PhillyGirl
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http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2014/11/four_downs_channeling_memories.html
We spent our Sunday reviewing the film and analyzing a few things we weren't able to fully digest during Alabama's overtime victory at LSU.
Now, before Mississippi State week officially kicks off with today's Nick Saban press conference, let's take a look at some of the finer details from the Crimson Tide's most dramatic victory of the season.
1. Drawing parallels between Alabama's comeback in 2012 to Saturday's, and how the Crimson Tide needs to bounce back better.
The weather was similarly perfect. The pre-game atmosphere was just as frenzied. The crowd was equally loud at the start. It was just as quiet at the stunning finish.
If you were feeling some deja vu after Alabama completed its second consecutive late comeback at Death Valley, you weren't alone. We felt it up in the press box, too, as we screamed "GET ME REWRITE!!!" to no one in particular while scrambling on a deadline that would have been unforgiving for a blowout.
But that's besides the point.
This went beyond Alabama simply coming back for a victory it needed to keep its postseason hopes and dreams alive. It's how it unfolded from start to finish that made the similarities too eerie to ignore.
Consider the following:
A) Alabama's starting quarterback followed some of the most efficient starts of his career with his worst before driving his team to victory.
In the two games leading up to 2012's showdown, AJ McCarron was playing some of the best football of his career. He had one of the best statistical games of his career in a rout at Tennessee (17-22, 306 yards, 4 TDs) and a steady, McCarron-like effort against Mississippi State (16-23, 208 yards, 2 TDs) heading into the bye.
Before he drove the Crimson Tide to victory in 2012, McCarron had barely cracked 100 passing yards. It was a team effort, of course, but McCarron made a number of uncharacteristically poor throws and was clearly flustered. Until the flawless final drive, McCarron was playing like a quarterback clearly affected by the elements.
Blake Sims came into Saturday's showdown having completed 30-of-51 passes for 554 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions in his past two games. The road demons he faced earlier in the season were supposed to be a thing of the past, but Sims never found a rhythm through the first 59 minutes. His 25 incompletions nearly matched his total from the previous three games combined.
And then, well, here's what happened for both on the final drive(s).
McCarron: 4-of-5, 72 yards, 28-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Yeldon to win the game.
Sims: 4-of-7 (one incompletion was a spike), 50 yards passing, 5 yards rushing on drive to set up field goal; 2-for-2, 30 yards, 6-yard TD pass to DeAndrew White in overtime.
B) The quarterbacks brought Alabama back without completing a pass to Amari Cooper.
Cooper didn't catch a pass against LSU in 2012. He was limited by tight coverage in the first half and didn't play in the second half because of an injury.
On Saturday, Cooper got Alabama its first touchdown in the second quarter and appeared to be breaking through against some tough LSU coverage, but was almost completely bottled up in the second half. He had two catches for 11 yards and a couple of drops.
McCarron went to Kevin Norwood repeatedly on his touchdown drive. Norwood caught just as many passes on that possession as he had in the previous two games combined.
Sims completed two passes to tight end O.J. Howard before he connected withChristion Jones for a 22-yard gain. He immediately followed with a 16-yarder toDeAndrew White. Jones hadn't caught a pass in Alabama's three previous games.
C) Alabama's offense was out of sorts in the first quarter, dynamite in the second and a mess for most of the second half before snapping out of it when it mattered most.
The Crimson Tide hasn't scored in the first quarter of a game at Tiger Stadium since 2008. It picked up two first-quarter first downs in 2012 and two Saturday.
In the second quarter of 2012's game, Alabama scored touchdowns on two of its three possessions to take a 14-3 lead into the half. On Saturday, Alabama possessed the ball for 9:33 and probably should have come away with more than just Cooper's touchdown. A 17-play, 70-yard drive went unfulfilled when Adam Griffith missed a 27-yard field goal.
Before McCarron's comeback drive in 2012, Alabama had one first down in the second half. That's the same number it had before Sims' drive Saturday.
D) Alabama's defense made pivotal stops at the end of long drives while LSU squandered opportunities to put the Crimson Tide away.
In 2012, LSU had Alabama on the ropes after Jarvis Landry's go-ahead touchdown pass gave the Tigers a 17-14 lead. The Crimson Tide responded with a prompt three-and-out and LSU was once again in Alabama territory. Faced with a fourth-and-1 at Alabama's 24, the Tigers went for it and paid for it when D.J. Pettway and Adrian Hubbard combined to stop Spencer Ware for no gain.
The Tigers got the ball back after yet another Crimson Tide three-and-out and did the same. A 12-play, 53-yard drive that drained 5:46 off the clock came away with no points when Drew Alleman missed a 45-yard field goal. Alabama took over possession with 1:34 to play and the rest is history.
