Dominating USF and Recapping the Saban Field Unveiling - Barnes on Bama Ep. 27

[Music] welcome in to episode 27 of the Barnes Alama podcast I'm your host Owen Barnes and we've got some things to discuss namely Alabama's blow out of South Florida and if you watch the game and disagree with me then you're wrong but seriously so we're going to talk about the south Florida game uh if you missed the episode uh last time we obviously broke down the south Florida game but if you are not subscribed to the YouTube channel I really recommend it because over on the YouTube channel I actually dropped a video that I did not put out on the podcast platforms and it was talking about all things basketball there were quite a few things that happened in basketball um whether it be recruiting actually an exhibition game as well as talking about one of our players Chris Young um that's coming in this season so if you are interested in basketball definitely check out the YouTube channel consider subscribing over there like I said there's a lot of content um in general I do put out most of it on podcast platform as well but there's some things that don't wor a full episode but I do still want to put out the content so if you are interested please consider subscribing there and I'm sure you'll enjoy it so let's get right into the south Florida recap so as I mentioned we're going to be recapping South Florida in this episode and if you're not subscribed to the channel um here on YouTube Spotify Apple wherever you get your podcast I really recommend it my name is Owen Barnes um I graduate from Alabama in 2019 in Sports Marketing and PR um been a lifelong Bama fan from this area my whole life and I mean that's who I am so this game uh I want to start with going through the game and then we'll actually talk about all the sav and ceremonies um after the game so as normal I was at this game um and I'm going to call it a blowout and the only reason I feel comfortable in calling it a blowout is I think that the only reason this game was close was Alabama shot themselves in the foot now did the shooting themselves in the foot still happen absolutely it 100% happened if you watch this game you know that Alabama did it right there were nine penalties called on the offensive line um including two that brought back touchdowns Alabama had three fumbles including one on the two yard line so this game was 1413 in the fourth quarter so from the outside looking in if you did not watch this game it really felt like Alabama could not do anything and it was kind of true however for those of you that aren't super analytics people um Bill Connelly with ESPN formerly ESP Nation puts out a um postgame win expectancy where he has a formula where he puts in all the stats without the score of course into a computer and says with these SP stats what's the expected win expectancy of the team right so 100% % means 100% of the time the team that won should have won 0% is not going to happen because that's like that team won right so it has to be something for example the Oklahoma State Arkansas game Arkansas had a or sorry Oklahoma state only had about a 18% postgame win expectancy so in theory Arkansas wins that game about 82% of the time even though Oklahoma State obviously did end up winning the game right his formula spit out that Alabama had a 100% postgame win expectancy right so the stats and everything that took place in the game thinks it's a blowout obviously if you're an Alabama fan or if you were there in person um if you watched on TV and saw all the disappointed looks on people's faces it did not feel that way obviously the score ended up being that way but if you did not watch this game you're very confused what what I'm even talking about so let me go through the game I'm going to do this breakdown a little differently than I did last week um because I don't want to do good bad and what I'm still looking into I just want to kind of take a position group by position group and say you know this is what I really liked about it and this is what I think needs to change and it has to start with the offensive line that has to be the first thing we talk about because when you look at this game and you look at what went wrong and then actually what ended up going right at the end of the game it starts and ends with the offensive line especially on the offense so Kaden Proctor who was injured um prior to last game or sorry during last game or I guess in sorry in pregame warmups before the last game did not play in this game and dor mentioned that he was very close but they decided to keep him out and so he was in sweatpants on the sideline and did not play it all this game so because of this Tyler Booker are starting left guard moved to left tackle um Gino vemar was is the backup left guard so he started and then wilc forby was on the right tackle prior we talked about last game that wil and forby had won the battle against Elijah pritchet and that forby was the starter last game so that continued so the right side of the line was unchanged the left side of the line had Booker move to tackle and then vmark go to guard and this caused a lot of problems um there were holding call calls two of them against vandemar um the backup left guard that was starting there ended up being four holding calls on will con forby our right tackle who ended up getting pulled for Elijah pritchet toward the end of the game and we'll talk a