Free Mac Jones!

Believe it or not, Mac Jones may be a critical part of Alabama's trek to a title. The question may then may be whether or how much he grows in the next three weeks. You tell me if I'm saying what you're thinking.

First, let's set the table. Tua Tagovailoa suffered the dreaded "high ankle sprain" in the first half against Tennessee last week. He underwent surgery the next day and was said "to be out for a few weeks," or something like that. So Mac will be the starter against Arkansas tomorrow night. He'll work with a healthy receiving corps, an improving offensive line and a pair of running backs who have gotten better as the season has progressed.

Arkansas is 2-5 and appears headed for a bad 5-7 (at best) or a dreadful 3-9 (at worst) final record. But the Razorbacks are not without teeth or talent. Defense was supposed to be the plus side of a talented but young team that just needed time to jell. It hasn't happened as well as hoped, but the team is good enough to make Alabama work a little harder with a backup quarterback.

The reason I say Jones' development over the next two weeks could be so important is that there's a high likelihood that Tua won't be ready enough for the onslaught that will be a ferocious LSU defense. Jones may get the start again, with big time stakes on the table. How much he grows with things running at real game day speed will make tomorrow night a must watch game.

Now we have to ask: How much will freedom will Nick Saban and Steve Sarkisian give Mac? I would like to see him given all the leeway he wants, even if that means he makes mistakes he can learn from. Arkansas won't have the  horses to turn those mistakes into an upset so if those mistakes become important lessons to use against LSU, all the better.

There's also the issue of Jones being right-handed playing with an offense that's used to the motions and tendencies of a southpaw. The blind side has flipped, the quarterback moves differently and the ball spins the other way. That's gonna be a thing to watch all night. What does the brain trust do to mitigate risk that they weren't doing before? I think playing safe and shrinking the playbook would be a mistake but hey... for a football genius your beloved blogger makes for a brilliant economist, so...

I think a player who might please us all is another quarterback, Slade Bolden. New Orleans Saints' fans will recognize what a threat he could be in (dare I say it?) the Boldcat Formation. But not many previews of this game are talking about how important a play or three out of this situation could give future opponents a real planning headache.

Obligatory Arkansas Uniform Post

Arkansas Razorbacks’ coach John L. Smith really, really likes the team’s new football uniforms, calling them “lighter, brighter and cooler.”

Judge for yourself:

And there’s video, too:

There are 78 days until the start of college football season on August 30.

Hurry, please.

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SEC West Coaches React to Arkansas’ Hiring of John L. Smith

 

 

Sean Payton to Arkansas?

Could Sean Payton be a serious candidate for the Arkansas job as an interim coach?

CBSSports.com’s Will Brinson discusses the possibility with Jon Rothstein on the Tim Brando show, earlier today.

 

Rothstein asks a key question: Why would Arkansas—in the middle of an ugly PR crisis—hire a coach to teach life lessons for one year, when the coach himself is in the middle of perhaps the biggest PR crisis in the history of the NFL?

My sense is that Arkansas briefly considered the possibility and dismissed it because of that very question.

That doesn’t mean athletic director Jeff Long won’t bring in another coach with NFL creds. Another name being tossed around is former 49er and Lions coach Steve Mariucci.

There were reports earlier this week that Long was prepared to name a coach next week, perhaps as early as Monday. Those reports also suggested that Long would promote one of Petrino’s assistants to an interim slot and conduct a full search at the end of the 2012 season. But which assistant would take on the interim tag, risk a disastrous season, and therefore risk his marketability as a future head coach?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to bring in an experienced coach who’s currently out of work, let him attempt to salvage the 2012 season and start anew in December? I don’t see Payton being that guy, but that seems to be the most reasonable approach right now.

Or, maybe Long should go ahead and take my advice and hire Mike Shula.

The ridicule of Arkansas fans needs to stop

In the wake of Jeff Long’s firing of Arkansas Razorbacks’ former coach Bobby Petrino, column after column has crossed my Feedly page, castigating that portion of hog fans who rose up in support of the disgraced offensive genius and the program on the cusp of a legitimate challenge for Southeastern Conference and national championship honors.

The worst was from FOXSports’ Thayer Evans, which you can read right here.

Evans—among others—wants Arkansas fans who thought Petrino should be retained to be ashamed of themselves.

People who write garbage like this don’t deserve your clicks because they either (1) fail to understand the passion of the college football fan bases or (2) understand it all quite well and are simply trolling for traffic.

That is intellectually dishonesty, ladies and gentlemen. And don’t let them tell you that they aren’t really fans of any program, any conference, or any sport. People who don’t cop to their biases have no business earning your business.

If that was their school whose coach was facing a crisis threatening his job and their aspirations for championships, there’s a 50/50 chance that they’d fall into the lunatic camp they want to ridicule. There is absolutely no difference between the folks who showed up at last night’s pro-Petrino rally and the sanctimonious writers who pointed and laughed, and they know it. But for the Grace of God, there they go.

