Alabama vs Western Carolina: Grading The Crimson Tide’s Performance

Alabama scored 48 points and racked up over 600 total yards of offense. Against any other team those numbers would have easily led to a grade of an A+. The grading system was tougher than usual because this was against a weaker opponent.

The offense as a whole came out flat. A Blake Sims' interception caused the Tide to end the first quarter with only a three point lead. Sims had not thrown an interception in his last 158 pass attempts, and it was his first since the loss to Ole Miss. Miscommunication caused the errant throw, but, nonetheless, it gave Western Carolina momentum. Sims would bounce back nicely by spreading the field and hitting seven different receivers.

The ground attack helped put the game out of reach. The Crimson Tide rushed for 275 yards with the help of five running backs. Derrick Henry led the way with 92 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. He did fumble deep in Alabama territory, which set up the Catamounts' second score of the day. It was his first loss fumble of the season. Even with the fumble, running the ball was the Tide's greatest strength in the game despite T.J. Yeldon's absence.

Above all else, inconsistency hurt more than anything and ultimately led to their grade. It was inconsistency that forced Alabama to have to convert on long third downs and even fourth down. Two of their touchdowns would have not been made possible without fourth down conversions. The Tide was fortunate to convert these long downs without issue because it was done against a weaker team. They need to avoid these situations because converting will not be so easy against future opponents.

If we were grading Alabama's defense solely on their ability to stop the run then we would be talking about a very high grade. Western Carolina was held to -8 rushing yards, but looking at that single statistic can be misleading. The Catamounts only had 13 rushing attempts, and quarterback Troy Mitchell was sacked twice.

The grade comes from the secondary. Mitchell went 5-of-7 for 71 yards and a touchdown on the opening drive. His first three completions went for 11, 21, and 31 yards. Mitchell would finish with 221 passing yards and another touchdown. Just like the rushing stat, his passing numbers do not reveal the whole story. Many of his incompletions were simple dropped balls or overthrows. The secondary was picked apart early in the game and can not afford to do the same next week.

It wasn't all bad news.Like Saban said, as the game wore on the team played better. Mitchell made it look like a simple game of pitch and catch early on, but we quickly saw the 'No Fly Zone' defense that we are use to seeing. The pressure from the defensive line also made the secondary's job a little easier. On the few designed run plays we say, Alabama's linebackers quickly closed gaps and allowed minimal games.

Here we are talking about another B+ for the special teams. Only this time doesn't involve Adam Griffith. The sophomore did not play due to a nagging injury, so punter JK Scott handled kickoffs while freshman walk-on kicker Gunnar Raborn handled field goals and extra points. Raborn was 6-of-6 on extra points and 2-of-3 on field goals. He did a fantastic job in his first start even though his lone miss did affect the grade.

But Raborn is not the only one who affected the grade. The usually flawless JK Scott actually made a mistake. While Scott did not have a single punt, one of his kickoffs sailed out of bounds late in the third quarter. Field position is key and mistakes like that can cost you. Other than that one miscue, Scott had four touchbacks.

The last and final person with a negative play is Christion Jones, who back peddled in an attempt to return a punt and muffed the ball in the process. Fortunately, the ball rolled out of bounds before WCU players could react. Mistakes like that have already cost Alabama more than once this year.