When the University of Alabama football team faced LSU last year the possession chart told the story of the 38-17 victory.
Specifically, here’s what the Crimson Tide did in 2013 after punting the first two times it had the ball:
Possession, Plays-yards, Result
3. 4-3, Field goal
4. 4-78 ,Touchdown
5. 10-80, Touchdown
6. 1-1, End of first half
7. 14-79, Touchdown
8. 10-71, Touchdown
9. 8-78, Touchdown
10. 3-(-9), End of half
Now take a look at Alabama’s possession chart in the second half Saturday:
9. 3-9, Punt
10. 3-6, Punt
11. 5-18, Punt
12. 3-2, Punt
13. 2-5, Fumble
14. 9-55, Field goal
The Crimson Tide had more offensive yards on the last-minute drive than the rest of the half.
- Play of the game: On its first play of overtime Alabama quickly broke the huddle in a way that wouldn’t give the defense much of a chance to react, and went five wide including Cam Robinson. The freshman left tackle faked that he was to get a screen pass while the player who had lined up in his spot was eligible and no one picked him up. Sophomore Brandon Greene had spent the past couple of years going back and forth between tackle and tight end, and had only played in five games this season. His 24-yard reception was the longest gain by either team and set up the game-winning touchdown.
- Player of the game: Despite playing with a hand fracture junior linebacker Reggie Ragland filled a lot of holes and was in on 13 tackles, while junior defensive lineman Jarran Reed was credited with 15 after having 20 during his first eight games.
- Hit of the game: Seriously, how did LSU’s Leonard Fournette get up after being drilled by Reuben Foster on the final kick return?
- Statistic of the game: Although junior wide receiver Amari Cooper had a couple of uncharacteristic drops – more on that later — he set Alabama receiving records for career yards (2,951) and single-season catches (79) and yards (1,215).
- Did you notice? After junior running back TJ. Yeldon’s fumble there were announcements made telling fans not to storm the field at Tiger Stadium.
Here are 10 other things of note from Saturday’s 20-13 overtime victory at LSU.
1. Explosive plays: Nick Saban defines them as a run of 13 or more yards or a pass of 17 or more yards. Alabama’s goal is nine per game. It had six while LSU only had three with its biggest play a 17-yard screen pass.
Game leaders
Amari Cooper 2
Brandon Greene 1
Christion Jones 1
Blake Sims 1
T.J. Yeldon 1
Season leaders
Amari Cooper 26
T.J. Yeldon 17
Derrick Henry 11
DeAndrew White 7
Blake Sims 6
2. Rushing average: Believe it or not, Alabama averaged 3.7 yards per rushing attempt, while LSU averaged 3.3. However, the Tigers had 56 attempts compared to the Crimson Tide’s 29.
3. Mistakes index: Basically, it’s a measure of miscues, but it could arguably also be an indirect indicator of maturity and discipline. The mistakes index is fumbles lost + interceptions + penalties + sacks. Alabama had only one penalty through regulation.
Game-by-game
West Virginia 0+1+7+0 = 8
Florida Atlantic 0+0+6+1=7
Southern Miss 1+0+3+1=5
Florida 3+1+11+1=16
Ole Miss 1+1+8+1=11
Arkansas 2+0+4+2=8
Texas A&M 0+0+0+1=1
Tennessee 2+0+6+1=9
LSU 1+0+3+1= 5
Game-by-game opponents
West Virginia 0+0+6+3 = 9
Florida Atlantic 1+0+3+3=7
Southern Miss 0+0+6+1=7
Florida 1+2+5+0=8
Ole Miss 1+0+3+2+7
Arkansas 2+1+4+4=11
Texas A&M 0+1+2+6=9
Tennessee 1+1+4+2=8
LSU 0+1+2+2=5
4. Who was thrown at? LSU went after junior cornerback Cyrus Jones big-time, with nine balls thrown his way resulting in just two receptions. He had good coverage on Malachi Dupre’s 14-yard touchdown, and the other was a 12-yard catch off a play-action in which the receiver broke off his route. Five passes were thrown sophomore Eddie Jackson’s way resulting in two catches for 13 yards and his first interception of the season when the receiver slipped.
5. Yards after the catch: Alabama managed to reach 100 yards, but that was one short of the previous season low. Considering the Crimson Tide had 20 catches that worked out to a 5.0 average per reception, the second lowest this season behind the 4.83 against West Virginia.