In 2003, when Alabama was set to fire Mike Price for his little Arety’s Angels sexcapade, the Bama Nation was divided straight through the middle on whether to keep him or fire him.

In 2004, when Ron Zook was set to be fired at Florida for failing to live up to the expectations set by  legendary predecessor Steve Spurrier, the Gator Nation was divided about halfway.

In 2007, when Alabama was set to fire Mike Shula (the man who replaced Mike Price), how was the fan base divided? About half.

In 2008, when Auburn was set to fire Tommy Tuberville? About half.

In 2011, when Ohio State was set to fire Jim Tressel? Half again.

Penn State’s fan base on keeping or firing Joe Paterno? A little less than half wanted him gone.

I could go on, but I think you get the point.

To this day, there are about two percent of the fans of the schools listed above who think the programs made the wrong decisions. Those fans deserve to be ridiculed and they are, but they’re ridiculed by the people who count—their friends, relatives and fellow message board posters. On an Ohio State message board, I saw a post not long ago from an old schooler who thinks Woody Hayes’ sideline altercation was no big deal.

People like that are a miniscule portion of college sports’ fan bases. No amount of factual basis or logical reasoning ever gets through to them. But the majority of the fans recognize why the decision-makers fell the way they did. They accept the facts, they accept the consequences and they move on even if they disagree with the ultimate outcome.

Arkansas fans are no different and the vast majority of them will have moved on as soon as Petrino’s replacement is named by Long and/or his search committee.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting a winning program, and there will always be people willing to rationalize even the worst behavior if it means keeping the program on a winning trajectory. There’s also nothing wrong with wanting stability even if the trajectory of the program is not quite as vertical as they’d expected. Rationalizing again, they fear the devil they don’t know worse than the devil they do. It’s human nature.

Who could be worse than Mike Shula? Houston Nutt? Tommy Tuberville? Ron Zook? Joe Paterno or Bobby Petrino? The other side asks, who couldn’t be better?

I was one of those who thought Long would at least try to find a way to keep Petrino as the coach. Saddle him with debilitating penalties and pledge to reevaluate the situation at the end of the 2012 season. A lot of Arkansas fans agreed with me. A lot didn’t.

The split was about half.

The difference between me and the knuckleheads who ridiculed those who disagreed is that I knew that but for the Grace of God, there go I.

Would that the Thayer Evans’ of the world ever learn such wisdom.

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Ten reasons why Arkansas should hire Mike Shula

With the firing of head coach Bobby Petrino this week, The Arkansas Razorbacks football program is now in the market for a new head coach.

Jeff Long must hire Mike Shula, and do it yesterday.

The man has been down this path before. He knows how to step in after spring training and take over a team. Not only that, he’s followed in the steps of a philanderer who embarrassed himself and his employer. He’s been there, done that and got the T-shirt. Aside from that no-brainer, Here are ten other reasons why the only logical, sane and obvious choice for the job is former Alabama head coach Mike Shula.

10. Pay no attention to his deer-in-the-headlights performance at his introductory press conference in 2003. The man does coach speak like no other and will articulately explain how Arkansas is “almost there.”

9. Joe Kines is just what the Arkansas defense needs to step up to the next level. Ya just gotta stop that little inside trout.

8. Bob Connelly—aka “Bucket Step Bob”—can come in and immediately show the offensive line how to move their feet and get the hell out of the way. No one bullrushes anymore, right?

7. He’s a players’ coach. He only suspends them when they’ve been really, really bad and gives out ice cream cones after they serve suspensions against lollipop opponents.

6. Dude, have you seen his wife? Jessica Dorrell is small time compared to Shari Shula. He’ll keep his britches on.

5. Knile Davis. Jumbo package. Can’t miss. They’ll have a lot of success with that formation. Trust me on this.

4. He is the son of legendary Dolphins coach Don Shula. No further qualifications needed.

3. He will take the Razorbacks to glorious places. Like Hawai’i. And, Shreveport.

2. Arkansas won’t have to worry about beating Auburn or LSU. It will lose with class, but get its signature wins against Florida.

1. Only Mike Shula and Gerry DiNardo can pave the way for Nick Saban to take over. And Gerry DiNardo ain’t walking through that door.

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Razorbacks’ dance with the devil ends poorly

On Tuesday, the University of Arkansas fired head coach Bobby Petrino, with athletic director Jeff Long explaining that the coach was fired with cause, in part because he engaged in "a pattern of misleading and manipulative behavior."

That behavior included giving his apparent mistress a $20,000 “gift” and hiring her to the Razorback staff outside of normal university hiring procedures. Long held back tears in his evening press conference, saying that “No single individual is bigger than the team, the Razorback football program, or the University of Arkansas."

Long also said Petrino had "multiple opportunities over a four-day period to be forthcoming, and he chose not to."

