re: Bama Football Tidings

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Game balls for Alabama: Duke edition By Charlie Potter Alabama won its first game of the 2019 season Saturday with a 42-3 victory over Duke. The Crimson Tide (1-0) produced 512 yards of offense, while its defense held the Blue Devils to 204 yards. Here, we hand out game balls to the best individual player performances in Alabama’s win.

Tua Tagovailoa
For the seventh time in his UA career, Tagovailoa threw for 300-plus yards and four touchdowns in a single game. The junior quarterback finished with 336 yards and four scores on 26-of-31 passing (83.9 percent) with a passer rating of 217.5. He also rushed for 15 yards on five carries with a long of 10 yards. In a season where his performance will be under a microscope until the Heisman Trophy is awarded in December -- and even after -- Tagovailoa once again looked like one of the best players in all of college football as he led the Crimson Tide to a 39-point victory.

Jerry Jeudy
The player Tagovailoa looked for the most was Jeudy. For the first time in his career, Jeudy had 10 receptions and turned those into 137 receiving yards and a 21-yard touchdown in the third quarter, which was his longest play of the afternoon. The 2018 Biletnikoff Award winner was targeted 13 times on Saturday afternoon. In typical Jeudy fashion, he made Duke’s defenders look foolish with his arsenal of jukes and spin moves, which allowed him to pile up 137 yards.

Jaylen Waddle
Jeudy was fantastic in Alabama’s opener, but Waddle did more with less. The sophomore wide receiver caught five balls on six targets and turned them into 90 yards. In the second quarter, Tagovailoa threw a quick pass to Waddle, who did the rest, quickly turning upfield and fighting through would-be tacklers for a 39-yard gain -- the longest play of the game. The second-year player led the Tide in yards per reception, averaging 18 per touch. Fortunately for the Blue Devils, Waddle did not have an opportunity to return any of Duke’s six punts on Saturday.

Xavier McKinney
McKinney quietly had a great game in his home state. The junior safety led Alabama with eight tackles and helped keep the Blue Devils to three points, 204 total yards and only 97 passing yards. With Deionte Thompson leaving early for the NFL, McKinney is the quarterback of the secondary now, and it looks like he picked up right where he left off last year. He finished third on the team in tackles last season, and it wouldn’t shock me to see him lead the team in 2019.

Trevon Diggs
In his first game back since Week 6 of last season, Diggs played a big role in giving the football back to Alabama’s offense. In the third quarter, the senior cornerback recovered a fumble that was forced by Patrick Surtain II, and in the same quarter, Diggs picked off quarterback Quentin Harris for his second career interception. He also contributed two tackles. UA was glad to have Diggs and linebacker Terrell Lewis (3 tackles, 1 sack) back healthy for the start of the season.

Shane Lee, Christian Harris
Tasked with replacing the most experienced inside linebackers on Alabama’s roster, including a preseason All-American in Dylan Moses, the pair of true freshmen performed admirably in their first college games. Stepping in at Mike linebacker and calling the defense, Lee registered six tackles, including a fourth-down stop that gave the ball back to the offense. Harris, who replaced Joshua McMillon at Will linebacker, also recorded six tackles. Entering the game, it seemed like inside ‘backer was the top concern for the Tide, but that doesn’t appear to be the case anymore.

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There hasn’t been a more criticized position in the Nick Saban era than the kickers, especially in the last couple of season. Last year, the crimson tide really struggled capitalizing on kicks and even extra points throughout the entire season.

Not to mention one of the biggest bruises of Saban’s time at Alabama came at the cost of a missed kick.

These past hardships would make it easy to criticize freshman kicker/punter Will Reichard’s 0/2 performance yesterday. Although he did miss his only two field goal attempts, the first one came at 49 yards and the second at 48 yards.

If there is one thing to take away from Reichard’s misses, it’s that he has the strength to warrant an attempt from that distance and is something that has caught Saban’s eye.

