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9/14 Penn State Game

Isn’t it amazing how much things have changed over the last few years?  It seems like just yesterday whenever we played a non-conference game, whether it be Southern Miss, South Florida, Central Florida, Louisiana Tech, or whoever, we knew that we were going to be in for a fight.  The other team would manhandle us on the line of scrimmage, and if we were lucky, some break would go our way at the end of the game and we’d pull out the victory.  On Saturday night, I kept thinking to myself how incredible it was that we were playing the 18th ranked Penn State Nittany Lions, and from the opening kickoff, they had no chance whatsoever. 

The final score in this one was 24-3, and like last week, it felt like it could have been much worse.  Our offense, led by the fire-breathing mega-beast Trent Richardson, was dominant.  I’m on record as saying that we would really miss Mark Ingram while he was recovering from his knee injury, but even I have to begrudgingly admit that we haven’t missed a beat with Richardson.   I do still think that having Ingram back will help us a lot, especially when we start our grueling SEC schedule, but as far as pure running ability goes, I wouldn’t trade Richardson for anybody in the nation.

For the second week in a row, our defense only gave up three points.  In this case, I think that the small point total is a little misleading, because PSU definitely had chances to score that they didn’t capitalize on.  At times the PSU receivers were wide open in the secondary only to be missed by their freshman QB.  A couple of those plays could have resulted in TDs that could have at least to some extent changed the complexion of the game (remember that early screen pass where their RB fell while making the reception?).  Also, I noticed several times where our cornerback, mainly our top CB Dre Kirkpatrick, played poor checking technique with outside leverage allowing their receiver to get a free release on the slant route, resulting in long gains and first downs.  Typically turnovers stopped these drives, but we have some opponents coming up really soon that might make us pay for mistakes like that.   

But after a dominant win over Penn State, I don’t want to dwell on the negatives.  Let’s talk about some of the good things that I saw on Saturday night.  On offense, did you notice that our first TD was the culmination of a drive that was run exclusively out of the empty set?  We’ve run this formation before, but we’ve always been notoriously bad at it, mainly because our line hasn’t been able to keep the pressure off of our QB long enough for him to find a receiver.  This time, however, the line created a nice pocket, allowing McElroy enough time to go through his reads and find the open receiver.  The drive ended with redshirt freshman Kevin Norwood’s first (of many, hopefully) TD reception.  Congratulations Kevin!

On defense, I felt like we were finally seeing the arrival of Jerrell Harris.  As you recall, I predicted great things for Jerrell when he first came to the Capstone, but frankly, his first two years have been a disappointment (to me, anyway).  However, on Saturday night, he really appeared comfortable at the Will linebacker position, making several big plays.  Along those lines, Robert Lester had a big night at the safety position.   Yes, I realize he was stripped on that long fumble return that cost us a TD, but he made an absolutely beautiful interception, killing another PSU scoring opportunity.  And one more note on the defense, did you notice that on third downs, CJ Moseley came in to play the Mike position, while Dont’a moved over as a rush end?  I know he didn’t make any spectacular plays, but the fact that he was in on such crucial plays shows just how much Saban thinks of this kid.  Remember what I said here last week; CJ is our next great Mike linebacker. 

And now it gets fun, because starting next week, we get to see the season debut of our best player, Marcell Dareus.  Yes, I recognize the phenomenal talent that we have on this team, but I stand by it; Dareus is our best player.  I’m hoping that having him back in the lineup will increase the pressure that we can put on the opposing QB, and will make our young secondary’s job easier.  Seriously, I think our defense is at another level with Dareus in the lineup.  We should also see the debut of Mark Ingram next week, but I expect his playing time to be fairly limited for safety reasons.  Hopefully he can get his timing back, making him 100% for the start of the SEC schedule in two weeks.

Duke is next, and I’m not going to blow smoke by saying that they’ll be a tough opponent, but they do have an extremely potent passing attack, so this game should be a good test for our secondary.  We’ve played our first two games with great focus and intensity, and if we do the same against Duke, it will be another extremely fun game to watch.

That’s it for now.  Until next time, feel free to send me any questions or comments.  Roll Tide!

Kenny