JessN: MSU @ BAMA GAME WRAP-UP: Defense reverses course, offense flounders in a night of mixed messages

[JessN]

MSU wrap-up: Defense reverses course, offense flounders in a night of mixed messages
by Jess Nicholas, TideFans.com Editor-In-Chief

Long before Mississippi State scored on the game's last play to avoid the embarrassment of seeing its potent offense shut out, Alabama fans either had plenty to be excited about – or plenty to worry about, depending on one's point of view.

Bouncing back from a loss, especially one to a rival as hated as Tennessee, is always important. If Alabama had wanted to quickly remove itself from championship contention, all it would have needed to do is sleepwalk through this game and let Mississippi State and Will Rogers go up and down the field a few times. Many other opponents could have and have done exactly that.

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[Bamaro]

Yup, watching the offense this week was similar to watching the defense last week (but not quite as bad). Not a single score in the 3rd and not a single TD in the entire half. Hopefull both will be performing well when we head to LSU in two weeks.

 

[dabamafan]

Thank you as always Jess. The identity of this team is hard to name thus far.

 

[Krymsonman]

Great write-up as usual Jess, and spot on. Once we hit 24-0, it's like BOB decided to start eating hot dogs and said yall call what you want down there.

 

[LA BamaCarl]

Running game is severely lacking on a consistent basis. We're getting stuffed at the line and unless we get an occasional breakthrough run by Gibbs our rushing game is non-existent.

 

[OakMtn4Bama]

An enigma wrapped in a conundrum. Thanks Jess. Always look forward to it.

 

[Evil Crimson Dragon]

Great write-up as usual Jess, and spot on. Once we hit 24-0, it's like BOB decided to start eating hot dogs and said yall call what you want down there.

Maybe they should have told Bryce to call what he wanted..............might have done better
Hopefully in two weeks the O Line will get it together

 

[92tide]

Maybe they should have told Bryce to call what he wanted..............might have done better
Hopefully in two weeks the O Line will get it together

play calling wasn't the issue last night. from about 4-5 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, bryce was off on almost all of his throws. i think his shoulder was giving him a lot of trouble

 

[Evil Crimson Dragon]

play calling wasn't the issue last night. from about 4-5 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, bryce was off on almost all of his throws. i think his shoulder was giving him a lot of trouble

The two week layover might be just what the Dr ordered...............I still might have given the backups a shot when Bama was up to give Bryce a rest

 

[92tide]

The two week layover might be just what the Dr ordered...............I still might have given the backups a shot when Bama was up to give Bryce a rest

yeah, i was hoping to see milroe much earlier

 

[78Alum]

Thanks, Jess. Great write-up as always. I was so impressed by Ricks yesterday. He took the coverage to another level. I was so glad to finally see Harrell. I know he only had 1 target late but maybe he can be the spark that we need. That and we need to get everyone well...

 

[TIDE24]

We can complain about BOB all we want, but at some point players have to make plays and once this offense got the lead last night there was no sense of urgency. We scored 9 pts on our last 8 pos. one of them started at the 17, and we was aided with extra opportunities with penalties against msu. we still could not punch it in. the third TD was only a 29 yrd drive. We moved the ball on two drives last night. Leach also made some questionable 4th down calls early (see kiffin last year). Had it not been the end of the game and msu would have kicked the pat they would have outscored us on the second half. As it was we tied. Not sure what is more concerning, that we really did not seem to learn anything from last week or that CNS appeared to be happy about the performance.

I was hopeful something would change but I did not expect it. We have two road games coming up against LSU and Ole Miss, we should beat both without much difficulty, but right now I would be surprised to win both. And if we lose one and cannot win the west going into the iron bowl I am not sure what this team will do. This team is trying to take the 2010 teams's spot of CNS's most underachieving team.

I hope they prove me wrong and do what they need to the rest of the way, but at this point they will have to prove it to me, because I am not seeing it on the field.

 

[BamaDMD]

What happened to DJ Dale and Oatiis?

 

[Saban4Ever]

What happened to DJ Dale and Oatiis?

I read that Dale was in a walking boot and rumor is Oatis has a knee issue. I hope both will be ready for LSU. I think Seth has a knee issue too. Not sure how serious those injuries are. RTR

 

[Windsortide]

Great write up per usual

 

[Rkharley98]

Jess you are the man. Always my first read post game. Thanks for all you do.

 

[Tradition4ever]

play calling wasn't the issue last night. from about 4-5 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, bryce was off on almost all of his throws. i think his shoulder was giving him a lot of trouble

I agree on the point that Bryce's shoulder may have been bothering him all night. I noticed early in the game that his passes didn't seem to have the same zip on the ball that he usually displays. Then to your point, his accuracy regressed as the game wore on. Hopefully, the time off will help in that regard.

As to playcalling, how much would Bryce's limitations throwing the ball effect the gameplan? Or, would Bryce limit his willingness to try some plays or throws during the game because he knew he didn't have the arm strenght to execute? I thought during the game that maybe the coaches decided to reduce the play sheet on offense because they saw that Bryce couldn't execute aspects of the gameplan. And I also think that MSU quickly caught on that Bryce was limited, and they made adjustments on D to take advantage of that.

If this is accurate, it makes me wonder why we didn't see Milroe sooner, or Simpson for that matter....