What’s happened to Florida’s defense?
December 6, 2009
One Simple Phrase.. Alabama shut them down!!!
Tags: Alabama, defense, Florida, phrase, TweetsRelated posts
Covering the IRON BOWL
November 28, 2009
With the Iron Bowl coming up on Friday, it is time for the analysis to begin. Many see it as a foregone conclusion – just a build-up to December 5th. But to really get inside the matchup, the only people you can turn to for truth are your fellow SN bloggers right?
So I asked catch5, ardent Alabama fan, to do some q & a on Friday’s game. His answers are in alabama red while mine are in auburn blue. Enjoy!
What is the “X factor” in Fridays game?
How good can Auburn’s offense be against Bama’s defense? Bama will move the ball. The Tigers don’t have a defense good enough to keep Ingram and Richardson from getting however many yards they want. The question is if Auburn can keep up. Their key to victory will be to get a lead and keep or increase it early. Bama will be stronger at the end of the game due to the better depth, so Auburn will need to be able to move the ball and put up points early to win. The key to this is likely in the passing game. In games where Auburn has lost this year, the passing game has struggled.
Hard to argue with his reasoning. Auburn’s offense will be the difference, that’s for sure. Bama is solid on both sides of the ball, while Auburn stinks defensively, making their offense have to catch up for them. Ben Tate will have to go for over 100 and Chris Todd will have to have a mistake free outing. Auburn has had 7 turnovers in 7 wins, and 9 turnovers in 4 losses. IT’s all about Auburn’s O.
What is the potential of Gene Chizik in the next few years?
Much better than I would have guessed. When Auburn fired Tubby, they really needed to make a big splash with their replacement hire. What they got with the Chizik hire was a fart bubble (taken from an Auburn fan’s reaction btw). Gene has completely surprised everyone with first his early recruiting, then a terrific start to the season, and while the middle of the season has been rough, he is still rolling on the recruiting front. In contrary to my initial predictions, Auburn is definitely heading in the right direction, and will be competing for the West soon. I don’t think it will be next year, but in two or three, they may likely be back to where they were a couple years ago in the hey days of Tubberville. Recruiting will be the key.
Surprisingly enough, Chizik’s second year will be his hardest IMO. RB Ben Tate, easily the biggest producer on the team, leaves. A few O and D linemen leave. A lot of the guys playing in 2010 will be younger Chizik-recruited guys. That has positives and negatives. But looking into the next five years, it is hard to argue against the guy. He is fighting a major lack of depth this year which can be fixed easily over 1-2 yrs. If he didn’t have to fight Saban tooth and nail for every recruit, he would be on the fast track to an SEC Championship or two. But overcoming Saban seems equal to running to Antarctica and back. Twice.
Finish the sentence: if Alabama wins,…
We are in for the best, most anticipated college football game this year (decade?) in the SEC championship game.
I’m going to one-up catch – we will be experiencing the most hyped/anticipated college football game EVER on December 5th. Name me any other game that has received this kind of build up.
If auburn wins…
It will be touted as possibly the best win ever on the plains. What more could you ask for in a year when you have struggled than to deny your #1 rival a shot at the national championship?
I will go streaking. 
Just kidding…but seriously, if we can pull this one out, I’m gonna be out of my mind for a few days. It’s gonna be crazy. And Chizik would definitely deserve a bonus or something.
Fav iron bowl ever?
Van Tiffen’s Kick. I was young enough to see the players as bigger than life, but old enough to remember my emotions. The high off of that kick lasted what seemed like forever.
Considering I can only remember from about 2001-present, it would have to be 2005, the 11 sacks game. Auburn came out gunning for QB Brodie Croyle, sacking him on the first and third plays of the game. The D never turned back, haunting him for 11 sacks. Huge win. If I was older, I would be choosing from games like Punt Bama Punt, Bo Over the Top, etc. If only…
Most exciting player on au? Bama?
Easily Tate for the Tigers (but I admittedly haven’t seen near as many Auburn games).
It could be one of many for Bama. I have to at least mention Cody, McLain, Jones, Arenas, Richardson, and of course Ingram. The nod must go to Ingram though. He just does everything that can be asked of a runningback.
For Auburn, I would narrow it down to Tate, Darvin Adams, Mario Fannin, and Terrell Zachary. Tate is such a workhorse, but has that rare burst of speed that is so unexpected. Adams has caught nearly every big catch there has been this season, with T-Zach taking the rest. And it seems like every time Fannin touches the ball, something happens. I’m going with Adams, though. His hands are incredible.
