9/2/07 The Western Carolina Game (and other stuff)
After months and months of anticipation, we finally got to see the new, improved Alabama football team in action, and in my opinion, what we saw on Saturday was very encouraging. The game started out like a dream sequence, with RS Freshman RB Terry Grant taking the first play from scrimmage for a 48 yard TD run. Unfortunately, those of us watching on PPV didn't get to see it, because we were watching the nail-biting finish of the Nebraska-Nevada game, but we joined the game soon after, and the rest of the game was just as exciting (for Bama fans) as that first play.
Before I go any farther, let me state for the record that I know Western Carolina is a bad team. O.K., not just bad, but really bad. They're so bad that I think that even last year's Alabama team could have scored against them. But that's kind of beside the point. For years, we Bama fans have been watching our teams struggle against everybody. It didn't matter who it was, they were going to be in the game in the second half. Yesterday was different, however. There was never a time when I thought there was any possibility that WCU would make us sweat at the end. We were the better team, and we did what the better team was supposed to do. We beat them.
There were a lot of encouraging things. We played 4 RBs, and all of them looked good (it's just my opinion, but I feel the best when Jimmy Johns is in the game). Our offensive line opened up holes for the RBs to run through, which is something I wasn't sure I'd ever see again. Our offense appeared to have some design to it. Admittedly, play calling is easy when everything works, but still, it looked like we had an offensive plan. We played lots of freshmen. I won't go into the details of every one of them, but if Luther Davis works hard, we'll see him on some All-American lists before he leaves the Capstone. Finally, and this one is very important, if you look hard enough, you can see what our defense is going to become. The blitz packages were complex (so much so that we didn't really execute them very well), but once Saban gets the personnel he needs, and more time to get the system ingrained into the players, we're going to see a brutal, aggressive defense.
There were some areas of concern. Leigh Tiffen really doesn't look like he's shaken off last year's Arkansas game, and quite frankly, we're going to need him before the year's over. The defense played fairly well, but they still aren't strong enough to handle the big boys that are coming up. The QBs missed some fairly easy reads, and Wilson seemed to have a problem with his release point, causing his passes to sail. And finally, the biggest issue is that we were playing Western Carolina, and it's really hard to get a read on the team based on that game.
Next week will be much tougher. Vandy is no joke, and while we'll be able to handle them with little problem in the future, this year will be a challenge. They're better than they were last year, and we only beat them by 3 points then. I think we'll win, but I'll be much more nervous before game time than I was before this one. And once that game is over, we'll know a lot more about this year's Bama team. So far so good; let's keep it going!
Roll Tide,
Kenny
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