Give Long a little credit here—Petrino’s run of success had brought tens of millions into the program and made his job as an AD a lot easier. But at the end of the day, Long weighed the deceitfulness against the success and found the former outweighed the latter.

He had to know that this day was coming. No one plays with fire and escapes being burned. When you dance with the devil—and Long certainly did—the price you eventually pay is always steep. Petrino leaves Arkansas much the same way he arrived. He came in under a cloud of controversy and he leaves under one.

Petrino’s actions left Long little room but he does bear some of the blame for creating the environment that let the coach do whatever the hell he wanted. How do you hire a thief and not put controls in place to keep the thief from stealing you blind? How do you not know what he’s doing?

While a lot of people will point to the philandering and lying as the firing pins for the explosion, the real reason why Petrino was canned was the fact that Arkansas had no legal basis for keeping him. Not after the revelation that he hired his mistress over hundreds of other presumably well-qualified candidates for the position of Student Athlete Development Coordinator. Not after the revelation that this wasn’t a one-night stand but a ongoing “inappropriate relationship.” Not after the discovery of a $20,000 gift also made outside of university protocol. The entire web of deceit created such a conflict of interest environment that it put the university at risk.

Petrino’s actions opened the university up to so many different avenues of litigation that there was simply no way to close all of them,protect the institution from financially, politically and publicly damaging litigation and keep the sociopathic offensive genius as the coach.

Petrino thought—like many powerful men do—that he was above reproach. He threw away all of that power, all of that money and all of that opportunity for greatness. He threw it all away for one pretty piece of ass, and he threw it all away long before he laid that Harley down on a lonely, Arkansas country road.

Arkansas and Bobby Petrino are both spinning through the air this week. My bet is that the Razorbacks land on their feet first. Petrino will get another coaching job. He’s a coin-flip’s chance of having really learned from this experience, but somebody desperate for that shot of adrenaline will hire him and take the risk.

The Razorbacks are a well stocked football team. The assistant coaches are top notch and there’s a lot of potential for success going forward, even for the 2012 squad. Whoever steps in—be it an interim named from existing staff or an outsider—walks into a program that’s set to win.

Arkansas football really is a better program than the one Petrino found. Whether it can maintain that success is in serious doubt. They face the same dilemma Alabama found itself in in Spring 2003, when Mike Price was fired for his own set of thinking dominated by the little head. At the time, Alabama was in the depth of NCAA sanctions and there weren’t really many good coaching candidates willing to take on that project after signing day and spring training.

Razorback fans can only hope that the program doesn’t dance with another devil.

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Arkansas can keep Bobby Petrino

Welcome to the United States of America, the land of opportunity and second chances.

As we all are well aware, Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino made a series of horrible choices in the weeks (or months) leading up to his fateful motorcycle crash last Sunday evening. He compounded his mistakes by making another set of poor decisions in the aftermath.

Petrino created a job for a knockout 25-year old former Arkansas volleyball player, with whom he was engaged in an “inappropriate relationship.” That young lady was on the back of the motorcycle that Petrino crashed on a lonely country road in Arkansas. In the fog of war and confusion immediately afterwards, Petrino sought to conceal the fact that his honey pot was involved in the accident, even allowing his boss to issue a public statement to the effect that no one else was involved in the crash.

Yesterday’s publication of the official accident report threw everything into the light of day and the folly of Petrino’s choices was laid bare. Petrino was not only dipping his tater tot in the wrong bucket of sauce, he was trying to cover it up.

Looking at things from all sides here: Could the effects of injuries—including pain, shock, fear and even medication—have clouded Petrino’s judgment in the hours after the crash Sunday night? Who can say exactly how they would react in that situation? This is not excuse-making. It’s allowing for mitigating factors that could have led to the man making poor decisions. The crisis was of his own making, but fairness dictates we evaluate mitigating and aggravating factors in weighing the severity of infractions.

Such infractions deserve punishment. In 2003, Alabama President Robert Witt fired new coach Mike Price for somewhat similar indiscretions involving strippers during a golf weekend in northwest Florida. Just a few years before, then Alabama head coach Mike Dubose admitted to an “inappropriate relationship” with a member of the administrative staff. Dubose kept his job and went on to win the 1999 SEC Championship before being dumped in 2000. Alabama docked Dubose two years’ pay and shortened his contract as punishment.

These two incidents provide Arkansas athletic director with all the precedent he needs to either keep Petrino on board, or fire him for what is clearly a terminal offense.

However, this is the land of second chances and despite Petrino’s well-documented character as an  untrustworthy coach, no one ever saw something like this coming. The short-leash attitude towards Petrino always involved him jumping ship to another program. It never envisioned him jumping the bones of a 25-year old hottie.

