Good- Ryan Williams' TD catch that was wiped off the board.
Bray Hubbard's forced fumble on OU's 2nd drive... At the time, it felt like a spark for the team. It was a small one I guess, but not enough to light the needed fire.
Bad- I didn't like the offensive plan,
especially early... UA ran Milroe way too much to start the game (some of which was on him)... Bama had 10 rushing attempts in the 1st quarter, 7 were QB keepers by Milroe. It's really tough to make that work against OU's defense right out of the gate. I'm not sure DeBoer and Sheridan had a great grasp on how Venables and his teams operate on defense... I don't mean in scheme as much as philosophy. The offensive game plan early played right into OU's hands... gave their defense some confidence while putting Bama's offense in some really bad spots.
OU used a page out of Bama's playbook well... pre snap motion. And they hurt Alabama with it some. Overall, the Sooners had an excellent game plan on offense... a lot of similarities to what Vandy did to hurt Bama, with Arnold trying to play the role of Pavia. Having 2 weeks to prepare tends to help with that.
3 or 4 bad drops by Bama in the 1st half... 2 by Dippre, 1 by Williams, and 1 by Bernard if you count whatever happened on that pass to him.
Ugly- Kobe Prentice missed his easy block that resulted in Milroe's interception to open the 2nd half. I'm guessing he was on the wrong page, but regardless, no excuse for that. Ugly. The 2nd pick was all on Milroe... things were finally starting to click in the run game, chains were moving, and then he did that and gave them 6 more. And Milroe's attempt at a tackle on the play was as bad or worse than the decision/throw itself.
If you've paid attention to my GB&U posts the past few weeks, I've talked about how Bama has improved their 1st down yardage gains on drives in the past several games, which has made a huge difference in terms of points, long drives, and overall success. Tonight, UA regressed back to early season 1st down yardage results, which led to early season level of points, long drives, and overall success. But the numbers on it... the average gain on 1st down for Bama was just 3.3 yards. OU averaged 6.9, the area Bama needed to be and
should have been. Average 3rd down distance? Bama, 7.7 yards. OU, 4.1. Terrible.
Really Ugly- And LOL at the stupid fucking officials... OU plays a nearly clean game, but they make up calls on Bama. Taking the Williams TD off the board on a phantom call. Also, the holding call on Brailsford earlier in the game that killed a drive? I only saw one replay of it, but saw nothing close to resembling holding. Alabama was probably in too big a hole to win anyway, but that flag on the Williams TD catch certialy killed any chance... whoever threw it should be fired, tonight. It was that bad.
Lawson is probably done for the season, and that's not good. He is/was Bama's biggest impact player on defense and I can't overstate how big of a loss this would be.
Alabama's defense against the run... poor tackling, poor eye discipline, poor angles, couldn't get off blocks, and overall just physically dominated by the Sooners. The 2nd half was better overall, but the damage was done.
OU storming the field... what a joke. I still don't understand why the fines are so low... it's never going to stop the problem. It would be like if speeding tickets were $2.00.
Notes- Winning on the road in the SEC is hard... I don't think most fans realize just how hard. Go look at the wins and losses of the top teams in the SEC, and where the losses happened, if you need a good feel for it. And when the home squad gets an extra week like Vandy and OU did while Bama has to play a game and then travel? Again, not an excuse for either loss, but certainly not ideal, nor fair, when no other team has had to face the same issue.
A major issue with Alabama's offense this season is they've been way too casual and slow getting plays off at times when they have to be deliberate and decisive.
Burnip has had 2 bad games in a row. He needs to burn some sage and maybe his game shoes tomorrow and reset things.
That field seemed like a mess. Has it rained a lot in Norman this week? The footing was terrible.
I hope
@BamaFan334 and his kid at least had
some fun on the trip... going to an away game and seeing your team lose like that sucks. I hope the overall experience of the trip though was positive...