little bit more about that here in a second um as well as there were two false starts and a block in the back there were nine penalties on this offensive line and it was very clear that these guys were not comfortable in the positions they were in and playing next to and with the guys they were playing with the next to right it was very clear to me that Booker and vand Mark were not comfortable playing with each other um side by side because that's just not obviously Booker's natural position and it just did not feel to me like this offensive line was comfortable at all and South Florida could see it and was taking advantage of it at every turn right out the times that Alabama did score they thankfully didn't get them caught back for penalties but there were two other occasions that I mentioned where those got called back on holding calls I believe one on vanmark and one on forby got called back for touchdowns and then or maybe actually two of for's called back touchdown there may have ended up being three by the end of the game um but they called back touchdowns and then that gets you behind the sticks and if you don't get back ahead of possession what happens is when you get into that passing down on second and third down south Florida was doing a cover zero send everybody they were overwhelming Alabama's offensive line Alabama didn't have the quick Slants or the quick passing play to be able to get it out of mro's hands and he was running for his life anyone that looks at this game and thinks milroe was the issue in the game did not watch the game I'm not saying milro played a perfect game that's not at all what I'm saying but milro was not the issue with what the passing problems in today's game War or yesterday's game War the issues started at the offensive line and that was the biggest problem right um this game was called fairly tight um there were over 11 penalties by both teams so I mean this was a fairly tightly called game there were a lot of penalties being thrown you know offensive holding defensive holding um fall start just everything was being called very very tightly um which happens sometimes right but no matter the case whether this game was being called tightly or not it to me it was just super obvious that the offensive line was was not comfortable so I want to um mention why I think coming into next game we'll talk a little bit more about it in the Wisconsin preview that's going to come out on Wednesday but I think that next game a lot of these things will be fixed and for namely two reasons one the reason why wi fored me uh sorry the reason why Tyler Booker moved over to left tackle was that Elijah pritchet was dinged up a little bit in the last game and dore's official statement on it after the game was last game he got a minor ding he didn't practice much earlier in the week he was ready to go but we were trying to go on as long as possible to keep him 100% healthy right so what ended up happening at the end of the game when Alabama scored on three straight possessions they actually pulled forby with the four holding calls and put in Elijah pritchet and it completely changed that right side of the offensive line and Alabama was able to run behind that right side and be successful running the ball typically they run behind Tyler Booker um but since Booker was at the T tackle position once they went over to that right side and you didn't have form beh holding every time that you ran to that side um you were able to actually be successful running behind the right side of the offensive line they break off two large runs uh that were explosive plays to get touch touch Downs as well as the pass play to Ryan Williams that we'll talk about here in a minute so that was the big thing obviously that changed the offensive line at the end of the game it was about seven minutes to go when they made that change and then Alabama like I said scored on three straight possessions both runs were to that right side of the offensive line on pritchet side and it really just felt like that was the game shifting thing right I would be shocked if forby starts against Wisconsin in my opinion the off of line against Wisconsin based on what we've heard Kaden Proctor will be back so you're going to have Proctor at left tackle Booker at guard um and then your Center and Right Guard are going to stay how they've always been um with Jaden Roberts and Parker bford and then you're going to have Elijah pritchet playing right tackle and you're going to be completely good right the offensive line is going to be back to the starters that you priately practice with a lot lot of the um fall camp and the guys that are normally there and that having the guys that are regular playing with each other is going to be a huge impact to the offensive line obviously your shifts and stuff you're not going to have to ship to overcompensate for somebody that maybe not as strong pass blocking or vice versa I think it's just going to be a much better setup when you have your actual offensive line so that's what I fully expect for the Wisconsin Wisconson game we'll talk about that later this week but that's the big thing that I think is obviously going to change and that was biggest issue in this game that you saw fixed the other thing that theor um mentioned and this goes into exactly what I said his quote on it was it's hard to call a game it's hard to overcome second and long and third and long situations