Crimson Tide First and 10

There’s just no way around it, the University of Alabama football team was flat Saturday night against Tulane, but still managed to pull out a 20-6 victory at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Think the Crimson Tide players might hear about it this week from the coaching staff? Yeah, we do too.

Injury No. 1

Senior guard Marlon Davis was on the field for the opening series, and looked fine when he pulled on the first play, but missed the rest of the game for what coach Nick Saban announced was a hamstring injury. Nothing seemed irregular, so the best guess here is that Davis either sustained the injury on the second play when he ended up on the ground, or he may have been at the bottom of the pile on the first extra point.

Injury No. 2

Junior kicker Leigh Tiffin took a shot to the head when he was hit by senior Michael Batiste on Alabama’s first kickoff. Batiste was also offsides on the play trying to get an early shot on junior Javier Arenas, which nullified Travis Burks’ 54-yard return. Burks made it to only the 20 on the subsequent kickoff, making the net loss 38 yards.

With true freshman Corey Smith struggling in relief, with a missed 37-yard field goal, a missed extra point and sent a kickoff out-of-bounds, junior Heath Thomas handled kickoffs in the second half, and Tiffin came back to kick the last extra point.

Injury No. 3

Arenas got creamed by Jordan Ellis on his first punt return of the second half when the senior linebacker was able to line him up along the sideline and unintentionally also got him in the head. However, Arenas had already taken two helmet-to-helmet hits, both in the second quarter, from freshman Sule Osagiede on his kick return and sophomore Alex Wacha during the 33-yard punt return.

With Arenas out of the game, one of the defensive backs who got more playing time was true freshman safety Mark Barron. True freshman wide receiver Julio Jones lined up deep on the next punt return, and true freshman running back Mark Ingram was deep for the kick return.

Head games

Sophomore defensive tackle Josh Chapman’s personal-foul penalty was ridiculous compared to the three times senior quarterback John Parker Wilson took a shot to the head, none of which drew a flag. Two were by junior linebacker Travis Burks, who put his helmet right on Wilson’s chin with 1:00 remaining in the third quarter on the pass Wilson one-hopped to Jones. After Tulane took a time out, Wilson shook it off and the Tide scored three plays later.

Where’s Wilson?

Wilson’s night wasn’t as bad as his numbers (11 of 23, 73 yards) indicated. He had four passes deflected or knocked down, three were dropped, one was caught out-of-bounds, he threw away one and missed a difficult deep throw while on the run. Tulane was also credited with three hurries and four sacks, at least two of which were due to a running back not picking up his man.

Wilson’s first four pass attempts on third down were incomplete (for reasons already mentioned), but he completed his next four to finish 4 of 9. He was 0-for-2 in the red zone. He didn’t have a touchdown pass, but also didn’t have any interceptions.

Big-play drought

The expected mismatch against Tulane’s secondary never materialized, and no one in the starting lineup had more than one catch. Alabama’s longest reception was 15 yards to senior tight end Nick Walker, who from then on didn’t get another ball thrown his way, followed by Jones’ 13-yard slant and the incredible 12-yard catch by redshirt freshman Marquis Maze.

One surprising statistic was the lack of yards after the catch, which should be a strength. Alabama had 90 yards after the catch against Clemson, and just 53 vs. Tulane.

Incidentally, the Tide’s offense was so out of whack that after the first quarter Alabama accumulated just 19 yards on the next 15 snaps, until the third-quarter touchdown drive.

Big-play special teams

The punt return for the touchdown probably should have resulted in no gain. Arenas made Wacha, senior Craig Gelhardt, and sophomore Devin Holland all miss, and then got blocks from true freshman Dont’a Hightower, sophomore Kareem Jackson and senior Rashad Johnson before outracing Corey Sonnier to the end zone.

The touchdown was even more remarkable considering personnel on the field, because Alabama wasn’t playing for a big return. Johnson and Marquis Johnson lined up opposite the gunner and the other players were all defensive starters: Rolando McClain, Brandon Fanney, Brandon Deaderick, Bobby Greenwood, Corey Reamer, and yes, Terrence Cody.

O n Arenas’ 33-yard return, the return unit had a much different look, including Ali Sharrief, Charlie Higgenbotham, Tyrone King, Jackson, Marquis Johnson, Chris Underwood, and Reamer.

As for the punt block, junior Roy Upchurch slipped by Holland to reach the punter, and the ball went right to junior Chris Rogers for the 17-yard touchdown.

Fanney leads pack

Although Tulane certainly tested them, Alabama’s linebackers had a strong game, with the four starters combining for 40 tackles, 5½ for a loss, a forced fumble and a pass broken up.

While McClain and Hightower were an obvious presence in the middle, junior “Jack” linebacker Brandon Fanney had his best performance despite a 5-yard penalty for lining up in the neutral zone. He made a terrific stop on the early third-down option run which should have gone for a first down, didn’t bite on a fake while snuffing out an end run, pressured the quarterback on a deep incompletion, and just missed a tackle in the backfield.

Fanney was credited with eight tackles, 1½ for a loss. Coming in, he had eight career tackles.

9. Running games

Tulane didn’t even try to run up the middle, but did execute carries of 10 and 9 yards behind the left guard. Otherwise, the Green Wave accumulated 67 rushing yards on 30 carries for a 2.2 average.

Alabama started the game by trying to run to its right, without much success. By going to a four-receiver set in the third quarter Ingram was able to pound the ball on the touchdown drive, keyed by carries of 16 and 15 yards. Both were to the left.

True freshmen

When Courtney Upshaw replaced Higgenbotham on the re-kick following Tulane’s offside penalty, he became the 10th true freshman to see game action this season. Also on the field Saturday night were Smith and linebacker Jerrell Harris.

Sophomore Darius Hanks also got into the game and had a ball thrown his way.

Player of the game: Even though he exited early in the second half, junior Javier Arenas had 147 return yards on punts, including an 87-yard touchdown and 65 yards on kickoffs. The combined 212 yards was more than the entire Alabama offense generated.

Play of the game: Arenas’ touchdown gave the Tide a lead it would never relinquish.

Hit of the game: Junior linebacker Cory Reamer made three nasty hits, including the Crimson Tide’s lone sack. On first-and-10 at the Alabama 28 in the fourth quarter, he lined up just outside of end Lorenzo Washington and cut inside to pound unsuspecting quarterback Kevin Moore. Reamer finished with seven tackles, two for a loss.

Statistic of the game: Tulane had the ball inside the Alabama 30 five times, yet never reached the end zone and missed two of field-goal attempts. In that part of the field, Tulane executed 13 offensive plays and achieved just two first downs. The Tide defense has yet to give up a touchdown this season.

Did you notice?: Sophomore middle linebacker Rolando McClain had a monstrous game, with 15 tackles including two for a loss, but was slow to get up after the final play. He did eventually walk off the field.