Early observations

[mshunter77]

Bama fans touchy as always. My point was they did not dominate areas of the game that they normally do, which I see as a potential weakness that teams can pick on. They're gonna be stout and tough to beat, but they didn't look bulletproof.

Not touchy at all but you either did not watch the game or are clueless. The DL and LBs dominated the line of scrimmage as always. After the first couple of possessions the new freshman offensive lineman settled down and figured who was his guy to block they dominated the line of scrimmage there also. Henry looked great so where did they not dominate that they usually do? They dominated on the exact spots that they are known to dominate. Did they have issues? Yes. Crappy return game and lots of penalties. Lots of penalties happen the first game of the year with a lot of new starters. Fun fact for you Bama gave up less yards to a ranked team than Ole Miss did to UT Martin.

[mfalkner]

Ok dude

[eSJay]

I’ll get to my armchair next, but first……did y'all see the spin move Braxton Miller put down last night?
Can you imagine if that whole "Braxton Miller to bama" thing would have worked out? They would be un-stoppable!

Early observations:
AU) Won the game, and that's always a good thing, but….the offense was disappointing for a lot of reasons. I thought the play calling was not that great and absolutely mysterious at times. Who am I to question that though? Maybe this was CGM being CGM. It was obvious that he didn't have the full play book rolled out, but this is to be expected in the first game. The execution left a to be desired. We were not a "well oiled" anything. Johnson didn't have a good day. Some of that was due to the play calling, but a lot was just poor execution. It looked to me like he was trying to make BIG plays when he really didn’t need to. He did make some good throws, but he also threw 3 or 4 interceptions and a couple more that should have been picked. Supposedly he recognized that he messed up, and everything he did is pretty easy to correct. In spite of his poor performance Saturday, I feel pretty confident that he will be fine. Not that it matters, but famous Jamis threw 3 picks against L’ville last year….jus’sayin’.
The good news offensively is that once we decided to run the ball, we did. The Card DL is good, and we ran the ball right at them and did it effectively. I'm not sure Barber is the guy yet, but he certainly showed enough to demonstrate that we will be fine. I like his running style. Hopefully Roc and Robinson will be back by LSU.
L’ville was doubling and tripling Duke most of the game, but we never made them pay for that. I think our receivers are better than what we saw Saturday.

The defense was great with Lawson in the game, and good without him in the game. He is a difference maker, and we need him back by the time we get to LSU. I liked the aggressiveness on defense which is a direct result of coach Boom being in charge. I think Petrino picked up on something late & CWM was never able to adjust to the scrambling QB or #23.

The kicking game was outstanding! The kicker was money & the punter from Greenwood is really good. Never underestimate the importance of a solid kicking game.

Overall:
There were good points and definitely some things to work on. We have a ways to go to be a top 5 team, but the pieces are there. If we continue to improve over the season,we can be something special.

P.S. - Bobby had a “blond moment” with the timeout there at the end. Wonder if he was thinking about the blonde on the back of his motor scooter……

Others:
Ole MS) looked very good against an over matched opponent.

TAMU) was impressive against a good Arizona State team. They were the most impressive team I saw. I had them picked last in the West, but now I’m pretty sure I was wrong.

Texas) was the worst team I saw. I don't understand how you can be the premier school in the state of Texas with a built in recruiting advantage and be this bad. Strong might not make it through the season.

UA) The match-up between bama and whiskey definitely favored bama, particularly their defense. The game went about as expected. Whiskey just did not have the offensive weapons to match Alabama's defense. That running back from last year that ran all over us in the outback bowl will be missed for sure. Henry is an absolute beast! No worries @ the QB position either in my opinion. Lil Nickey looks tired. I wish he’d retire

The Career Ending Award for the week goes to the two HS players in Texas who mauled the official toward the end of the game. Those two kids should never come close to a football field again in HS or college. If you haven't seen it, here's a link: http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/07/us/texas- ... icial-hit/

[Po Monkey Lounger]

I thought that the Rebels did what was expected against a grossly inferior opponent. For a change, they did not play down to a nonconference opponent early in the season. Fresno will be considerably better than UT-Martin. Should get a better pulse of the Rebels this coming Saturday.

Alabama looked very good IMO, against a quality opponent, in a season opener when teams often get off to slow starts. Coker played well --- big, strong QB with a good arm. Not sure what game some of you watched, but in the one I watched the Tide was in control the entire game. Henry was a beast. Should be no drop off for the Tide this season.

Auburn was good enough to get the "W" against a quality opponent. Ditto A&M. Good wins for each.

I would not judge MSU by the first half of the USM game. This one game was USM's "Superbowl", on their home field, with a late start that favored the home team. For MSU, it was just a nonconference season opener to shake off the rust. It was likely difficult for MSU players to match the initial emotion/intensity of USM. But, as the game wore on, MSU's talent and superior size/depth took over as expected. Dak looked better in the second half. It will get real for MSU this coming Saturday. There should be no problem with player intensity and focus.

[mshunter77]

PoMonk I don't think Fresno has anything for Ole Miss. Would not be surprised to see the arena beat them by 50.

[sab316]

It amazes me the amount of $#!+ that has been talked about Ole Miss playing UT Martin to start the season. Every team gets $#!+ from someone about playing a FCS school at some point, but geez, you would think we were the first team to ever play a FCS school.

Also Ole Miss lost Issac Gross for the year with season ending neck surgery. Luckily we are stacked at D-line but I've always loved Gross and the way he's played. He's extremely disruptive and I've never seen a quicker first step in football for a D-lineman. Especailly a 240 lb DT, just the fact that he's playing at that weight and blowing plays up is absurd.

[camlock]

Fun fact for you Bama gave up less yards to a ranked team than Ole Miss did to UT Martin.

Fun Fact...Ole Miss was winning by 50+ point into the 2nd quarter and was playing 3rd team guys...Alabama was actually having to matchup with Wisconsin and press them....your fun fact is apples and oranges comparison

[mshunter77]

Actually Bama did have back ups in during the third quarter. Yes I know they did not go as deep on the depth chart as fast as Ole Miss did but they did play a lot of back ups. That's why it is a fun fact. Look I know ole miss probably could have held them to less than 200 yards if they kept the gas on the pedal and scored as many points as they wanted to. I was just wondering when you were going to chime in. I miss arguing with my old buddy.

[camlock]