Ryan Fowler’s Good, Bad & Ugly for Bama/Chattanooga
Ryan’s Reaction
Every Monday, Nick Saban spends part of the afternoon showing his players the good plays, bad plays, and ugly plays from the previous Saturday.
The good section highlights what the team did well in the game; individual plays, series of plays,
The bad section focuses on plays that were run incorrectly, maybe a play designed to pick up more yardage but failed. It might include simple mistakes, a turnover or just a simple missed block or tackle.
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The ugly section could also be called the disaster section, plays that went completely wrong or injuries. Ugly plays are learning moments for the team. Part of discussing the bad and ugly plays includes thinking through what they could have done differently.
Alabama vs. Chattanooga
Good
This was a dominating performance from a continually improving Alabama team, I do not remember a Crimson Tide team that improved this much during a season. We can credit Jalen Milroe with the biggest improvement, he is playing with a tremendous amount of confidence.
Milroe has turned into a distribution center, involving a variety of Tide players in the offense and sending them in the right direction.
Alabama extended their NCAA record by earning 16 consecutive 10 win seasons, a stat that underscores how dominant the Crimson Tide have been in the Nick Saban era. One day we will look back at many of these statistics and say, “they did what?”
One day, Caleb Downs may leave Tuscaloosa as the greatest defensive player in the Nick Saban era.
When you watch him, you have to remind yourself that he is only playing the 11th
game of his collegiate career. He does not resemble a true freshman. When it comes to tackling, he currently leads the team with 90 total tackles, 55 of those as solo stops. Downs added another credential to his list today with an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown. Keep your eye on the National Shaun Alexander award that goes to the top freshman of the year, he is one of the semifinalists.
I also thought the back-ups played well when they got opportunities in the second
half. Ty Simpson showed off his speed with a 78-yard run that would have been a touchdown if he had not dropped the ball before reaching the endzone. Jamarion Miller had a productive day leading all Tide backs with 77 yards rushing. Alabama also played a clean game, other than a costly targeting call against Chris Braswell, the Tide only had 3 penalties for a total of 25 yards.
Bad
Gino Appleberry, Chattanooga running back, rushed for 104 yards against a Crimson Tide defense that was missing some key players. Regardless, this will be part of the film session study on Monday afternoon. Considering that many of those yards came against the starting unit, this is a department that needs some cleaning up if Alabama wants to add to the trophy cabinet this season. Other than those stats, the Crimson Tide played a solid game on defense.
Ugly
I find it difficult to knock on a player that has meant as much to Alabama’s defense as Kool-Aid McKinstry this season, he should be a lock for the first round in the upcoming NFL draft.
Alabama Football's Record Against the SEC & Other Major Opponents
The Alabama Crimson Tide is 929-331-43 all-time in college football. See how the records fall against the Tide's SEC rivals and other top programs in the nation.
Gallery Credit: Jacob Harrison
Another ugly in college football goes to the Auburn Tigers, they paid New Mexico State $1.85 million for the Aggies to come in and hand the Tigers an embarrassing 31-10 loss. This was supposed to be cupcake Saturday for the SEC, I guess the Tigers did not get the memo. This will add to the Iron Bowl stakes next week, Hugh Freeze will need a victory vs. the Tide to end the regular season with a winning record.
Coming up Monday on The Game with Ryan Fowler on Tide 100.9, we will discuss the good, bad, and ugly. You will also have a chance to win prizes from Daniel Moore Art, starting at 2pm on Tide 100.9 FM and 1230 AM WTBC. We have much to discuss.
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