“Will did great. He kicked a lot of touchbacks, which shows his leg strength,”said Saban in the post-game press conference. I think (the two) field goals that he hit, he really hit well. It’s a little unlucky that both of them hit the pole, but hopefully he’ll be able to gain confidence and improve on that in the future.”

Not only did Reichard have kickoff and field goal responsibilities for the game but he also served as the team’s punter for the whole game. The Hoover, Alabama native, averaged 40 yards a punt and was able to pin Duke inside the 20 on one of them.

However, fans were still critical of Reichard despite the busy day which warranted former Alabama punter P.J. Fitzgerald to come to his defense.

Yes, Reichard may have missed both of his attempts from Saturday, but he impacted the game in many other ways. As the season progresses and he gets more comfortable with the tempo of the game the field goals will start going through for the young kicker.

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A day after Alabama’s 42-3 win over Duke, there was time to digest what happened Saturday afternoon in Atlanta.

After looking back at the box score and rewatching the game on DVR, we’re able to add some perspective to the original reaction to 2019’s first game.

We’ll do this in bullet points as we see what we missed the first time around:
-- On the sack that ended the first drive, Duke was moving all over faking blitzes and brought just four with six blockers (including RB Jerome Ford). MLB Koby Quansah patiently paused and skirted untouched round the right end to blow it up with seven dropping into coverage and clogging passing lanes.
-- All the talk about freshman starters on defense almost lost D.J. Dale up front. He actually bullied his way into the backfield on the first snap to make the tackle one yard behind the line. The nose guard had three tackles with Quinnen Williams in the building Saturday.
-- Alabama is known for using skill players on special teams. A few interesting ones Sunday: Jerry Jeudy was on the punt return team not as the deep man but on the line looking for the block. He was actually flagged for holding on a punt in the third quarter.
-- Duke’s Edgar Cerenord was ejected early in the second half but the seeds were planted early on. The starting defensive tackle slammed Alabama o-lineman Landon Dickerson on the fumble lost by Jerome Ford on the second drive. Dickerson got up with a shove and went helmet to helmet with the Blue Devil. Refs and teammates quickly stepped in, but it foreshadowed what came later.
-- Duke players said they could sense Alabama’s confusion when they used the triple option, but the impact was minimal. Taking over at the Tide 26, Duke managed just 19 yards on seven plays. The longest run of that series was seven yards and the tricky option pass was defended by two DBs not fooled by the motion.
-- Alabama scored at least a field goal in each of the first 15 quarters last fall. It went scoreless in the opening period against Duke before putting up at least a touchdown each of the next three. For the 2018 season, Alabama outscored opponents 233-59 in the first quarter -- by far the widest margin of the four game segments. The early second-quarter touchdown Saturday extended Alabama’s streak to 243 games without being shutout. That dates back to the 2000 Iron Bowl, a 9-0 loss.
-- After things started clicking for the offense, it was clear Duke had trouble tackling in the open field. Jerry Jeudy practically ran circles around defenders on one first-quarter play. The first man rarely brought down a receiver in space.
-- Tua Tagovailoa threw just five incomplete passes in 31 tries. One was a miscommunication with Jeudy in the first quarter when the WR blocked instead of looking for the pass. Jeudy patted his chest as if he was taking responsibility for the crossed wires. Two more were overthrows in the first quarter before Tagovailoa was 9-for-9 in the second.
-- Watching freshman LBs Shane Lee and Christian Harris, it didn’t look like they were lost at any point in the defense. There were times offensive linemen got to the second level for some smothering blocks but they held their own and more. Both played well in pass coverage too, though Harris did get beat for a 20-yard gain early in the second half.
-- Terrell Lewis got an extra ovation when making his first sack in the second quarter after missing last year with an ACL tear. His last play was actually on that field and it was a sack against Georgia in the 2018 national title game. “It was basically like that Georgia play, honestly,” Lewis said Saturday night. “Raekwon (Davis) stabbed the A-gap and I came in and looped around and I was right there.” Lewis almost made another sack in the third quarter as he hit Quentin Harris as he threw a deep ball that had no shot.
-- Alabama WRs are known for their speed but there were some tough-nosed runs Jaylen Waddle’s 39-yard reception in the second quarter saw him ram a few tacklers. A few plays later, right tackle Jedrick Wills came in late to slam DeVonta Smith’s pile forward.
-- After a low line drive, Will Reichard’s second punt of 41 yards had a hang time of 4.47 to force a fair catch. Alabama punted only twice.
-- Not sure how Xavier McKinney didn’t intercept the pass early in the second half that went through his hands. Looked impossible in real time and again on TV. Later in the drive, his open-field tackle on fourth down out-muscled the receiver just short of the line. Duke was 0-for-2 on fourth-down plays.
-- Duke wasn’t much of a threat throwing the ball but both cornerbacks made nice plays. First it was Patrick Surtain stripping the fumble in the third quarter that Trevon Diggs recovered. A few moments later, Diggs made one of the more athletic interceptions that set off the celebration and eventual flag on Saban.
-- About that sideline warning, Saban was mad about the flag being thrown because he said the players should be able to have fun and celebrate. Looking back at it, the flag was thrown because a staffer bumped into the official on the sideline and not because players were celebrating.
-- Tua Tagovailoa did a fine job holding on kicks after joking about his other job Monday.
-- It was a big day for the passing game but rewatching it, the lack of throws to Henry Ruggs III was clear. He caught just two passes for 14 yards while Jeudy had 10 catches. Waddle and DeVonta Smith had five each.
-- Impressive athleticism from Mac Jones converting a fourth-and-three with a four-yard scramble when the pocket broke down.

