I will deviate from the format I have used the last several weeks, as I want to get the taste of this one out of my mouth as quickly as possible and turn my attention to LSU. I will talk about the offense, defense, and special teams as a whole, then speak of coaching, officiating(it is the Alabama game, after all), and final thoughts to finish up.
Offense
I thought we had a very bland game plan on offense this week. Dart did about as much as a QB could be expected to do with the hand he was dealt. We couldn't establish a ground attack at all. Judkins is officially having a sophomore jinx season until he shows otherwise. Thing is, he is not the primary issue. We do not seem to have much versatility in our run series, and we are not winning one-on-ones at the point of attack. Further, we lack a true deep threat at WR to take the top off the defense, which allows a talented team like Alabama to squeeze the field and commit more guys to run support. Prieskorn was limited in his first action, and Trigg not getting any snaps is very telling about where we are with him. Williams not playing more was surprising. He has top-end speed. We needed that Saturday.
We really miss Nick Broecker on the OL. He was, if nothing else, a nasty run blocker who could dominate his man in one-on-one. We don't have that in any of our OL personnel this year to this point. Why Pettus plays every snap is beyond me. He consistently gets beat on pass protection and had at least 2 holding calls Saturday. He just doesn't seem to move well enough to play outside, but I am not at practice every day, so what do I know? If we want to improve as an offensive football team, we have to improve on the OL. The OL group as a whole needs to take ownership of this fact and establish the standard. The bottom line, we have who we have, so we need to establish what our strengths are on offense and play to them. Jet sweeps with Watkins and Wade is not, IMHO, doing that.
Defense
The defense played well enough to win on Saturday. The D looked prepared and played hard. Credit to CPG, staff and players. Our DL still plays too high, but we held Alabama's run game in check for the most part. They had 131 yards on 45 attempts. That is good enough to win most of the time. Our LBs played their best game of the season, I thought. Monty Montgomery and Khari Coleman were both solid, and Sistrunk lead the team in tackles in just 32 snaps. Perkins is the real deal, period. He did an outstanding job spying the QB and made several key stops. I look for his presence in the snap count list to grow as the season progresses. We gave up too many 3rd down and 10 or more plays. This, to me, was the single biggest stat line of the game. Alabama converted more than half of their 3rd down opportunities, several of them being more than 10 yards. When you get a team behind the chains, you have to get off the field. We simply did not do that Saturday. Credit to Alabama for winning that important hidden stat line. Final thought, on Alabama's long touchdown pass play, our safety (Young, I believe) broke late to the ball and Prince, our most consistent defender on the backend, fell down. Converse that with Alabama's two defenders both being in perfect position when we attempted to hit the big play and basically fighting over who was going to intercept it, and that tells you all you need to know about the difference in the game.
Special Teams
The blocked punt looked to be a miscommunication in the assignment between Ivey and Pegues. I don't know if the call was step right or left, but somebody stepped the wrong way. The result was an untouched defender blocking the punt. You just can't have those types of breakdowns in a game like this. We were extremely fortunate not to give up a TD there.
The missed FG right before the half was huge. We drove down the field right before the half, using the 2-minute drill almost to perfection ( a TD would have been perfection), and then missed the chip shot FG. That is a huge Debbie Downer from a momentum perspective. You have to get the points you can get against any team, especially against a team like Alabama. Anyway, you know what happened next; they took the 2nd half kickoff (more on that in a second) and drove down to score and take the lead for good.
