Hello and Roll Tide!

For the first time in 24 years, Alabama football started the season with a loss. They fell to the Florida State Seminoles 31-17 on Saturday in Tallahassee, Florida. The offense looked average, defense was a mess, and the coaching staff’s adjustments were not effective. DeBoer and staff have a lot to fix to get this team back on track. In just 14 games at Alabama, DeBoer has as many unranked losses (4) as Nick Saban had during his 17-year stint with the Tide. Alabama needs to turn things around quickly before the fans and players lose hope for this season. Below is an injury update, Week 1 Recap, and week 1 storylines revisited. Let’s go!

Injury Notes:

• Jaeden Roberts dressed but did not play against Florida State • Ryan Williams exited the game in the 4th quarter with a concussion • Jah-Marien Latham exited the game in the 4th quarter with a leg injury • Isaiah Horton exited the game with an injury and was “limited”. Should be day-to-day • Jam Miller and Tim Keenan did not play, as expected

Week 1 Recap: Florida State

Offense: Alabama received the opening kickoff then led a well-constructed 17 play touchdown drive. They went 75 yards and took 8:50 off the clock, primarily running the ball, with a good mix of passing, capped off by a 2-yard touchdown from Ty Simpson to Josh Cuevas. Alabama looked in control as on their second possession they drove into field goal range where Conor Talty missed a 53-yard attempt. The defense continued to let FSU score so Grubb decided to change his offensive approach. Alabama went away from the run-game, which was working, and started passing at high volume. This led to two punts in a row and Alabama found themselves in a 17-7 deficit at the half. The defense stood tall, forcing an FSU punt to open the 2nd half, yet Grubb continued to pass the ball. Instead of establishing a drive, Alabama turned the ball over on downs. The deficit continued to grow and Grubb continued to be predictable throwing the football. Alabama found themselves with 1st & 10 on the 15-yard line yet incompletions and sacks led to a 40-yard field goal by Conor Talty. Alabama was able to cut the deficit to 24-17 when Ty found Rico Scott for an 11-yard touchdown, but FSU’s lead quickly grew to 31-17 and Alabama was never able to recover. Overall, the offense played fine, but both Grubb and the defense did not allow them to play comfortably. Ty finished the game 23/43 with 254 yards and two touchdowns, zero turnovers. He was effective at times and took care of the football. The offensive line allowed 14 pressures and 2 sacks, limiting his effectiveness. Alabama rotated running backs all game, and surprisingly Kevin Riley was the leading rusher with 31 yards on 6 attempts. Germie Bernard had an amazing game, trying to will the Tide to victory all by himself. Germie caught 8 passes for 146-yards. Seemingly whenever Alabama needed it the most, Germie was running open downfield. Ryan Williams did not get involved much before his injury, catching 5 passes for 30 yards. (More on the offense in weekly storylines below.)

Defense: Similar to the Vanderbilt game last season, the defense was simply out-played. Kane Wommack lost his duel with Gus Malzahn as regardless of the substitutions or adjustment, Alabama’s defense could not stop Florida State’s rushing attack. Malzahn served up a hefty dose of motions, options, and RPOs. Tommy Castellanos ran FSU’s offense perfectly completing 9 of 14 passes for 152 yards and rushing 16 times for 78 yards and a touchdown. Missing Tim Keenan clearly hurt Alabama’s defense as Kane rotated 8 different defensive linemen as he tried to fill that hole. Behind them, the experienced middle linebacker of Deontae Lawson, Justin Jefferson, and Nikhai Hill-Green combined for 8 missed tackles. In the secondary, expected starters Zabien Brown, Domani Jackson, Bray Hubbard, and Keon Sabb played most snaps, yet many other DBs got look on nickel and dime packages. The biggest surprise was true freshman Dijon Lee taking snaps during the 1st quarter. He was beat on a man assignment leading to a 40-yard reception by Squirrel White. FSU scored shortly after. Alabama only recorded 1 sack and 3 tackles for a loss. FSU averaged 6 yards per play as the Tide could not figure out how to stop them. FSU even ran the same trick play twice against Bama: once for a 32-yard touchdown and the other for 26-yards. Gus saw how easily Micahi Danzy tricked our defense on a reverse, that he did it again in the 4th quarter. For most of the game it looked like FSU was more physical than Alabama. The effort on defense was not up to the Alabama standard and needs to be changed if they expect to compete in the SEC this season.

Week 1 Storylines Revisited

1) Down 3 Starters, do we have the depth? a. Running back – Alabama featured 4 running backs against FSU: Daniel Hill (29 snaps), Richard Young (25 snaps), Kevin Riley (12 snaps), and Dre Washington (4 snaps). These 4 only had 19 combined carries for 67 yards. Outside of Kevin Riley’s 6 yards per carry, the group was not very effective on the ground. Grubb’s dedication to the passing game did not allow any of the backs to get into rhythm. The depth is clearly there but none of the backs stood out above the rest. b. Offensive Line – Alabama’s offensive line remained the same all game: Kaydn Proctor (LT), Kam Dewberry (LG), Parker Brailsford (C), Gino VanDeMark (RG), and Wilkin Formby (RT). The unit played well enough that substitutions were not necessary, but there was plenty of room for improvement. The Tide only averaged 3 yards per carry indicating that the line was not getting much of a push up front. As well, with 14 pressures and 2 sacks, they did not make Ty’s life easy. The line was serviceable, certainly not the reason Alabama lost, but they will look to improve once Jaeden Roberts returns. c. Nost Tackle – Depth behind Tim Keenan was a blaring issue on Saturday as Kane could not figure out who to put in there. As mentioned above, 8 different defensive linemen played up front. Jeremiah Beaman started alongside James Smith yet the interior line rotated all game. Edric Hill, London Simmons, Isaia Faga, and Jordan Renaud all took snaps along the line. Each player took somewhere in the range of 20 snaps as clearly none of Kane’s fixtures was able to stop the FSU attack. Alabama may be in worse shape than expected on the defensive line. We can only hope Tim Keenan can return before Conference play.

2) Can we contain the run game? – In short, no.

3) Will the skill positions lift Ty up? – Ty did have the help of many different receivers on Saturday, yet coaching did not put him in a position to succeed. The offensive line was unable to establish the run yet Ty had over 2.5 seconds to pass on 38 of his 51 drop backs. Many of the offensive players helped Ty succeed but a mixture of Ryan Grubb and the defense made it almost impossible to win.

4) Special Teams Reset – Alabama’s specialists were effective in their limited opportunities on Saturday. Conor Talty made one of two field goals, and two extra point attempts. The first attempt was from 53-yards away. It was perfectly centered but he did not have enough leg on it. The 40-yarder and two PATs made it through the center of the uprights. Blake Doud had a good night punting as he sent away 3 punts for 144 yards (48.0 average). David Bird did not have any issues snapping the ball. There were not many opportunities for the specialists, yet after one week they seem to be in good shape.

As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments. What do you think Alabama needs to address the most? What is your updated prediction for this season? Roll Tide -Jake