On Saturday, Alabama stood tough near the end of a time-consuming LSU drive to start the second half and limited it to a game-tying field goal. A 13-play, 40-yard drive that took 7:40 off the clock ended with a punt. An 11-play, 40-yard drive that took 7:07 off the clock to start the fourth quarter ended with the same result.
After Yeldon's fumble set up LSU at Alabama's 6-yard line, the Tigers went backward because of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Vadal Alexander. After the penalty, LSU ran for a yard on second down and took a 2-yard loss on third down to center the field goal.
The Crimson Tide just doesn't want the similarities to carry over to next week.
Alabama followed its dramatic win in 2012 with a loss at home to Johnny Manziel-led Texas A&M. The Crimson Tide hosts No. 1 Mississippi State on Saturday. Unlike 2012, there's probably no coming back from a loss when it pertains to Alabama's hopes of making the SEC Championship.
"Your players really have to have a lot of maturity and understanding, 'OK, we won the game. We should be really happy about the fact that we won the game. We control our own destiny in terms of what we want to accomplish and we won the game,'" Saban said. "There's always an 'and' or a 'but,' but there is a 'but.' We didn't play that great and we need to play better and we need to improve. That takes a lot of maturity on our players' part to understand that they can't be satisfied just because we won."
2. Why O.J. Howard's performance Saturday had more to do with the end result than last year's.
While we're strolling down memory lane, how about another comparison?
Howard sure shows up against LSU, doesn't he? It's not a stretch to say without his performance on the Crimson Tide's final drive of regulation, he and the rest of his teammates probably don't escape with a win.
Howard caught two passes for 12 yards on the drive. It's nowhere near Norwood territory of 2012, but it's what he did on those receptions that allowed Alabama to do what it did. On both, Howard caught the ball in a position to make a play up the field but instead elected to get to the sideline in a hurry to stop the clock. The first, in particular, required a significant effort and showed just how much he was thinking on his feet.
It was veteran savvy from a sophomore who's had his ups and downs this season.
Sure, his 52-yard touchdown catch in last year's matchup with the Tigers got Alabama on the scoreboard and got him on SportsCenter, but this display of poise was near the top of the list in difference-making moments in a game with a razor-thin margin for error.
We spent our Sunday reviewing the film and analyzing a few things we weren't able to fully digest during Alabama's overtime victory at LSU.
Now, before Mississippi State week officially kicks off with today's Nick Saban press conference, let's take a look at some of the finer details from the Crimson Tide's most dramatic victory of the season.
1. Drawing parallels between Alabama's comeback in 2012 to Saturday's, and how the Crimson Tide needs to bounce back better.
The weather was similarly perfect. The pre-game atmosphere was just as frenzied. The crowd was equally loud at the start. It was just as quiet at the stunning finish.
If you were feeling some deja vu after Alabama completed its second consecutive late comeback at Death Valley, you weren't alone. We felt it up in the press box, too, as we screamed "GET ME REWRITE!!!" to no one in particular while scrambling on a deadline that would have been unforgiving for a blowout.
But that's besides the point.
This went beyond Alabama simply coming back for a victory it needed to keep its postseason hopes and dreams alive. It's how it unfolded from start to finish that made the similarities too eerie to ignore.
Consider the following:
A) Alabama's starting quarterback followed some of the most efficient starts of his career with his worst before driving his team to victory.
In the two games leading up to 2012's showdown, AJ McCarron was playing some of the best football of his career. He had one of the best statistical games of his career in a rout at Tennessee (17-22, 306 yards, 4 TDs) and a steady, McCarron-like effort against Mississippi State (16-23, 208 yards, 2 TDs) heading into the bye.
Before he drove the Crimson Tide to victory in 2012, McCarron had barely cracked 100 passing yards. It was a team effort, of course, but McCarron made a number of uncharacteristically poor throws and was clearly flustered. Until the flawless final drive, McCarron was playing like a quarterback clearly affected by the elements.
Blake Sims came into Saturday's showdown having completed 30-of-51 passes for 554 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions in his past two games. The road demons he faced earlier in the season were supposed to be a thing of the past, but Sims never found a rhythm through the first 59 minutes. His 25 incompletions nearly matched his total from the previous three games combined.
And then, well, here's what happened for both on the final drive(s).
McCarron: 4-of-5, 72 yards, 28-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Yeldon to win the game.
Sims: 4-of-7 (one incompletion was a spike), 50 yards passing, 5 yards rushing on drive to set up field goal; 2-for-2, 30 yards, 6-yard TD pass to DeAndrew White in overtime.
