Texas Drive Summaries | ||||||
| START | QTR | POSS. | YARD | PLAYS | YARDS | RESULT |
| 14:40 | 1 | 01:01 | UNT 48 | 3 | 6 | Punt |
| 07:47 | 1 | 02:20 | UNT 24 | 3 | 2 | Punt |
| 02:52 | 1 | 03:46 | UNT 15 | 6 | 27 | Punt |
| 11:56 | 2 | 04:35 | UNT 9 | 8 | 23 | Punt |
| 03:56 | 2 | 01:48 | UNT 17 | 3 | -1 | Punt |
| 15:00 | 3 | 01:40 | UNT 20 | 3 | 3 | Punt |
| 12:26 | 3 | 01:52 | UNT 20 | 3 | 8 | Punt |
| 09:34 | 3 | 02:08 | UNT 20 | 3 | -5 | Punt |
| 04:29 | 3 | 02:18 | UNT 21 | 5 | 78 | Passing Touchdown |
| 11:42 | 4 | 02:00 | UNT 14 | 3 | 21 | Punt |
| 05:59 | 4 | 05:49 | UNT 21 | 9 | 32 | Turnover on Downs |
| Alabama Drive Summaries | ||||||
| START | QTR | POSS. | YARD | PLAYS | YARDS | RESULT |
| 15:00 | 1 | 00:20 | ALA 46 | 1 | 6 | Fumble |
| 13:39 | 1 | 05:52 | ALA 5 | 13 | 95 | Rushing Touchdown |
| 05:27 | 1 | 02:35 | ALA 33 | 6 | 78 | Passing Touchdown |
| 14:06 | 2 | 02:10 | ALA 17 | 5 | 83 | Rushing Touchdown |
| 07:21 | 2 | 03:25 | ALA 33 | 7 | 68 | Passing Touchdown |
| 02:08 | 2 | 02:08 | ALA 46 | 11 | 37 | Field Goal Good |
| 13:20 | 3 | 00:54 | UNT 39 | 3 | 39 | Rushing Touchdown |
| 10:34 | 3 | 01:00 | ALA 48 | 3 | 3 | Punt |
| 07:26 | 3 | 02:57 | UNT 33 | 6 | 33 | Rushing Touchdown |
| 02:11 | 3 | 05:29 | UNT 39 | 11 | 37 | Field Goal Good |
| 09:42 | 4 | 03:43 | ALA 44 | 8 | 56 | Rushing Touchdown |
| 00:10 | 4 | 00:10 | ALA 47 | 1 | -2 | End of Game |
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