Game leaders
Amari Cooper 60
Brandon Greene 12
DeAndrew White 12
ArDarius Stewart 8
Christion Jones 6
O.J. Howard 2
Total: 100
Season leaders
Amari Cooper 617
T.J. Yeldon 155
DeAndrew White 136
Kenyan Drake 102
O.J. Howard 83
Christion Jones 81
Total: 1,367 of 2,531 (54.0 percent)
6. The deep ball: LSU challenged senior quarterback Blake Sims to throw deep and three or four times he just missed on a pass that could have broken the game open. In passes that went at least 12 yards downfield he had 13 straight incompletions before connecting for two during the final possession of regulation, the 22-yard third-down completion to senior Christion Jones and the 16-yard sideline pass to senior DeAndrew White to set up the tying field goal.
7. Most around the ball: Defensive “touches” is found by adding together tackles, assists, sacks, passes broken up (interceptions are included in that statistic), hurries, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries. Ragland extended his season lead over safety Landon Collins while Reed moved into the top five with his performance.
Game leaders
Jarran Reed 16
Reggie Ragland 14
Trey DePriest 9
Brandon Ivory 8
Nick Perry 8
Season leaders
Reggie Ragland 84.5
Landon Collins 72
Trey DePriest 61.5
Nick Perry 49
Jarran Reed 43
8. Third-down passing: Blake Sims was 7 of 15 for 83 yards on third downs, but only four of those completions resulted in a first down. He also fell below 70 percent for his completion rate on third downs, but is still 43 of 64 (67.2 percent) for 436 yards and no interceptions. Between he and Jacob Coker the Crimson Tide has already matched the number of completions both on third downs, 50, and in the red zone, 20, as it had last season.
9. Dropped passes: It’s sometimes difficult to tell if a pass was dropped or just off its mark, but Cooper went from having no drops during the first eight games to three Saturday – and that doesn’t include the deep sideline pass in which he nearly made a remarkable reception. Alabama’s four drops at LSU were the most this season and Yeldon leads the team with four.
10. Records chase: Yeldon’s attempt to become Alabama’s all-time leading rusher this season might be over after he sustained another ankle injury against LSU. By finishing with 68 he joined the 3,000-yard club with 3,029, but still needs 537 to break Shaun Alexander’s career record of 3,565.
All-time Alabama rushers
1. Shaun Alexander 3,565
2. Bobby Humphrey 3,420
3. Kenneth Darby 3,324
4. Mark Ingram 3,261
5. Trent Richardson 3,130
6. T.J. Yeldon 3,029
Really the only Alabama record left for Cooper to pursue is career receptions. He has 183 while DJ Hall made 194 over four years (2004-07).
However, Cooper’s on the doorstep of having one of the 10 best seasons in SEC history.
All-time leading SEC receiving yards, single season
1. Josh Reed, 1740, 2001, Louisiana State
2. Alshon Jeffery*, 1517, 2010, South Carolina
3. Jordan Matthews*, 1477, 2013, Vanderbilt
4. Mike Evans*, 1394, 2013, Texas A&M
5. Travis McGriff, 1357, 1998, Florida
6. Cobi Hamilton, 1335, 2012, Arkansas
7. Carlos Alvarez, 1329, 1969, Florida
8. Jordan Matthews*, 1323, 2012, Vanderbilt
9. Craig Yeast, 1311, 1998, Kentucky
10. Robert Meachem*, 1298, 2006, Tennessee
11. Reidel Anthony, 1293, 1996, Florida
12. Wendell Davis, 1244, 1986, Louisiana State
13. Amari Cooper, 1215, 2014, Alabama
14. Boo Mitchell, 1213, 1988, Vanderbilt
15. Jarvis Landry*, 1193, 2013, Louisiana State
16. Jabar Gaffney, 1191, 2001, Florida
17. Jabar Gaffney, 1184, 2000, Florida
18. Marcus Nash, 1170, 1997, Tennessee
19. Darrell Jackson, 1156, 1999, Florida
20. Earl Bennett ,1146, 2006, Vanderbilt
21. Sidney Rice*, 1143, 2005, South Carolina
22. Shay Hodge*, 1135, 2009, Mississippi
23. Julio Jones*, 1133, 2010, Alabama
24. Josh Reed, 1127, 2000, Louisiana State
25. Odell Beckham Jr.*, 1117, 2013, Louisiana State
(tie) Jarius Wright*, 1117, 2011, Arkansas
*Bowl games included
Source: Sports-Reference.com
Christopher Walsh has covered Alabama football since 2004 and is the author of 19 books. In his free time, he writes about college football.