B) The quarterbacks brought Alabama back without completing a pass to Amari Cooper.
Cooper didn't catch a pass against LSU in 2012. He was limited by tight coverage in the first half and didn't play in the second half because of an injury.
On Saturday, Cooper got Alabama its first touchdown in the second quarter and appeared to be breaking through against some tough LSU coverage, but was almost completely bottled up in the second half. He had two catches for 11 yards and a couple of drops.
McCarron went to Kevin Norwood repeatedly on his touchdown drive. Norwood caught just as many passes on that possession as he had in the previous two games combined.
Sims completed two passes to tight end O.J. Howard before he connected withChristion Jones for a 22-yard gain. He immediately followed with a 16-yarder toDeAndrew White. Jones hadn't caught a pass in Alabama's three previous games.
C) Alabama's offense was out of sorts in the first quarter, dynamite in the second and a mess for most of the second half before snapping out of it when it mattered most.
The Crimson Tide hasn't scored in the first quarter of a game at Tiger Stadium since 2008. It picked up two first-quarter first downs in 2012 and two Saturday.
In the second quarter of 2012's game, Alabama scored touchdowns on two of its three possessions to take a 14-3 lead into the half. On Saturday, Alabama possessed the ball for 9:33 and probably should have come away with more than just Cooper's touchdown. A 17-play, 70-yard drive went unfulfilled when Adam Griffith missed a 27-yard field goal.
Before McCarron's comeback drive in 2012, Alabama had one first down in the second half. That's the same number it had before Sims' drive Saturday.
D) Alabama's defense made pivotal stops at the end of long drives while LSU squandered opportunities to put the Crimson Tide away.
In 2012, LSU had Alabama on the ropes after Jarvis Landry's go-ahead touchdown pass gave the Tigers a 17-14 lead. The Crimson Tide responded with a prompt three-and-out and LSU was once again in Alabama territory. Faced with a fourth-and-1 at Alabama's 24, the Tigers went for it and paid for it when D.J. Pettway and Adrian Hubbard combined to stop Spencer Ware for no gain.
The Tigers got the ball back after yet another Crimson Tide three-and-out and did the same. A 12-play, 53-yard drive that drained 5:46 off the clock came away with no points when Drew Alleman missed a 45-yard field goal. Alabama took over possession with 1:34 to play and the rest is history.
On Saturday, Alabama stood tough near the end of a time-consuming LSU drive to start the second half and limited it to a game-tying field goal. A 13-play, 40-yard drive that took 7:40 off the clock ended with a punt. An 11-play, 40-yard drive that took 7:07 off the clock to start the fourth quarter ended with the same result.
After Yeldon's fumble set up LSU at Alabama's 6-yard line, the Tigers went backward because of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Vadal Alexander. After the penalty, LSU ran for a yard on second down and took a 2-yard loss on third down to center the field goal.
The Crimson Tide just doesn't want the similarities to carry over to next week.
Alabama followed its dramatic win in 2012 with a loss at home to Johnny Manziel-led Texas A&M. The Crimson Tide hosts No. 1 Mississippi State on Saturday. Unlike 2012, there's probably no coming back from a loss when it pertains to Alabama's hopes of making the SEC Championship.
"Your players really have to have a lot of maturity and understanding, 'OK, we won the game. We should be really happy about the fact that we won the game. We control our own destiny in terms of what we want to accomplish and we won the game,'" Saban said. "There's always an 'and' or a 'but,' but there is a 'but.' We didn't play that great and we need to play better and we need to improve. That takes a lot of maturity on our players' part to understand that they can't be satisfied just because we won."
2. Why O.J. Howard's performance Saturday had more to do with the end result than last year's.
While we're strolling down memory lane, how about another comparison?
Howard sure shows up against LSU, doesn't he? It's not a stretch to say without his performance on the Crimson Tide's final drive of regulation, he and the rest of his teammates probably don't escape with a win.
Howard caught two passes for 12 yards on the drive. It's nowhere near Norwood territory of 2012, but it's what he did on those receptions that allowed Alabama to do what it did. On both, Howard caught the ball in a position to make a play up the field but instead elected to get to the sideline in a hurry to stop the clock. The first, in particular, required a significant effort and showed just how much he was thinking on his feet.
It was veteran savvy from a sophomore who's had his ups and downs this season.
Sure, his 52-yard touchdown catch in last year's matchup with the Tigers got Alabama on the scoreboard and got him on SportsCenter, but this display of poise was near the top of the list in difference-making moments in a game with a razor-thin margin for error.