Petrino may be a coach with a questionable moral center, but he’s a heckuva football coach. He’s a winner, and people tend to give winners second chances. This is especially true when the first offense truly is a first offense. Lots of men in their 50’s start feeling their mortality and succumb to temptations they’ve avoided for most of their adult lives. It happens everywhere, even in a Bible Belt that buckles itself in Fayetteville.

Petrino can be punished—severely—but still be allowed to return. Long can fine the coach hundreds of thousands of dollars. He can issue a reprimand and place him on probation. He can shorten Petrino’s contract and eliminate bonuses. He can make Petrino responsible for the woman’s legal bills (and those won’t be small) and require him to undergo counseling. Those would be harsh, humiliating penalties but they would allow Petrino to remain as the coach while he does his penance.

Arkansas certainly can keep Petrino and my gut feeling is that if there’s anyway Jeff Long can justify keeping the coach he risked so much to hire, he’ll do so. Neither of the dispositions in the cases of the two Alabama coaches’ indiscretions ultimately ended well for the Crimson Tide. But neither of the two coaches had the chops Petrino does. We love second chances, but second chances are for winners.

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Petrino has a Dubose moment

 

Arkansas Bobby Petrino has had a Mike Dubose moment. Late Thursday, he issued the following statement after details emerged regarding his Sunday evening motorcycle crash.

“The state police report today provides an accurate description of my accident, which includes details that had not publicly come to light prior to the report being issued. I regret that I have not publicly acknowledged a passenger on the vehicle. I have been in constant pain, medicated and the circumstances involving the wreck have come out in bits and pieces. That said I certainly had a concern about Jessica Dorrell’s name being revealed. In my press conference, I referred to her simply as ‘a lady’. My concern was to protect my family and a previous inappropriate relationship from becoming public. In hindsight, I showed a serious mistake in judgment when I chose not to be more specific about those details. Today, I’ve acknowledged this previous inappropriate relationship with my family and those within the athletic department administration.

I apologize to my wife, Becky, and our four children, Chancellor (David) Gearhart, Jeff Long, the Board of Trustees, University administration, my coaching staff, student-athletes and the entire state of Arkansas. I have been humbled by the outpouring of concern and get-well wishes. I apologize to the Razorback Nation for the attention my actions have brought to the University of Arkansas and our program. I will fully cooperate with the University throughout this process and my hope is to repair my relationships with my family, my Athletic Director, the Razorback Nation and remain the head coach of the Razorbacks.”

The school has placed Petrino on administrative leave while athletic director Jeff Long conducts an investigation.

"I'm at the beginning of the review. I don't know what I'm going to find," Long said in his own comments.

Welcome to another crazy offseason, y’all. I can certainly sympathize with the Razorback Nation. Bama fans have been there. Twice.

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Gus Malzahn spreads the billboard war to the state of Arkansas

Gus Malzahn and his Arkansas State Red Wolves want you to know that they are not fazed by the ongoing billboard hostilities in Mississippi.

Via Chris Bahn at ArkansasSports360.com we have this chilling report:

Gus Malzahn wants increased visibility for the Arkansas State football program.

Recruiting well and winning big will help. And the Red Wolves have something else in mind too.

Billboards positioned above some of the busiest roadways in Arkansas have been unveiled featuring Malzahn and the Red Wolves. It is another facet of an aggressive media and marketing push by ASU as Malzahn begins his first season as coach.

Advertisements have been erected featuring the slogan “Game On” with the “stAte” logo and words “2012 | Red Wolves.” Locations include Stadium Drive in Jonesboro, the 1-40/1-55 split in West Memphis, the Highway 67/I-40 split in Little Rock and the I-30 bridge in Little Rock. Fort Smith and Texarkana are also targeted for ads.

Your move, Bobby Petrino.

Pipe Dream: Randy Shannon as a defensive coordinator

When Arkansas forced out defensive coordinator Willy Robinson earlier this month, reports quickly surfaced that former Miami Hurricanes head coach Randy Shannon had moved to the top of the “wish list.” There were even reports that he had interviewed for the job and “insider” claims that the deal was done.

Arkansas instead announced that it had hired Ohio State’s Paul Haynes.

Not surprisingly, Shannon’s name has also been connected with other high profile defensive coordinator positions, including the now vacant Ohio State job, the Auburn job vacated by Ted Roof’s dismissal and expected openings at Texas A&M, North Carolina and UCLA. While getting such a credentialed coach as Shannon to run your defense would be a home run hire, it’s more likely than not that Shannon has his sights set much higher. He wants to return as a head coach.

In an interview last month with the Associated Press, Shannon made it very clear that since his firing from his alma mater, he’s been on whirlwind tour of college programs across the country, learning more about the business of being a head coach in college football. He’s spent time at Alabama, TCU, North Carolina, UNLV, Oregon, Iowa State and Minnesota.

---

"I needed this year to sit out. I needed to learn something new. And I think I've done that.