Alabama has to be Javier Arenas. Ingram is a great player, but he seems to be more of the grind it out type. Arenas is just flat out exciting.
What will it take for au to pull the upset?
I covered this earlier in the first question, but they have to be able to move the ball and score early. Bama will score their points late, so if they are going to win, they have to score early and keep up from there.
Mistake free – no big penalties, turnovers, etc. Penalties lost the game for us against Kentucky. And the turnover stats I said above.
Just how good is this bama team?
They are the best I’ve seen in my knowledgeable lifetime. The ’91 team had maybe a better defense, and the running game was good, but the weapons on this offense put them over the top. When this team is on, I don’t think there is a team out there this year that can hang with them. One of, if not the best this decade.
It’s hard to argue against this team. I would say they are easily the most complete team this year, and would give any team in the last decade a good game.
Score prediction?
I think it is close at halftime (14-10, ish), but Bama pulls away late in the 3rd, and closes the door in the 4th. Much better than last year’s 36-0 shut-out. 31-17
I feel really bad about this one. Really bad. Alabama in a 38-14 blowout. 
Come Friday at 1:30, we will see how this all plays out. Thanks to catch for the help, and have a great Thanksgiving!
Tags: ala, Alabama, arenas, blowout, class, Cody, College Football, college football game, defense, fellow, football, halftime, hanks, Ingram, iron bowl, javier arenas, passing game, qb, return, running game, sec championship game, stat, three, tigers, turnovers, Tweets, victory, winRelated posts
Week 7 Wrap: Ingram tops Heisman list
October 20, 2009
By around 6 p.m. ET Saturday, every Heisman front-runner seemed to be in the midst of a nightmarish week: Cincy QB Tony Pike got hurt Thursday night; Colt McCoy’s Longhorns won, but in reality, his best play against Oklahoma on Saturday was a tackle off an interception he had just thrown; Sooners QB Sam Bradford got hurt again; Jimmy Clausen’s Fighting Irish were losing; Ndamukong Suh’s Cornhuskers were getting pounded; Tim Tebow was losing to the SEC’s worst defense. But around the same time, Alabama running back Mark Ingram was stepping into a phone booth somewhere in Tuscaloosa.
However Ingram prepared to face South Carolina on Saturday night, it sure worked. He was spectacular.
Tags: cornhuskers, defense, fighting irish, Heisman, Ingram, interception, jimmy clausen, list, longhorns, mark ingram, midst, phone booth, reality, saturday night, SEC, south carolina, suh, thursday night, tim tebow, tuscaloosa, TweetsRelated posts
Defensive demolition sparks Tide
October 11, 2009
OXFORD, Miss. When Alabama dominates, it’s never as pretty as USC. Nick Saban’s teams don’t put up a point a minute the way Florida does. But don’t mistake the No. 3 Crimson Tide’s 22-3 defeat of No. 20 Ole Miss as anything but a blowout.
If this were “CSI: Oxford,” the detectives would have known whodunit before the first commercial. Alabama left all the clues Saban’s best teams leave: The defense forced five turnovers, the opposing quarterback refused to set his feet, and every first down the Tide allowed became a cause for celebration.
“Probably the most complete team win we’ve had all year,” Saban said. “We’ve got a good team. Our guys play hard and play well together.”
The Tide D swarmed the Rebels Saturday.
Saban’s 2003 BCS champion team at LSU played this way: Defense and special teams make play after play, and the offense has its moments. Too many of those moments Saturday involved kicker Leigh Tiffin, who went 5-for-5 on field goals. The Tide’s lone touchdown came on a 36-yard run by Mark Ingram late in the first half.
The slow creep of the Alabama lead left the illusion that Ole Miss remained in the game. The rest of the game indicated otherwise. Ole Miss finished with 212 yards of total offense and was held to the lowest point total in head coach Houston Nutt’s two seasons.
“Very few people score points against Alabama,” Nutt said. “… We ran into a real wall today.” Take Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead, who began the season as a Heisman candidate and ended Saturday as a tackling dummy. The stats show that Alabama never sacked Snead. But the junior transfer from Texas got hit more than the Washington Nationals’ bullpen.
“We hit the guy just about every time in the first half, and I think it affected him. It affected them,” Saban said. “… That’s about as fine a defensive performance in the first half as I’ve been around for awhile.”
