🏈 The Good, The Bad and The Ugly or Almost Ugly vs. Duke

[mando]

What I'm thinking, he is a true freshman.

Field goals that are almost 50 yarders are not a given. I think he hit them well. I was very encouraged by his first game and as you say he is a true freshman. He looked relaxed and hit the ball well on every kick. On extra points he hit them right down the middle of the uprights consistently.

His kickoffs were outstanding. Most kicks were close to 9 yards deep in the end zone. Been a long time since we could say that!!!

 

[rick4bama]

Field goals that are almost 50 yarders are not a given. I think he hit them well. I was very encouraged by his first game and as you say he is a true freshman. He looked relaxed and hit the ball well on every kick. On extra points he hit them right down the middle of the uprights consistently.

His kickoffs were outstanding. Most kicks were close to 9 yards deep in the end zone. Been a long time since we could say that!!!

He did kick all into the EZ.

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

Good …#13 and the receivers/TE/Defense for the most part
Bad....RB's not impressive (until Duke got tired)
Ugly...OL

Nick's take.....
On offensive line play
"Well, we knew this was going to be a difficult task for us up front. This team is a little quicker and do a lot of stunting and plugging backers, which we knew would cause some problems for us in the running game. We thought they may give us some negative plays, but we also thought we might fit some runs. I would say that we need to do better up front, probably on a consistent basis. I think pass protection was pretty good for the most part, and we were able to operate and get the ball in a lot of playmakers' hands on the perimeter, and that was the difference in the game. You know, there's obviously things that I'm sure when we watch the film we're going to -- every player is going to say we could do better, and I don't think it'll be any different up front."

 

[JoshB]

Against a well coached ball team in Duke. I know I'm beating this horse again but good lord how many times was it said in the off-season? I know I did, many a time, when everyone was bitching about "it's Duke." Fact of the matter is Duke, under Cut, gave Bama a better game than Michigan and USC did when the Tide faced them to open the season. Why? Duke is a better coached ball club.

Ol' Cut surprised me with his choice to go with an option attack in the first and then empty in the second; surprised the team and staff as well.

While I agree breaking out the triple option was great strategy - especially with three freshmen in the middle of the defense - it's still Duke. They will be lucky to win six games... in the ACC...

 

[94 Grad]

Going back and rewatching and slowing down the game... the Oline play really was not bad. The first drive they had issues passing off the rusher to switch to the stunting Dline man... but all the other possessions in the 1st quarter, it looked more like Ford missed critical blocks on blitz. He just didn’t know his assignment. Really messed up the drives.

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

Going back and rewatching and slowing down the game... the Oline play really was not bad. The first drive they had issues passing off the rusher to switch to the stunting Dline man... but all the other possessions in the 1st quarter, it looked more like Ford missed critical blocks on blitz. He just didn’t know his assignment. Really messed up the drives.

Ford wasn't ready for the spotlight.

Bring it on home,
Bring it to jerome,
Bring it on home,
Bring it to jerome.

Bo Diddley

 

[PurlJam]

Good- Tua and all of the receivers.
Bad - What happen to Najee, only a few carries and then he disappears, dinged up, in the doghouse or what? Showed him on the sidelines a couple of times, but that's it.
Ugly- All in all, our running game, 145 yards rushing not excatly setting the grass on fire.... I'm done putting our kicking game here.

 

[TerryP]

While I agree breaking out the triple option was great strategy - especially with three freshmen in the middle of the defense - it's still Duke. They will be lucky to win six games... in the ACC...

"It's still Duke" and that's the reason we saw the decisive win last night.

I am still left with the notion that "it's Duke" is a disservice. They played Bama as well as some of the marquee teams we've seen the Tide play for season openers but they've been dismissed largely because of their name; Duke.

I don't care for Cut in the least. He's too closely connected with the crap Fulmer pulled when he was still coaching at UT. However, when it comes to his game plan last night? One heck of a job by the old coot curmudgeon.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

"It's still Duke" and that's the reason we saw the decisive win last night.

I am still left with the notion that "it's Duke" is a disservice. They played Bama as well as some of the marquee teams we've seen the Tide play for season openers but they've been dismissed largely because of their name; Duke.

I don't care for Cut in the least. He's too closely connected with the crap Fulmer pulled when he was still coaching at UT. However, when it comes to his game plan last night? One heck of a job by the old coot curmudgeon.