"I spent my money and went to college," he said. "I met with the strength coaches, the policemen who are around some teams, compliance people, athletic directors, support staff. It wasn't just football. It was very little football. I needed to see other things, see a lot of ways to do different things, and it made me a whole lot better."

---

That doesn’t sound like the itinerary of a guy looking to take a step down from head coaching and serve a stint as an assistant, even if it’s a big time program. Shannon said he has interviewed at a few programs looking for head coaches, but said none were the “right fit.” He did not say whether he’d discussed any open or pending defensive coordinator positions.

Part of the lure of linking Shannon to these jobs—particularly Arkansas and Auburn—is that Shannon’s base defense is a 4-3 cover two, very similar in scheme and philosophy to what those two programs had run under Robinson and Roof. The sense is that Shannon could come in, make very few tweaks to scheme and personnel, and reverse some of the misfortunes those two programs suffered defensively and cost the two coordinators their jobs. That’s reasonable and good for discussion.

It’s more likely that Shannon lands at one of the many still open head coaching jobs on the spinning carousel. There are still several good positions yet to be filled, including Texas A&M, Arizona State, UCLA, Southern Miss and any of the positions left open should one of those programs hire a sitting head coach. Shannon has taken the year off to learn how to be a better head coach, and this year will likely present several opportunities for him to use what he’s learned.

At least for now, it doesn’t seem likely that Randy Shannon takes second chair.

[ed note: at publish time, both the Texas A&M and UCLA jobs were open. Texas A&M has apparently hired Houston’s Kevin Sumlin, and UCLA has hired Jim Mora, Jr.]

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Saban and Miles vote in Coaches' Poll, Petrino left out

Via USA Today:

Should Arkansas beat LSU on Friday and Alabama beat Auburn on Saturday, it will create three-way tie for first place in the final Southeastern Conference's Western Division standings.

Arkansas, LSU and Alabama will each be 1-1 against the other two.

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino, who was a voter last season, was not among SEC coaches whose names were randomly drawn for this season.

The tiebreaker then needed to determine who'll face Georgia next week in the conference title game involves the Bowl Championship Series standings that will be unveiled Sunday evening.

The USA TODAY Coaches Poll is one-third of the formula that determines the BCS standings. But of the three teams in the SEC West hunt, only Alabama and LSU have coaches among the 59 voters on this year's panel.

Skynet is running the BCS computers

By: @LivingCrimson

A look at the science fiction of the Big 12 strength of schedule in the BCS computers. It’s also “Hate Auburn” week in Alabama, one of fifty-two we enjoy each year, so forgive us if we go afield.

The latest BCS standings have been released and the SEC  West  muscled  to  the  top: #1 LSU, #2 Alabama, and #3 Arkansas. Entirely deserved considering the Tigers, the Tide and the Hogs are a combined 31-2 this season, with the only losses coming from within this group.

But look below the top three and something foul is afoot in the computers. Any person would reasonably conclude the Big 12 SOS is inflated after five defeats in seven attempts at the national title (unlike the SEC with a perfect seven wins in seven attempts). The current BCS says, “Not so fast, my friend.” The other conferences say, “Awww, Corso it.”

Only artificial intelligence bent on destroying all football humanity as we know it could continue to plague us with SO MUCH Big 12 in 2011 BCS rankings.

Ergo, Oklahoma State (10-1) is only ranked #6 by the humans but elevated to #2 by the HAL 9000’s. Ditto Oklahoma (8-2) tapped out at #10/#11, yet it’s #6 in the databases. Kansas State (9-2) is #15 with the Daves and all the way up at #5 with the Joshuas. Baylor (7-3) at #20 with the people is #13 with the machines. And last but never forgotten, Texas (6-4) wouldn’t even be ranked by animals, yet is #20 in the Matrix.

That’s a Big 12 boost in rank by an average SIX PLACES. All other conferences including the SEC are almost uniformly adjusted downward in the computers.

Oklahoma State has never played in a BCS bowl. Bob Stoops’ Oklahoma has been thumped three out of four times in the National Championship Game yet keeps “earning” the benefit of the doubt in the “algorithms”. And the BCS computers would have us believe one of these teams is worthy of advancing to the title game if two SEC teams at the top of the stack should fall before December 4th.

Looks like we’re dealing with the Mother of all binary b*tches.

 

Or it’s all Auburn’s fault, take your pick. It’s a proven misconception that any reek in college football can always be traced back to Auburn. Let’s turn our eyes to the manure meisters of the Plains, who just  happen  to  run Apple.  Which just happens to control computers.  Who just happen to dictate one-third of the official BCS polls. Coincidence? We think not. How else can 7-4 Auburn be ranked #24!

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Arkansas might be the best one-loss team in the country

The USA Today Coaches’ Poll has Bobby Petrino’s Arkansas Razorbacks ranked No. 11, up from last week’s No. 12 and fresh off of a convincing 38-14 win over SEC West foe Auburn. In six games of the 2011 season, Arkansas has scored 30+ points in every game except one—the 38-14 loss to defensive juggernaut Alabama.