Coaching
As a former coach, I generally do not criticize coaching. Too many unknown variables. That said, CLK just coaches this game differently. He had another junior high trick play (we ran something similar in junior high we called "The Pole Cat Special") that, just like previous years, looked stupid more than anything else. Coaches don't win games, PLAYERS do. Coaches can LOSE games by trying to win the game as the play caller. Alabama has better personnel, at almost every position. CLK had been around the game his entire life. His father invented a well-known and now universally used defensive scheme. He KNOWS better than to do some of the things he does in this game, every year! Blaming the young "OC" (we know who the OC really is) for the offensive woes is just kicking the dog (and I have not been a fan of CCW since he was hired, but he is not the blame in this one). I am just going to say it, CLK is obsessed with Alabama and Nick Saban. Hopefully, he will admit it, own it, and seek help to deal with and overcome it, and not let it destroy the rest of the season like last year. This team is a good team. We have flaws, but this is a good roster. We still have a lot to play for. We need to move on, focus on the next opponent, win that game, and get ourselves back in contention for the SECW. It all starts with CLK. Time for him to be the HBC we are paying him to be. Leadership is critical,...RIGHT NOW is the time and OLE MISS is the place CLK!
Officiating
Yes, there were a couple of obvious holding calls that went unflagged, and I thought at least 1 time, probably 2 times when any other team (except Auburn) would have had the play stopped for a possible targeting review after a hit on Dart, but the officials did not beat us Saturday. Our inability to generate any continuity on offense, coupled with our inability to get off the field on 3rd down and long, spelled our demise. This is the 1st time I can remember playing Alabama in a close game (2 scores or less) where I didn't feel like the officials at least partially influenced the outcome of the game. Good for them. They are now on a streak of 1 in a row in that area.
Final Thoughts
As those who get paid to write on this site have said, we missed a huge opportunity Saturday. Alabama still has the most talented roster in CFB according to the talent composite, but we missed a great opportunity to win on Saturday. The proverbial milk is on the floor, and there is nothing that can be done now but clean it up and move on to LSU. Everything we want in this season is still on the table, we just have to play and win, one game at a time. We have to keep pushing forward, show potential recruits that Ole Miss is a place where they can do great things, and close the gap talent-wise with programs like Alabama, Georgia, and LSU. Alabama will lose again before this season is over. They are talented, but they are very beatable. Someone will take advantage of that. We have to take care of our business IOT take advantage when/if the opportunity presents itself. That starts this weekend, at home, against LSU. I will be there in section Q, and I plan to leave with no ability to speak. I will be boisterous, I will be loud, I will be fired up! LFG! Beat LSU! That is all.
Offense
I thought we had a very bland game plan on offense this week. Dart did about as much as a QB could be expected to do with the hand he was dealt. We couldn't establish a ground attack at all. Judkins is officially having a sophomore jinx season until he shows otherwise. Thing is, he is not the primary issue. We do not seem to have much versatility in our run series, and we are not winning one-on-ones at the point of attack. Further, we lack a true deep threat at WR to take the top off the defense, which allows a talented team like Alabama to squeeze the field and commit more guys to run support. Prieskorn was limited in his first action, and Trigg not getting any snaps is very telling about where we are with him. Williams not playing more was surprising. He has top-end speed. We needed that Saturday.
We really miss Nick Broecker on the OL. He was, if nothing else, a nasty run blocker who could dominate his man in one-on-one. We don't have that in any of our OL personnel this year to this point. Why Pettus plays every snap is beyond me. He consistently gets beat on pass protection and had at least 2 holding calls Saturday. He just doesn't seem to move well enough to play outside, but I am not at practice every day, so what do I know? If we want to improve as an offensive football team, we have to improve on the OL. The OL group as a whole needs to take ownership of this fact and establish the standard. The bottom line, we have who we have, so we need to establish what our strengths are on offense and play to them. Jet sweeps with Watkins and Wade is not, IMHO, doing that.
