Every Monday, Nick Saban spends part of the afternoon showing his players the good plays, bad plays, and ugly plays from the previous Saturday.

The good section highlights what the team did well in the game; individual plays, series of plays, moments of the game that went good for the Crimson Tide.

The bad section focuses on plays that were run incorrectly, maybe a play designed to pick up more yardage but failed. It might include simple mistakes, a turnover or just a simple missed block or tackle.

The ugly section could also be called the disaster section, plays that went completely wrong or injuries. Ugly plays are learning moments for the team. Part of discussing the bad and ugly plays includes thinking through what they could have done differently.

Alabama vs. Ole Miss

Good: The Crimson Tide took a few plays to get settled into the game, but they gained momentum with a key stop on 4th down and then answered with a 14 play, 94 yard touchdown drive.

The Tide then got another key stop and followed up with another drive leading to a touchdown. Alabama’s 1st half was almost played to perfection, I’m sure Nick Saban would disagree.

The Tide’s defense was aggressive, holding the Rebels scoreless in the 1st half. I doubt many people, including myself, had the Rebels not scoring in the first two quarters of play.

Brian Robinson had a career day with the number of touches, on several occasions Robinson was making the first defender miss which allowed for more yardage. Alabama’s rushing attack was a huge plus in the game and allowed the Crimson Tide to win the time of possession by almost 16 minutes.


 

Bad: Alabama once again did not finish how they wanted in the 2nd half, giving up several big plays that allowed the Rebels to make the score respectable.

Nick Saban said, “If there was a negative in the game, it would be that we’ve got to learn how to finish a game. We didn’t finish the game like we like, you know not making fourth down, letting them score, mis-executes and some things throughout the game, but it’s a great win.”

Nick Saban will show his team how the team did not finish during film study and this will provide plenty of coachable moments in the coming days. Alabama’s offensive line took some steps in the right direction, but allowed a few more sacks and quarterback pressures. Some of the sacks could be contributed to the number of defensive backs the Rebels dropped back in coverage.


 

Ugly: Who burnt the popcorn inside Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday afternoon? The aroma filled the air throughout most of the game. I kept smelling it, but could not locate the source after several failed attempts.

On a serious note, Alabama’s snaps were not consistent enough and could be costly against a more elite defensive unit. I counted double digit bad snaps throughout the game which hurts the rhythm on not only running plays but also off the play action passing plays.

Jase McClellan’s injury could prove to be a major loss to the Crimson Tide’s depth at running back. At times, I thought McClellan was the better back in certain situations, but Brian Robinson came to play Saturday afternoon and should be a catalyst for Robinson’s future success.

But the true ugly goes to those, including myself, that thought Lane Kiffin had a chance to be the first former assistant coach to challenge Saban’s unblemished record versus former assistant coaches. I did not think the Rebels would beat Alabama, but I did expect a better performance than we witnessed on Saturday afternoon.

Coming up Monday on The Game with Ryan Fowler on Tide 100.9, we will discuss the good, bad, and ugly. You will also have a chance to win a framed Daniel Moore print, “ Unrivaled,” which recognizes Alabama’s 18th National Championship, starting at 2 p.m. on Tide 100.9 and on the free Tide 100.9 app.

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