we had to learn some lessons the hard way there's no doubt about it right at the end of the day Alabama shot themselves in the foot as I mentioned and those second and Longs those third and Longs those fumbles that led to this game being much closer than what it actually was right the score indicated this being a very close game and it really wasn't Alabama's defense and we'll talk about it here later on was incredible Alabama's offense was putting their defense in very bad positions and the defense Time After Time After Time was coming up huge they they were coming up absolutely massive South Florida scores just one touchdown in this game and I mean Alabama's defense looked great even though they were being put on the on the field in bad positions and like I said Alabama did great so I was very happy with what I saw on the defensive uh side of the ball but like I said the offensive line when you're talking about the offense first and foremost that was your big problem from the quarterback perspective I think that milroe um I'm going to give him a little bit of a pass this week there were a couple of passes that he definitely overthrew um but I personally think that milro was really concerned that he was about to get sacked and he was running for his life there were quite a few moments where you know he drops back and the minute he drops back somebody's in his lap and so he starts running backwards and a lot of people would be like why are you running backwards well he's running backwards also to try to escape the pocket because if he wants to have a chance to throw the ball away you got to get out of the pocket and it just to me it felt like milro was getting absolutely over run and he wasn't able to go through true progressions in the play of the game that they ended up actually drawing up with Chris Stewart on uh Twitter that they released it um where dbor draws it up with Chris Stewart um he actually has a pocket he steps up in the pocket dor shows how he goes through his progressions he ends up hitting um Kobe Prince Kobe breaks a tackle gets the touchdown right so Jaylen was going through his reads when he had the time to do so right when Alabama actually started running the ball and getting positive possessions where it wasn't second and long and third and long into those cover zero situations Jaylen looked fine he he was not the issue in this game the other thing and I just want to mention uh the wide receivers and running backs real quick and then we're going to shift to the defense because I really want to talk about them wide receivers Ryan Williams I mean what can you say about the kid he now has six touches uh six catches for three touchdowns over 207 yards now um he is all world everything he is the next great Alabama receiver he is absolutely awesome I mean 17 years old what can you say about the kid he is really really good um there was a play that in my opinion should have been pass interference on a really long pass play that he still almost came down with um but I mean just overall he is a Speedster he also can run great routes he has the ability to break tackles he did it in here you know where he gets hit on kind of a hitch and then takes it to the house on a you know8 y hitch takes it for a 40 yard touchdown um he is really special with the ball in his hands and is an absolutely incredible pickup the other side of the ball we saw a few more catches out of Jeremy Bernard we saw Caleb Odum get in a little early so we're definitely working some other receivers in but for me the receiving core I can't look too much at just because we weren't able to go through the same progressions and really get into the passing attack like I expected because of how we were shooting ourselves in the foot at the offensive line the running backs by and large were very very good the one exception was that with that was Jam Miller did have one of the fumbles um it's going to happen but you just don't like to see it um so that's the one thing that I would say about um about that side of the ball um you like I said you don't really like to see the fumble um but uh Jam Miller and Justice Haynes both broke break off big runs for touchdowns at the end of the game um they were running hard it did not have the same level of impact in the rushing game as it had last game again I think a lot of that stems from the offensive line but we'll see what it looks like when you have the original offensive line back in next week so don't want to I know I'm harping a lot on the offensive line I personally think it was the biggest issue with our offense and it was the the reason why you're running attack didn't look as good because your running attack wasn't as good it didn't open the downfield passing game because Jaylen didn't have time to throw I think it all stems from that line and I think that the coaches understand that right so I'm curious to see what happens next game um when we have a little bit more solidified offensive line with guys playing with each other in the positions that they're supposed to be now let's move to the defense because I had a lot of questions about the defense even after last game um obviously Alabama gets to two takeaways last game and I was thinking yeah I mean they looked good but you know was this the fact that we got up early you know how is this is the defense able to really get off the field they sustained a lot of long drives the defense is great um I