Alabama has made every offense it’s played look silly and ineffective, so the Razorbacks’ only season blemish should be palatable for the Hog Nation. The rest of the schedule sets up well for Petrino & Co. They should be favored in five of the last six, with the only truly dangerous challenge coming in the season finale vs. LSU in Death Valley. Should Arkansas win out or finish as 10-2 team, they’ll be a shoo in for a New Year’s Day bowl game or perhaps a return to a BCS berth. To these eyes, Arkansas is the best one-loss team in the country.

Georgia’s Mark Richt won his 100th game yesterday. The jury is still out on whether the temperature of his seat has cooled with the win over Tennessee.  Tennessee needs a running game.  Badly. The Volunteers have posted –9 and –20 rushing yards in consecutive SEC East losses to Florida and Georgia. Tyler Bray has been the only offensive weapon for the team, but one dimensional offenses in this league make for a miserable season. Tauren Poole’s gimpy hamstring won’t help matters at all, as Tennessee still faces the brutal defenses of LSU and Alabama in the next two weeks.

Speaking of LSU, give Les Miles and John Chavis credit for studying game film and duplicating Bama’s effort in shutting down the potent running attack of the Florida Gators. In the SEC, you have to have a credible running attack to keep the defense honest in the passing game. And, you have to have a credible threat to go deep to keep the defense from stacking the box. With their third string quarterback starting on the road, LSU knew that Florida couldn’t beat them consistently through the air and simply throttled the Gator ground game. Welcome to head coaching in the SEC, Will Muschamp.

And, speaking of Alabama, last night’s 34-0 shut out of Vanderbilt looks great on paper but come out flat against teams like Tennessee, LSU or Auburn and you’ll find yourself on the wrong end of a 14-0 halftime score. Vanderbilt’s defense gets some credit for being stingy early on, and James Franklin is a heckuva football coach and brought a good game plan to Tuscaloosa. But Alabama can ill afford to play lights out in only two quarters of football if they want to run the table and make the trip to New Orleans.

Who misses last year’s rainmaker more—Kentucky, or Auburn? The Wildcats rode the Mike Hartline to Randall Cobb connection last year to stun the South Carolina Gamecocks in 2010. With no Hartline and no Cobb, Kentucky coach Joker Phillips has no offense and it showed in yesterday’s dreadful 54-3 thrashing.

In 2010, when the quarterback had to make a play, Auburn’s Cam Newton made them. Last night, Auburn tried all three quarterbacks and none of them did anything. Barrett Trotter can’t run the football. Kiehl Frazier can run it and throw it, but completed as many balls to Arkansas’ defensive backs (two) as he did to his own receivers. Winning on the road in the SEC means having your rainmakers make it pour. Neither Kentucky nor Auburn could get out of their droughts and both suffered embarrassing road losses.

Mississippi State got back on the winning track, but did it by unimpressively pushing winless UAB around. The Blazers are a dumpster fire of a football program and is a credible threat to go 0-12. Dan Mullen’s Bulldogs received a lot of preseason hype as a program on the rise. But with three losses in the SEC and Alabama and Arkansas still on the schedule, State seems to be falling right into its historical form.

Ole Miss’ Randall Mackey made an unfortunate mistake last week in comments to the Clarion- Ledger. "Alabama is just Alabama," Mackey said. "They've got a real good defense from the D-line to the secondary. There are still, I'm not going to say weaknesses, you know, they ain't Superman. So they can be beat."

That fearsome noise you heard from Tuscaloosa was the entire Bama defense growling and licking their chops.

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Josh Chapman: Thrillin’ and Grillin’

By: @LivingCrimson

Following the Alabama defeat of Arkansas this past weekend, the Nick Saban Show included a fun interview with starting nose tackle Josh Chapman (6’1, 305 lbs.). He graduated with a degree in Health Studies, loves the family atmosphere at The University of Alabama, and loves football, weight training and grilling. He even plans one day to open his own barbeque restaurant.

In the meantime he’s the #2 defensive tackle prospect in the upcoming NFL draft, pre-season All-SEC first team, the 6th strongest player in college football, and spends his time tenderizing offensive linemen and making mincemeat out of opposing quarterbacks.

Saban’s toughest defenses perform best with someone who can clog the middle in the defensive line. In the Show, Coach had an eye-opening summary of Chapman’s abilities and dedication to the game.

The way we play defense, when you play the 3-4, if they can single block the nose you’ve got issues. And Josh Chapman does a fabulous job. He’s strong. What I love about this guy is, he’s got a wonderful personality. You talk about a football junkie. He’ll read every guy up front, aight, and know in the game every time they’re going to pull, every time it’s a pass, every time it’s a run. He calls it out in practice all the time.