Defense
The defense played well enough to win on Saturday. The D looked prepared and played hard. Credit to CPG, staff and players. Our DL still plays too high, but we held Alabama's run game in check for the most part. They had 131 yards on 45 attempts. That is good enough to win most of the time. Our LBs played their best game of the season, I thought. Monty Montgomery and Khari Coleman were both solid, and Sistrunk lead the team in tackles in just 32 snaps. Perkins is the real deal, period. He did an outstanding job spying the QB and made several key stops. I look for his presence in the snap count list to grow as the season progresses. We gave up too many 3rd down and 10 or more plays. This, to me, was the single biggest stat line of the game. Alabama converted more than half of their 3rd down opportunities, several of them being more than 10 yards. When you get a team behind the chains, you have to get off the field. We simply did not do that Saturday. Credit to Alabama for winning that important hidden stat line. Final thought, on Alabama's long touchdown pass play, our safety (Young, I believe) broke late to the ball and Prince, our most consistent defender on the backend, fell down. Converse that with Alabama's two defenders both being in perfect position when we attempted to hit the big play and basically fighting over who was going to intercept it, and that tells you all you need to know about the difference in the game.
Special Teams
The blocked punt looked to be a miscommunication in the assignment between Ivey and Pegues. I don't know if the call was step right or left, but somebody stepped the wrong way. The result was an untouched defender blocking the punt. You just can't have those types of breakdowns in a game like this. We were extremely fortunate not to give up a TD there.
The missed FG right before the half was huge. We drove down the field right before the half, using the 2-minute drill almost to perfection ( a TD would have been perfection), and then missed the chip shot FG. That is a huge Debbie Downer from a momentum perspective. You have to get the points you can get against any team, especially against a team like Alabama. Anyway, you know what happened next; they took the 2nd half kickoff (more on that in a second) and drove down to score and take the lead for good.
Coaching
As a former coach, I generally do not criticize coaching. Too many unknown variables. That said, CLK just coaches this game differently. He had another junior high trick play (we ran something similar in junior high we called "The Pole Cat Special") that, just like previous years, looked stupid more than anything else. Coaches don't win games, PLAYERS do. Coaches can LOSE games by trying to win the game as the play caller. Alabama has better personnel, at almost every position. CLK had been around the game his entire life. His father invented a well-known and now universally used defensive scheme. He KNOWS better than to do some of the things he does in this game, every year! Blaming the young "OC" (we know who the OC really is) for the offensive woes is just kicking the dog (and I have not been a fan of CCW since he was hired, but he is not the blame in this one). I am just going to say it, CLK is obsessed with Alabama and Nick Saban. Hopefully, he will admit it, own it, and seek help to deal with and overcome it, and not let it destroy the rest of the season like last year. This team is a good team. We have flaws, but this is a good roster. We still have a lot to play for. We need to move on, focus on the next opponent, win that game, and get ourselves back in contention for the SECW. It all starts with CLK. Time for him to be the HBC we are paying him to be. Leadership is critical,...RIGHT NOW is the time and OLE MISS is the place CLK!
Officiating
Yes, there were a couple of obvious holding calls that went unflagged, and I thought at least 1 time, probably 2 times when any other team (except Auburn) would have had the play stopped for a possible targeting review after a hit on Dart, but the officials did not beat us Saturday. Our inability to generate any continuity on offense, coupled with our inability to get off the field on 3rd down and long, spelled our demise. This is the 1st time I can remember playing Alabama in a close game (2 scores or less) where I didn't feel like the officials at least partially influenced the outcome of the game. Good for them. They are now on a streak of 1 in a row in that area.
Final Thoughts
As those who get paid to write on this site have said, we missed a huge opportunity Saturday. Alabama still has the most talented roster in CFB according to the talent composite, but we missed a great opportunity to win on Saturday. The proverbial milk is on the floor, and there is nothing that can be done now but clean it up and move on to LSU. Everything we want in this season is still on the table, we just have to play and win, one game at a time. We have to keep pushing forward, show potential recruits that Ole Miss is a place where they can do great things, and close the gap talent-wise with programs like Alabama, Georgia, and LSU. Alabama will lose again before this season is over. They are talented, but they are very beatable. Someone will take advantage of that. We have to take care of our business IOT take advantage when/if the opportunity presents itself. That starts this weekend, at home, against LSU. I will be there in section Q, and I plan to leave with no ability to speak. I will be boisterous, I will be loud, I will be fired up! LFG! Beat LSU! That is all.
Last edited:
