The Immaculate First Half: What Happened?

[Volador]

So we had a touchdown lead and you “knew it was over?” Yeah right.

No, VEGA$$ knew it was over, so I followed their lead and well, I was right, wasn't I?

 

[Vol in Buckeye Land]

Penalties/Bama Better than Us in the trenches/execution.

Their offensive line is weak. They were just allowed to hold all second half.

 

[VolInDayton]

Their offensive line is weak. They were just allowed to hold all second half.

Our offensive line played weak. We gave up a lot of tackles behind the line of scrimmage. We could only run with the QB. Alabama wasn't ripping off big runs but they were consistently getting the 4 to 5 yards a carry they needed in the 2nd half

 

[DaddyChad]

Halftime adjustments. Outcoached. No shame in it, just what happens when playing against superior P5 coaches.

Outcoached? How the F do you coach around their Oline holding every play? LOS play changed bc the refs allowed Bama to do whatever they wanted. DBs instituted “grab coverage” (to quote Heupel). Then you’ve got the “fair catch” bs being called to dig us into a hole. You can’t adjust or outcoach the refs just saying F the rules we are going to screw you and we don’t care how obvious it is.

 

[Bollweevil]

Outcoached? How the F do you coach around their Oline holding every play? LOS play changed bc the refs allowed Bama to do whatever they wanted. DBs instituted “grab coverage” (to quote Heupel). Then you’ve got the “fair catch” bs being called to dig us into a hole. You can’t adjust or outcoach the refs just saying F the rules we are going to screw you and we don’t care how obvious it is.

Ok. Perhaps outmaneuvered.

 

[UTK]

Rigged.

 

[UTK]

Paying off the refs is out coaching the other guy. Don’t you all know that? I swear people are morons. This is why the crooked officiating is the way it is. No one blames them. It’s seen as “weak” and “making excuses.” **** that. They’re dirty. And something needs to be done.

 

[DuckInAPen]

Did that second half remind anyone else of Dooley’s last year? We were in most of the first halves of games and it was like the team just gave up.

I can't speak for anyone else, but such a thought never crossed my mind.

 

[posivol]

Their offensive line is weak. They were just allowed to hold all second half.

had 4 hold first half.the 1st td they scored was a blatant hold.the bama defender knew he was caught and looked at the ref who immediatly looked the other way.

 

[Vol_in_NC_1999]

I'd like to know what was said and what the environment was like inside the locker room...on BOTH sides. It looked like they made several adjustments and we didn't.

 

[volbound1700]

I went with Other.

I think Alabama adjusted well to the Tennessee blitz. Alabama's offense was significantly better in the second half. They ran a counter player that Florida ran a lot on Tennessee in the first half of that game that seems to be very successful.

Alabama coaching was the difference. They were watching Tennessee's game plan and adjusted to take advantage of miss matches and schemes. Tennessee did not handle it well and did not make adjustments for Alabama (it is harder to adjust when everything is going your way).

I wasn't a fan of the play-calling in the second half as well by Tennessee.

 

[cgrish]

I went with Other.

I think Alabama adjusted well to the Tennessee blitz. Alabama's offense was significantly better in the second half. They ran a counter player that Florida ran a lot on Tennessee in the first half of that game that seems to be very successful.

Alabama coaching was the difference. They were watching Tennessee's game plan and adjusted to take advantage of miss matches and schemes. Tennessee did not handle it well and did not make adjustments for Alabama (it is harder to adjust when everything is going your way).

I wasn't a fan of the play-calling in the second half as well by Tennessee.

I don't recall us blitzing much the 2nd half? Maybe we did, I will rewatch the game.

 

[gray0306]

Oh God....we named it now??

 

[Flipdaddy]

Lack of production in the red zone and roll refs roll.

 

[sjt18]

Bama still has better players position by position. To beat Bama at Bama, UT needed great play and for the momentum of the game to stay with them. The flags and non-flags weren't just worth yardage. That ridiculous missed hold resulted in a TD and momentum changing play. If that's a 1st and 20 instead... then the whole course of the 2nd half is changed. The ridiculous defensive holding call occurred when Bama needed a 1st down to sustain a scoring drive. Without the penalty, they face a 4th and 9 at the 36... a 53 yd FG attempt.

I am not claiming that UT played well enough to win or that I know the game would have turned out a win. But the officiating very clearly changed the course of the game. It gave Bama opportunities and denied opportunities to UT. It sustained drives for Bama at critical moments but either hurt or did not CORRECTLY help UT sustain drives. For instance, give UT the defensive holding that was MUCH worse than what GJL did... and UT wins going away.

Give Saban credit for that too... even if you don't believe he directly influenced the officials. He saw how the game was being called for his guys and very likely told them to be "more physical" until they started being called.

Without officiating help there's simply no universe in which that Bama OL handles UT's DL that way. Again, that changes the course of the game. It changes how playcalling "looks". It changes execution.

 

[carolinaviking]

Bama adjusted better than we did, shutting down our advantages and exposing our weaknesses after the break.

 

[J C Higgins]

The lack of intensity was evident from the start of the second half.

Or maybe the lack of intensity on Bama's part in the first half.

The player talent disparity is enormous.

 

[rocketskates]

Poor officiating coupled with the players thinking that they had the game in hand. I’ll be honest, the way we were stopping Bama initially and driving on them at will I thought we’d win by 2-3 scores.

 

[Proud Army Wife]

We dominated the 1st Quarter and should of had 21 instead of 13.
The 2 failed attempts to get into the end zone from inside the 10 starts the confidence plunge.
We didn’t do much in the 2nd Qrter until the TD on the last drive.

The 2 plays TD to start the 2nd half broke us.
We’re fragile like that.
Just like the 60+ yard TD run by Florida did.

That last part is what ticks me off the most about this team. They fold when they get kicked in the mouth. Last yrs team had no quit and I miss that so much.

 

[Proud Army Wife]

Poor officiating coupled with the players thinking that they had the game in hand. I’ll be honest, the way we were stopping Bama initially and driving on them at will I thought we’d win by 2-3 scores.

I thought so too. We looked like the better team. A real head-scratcher.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

We dominated the 1st Quarter and should of had 21 instead of 13.
The 2 failed attempts to get into the end zone from inside the 10 starts the confidence plunge.
We didn’t do much in the 2nd Qrter until the TD on the last drive.

The 2 plays TD to start the 2nd half broke us.
We’re fragile like that.
Just like the 60+ yard TD run by Florida did.

Last year we could weather a long TD or a deficit because we were so potent offensively