really liked what I saw out of the defensive line out of the linebackers out of the safeties I think our Corners are probably the weakest part of our defense um which scares me if you go up against a really Elite receiving core like a Missouri with like a Luther burden or something that kind of scares me a little however I think that we have the talent um and they're just young right you've got imbak that comes in for zaven Brown after zaven Brown had two deep shots taken against him and um you know so you bring in in Bak for a little extra speed we're able to shut it down and like I said Alabama gives up the one touchdown however on the other three possessions you hold them to three points Alabama did a very good job of getting off the field even when they were put in very bad positions um like I said Alabama fumbles a kickoff and we'll talk about that when we go through the Special Teams Alabama fumbles a kickoff and ends up having you know putting the defense back on the field in a very bad position defense gets right off the field um Alabama at the end of the game you know has the defense backed up defense is on the seven yd line and holds them uh to three points that in my opinion was the wrong call a reporter a asked Alex goolish about it postgame and he was not he said that he kicked the field goal so that if Alabama kicked it it wouldn't be a two-score game it's a little confusing because Alabama hasn't kicked a field goal all season I think I understand where he was coming from I personally think it was kind of him giving up because with eight minutes to go in the game and Alabama had just scored a touchdown South Florida wasn't really moving the ball a whole lot if you're in the red zone that close I think you got to go for the points um that's my personal opinion obviously he gets paid to be the head coach so that's his decision but I personally would have would have kicked sorry would have scored the touchdown or gone for the touchdown and then at a minimum you're getting the ball giving Alabama the ball at the seven yard line and maybe if you can overwhelm the offensive line you can go for a safety right um because of the success that they had had on the defensive line against our o line I really just think the better call would have been to go for it there um that's me personal um however like I said when we're talking about the defense I really thought the defensive line looked great um they them the linebackers the safeties all very very good um I was concerned about the running quarterback Byron Brown did get his from a running perspective but Alabama was able to shut him down when they made him throw the ball Brown is a good passer he just didn't have all of his stuff honestly had he had his stuff yesterday in in Bryant Denny or safield at Bryant Denny Stadium uh it would have maybe' been a different game there were a few deep balls that he just slightly overthrew even when he had his man those throws at zaven Brown he went out him in backtack plays his man had a had a step on him both times slight over throws and Alabama's able to walk out with with a pretty convincing victory at least on the scoreboard right um like I said I do think that a better passer would have made Alabama pay there was a wheel route that he missed slide overthrow like I said the Deep balls were overthrows it just was a bit off for what brown is capable of into Alabama's credit they were able to put some pressure on him they were able to confuse him a little but if he was on I really think it could have been a different outcome for South Florida but Alabama's defense comes up huge I'm very happy with what I saw and the defense is great and then the special teams burnup was really really good he had one punt that kind of Spun backwards on him which wasn't ideal but overall burnup was awesome the only thing on the special teams that I really want to talk about is on the return side uh you had an is you had an injury to Cole Adams it was an arm injury um they're going to be looking at it to see how he is so you may have a different punt returner here coming in andak came in and had about a 30- yard return that was very very good to kind of jump start the offense so that was great to see so if you do have um if Cole is out you're probably going to see inak back returning and then Kendrick law did bring a kickoff out of the end zone looks like he's going to break it for a touchdown or maybe you know just break it for a 40 yard return around the 40 yard line he gets stripped loses the ball their kicker recovers it at about the 50 so just there was a sloppy plays kind of all across the um field the defense is really the only group that did not have you know any like super sloppy plays I guess the only issue was um Demonte Jackson got called for holding twice um at the corner position but no real breaks and coverage defense looked solid against a pretty quick and pretty efficient offense uh Alex goolish is a great offensive coordinator and head coach so overall you had to like what you saw the the best breakdown that I that I've seen on Twitter I want to give a shout out to Blake berer a friend of the show a friend of mine um but he he kind of said it my simplified two week assessment of Alabama football is the defense is better than expected with the dline linebackers and safeties all being nasty Corners are a weakness but there's Talent 100% agree with that the o line needs a Personnel stability