LSU came to Tuscaloosa last night looking to salvage some pride from what has been a disappointing season. They held nothing back, from hyper-aggressiveness on the defensive side to benching starting QB
Garrett Nussmeier in the second half to try and find a spark. They brought the fight and made life quite difficult for Alabama, but were outclassed in the end by the better football team.
Alabama fans are feeling relief to get another win but also concern for some trends that have developed. A few impressions:
The Tide’s execution may have been frustrating, but the effort and intensity were there
It’s been a theme since the opener, but the one thing this team does is fight. It almost seems as if they try to make things as hard as possible on themselves at times, and that will have to cease if they have any designs on competing for a national title. Still, every time a big play has to be made it seems to be. Nikhai Hill-Green punched the ball out to allow the Tide to score first. Simpson threw his best deep ball of the season just bef0re the half to get separation headed into the break. Yhonzae Pierre stepped up with huge sacks, yet again. The pads were popping last night and that was enjoyable to see.
Of course, in between all of that were errors in execution that prevented the Tide from putting away yet another opponent. At various points we saw dropped passes, missed blocking assignments, another bust in run defense, and a facemask penalty to extend a drive. This opponent was overmatched, but that won’t be the case in future games.
The defense did what it was supposed to against a bad offense
We should be pleased about a defense that held a SEC opponent out of the end zone while allowing only 4.0 yards per play, and Pierre in particular continues to ascend alongside LT Overton. It has to be noted, however, that this LSU offense is a train wreck. Nussmeier has averaged only 6.8 yards per pass on the season and LSU has run the ball almost as poorly as Alabama. Backup Michael Van Buren didn’t look nearly ready to compete at this level. After Nussmeier was benched, LSU managed only 44 total yards on 22 snaps.
While we appreciate the help from interim coach Frank Wilson, there is a decent chance that this game would have been even closer had he stuck with the mediocre option at QB rather than the disastrous one.
It’s easy to forget that Ty has started only nine games
When you watch Simpson command the offense and make full field reads, it’s easy to forget that he is still developing as a starting quarterback. Coming into the season, the defense was to carry the team as Ty found his way, and quarterback play was the key question mark for whether this team could compete for anything.
For many years, analysts pointed to returning offensive line starts as the biggest key to preseason projections for an offense. For the past several years, however, that has shifted to returning receiving production, and particularly production with the incumbent QB.
Mike Rodak wrote this morning that Simpson has thrown only 14 passes of 30 air yards or more this season, completing two. We’ve all seen those passes. The one to Brooks was a dime, more than 50 yards downfield. And in the past two weeks, we have seen several that just missed. NFL Draft analysts have generally praised Ty’s arm strength, and it isn’t like we’ve seen a bunch of wounded ducks. The deep ball is something that develops with reps. Perhaps hitting the one last night will build some confidence, perhaps some additional practice reps and film work will help. That’s the last piece to this passing game becoming truly dominant.
It was a rough night for the running backs
Most of us have long given up on Alabama running the football with any sort of consistency. This offensive line, particularly in the interior, is simply better as pass blocking than run blocking, and none of the backs seem to have great vision. On the first possession it looked like the first down was available had Miller followed Jaeden Roberts in the A gap, but he bounced it outside and into a linebacker. The call appeared to be a zone split to the left and Miller bounced it right, which is rarely going to end well.
That was simply one example, but vision is not a strong suit and that’s a real problem when creases are already scarce. It was refreshing to see Daniel Hill power the ball in from the 5-yard line. He may well be the answer, just using his power to gain all that is available. None of these backs are adding substantial yards over expected.
Frankly, the bigger concern in this game was the two awful whiffs by the backs in pass protection, one each from Miller and Hill. If these guys aren’t going to be able to run the ball, they absolutely must help keep Ty clean. Otherwise, we may as well just go empty or put Germie back there more often to provide a quick receiving threat in hopes of slowing the rush down that way. That would allow both Lotzeir Brooks and Ryan Williams to be on the field as well. The receivers on this team are simply better football players than the running backs, even with a few drops mixed in.
LSU followed the South Carolina blueprint on defense, and we should expect more of it
Rodak noted in the linked piece above that Ty has attempted 10 of his 14 deeper balls in the past two games. That isn’t a coincidence. At this stage, teams have ample tape on Ty that shows him picking zones apart consistently. He reads defenses at a very high level considering his level of experience and generally throws the ball accurately to the open spot. Both South Carolina and LSU have decided to try and disrupt him with exotic pressures, which leaves the back end of your defense vulnerable. As long as only 14% of those deep balls are getting completed, you can bet that this will be the strategy for future opponents. Oklahoma’s front will be able to apply even more pressure than we saw last night, and they will be playing for their playoff lives.
The good news is that most of the misses on those downfield throws have been tantalizingly close. This is the kind of thing that can really develop during bowl/playoff practice sessions so we have some reason to hope. Of course, there are a few deep throws that have been wiped off the stat sheet due to pass interference called on the defense which is yet another strategy that college defenses tend to use with the rules the way they are. Alabama should have gotten a call on one of those last night that may well have changed the complexion of the game a bit, but for some reason the blind mice decided to swallow the flag.
Another week, another “survive and advance.” It only gets tougher from here. The defense should be getting Qua Russaw back soon, which should add even more juice to the pass rush.
Roll Tide.
