By Rant On Contributor, Andy Bass
9/24/2021
Alabama let Florida make it pretty close last weekend, what went wrong? Andy breaks it down for us.
“Alabama’s defense looked like 34th Street on Thanksgiving morning the way the Gators marched down the field over and over again."
What Happened for Alabama Last Weekend?
I feel that as Bama fans, sometimes we get a little spoiled.
After last Saturday’s win over Florida, the #11 team in the country, the Alabama faithful immediately went into a collective frenzy. “The defense got scorched!!!” some said. “Bryce isn’t a championship quarterback!!!” others cried. While some just said “This team just isn’t championship-caliber. Waste of a season.” I wish I could say I was surprised about my realization, but I saw it coming a mile away: Few, if any, were pleased. Any other college football program would be thrilled with a win over that Florida team regardless of the final score, but not Bama.
I don’t blame them though. The fact is, this Alabama defense was supposed to be their best in years. Pete Golding was finally going to prove that he deserves the trust fans give him only because of Nick Saban. Yet, in their first real test of the season (Sorry, Miami), Alabama’s defense looked like 34th Street on Thanksgiving morning the way the Gators marched down the field over and over again. Think I’m being too harsh? Here’s a list of Florida’s second half drives:
10 plays, 75 yards, 4:40 Time of Possession. Touchdown.
11 plays, 99 yards, 4:04 Time of Possession. Touchdown.
12 plays, 75 yards, 6:15 Time of Possession. Touchdown.
1 play, 1 yard, End of Game.
The Tide allowed two 4th down conversions in the second half, one for a touchdown. Emory Jones looked like Lamar Jackson out there. All in all, it’s hard to say much positive, but at the end of the day Florida was still a Top 15 team. The main worry for Alabama now is what is to come. Ole Miss has a much better offense than Florida and comes to Tuscaloosa on October 2nd. Georgia is better than them too, not to mention their outstanding defense. It seems this year, even more than in recent years, there are multiple teams that could be good enough to win the SEC, and if Alabama wants to win their 7th SEC Championship in 10 years they are going to have to right the ship. Southern Miss next week will be a nice chance to hopefully rest some guys, Will Anderson in particular, but then the Rebels come to town and Bama has to be ready.
On offense, I was actually surprised when I looked back at the box score with how acceptable Saturday was. Florida is a good, not great, defense this year, so originally, I was concerned after the game. However, when you realize that because of Alabama’s defense’s failures, their offense only had 3 drives, scored on the first two, and then had to deal with a clock malfunction while trying to run the clock out, I ended up being pretty pleased. Yes, they kinda got shut down in the first half after those 3 touchdowns, but they did the best with what they were given in the 2nd half. Bryce still has plenty of room for improvement, but that’s to be expected… as long as he cleans it up by October 9th in College Station.
The rushing game does need to get some things turned around. I knew we were going to miss Najee, but our offensive line should be pushing people around at will for Brian Robinson and that just hasn’t been the case. McClellan has been a nice change of pace guy with his pass-catching, but on the ground he’s hardly effective. Trey Sanders has been good when he plays, but had zero touches on Saturday which says a lot about his spot on the depth chart. I think the offensive line can continue to mesh though and improve. The line for any team is generally a unit that really improves as the season goes on, and I think Brian Robinson is good enough to be the lead running back for this team.
Alabama does have Southern Miss on Saturday, which should be a good opportunity to iron some things out. Then, Ole Miss comes to town before going on the road to Texas A&M, so this team is going to show who they really are in the next few weeks. Despite all my criticisms though, I still think this is a team that can and should win the SEC West and play in Atlanta against UGA or Florida. LSU hasn’t been special and lost to a Pac-12 team. Auburn is exactly what they always are, which is an 8-4 program that will win a game along the way to get their fans’ hopes up only to be smashed back down late in the season. Mississippi State is awful. Texas A&M and Ole Miss are legitimate threats, but even they have plenty of flaws. So let’s just everyone take a chill pill and get Southern Miss out of Bryant-Denny as quickly and injury-free as possible.
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