Near-perfect Ty Simpson more than enough for Alabama vs. Wisconsin
By David Wasson
Published:
There is no such thing as perfection in sports.
Not even the perfect game in baseball – 27 up, 27 down – is truly perfect, because no pitcher has ever struck out all 27 batters. Even a 300 game in bowling is really never perfect, either, because that 10-pin sometimes is a bit sticky before eventually falling.
Perfection as a college football quarterback is impossible as well, both because there are 11 guys chasing you with intent to inflict damage on you, as well as your guys not always being where you think they are.
That said, Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson had to feel like perfection was close Saturday against Wisconsin – because virtually nothing the Badgers tried to do could stop him.
The junior quarterback turned in a masterful performance in No. 19 Alabama’s 38-14 victory: completing 24 of 29 pass attempts for 382 yards and 4 touchdowns. But Simpson’s gaudy numbers Saturday only tell part of the story, as his dissection of the Badgers was as much a continuation of what he did the week prior as it was a single-game outburst.
That’s because over a 2-game span, Simpson has completed 41 of his 46 pass attempts – an absurd 83.7% completion rate that would be noteworthy against air instead of against 2 live defenses trying their absolute best.
“He has really slowed things down,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said after the game. “We had some drops, or we could have helped him out some even more. He is really playing within himself, going through his read progressions and being really disciplined.
“It isn’t a talent question. He’s risen to the occasion, we challenged him a bit last week and we like where his head’s at.”
Saturday could have been even better for Simpson and the Tide, too, as at least 2 passes bounced cleanly off the hands of Alabama receivers in the second half – including one in the end zone that instead meant settling for a field goal instead of 6 more points.
Yes, Simpson’s 17-for-17 outing for 226 yards and 3 touchdowns against UL-Monroe last weekend might have been written off by naysayers quick to discredit the Warhawks defense – the only time an SEC quarterback ever completed all 17 passes in a single game without an incompletion or interception. But Wisconsin entered Saturday ranked 31st in America by allowing 145.5 passing yards per game and was 6th in the country at just 5 points allowed per outing.
Not that those stats mattered to Simpson. His first completion against Wisconsin – hitting running back Kevin Riley out of the backfield – made it 18 straight before he finally uncorked an incompletion on a 4th-and-2 play early in the first quarter. Simpson answered that with 4 more completions in the first quarter and 8 straight in the second quarter to help build a 21-0 halftime lead.
Arguably Simpson’s easiest completion of the afternoon ended up being the Tide’s flashiest of them all – as OC Ryan Grubb dialed up a jet sweep-reverse-flea flicker screen pass that Simpson calmly tossed to superstar wide receiver Ryan Williams. That pass covered 10 yards in the air, and Williams did the rest by sprinting 75 yards for a back-breaking touchdown.
Simpson graded his performance against Wisconsin humbly, saying he “played pretty good” while also pointing out how much the Crimson Tide has worked since a humbling loss in the season opener at Florida State.
“We have been so intentional with everything,” Simpson said. “We had a team meeting, looked ourselves in the mirror and asked how we would respond. We didn’t have a great Week 1, but we are going to make sure in the weeks to come that we are going to play up to our type of football.”
That type of football was on full display against Wisconsin, although Alabama surely would like to get more output out of its rushing attack than the pedestrian 72 yards on 22 carries it mustered against the Badgers. Alabama swarmed backup Wisconsin quarterback Danny O’Neil all afternoon en route to 4 sacks and a fistful more pressures, and allowed the Badgers to amass just 209 total yards to the Tide’s 454.
Getting Simpson to max efficiency at this point in the season is vital, too, as it gets no easier for Alabama moving forward. After an idle week, the Crimson Tide travels to Athens for a grudge match against Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs. The SEC gives no quarter after that trip, either, with Top 25 opponents in Mizzou, Tennessee, South Carolina, LSU, Oklahoma and Auburn are all potential land mines for a Tide team that can’t afford to underwhelm many more times like it did against the Seminoles in Week 1.
Perfection is unattainable, no matter the sport or situation. But Alabama witnessing Simpson blossom week after week could have the Tide once again feeling like one of the nation’s best soon enough.
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.
