The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Alabama at Missouri Game Review

A new season means a new configuration for the game review. This is the 17th year I’ve done them while covering Alabama football, but only now will use the same theme Nick Saban does with the Crimson Tide.

Welcome to “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly” game reviews, where we break down Crimson Tide football games in a straightforward manner, and hopefully point out a few things you may have missed.

It’s a little tougher to do during the pandemic, but we’re going to try and have some fun with it.

Player of the game: Junior wide receiver Jaylen Waddle. He finished with 134 yards and two touchdowns on eight catches, and would have had a third score but he hit the pylon with his hand before the ball reached the goal-line. The receptions were a career-high (six against The Citadel in 2018), and he was four yards shy of his career best (138).

SO MUCH GOOD FOOTBALL ON TODAY 🙌 pic.twitter.com/HJIJ8hWDSv
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) September 27, 2020

Play of the game: Waddle’s 46-yard reception over the middle, where he went up and grabbed the ball before getting hit hard, was flat-out impressive. It also came on Alabama’s first play after Missouri failed to get a first down on fourth-and-2, giving the Crimson Tide a huge wave of momentum.

Jaylen Waddle is dangerous 😳 pic.twitter.com/FmT5nD7mFd
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) September 27, 2020

Statistic of the game: The Alabama defense, which uncharacteristically ranked 37th in the nation against the run last year, didn’t give up an explosive play on the ground (Nick Saban considers an explosive running play to be 13 yards or more). The Tigers averaged 2.0 yards per attempt.

The Good

• The first-team offense looked great for the most part, scoring five touchdowns on seven possessions when junior quarterback Mac Jones was in the game. On one of the failed possessions, the first play resulted in a 12-yard loss when Smith tried to come around the end and didn’t cut upfield.

• Give a lot of credit to Smith and Waddle for playing special teams, and not just as returners. Smith even had a tackle in punt coverage.

• Alabama’s linebackers: In his first game back after missing all of 2019 with a knee injury, senior Dylan Moses had a huge presence as the leader of the defense. Sophomore Christian Harris could be poised for a huge season as well, and now everyone knows why Jones nicknamed freshman outside linebacker Ryan Anderson Jr. the “Terminator.” His burst was sort of reminiscent of Tim Williams as a pass-rusher.

The Bad

• Most of Alabama’s setbacks were made by freshmen, which in a way is actually good news because it’s sort of expected and they should only improve. Remember, the Crimson Tide played six true freshmen on defense last year. It started two against the Tigers, with one in the base formation (Anderson).

• You know senior running back Brian Robinson Jr. is still beating himself up for dropping a touchdown pass on a wheel route.

• Alabama had six penalties in the first half, but only two were for more than five yards. One would think the three false starts can be quickly fixed. The most disappointing flag had to be to true freshman Malachi Moore for holding downfield, nullifying a sack by Moses.

The Ugly

• Missouri’s statisticians only credited one quarterback hurry in the game, and it was to Jaylen Moody. Nothing against the linebacker, but Alabama applied a lot more pressure than that.

• Missouri’s 54-yard touchdown was the result of botched coverage after the coaching staff starting rotating in some young players and the secondary didn’t compensate.

• Missouri needs to do something about the slippery black track on the outer edge of Memorial Stadium. Waddle could have been seriously injured when he slipped and landed hard after scoring his second touchdown. Let’s just say his rear will probably be sore for a few days.

Some Final Things from Alabama at Missouri

Record watch: Senior running back Najee Harris totaled 98 rushing yards. His 2,475 career total moved him into 14th place on Alabama’s all-time list. He passed Eddie Lacy and is now just 11 yards short of tying Sherman Williams in 13th at 2,486 yards. In order to surpass Derrick Henry’s record of 3,591, Harris needs to average 111.6 yards the rest of the way assuming 10 more games.

“I love getting hit” Jones made the comment about getting drilled on the 18-yard touchdown pass to Waddle, who ran a crossing route across the middle and was wide open. But redshirt freshman kicker Will Reichard also got drilled on his fourth extra-point kick. In his first game back from a hip injury he was 5-for-5 on extra points and made a 34-yard field goal.

Yards after the catch: We charted both Smith and Waddle as having 53. They both made eight receptions.

Mac attack: Jones had nine pass attempts of 15 yards or more downfield, and only three were incompletions. One was a drop, one was out-of-bounds and the other was a deep ball that he couldn’t connect with Smith.

On your left: Alabama did most of its running between the center and the left tackle, which made sense as senior Deonte Brown switched back to left guard to play alongside senior tackle Alex Leatherwood. When sophomore Evan Neal briefly left the game he returned at left tackle, which pretty much tells you what Alabama is thinking in terms of the depth chart for the rest of this season and who will be there next year.

Third-down passing: Both of the Jones-to-Waddle touchdowns were on third down. Jones was 4-for-5 for 68 yards. Freshman Bryce Young had a sack and a delay-of-game penalty, but also 3-for-4 for 50 yards on third downs.

Details: Alabama was missing a player when the offense took the field for the first time, with tight end Carl Tucker running on the field at the last moment. … The defense started just one senior, Moses. The offense started seven. … Walk-on freshman Chase Allen handled kickoffs. He averaged 56.9 yards with three touchbacks. … Alabama didn’t have a return yard on special teams as Missouri wasn’t about to let Waddle have the opportunity. … According to the game statisticians, Alabama only used 47 players. … The illegal formation penalty on the extra-point attempt appeared to be on defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis. He needed to be off the line. … Redshirt junior LaBryan Ray was the defensive lineman with the most tackles, with four. Missouri didn’t try to do too much running between the tackles, though.

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