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Two Alabama players have received SEC weekly honors, including a freshman defensive lineman.

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was named SEC co-offensive player of the week Monday while D.J. Dale was selected as the conference’s co-defensive lineman of the week.

In three quarters of work, Tagovailoa was 26 of 31 passing for 336 yards with four touchdown passes.

Dale posted three tackles and 0.5 tackles for a loss in his first college game.

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Alabama coach Nick Saban met with the media as the Crimson Tide gets set to prepare for its second game of the season against New LINK State.

Here is a summary of what he said:

— Saban said he was pleased with the resiliency the team showed after a slow start in its 42-3 victory over Duke on Saturday. “Everyone kept their poise,” he said.

— New Mexico State is a “wide-open team,” Saban said. He noted the Aggies run a lot of spread concepts.

— Saban said the shortcomings in the running game were the result of a lot of factors, including Alabama’s dependency on RPOs and the effect they had on blocking the Blue Devils’ defensive backs as well as the stunting that Duke did.

— Saban said right guard Landon Dickerson played with a lot of toughness.

— Saban said linebacker Ale Kaho is a good athlete and that is why he was a lead blocker in the goal-line package Alabama ran Saturday.

— Saban said former Alabama and current Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts offered a great example when he was at Alabama. Saban didn’t watch Hurts’ performance on Sunday against Houston but added that he heard he played well.

— Saban said guard/center Emil Ekiyor (knee) may need a week or two for recovery.

— Saban said outside linebacker Terrell Lewis was able to apply some pressure and played well on the edges Saturday.

— Saban said Tua Tagovailoa played well Saturday but that he “probably left some money on the table.”

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From a national perspective after one game, Tagovailoa’s 83.9 completion percentage (26-of-31) ranks third in the entire country, while his 217.5 quarterback rating ranks fourth. His four passing touchdowns are tied for fourth nationally and his 10.8 yards per attempt is good for ninth place.

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Among QBs who played Power 5 opponents, Tua is #1 in each of these categories.

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#Alabama announced some number changes after Week 1 ... Fr. WR John Metchie will now be No. 8 (was 3), and fr. DB Jordan Battle will now be No. 9 (was 6).

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