Alabama Dominates South Florida to Pick Up Big Win on Saban's Big Day

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 graduated 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 saving 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 thems 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 2 yd 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 espb 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 18% post game 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 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 cuz when you look at this game and you look at what went wrong and then actually What in 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 warm-ups 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 wil forby was on the right tackle prior we talked about last game that wilin forby had won the battle against Elijah pritchet and that Formby 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 calls two of them against vmar um the backup left guard that was starting there ended up being four holding calls on wilin 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 and next to right it was very clear to me that Booker and vanderark 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 called 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 there may be actually two of for's called back touchdown there may 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 slant 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 were or yesterday's game were 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 and 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 form 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 formb 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 touchdowns 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 for me starts against Wisconsin in my opinion the offive 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 braford and then you're gonna 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 set up when you have your actual offensive line so that's what I fully expect for the Wisconsin Wisconsin 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 the 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 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 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 milro 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 milroe 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 back 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 overrun 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 deor shows how he goes through his progressions he ends up hitting um Kobe Prince Kobe breaks a tackle gets the touchdown right so jayen 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 cuz 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 past 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 again here you know where he gets hit on kind of a hitch and then takes it to the house on a you know eight yard 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 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 your 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 we've got 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 the 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 bringing inak 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 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 so a little confusing cuz 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 ydd 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 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 Sav and field at Brian 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 back-to-back plays his man had a had a step on him both times slight overthrows 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 slight overthrow like I said the Deep ball were overthrows it just was a bit off for what brown is capable of and 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 IDE deal 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 ISS 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 imbak 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 imbak 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 demon 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-e 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 a opened up playbook for milroe I think that's 100% true I think that as soon as you get the offensive line settled I think milrose 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 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 Randall 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