The game was ugly, but A.J. McCarron’s girlfriend Katherine Webb is not.
Jeff Risdon, DLD Editor
If you watched the game, you know it was painfully one-sided. I watched it twice tonight thanks to the wonder of DVR and using commercial breaks and halftime to review prior drives. I used the above picture to help cleanse my eyes from the massacre. Here are my notes on the final college game of the 2012 season.
Alabama:
CB #28 Dee Milliner
–played press man coverage on Eifert on sideline routes, showed excellent physicality
–stayed on Eifert lined up wide left, excellent inside cover technique
–after locking up Eifert on a sideline route, shed block to close on QB running for 1st down, forced him out early
–showed poor ball awareness a couple of times, including early 3Q completion
–ran stride for stride with WR down the field, tipped ball into air for Clinton-Dix INT
LG #65 Chance Warmack
–fired out and sealed an inside hole on the first touchdown run
–quickly got to sideline in front of screen, engaged the corner & pushed him out of bounds
–put his bullseye on Te’o early on and dominated him more often than not. Dominated him.
–destroyed LB by turning shoulders with great technique in space
–helped Jones absorb rush on Cooper TD reception
C #75 Barrett Jones
–late to pick up Te’o crashing on a run blitz, slow to get out of stance
–pushed backwards by Nix
–held Nix on a run to the left, spun him around by the shoulder pad
–struggled to anchor vs. bigger ND tackles
–had an altercation with QB McCarron when Jones took too long to make line call and drew delay of game penalty, pushed his QB
RT #76 D.J. Fluker
–got across the field and engaged at the second level on run to left side
–got away with a hold in pass protection on 2nd drive
–excellent drive block opened huge hole
–showed good patience on spin move, waited to strike until pass rusher was off balance
–pancake block on Lacy run
–very methodical kick step and slide, heavy legged
RB #42 Eddie Lacy
–attacked hole on left side
–broke tackle in backfield, then broke upfield for near touchdown
–showed excellent vision to wait for an edge block, then motored outside around it
–bounced run around right tackle for nice gain when B gap hole was stuffed
–dropped a dumpoff throw, tried to run before the catch
–nasty/beautiful spin move on checkdown reception to get into the end zone
–nice sidestep move bought him extra yards a few times
–repeatedly absorbed initial contact and bounced off it
TE #89 Michael Williams
–lined up tight to tackle almost exclusively
–excellent down block, turned shoulders of end and opened nice hole
–on his TD reception, sold the initial block fake and quickly slipped behind the defense off right tackle
–pancake block on perimeter run
–when he lined up on left side, Bama threw almost every time; when he lined up tight right, Bama ran behind him a lot
DT #54 Jesse Williams
–plugged “A” gap, allowed LB to make tackle for loss
–showed good hustle when initial rush stymied, worked his way into a QB pressure
–struggled to disengage from blocks in pass rush
–left game in 4th quarter with leg injury, returned on same drive
LB #35 Nico Johnson
–saw almost no action until final drive of 1st half
–made nice play on receiver near sideline in zone coverage
–beat LT around the edge on blitz while lined up in obvious blitz off his outside shoulder
S #37 Robert Lester
–bulldog tackle on Eifert while trying to strip ball
–good man coverage on slot receiver running an out, undercut & eliminated throwing lane
–good awareness on deep help, chose the correct assignment to take away an option
–a half-step late to react on outside throw, allowed completion
–stepped in bucket to change direction
DE #90 Quinton Dial
–saw limited reps in rotation at RDE early, played more LDE later in game
–anchored on the edge vs. run, forced it back inside
–lost outside contain on QB rollout
–rose straight up out of stance