Comedy of errors dooms, but does not destroy, Crimson Tide
By David Wasson
Published:
For 8 glorious games, the Alabama Crimson Tide had been dancing between the proverbial raindrops.
Everything that needed to go right in a winding path from a season-opening disaster to kickoff Saturday afternoon had gone right – from teaching the Georgia Bulldogs to behave yet again to avenging last season’s epic wrong against Vanderbilt, from holding off Mizzou to sparking up stogies against Tennessee … disaster seemed to have dealt Alabama its only scoring blow way back on Aug. 30 in Tallahassee.
Until Saturday afternoon, anyway.
That’s the thing when you dance every week with disaster: every now and then, disaster is bound to win. Which is precisely what happened on a picture-perfect day at Bryant-Denny Stadium: disaster connecting time after time after time, with Alabama finally running out of counterpunches.
Oh sure, the 11th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners had something to do with the 24-21 result that threw a goodly amount of the Southeastern Conference future into disarray. Oh sure, the Sooners sidling into Tuscaloosa and taking down the Tide despite being out-everything-ed on offense is something you don’t see every day.
But make no mistake: No. 4 Alabama gift-wrapped a victory to Oklahoma like a most-gracious host coming over for the holidays. Consider:
- The Crimson Tide’s plus-10 turnover margin was the best in the SEC and 4th-best nationally – until Alabama coughed it up 3 times;
- Alabama’s generally solid punt return defense allowed a 46-yard return that led to Oklahoma’s first score;
- Conor Talty hooked a 36-yard field goal right before halftime so badly that he chewed out his long snapper on the way to the locker room;
- Alabama (8-2 overall, 6-1 SEC) outgained Oklahoma 406-212, won the first down battle 23-12 and held the ball for almost 9 more minutes… but still lost.
The comedy of errors wasn’t limited to measurables, either. Heisman Trophy hopeful Ty Simpson passed for 326 yards, sure, but he also held the football far too long time after time in the face of a steady Oklahoma defense. It was almost like Simpson experienced a Wreck-It Ralph glitch whenever the Sooners (8-2, 4-2) got their backs up and broke through the Alabama offensive line.
“Yeah I mean, with the pressure that they brought, he’s got to get rid of it and be okay with throwing it away,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said about Simpson’s inability to be smart under duress. “You can only hold on [to the ball] so long and feel like with the blitz they had, you’re going to overwhelmed and outnumbered. And so you just got to understand the situation.
“I know it’s 3rd down and he wants to stay on the field, but you just got to understand, your defense is playing pretty good, too. And you just got to live with punting once in a while.”
Simpson not calibrating his internal clock and throwing the rock into Row 6 proved especially costly twice, as he was stripped of the football during a sack for the 5th straight game and also uncorked an 87-yard Pick-6 to Sooners safety Eli Bowen in the 1st quarter.
None of those miscues were outcome-altering on their own, but collectively they were simply too much for Alabama to overcome — even though the Crimson Tide still found themselves driving in the waning minutes to either tie it with a field goal (gasp, Talty again?) or win it with a touchdown. But some dodgy clock management by DeBoer and Simpson both eating an 11-yard sack with 1:55 to play and then one-hopping passes to Isaiah Horton and Ryan Williams were the final nails in the proverbial coffin.
“I feel like we still dominated the game,” Alabama linebacker and captain Deontae Lawson said afer the game. “It was just a couple plays that hurt. That will lose you the game. We’ll look at it and we’ll get better from it.”
Although the Oklahoma victory/Alabama loss will make Tuesday’s weekly CFP rankings reveal mighty interesting (the Sooners were poised to be the odd-team out last week, and now the Tide might just switch places…), Alabama still has a path to the Magic 12 in front of it.
After a nonconference breather next week against Eastern Illinois, that path goes right down Wire Road and through the Loveliest Village on the Plains. At the end of it awaits the Auburn Tigers, who might have fired coach Hugh Freeze but also host the annual Iron Bowl at the same Jordan-Hare Stadium that has been a house of horrors for Alabama throughout history.
“Everybody’s mad,” Simpson said in a quiet Alabama locker room. “There’s a handful of plays we wish we would have had back. The outcome would have been different. These guys are resilient. These guys fight their tails off every single day. We’re just going to stay together. We’ve still got 2 more games. We control our own destiny. That’s what we need to do.”
Knowing what you need to know is all fine and good, but doing it is a wholly different thing. Can the Crimson Tide, freshly spanked by disaster and tasting defeat for the first time in an otherwise glorious 77 days, figure it out and take care of business against That Team Down The Road?
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