absolutely I think everyone would agree with that running backs are excellent and Ryan Williams is a revelation ready to see it opened up playbook for milro I think that's 100% true I think that as soon as you get the offensive line settled I think milro starts getting more plays at his discretion I think that the running backs and their ability to run the ball run through gaps um hit the hit the hole hard and also pass block are going to open up the passing game you just need that open offensive line to get settled soon as the line gets settled I think that it's going to be a whole different ball game and you're going to need it because you're going into Camp Randle Stadium at 11:00 on Saturday so like I said we'll talk about that one here coming up but before I finish this episode I absolutely have to talk about the day that was yesterday so um for those of you that are unaware yesterday they officially named The Stadium kind of uh Sabin field at briyan NY stadium and I was outspoken against this or about this um when it was announced that I was not sure if it was going to be enough I was not sure if it was going to fully Encompass the greatness that Sabin was I personally preferred like a Bryant Sabin Stadium or something like that and I will admit that the way that this is is being handled I may have been wrong I think what they're pushing this to be officially named is Sav field at Brighton Dy Stadium instead of just naming the field sa and field right a lot of places just name something oh this is named after this person versus Alabama is going full in on this is Sabin field at BR Denny Stadium not this is Brighton St stadium and like oh they're playing on saving field it's kind of an afterthought this is like becoming the official and it was huge I think that all the things that they've done to kind of reiterate it were absolutely incredible um me and one of my friends were out at the ceremony at 2:30 before walk of Champions where Nick and Terry were talking about it and they unveiled the there's a sign out front of the stadium and I'll post some pictures um where the sign drops and it says now says saing field at Bryant Denny Stadium where it used to just say Bri D Stadium they put up some lighted signs inside the stadium again that say safield at Brighton in stadium there was an absolutely incredible tribute that happened right after the band played at halftime they were in their formation then they shift into spelling out Sabin field on the field um Sabin walks out to thunderstuck alone down the tunnel and just it was absolutely abely incredible and was what he deserved right it was an absolute honor that he deserved to be able to walk out on the field he spoke up a bit at half time about how grateful he was and then like I said they lit up the signs inside the stadium and I thought that the tribute for him was absolutely world class it was a 10 out of 10 it was what he deserved and it was absolutely incredible right I think that because of how they did that and how they're going to be referred ref ing to it as Sav field at Brighton didn't stadium and not just Brighton Stadium playing on Sav field right like not as an afterthought I think that is it is deserved right I still probably prefer if it was briy Sabin Stadium or something but I understand why they didn't want to change it and I think that the amount that they're going above and beyond to make sure that safield is mentioned I think that it's absolutely deserved I think it's credit that he needs it and what he's done for the community what he's done for the University and I thought that it was absolutely awesome so if you have not seen or um the video or weren't at the game I'm going to link a video that Alabama football posted on Twitter in the comments it's about 3 minutes long you absolutely need to watch it it kind of breaks down all day it shows Sav speech at out front of the stadium um at the ceremony at 2:30 um the unveiling of the banner it also then shows his speech that happened during game time there's a really cool drone shot uh when Thunder struck's playing and he walks out on the stadium just was absolutely incredible I thought that it was really very fitting for the coach that he was and what he's meant to the stadium to the university to the state and so like I said I really recommend you watching it if you have not already I'm also going to post a few photos and they'll probably be showing as I'm speaking here in the edit um just some photos that they got that really were absolutely incredible of him either walking out or him and his family kind of looking up at the the feel being named after him and it absolutely was deserved and I thought that was a very fitting tribute to the person and Coach that Nick Sabin was or and is so that's all I wanted to talk about today um if you have like I said if you have not if you have not seen the basketball video that I posted on Thursday there have been a lot of basketball news I didn't want to cover it in this episode today so I actually put out a separate video on YouTube on Thursday so if you have not seen that I will link it in the show notes definitely check it out I really recommend it I also have it shown here on the end screen like I said please check it out if you haven't already I really would recommend you watching it but thank you so much everyone for watching and we will be previewing Wisconsin on Wednesday see you later peace [Music]