Snead forgot about setting his feet. He forgot about squaring his shoulders. At the half, Ole Miss had gained 19 yards, made one first down and crossed midfield for one play. Snead finished 11-of-34 for 140 yards with four interceptions.
He has thrown seven in the last two games after throwing 13 all of last season. In Snead’s defense, two of the interceptions against Alabama occurred because split ends Shay Hodge and Markeith Summers couldn’t hold onto the ball.
That brings up a valid point. Snead wasn’t the only Ole Miss player who heard footsteps. Halfback Brandon Bolden completed the unlikely triple play of fumbling a handoff, dropping a pass and fumbling a kickoff return.
“This was the fastest defense if you went from 1-11,” Nutt said. “It’s from the cornerbacks, to the safeties, to the linebackers, to the D-line. They’re the best I’ve ever seen.”
It goes beyond 11, actually. The Alabama special teams dominated, too. Linebacker Cory Reamer blocked a punt in the first half to set up Tiffin’s third field goal. He also knocked a punt out of Dexter McCluster’s grasp in the third quarter, a turnover that led to Tiffin’s fourth field goal.
That’s what Alabama does. They hit and they confuse and they hit some more.
Nick Saban and Bama have rolled to a 6-0 start.
“It’s not just their speed. It’s their size. They’re great tacklers,” Ole Miss offensive coordinator Kent Austin said. “They’re the best defense we’ve faced by far. Easily.”
The Alabama offense scored one touchdown, a great call by coordinator Jim McElwain. On fourth-and-one at the Ole Miss 36, with 1:02 left in the first half, the Tide loaded the left side with what seemed like 15 guys and ran a quick toss to Ingram. He burst through the line and found no one there. A 9-0 lead became 16-0, and the game was all but over.
Quibble if you must that six trips into the red zone yielded Alabama five field goals and a turnover. Five times quarterback Greg McElroy threw a jump ball to wide receiver Julio Jones in the end zone. McElroy went 0-for-5 and should consider himself fortunate that none of them got picked off.
McElroy finished 15-of-34 for 147 yards. Those numbers aren’t all that different from Snead’s. But McElroy’s blood pressure numbers had to be lower. He didn’t make the critical errors that Snead made all game. Plus, Ingram finished with 172 yards on 28 carries.
“Hard-earned yards,” Alabama fifth-year senior left guard Mike Johnson called them.
You could see how much Saban enjoyed this victory. It came before 62,657 fans, the largest crowd in Ole Miss history, eclipsing the record set in the LSU game in 2003. Saban won that game, too, 17-14. The victory sent the Tigers into the SEC Championship Game and on their way to the crystal football.
The comparison stops there. Saban won’t entertain any discussion of Alabama beyond the Tide’s next game, at home Saturday against South Carolina. When asked to compare this team to the Alabama team that began last year 12-0 and rose to No. 1, Saban answered by discussing what it takes to compete for 14 weeks.
After all, that 12-0 Crimson Tide team finished 12-2.
Mark Ingram rumbled to 172 yards and one TD.
“This is like climbing a mountain,” Saban said. “The higher you go, the more treacherous it gets. The focus has to be better. The execution has to be better, and you have to continue to go through the grind to get there. So far we’ve done it but we have to continue to do it.”
It’s a good metaphor and an accurate one, especially the mental picture of Alabama breathing rarefied air.
Tags: alabama team, bama, class, cornerback, cory reamer, Crimson, Crimson Tide, defense, defensive performance, end zone, field goal, field goals, Florida, four interceptions, game, handoff, houston nutt, Insider, jevan snead, julio jones, leigh tiffin, linebacker, mark ingram, midfield, nick saban, ole miss, reamer, rebels, return, score, SEC, snead, stat, touchdownRelated posts
Terry Grant puts it out of reach
September 12, 2009
After the Tide defense stopped Florida International on fourth-and-short near midfield, the offense needed little time to get back in the end zone.
Terry Grant made a return to the backfield, and went 42 yards for a touchdown that made it 40-14 with 8:21. That’s 27 unanswered points, if you are wondering.
Through three quarters, Alabama outgained FIU 363-139 in total offense.
Tags: Alabama, backfield, class, defense, end zone, fiu, Florida, little time, midfield, return, Terry Grant, three quarters, Tide, touchdown, Tweets, unanswered pointsRelated posts
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What’s happened to Florida’s defense?
One Simple Phrase.. Alabama shut them down!!! VN:F [1.8.1_1037]please wait...Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast) Tags: Alabama, defense, Florida, phrase, Tweets Related posts Terry...