Based on out come last night. Duke may be toward top in competition.... x ing lsu, tx AnM and AU
TN awful
Miss state. Not good
Ark...bad
USCe.... not very good
Ole MS....really crappy
Duke may be better than any of those
The other 3 will bring game to bama

 

[TerryP]

Duke may be better than any of those

The one caveat there is Duke won't have an entire off season to prepare for those teams if they were to play. It wasn't an easy task to install the flex-bone (even if it was used on a limited basis.) A lot of game planning went on in Durham on both sides of the ball these past few months. A lot.

Based on what I saw last night they had two scripts ready to go. The first for the first half with the flex bone and the second is one that mirrored what Petrino and Morris schemed last season.

Which brings me to another thought ... hell of a job by Golding with his interior guys and having them ready to play.

 

[mando]

My main complaint with the D was giving up running yardage between the tackles. Not sure how it breaks down to overall yardage but Duke popped a few of those for good gains.

 

[TerryP]

My main complaint with the D was giving up running yardage between the tackles. Not sure how it breaks down to overall yardage but Duke popped a few of those for good gains.

Seven of the 32 are what Saban would call "explosive plays. Only one in the series that resulted in the three points allowed.

 

[bamachine]

Got home worn out from the days events, so late on my 2 cents. From my seats(which I got for 20 bucks a pop), the OL looked like a real mess until they started playing a bit better after halftime. I left mid-way through the 3rd quarter, after the score became 28-3, so can't fully judge their second half, except based off them scoring against a likely worn out Duke DL.

 

[mando]

Seven of the 32 are what Saban would call "explosive plays. Only one in the series that resulted in the three points allowed.

I am looking for a D that shuts down the run so the offense gives up trying and becomes one dimensional passing the ball. We are not there. Hope we can get there.

 

[We All Bleed Crimson]

Good: Last 3 quarters of offense and play of our defense - new starters did come through.
Bad: Run game and pass blocking
Ugly: big plays nullified by penalties and the FG team.

 

[UAgrad93]

Against a well coached ball team in Duke. I know I'm beating this horse again but good lord how many times was it said in the off-season? I know I did, many a time, when everyone was bitching about "it's Duke." Fact of the matter is Duke, under Cut, gave Bama a better game than Michigan and USC did when the Tide faced them to open the season. Why? Duke is a better coached ball club.

Ol' Cut surprised me with his choice to go with an option attack in the first and then empty in the second; surprised the team and staff as well.

Agreed! I only listed OL in the bad simply because of the shuffling we did on the interior. It’s going to take time to get the right 5 together and get them to gel. Like I said, all correctable!!
I told my son and my dad the same thing about Duke offensively. We definitely didn’t work on triple option leading up to yesterday. Cut definitely gave us a better test than what we have had in A LOT of our previous openers.

 

[BamaFan334]

Ford wasn't ready for the spotlight.

Bring it on home,
Bring it to jerome,
Bring it on home,
Bring it to jerome.

Bo Diddley

You say that, yet we had third year starting All-Americans missing those same blocks, so it wasn't Ford. He fumbled once and y'all crucify the guy. He played decent for being thrust into the spotlight.

Y'all ripped Najee as well, but don't forget the 50 yard pass play negated from him that the linemen penalty brought back.

 

[rick4bama]

You say that, yet we had third year starting All-Americans missing those same blocks, so it wasn't Ford. He fumbled once and y'all crucify the guy. He played decent for being thrust into the spotlight.

Y'all ripped Najee as well, but don't forget the 50 yard pass play negated from him that the linemen penalty brought back.

yes wasn't that the one the DL was really falling and not being held?

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

"It's still Duke" and that's the reason we saw the decisive win last night.

I am still left with the notion that "it's Duke" is a disservice. They played Bama as well as some of the marquee teams we've seen the Tide play for season openers but they've been dismissed largely because of their name; Duke.

I don't care for Cut in the least. He's too closely connected with the crap Fulmer pulled when he was still coaching at UT. However, when it comes to his game plan last night? One heck of a job by the old coot curmudgeon.

Mr. Krispy Kreme didn't understand that when Cut left him after the 2007 (Bama azz whipping) Fatboy was headed to out the door. Throw in his decision to not promote Trooper Taylor (2004-2007) from current assistant to the vacant OC spot didn't help 10RC with recruiting of stars.

 

[BamaFan334]

yes wasn't that the one the DL was really falling and not being held?

That's what I saw. I saw it a couple times in multiple games yesterday where a guy simply overpowered a defensive lineman and threw him down only to be called for holding. One thing if you yank a guy down, but another to just have position and use your strength to force a guy to the ground.