I just love this guy. – Nick Saban

And Saban said all of that with a BIG smile on his face. Coach knows defense, and when he says Chapman can control the rush and read fronts, take it to the bank … or the stat line.

Bama’s run defense is 3rd in the nation, allowing only 45.75 yards per game. That’s more than a 50% improvement over the 2010 season (106.5 YPG) and slightly ahead of the 2009 national championship season (47.25 YPG) for the first four games.

Arkansas came into Tuscaloosa widely hailed as the SEC’s top offense, ranked #14 in the AP Poll and averaging 346 passing yards along with 170 rushing yards per game. It left with 40% less passing yards, a paltry 17 yards rushing and a drop to #18 in the rankings. Until facing the Crimson Tide, the Hogs led SEC scoring with 47 points per game. Chapman and company smoked that record, giving up only 14 points and knocking the Razorbacks back to second in the conference.

Alabama is 2nd in the nation for scoring defense,

allowing only 8 points average per game – including defeating

two teams in the AP Top 25.

Every opposing team has called Chapman the strongest man in college football. According to the Patriot-News David Jones, some offenses don't even attempt to fight a battle with him. They try to get the ball away from his vicinity as quickly as possible. Try to wear him out by making him run. Throw quickly behind and around him, trying to prevent his being a factor. And apparently none of those ploys is working. Says Jones, “When you add in Chapman's ability to move – he can run a sub 5.0-second 40 meters – along with his football technique…[h]e is capable of blowing up [an] offense from the inside like a demolition expert...”

It will be fun watching Chapman continue to bring the heat to opponents. Bama enjoyed the pig roast last weekend. Now it has a taste for Gator. Order up!

 

NT Josh Chapman analyzes Bama defensive players

 

NT Josh Chapman pre-season interview

Videos courtesy of al.com. Stats found at CFBStats.com and NCAA.org.

You can follow me on Twitter @LivingCrimson.

Marquis is A-Maze-ing: Video replay of 83-yard punt return

Helmet tap to BamaGoalPost1 for the original video. 

This version, from thingsilikeontv, is in HD and includes replay footage. A-MAZE-ING.

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Bama makes a statement with 38-14 win over Arkansas

Make no mistake about it—Arkansas is about as good of a team as there is in the SEC. They are loaded with talent from one end of the roster to the other. They are physical, well coached and came into Tuscaloosa full of confidence and poise.

But make no mistake about this, either—Alabama’s physical, brutal and otherwise cruel dismemberment of the Razorbacks was a statement.

“We are Hungry,” says the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Arkansas’ first quarter drive to tie the game at 7-7 was an impressive display of offensive speed, talent and coaching. Petrino’s Hogs had the Alabama defense on its heels and when CBS went to the commercial break, you almost got the sense that this was going to be a competitive slugfest. But as CBS’ Gary Danielson put it, Bama’s defense adjusted to the speed of the game played by Arkansas and the rout was on.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Razorbacks drop only one more SEC West contest—and that would be to LSU—but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see them win out.

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Bama O-Line: Uncivil War

By: @LivingCrimson

Duck and cover, offensive guru Bobby Petrino. Nick Saban’s knowledge bombs are coming at you, and turns out he knows a little somethin’ somethin’ about offense, too. The offensive line in particular. How do you think his defense is so effective?

“It’s too simple… If we can block the right guys, it will work out right. Just like my wife said, ‘Why did you run that play instead of a different one?’ She says that if that play doesn’t work, we should run another play. Well how about we just run that play right? Because when we run it right, we made 50 yards…” – Nick Saban

Sportswriters love to give the quarterback credit for amazing passes or applaud the running backs for explosive runs, but then overlook all the blocks that gave time to complete the pass or took out the linebacker that had a bead on the runner.

Successful offense starts with winning the battle in the trenches. And it can be a true battle of the bulge … with extremely large, physical players on the line. O-linemen must also bring a high level of intelligence to bear by knowing not only their own assignments and the assignments of the players lined up around them, but also anticipating the movement of the defense before the ball is snapped. The big guys up front must also practice deception and not tip off whether it’s a run or pass before the play (by stance, helmet reads or various other means).

When the building blocks are in place, the mission is straightforward: attack the living daylights out of your aiming point and protect your gap at all costs. It’s skirmish after skirmish in a bigger war, each one judged a win or loss by the location of the ball when the whistle blows.

The Crimson Tide O-line has had its ups and downs in the first three games, even though it hasn’t begun SEC play yet. The line has managed to engineer enough explosiveness to be 1st in the SEC for long rushing plays over 20 yards to +70 yards and give quarterback A.J. McCarron enough time in the pocket to earn 5th in SEC completion percentage. However, Bama is only 6th best in the SEC for touchdowns while being 1st in field goals. Obviously red zone conversion must improve to 6 points instead of 3 points or SEC play will be over before it starts.

“We stopped ourselves in the red zone by not executing what we were supposed to do… It’s not a systematic problem. [It’s] a lack of execution problem…” – Nick Saban

How can the offensive line improve red zone conversions? Run blocking has been effective for the most part, with all but two of the Tide’s touchdowns earned on rushing plays. The rushing average leads the SEC and ranks 5th nationally. The line is working now on avoiding negative plays.

Pass blocking, however, must improve quickly. Even though Bama ranks in the top half of the SEC for pass attempts and yards per game, it ranks in the bottom half for yards per attempt and touchdowns. In other words, it’s not exhibiting the same explosiveness in its passing game as its running game. And since Saban firmly believes in a balanced offense, the Tide won’t resort to a run heavy attack unless it has no other choice.

On pass plays in last weekend’s North Texas game, opposing linebackers consistently penetrated Bama’s backfield through the gaps between center and guard. Even with additional blocking from the skill players, the Mean Green had 4 sacks, 1 quarterback hurry and forced a fumble. There were even several overthrown passes influenced by McCarron sensing pressure on the pocket.

"When you're playing on your toes with your nose down and you whiff on the linebacker, what's that have to do with who's playing where?" – Nick Saban

Arkansas will be the first SEC game for Alabama and the first real test for the passing game. Saban sees improvement in the Hogs defense from last year, noting they return seven starters and rank in the top 20 teams in the country in scoring defense.

Expect the offensive line to make the necessary adjustments in pass protection, including executing fundamental technique and repositioning personnel as needed. Arkansas will face a physical, refortified battle at the line of scrimmage, and red zone conversion for the Tide should find its stride.

To the victors go the scores.

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Bama secondary vs. Hog receivers should be marquee match-up (Blogger roundtable)

My second installment on al.com’s Blogger Roundtable.

Question 1: What are the key match-ups for Saturday's Alabama-Arkansas game?

The key to Saturday's matchup between Alabama and the visiting Arkansas Razorbacks will come down to how Alabama's secondary matches up to Arkansas' talented wide receivers and how the Arkansas offensive line handles the multiple blitz packages Nick Saban and Kirby Smart have drawn up. The Razorbacks' receiving corps is widely regarded as some of the best in the country. So is the Crimson Tide's secondary. It's going to be a war.

Alabama will have to get pressure on Arkansas sophomore quarterback Tyler Wilson. In last Saturday's game against Troy, Wilson showed youth and inexperience with rushed throws into coverage, giving up a pick-six and throwing errantly on key downs. He's got to make smart throws, get rid of the ball before the pocket collapses and take advantage of receivers in one-on-one coverage.

On the other side of the ball, Alabama needs to win the battle at the line of scrimmage. Bama's offensive philosophy depends far less on the QB than Arkansas' does. The linemen are expected to get to the second level and engage linebackers, opening lanes for Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy. Alabama throws the ball best when it wants to throw, not when it has to throw. Staying ahead of the chains on first and second down are the key.

If Alabama's defense can rattle Wilson and keep him from settling into the pocket, and both Richardson and Lacey have good days running the football, Alabama can beat the Hogs handily. If Wilson gets comfortable throwing the ball and Arkansas somehow bottles up the Tide's TB duo, it's going to be a long day.

Question 2: The wide receiver position is still in flux with the wait for Duron Carter's clearance. What do you expect to see there for the remainder of the season? Will Carter play this year? Can Darius Hanks, Marquis Maze and company carry the load?

The Carter story is puzzling, to say the least. At this point, it's unlikely that he sees the field in a Bama uniform and he ends up taking a redshirt. It's disappointing too, because Carter was expected to shoulder some of the burden carried by Julio Jones last year. Hanks and Maze are both talented, speedy receivers with good hands. Hanks looks like the better receiver and looks like he's blocking a little better than Maze. Recall that one of the strengths Julio brought to the table was his downfield blocking ability on running plays. Bama needs physical receivers who can take it to the DB's and get the runner into the open field.

In passing situations, Alabama likes to spread the ball around. Tight end Michael Williams has been outstanding as a blocker and as a receiver. H-Back Brad Smelley has also performed well. If Arkansas chooses to double Hanks or Maze on deep routes, it's going to leave Smelley or Williams open or in a mismatch against a linebacker. Alabama also likes to throw the ball to the TB coming out of the backfield. It's an offensive system that doesn't rely on one particular position or player to make plays, but to take what the defense is giving and get the ball to whoever the defense can't get to on the play. Having another potential playmaker like Carter would only make it that much easier to do so, but if he's not able to play there are opportunities for other guys.

Look for Alabama to get the ball to freshman DeAndrew White. His teammates had nothing but glowing praise for him during fall camp and he has played sparingly. He played in the opener against Kent State, did not make the field against Penn State and only saw a few snaps against North Texas. Those who think Bama may be "holding something" back for use in bigger games might want to keep an eye on the speedy, sticky-handed receiver.

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