Review: Kentucky/Ole Miss - Two for the price of one!

I missed last week's post due to a camping trip, so I decided to review the Kentucky and Ole Miss games together. This might seem odd, since Kentucky was an unranked opponent with low expectations and Ole Miss was a preseason favorite to win the West, but there were many parallels between the two games for Alabama. So to honor the two-game format, I will make fourteen points rather than my usual seven.

First, seven parallels:

1. Both opponents came into the game having suffered a devastating loss prior to the Alabama game. Kentucky's came the previous week against Florida 41-7. Ole Miss's was two weeks ago, on a Thursday night versus South Carolina 16-10.
2. Both opponents featured stingy defenses and offenses that struggled to score against 'Bama.
3. Both games were decided by Alabama's defense and the turnovers that it created. The Tide caused NINE turnovers in the two games, many of them spectacular plays.
   
4. The Alabama passing game appeared ineffective at times. After a hot start of the season, Greg McElroy passed for only 148 yards against UK, and 147 against UM.
5. On the other hand, Mark Ingram has had two consecutive career games. Ingram rushed for 140 yards on 22 carries with two TDs against the Wildcats, then followed up with 28 rushes for 172 yards and a TD versus the Rebels.
6. Although more points were scored in the Kentucky game than against Ole Miss, the margin of victory was almost identical: 18 points against UK and 19 against UM.
7. The killing blow in both games occurred just before the half. Against Kentucky, Alabama held a 7-6 lead before driving 97 yards to score a touchdown with 40 second left in the half. Nineteen seconds later, Courtney Upshaw returned a fumble 45 yards for a TD to take a 21-6 lead into halftime. Versus Ole Miss, the Tide led 9-0 after three trips to the red zone were blunted by the Rebels' defense, forcing field goals. Then, following another turnover, Alabama went for it on fourth and one, and Ingram ran for a 36-yard score with 55 seconds remaining.

Now, for my usual seven points, aka "what we have learned:"

1. Alabama is starting to look more like the team everyone expected before the year began: great defense, somewhat inconsistent offense, although that is probably more a measure of the level of competition rather than deterioration. No one is seriously talking about a Heisman for McElroy now, although he is certainly not making mistakes that cost Alabama.
2. Alabama now stands alone atop the SEC West. At the beginning of the day, there were three undefeated teams in the West, and Ole Miss was still conceivably in the race as well, with one loss and games to come against the top 3. Alabama's defeat of Ole Miss, coupled with Auburn's loss to Arkansas and LSU's to Florida puts the Tide in the driver's seat.
3. The defense is just full of playmakers. Every starter and contributer on the defense seemed to make a big play today. Rolando McClain is clearly the star athlete (and future NFL pick), but it seems like from Woodall to Green to Cody to Dareus to Arenas to Upshaw and so on, everyone has stepped up their game since losing Hightower.
4. The offseason work on defense has really paid off. The biggest strike against the Tide's defense in 2008 was inability to pressure the quarterback. This was especially borne out in the two season-ending losses. Coach Saban made it a point in the offseason to work on the pass rush. In 2009, Alabama is leading the league in sacks, and Jevan Snead was harrassed pretty consistently all day today.
5. Can everybody get off Julio Jones' back now? Before the Arkansas game, the knock on Jones was that he hadn't gotten a touchdown in 12 games (he promptly caught one that week). This week, the talk was about how Jones hadn't been as productive as he was last year. It seemed to me that McElroy overcompensated, passing to Jones several times in double and triple coverage. Let's all keep in mind that passing to nine or ten different guys in a game you win by three scores is a good thing. Julio is a great player, but we've got a lot of really good receivers. If they're wide open, it's okay to throw to them!
6. South Carolina is shaping up to be a much tougher game than it looked to be a few weeks ago. Alabama has struggled somewhat against stronger SEC defenses (relatively speaking), and South Carolina may have the best defense 'Bama has played so far. The Gamecocks came within a play of being undefeated, and has improved steadily since that game with Georgia. Let's hope that they aren't offended by playing us for Homecoming. You don't think that Spurrier will make a big deal about that do you?
7. Could two SEC schools play for the national championship? CBS's Gary Danielson predicted before the season that two SEC teams (Florida and LSU) would play for the national championship in Pasadena. This prompted much scoffing from critics, but imagine this scenario: The AP top 5 Monday are likely to be Florida, Texas, Alabama, Virginia Tech and Boise State. If Texas loses at some point (next week at Oklahoma is a possibility), and Florida and Alabama continue undefeated, they will be ranked number 1 and 2. Assuming that either team lost a close game in the SEC championship, it seems pretty conceivable that the BCS would pair up Florida and Alabama again rather than a Virginia Tech team from a weak ACC (that Alabama already defeated by the way) or a non-BCS conference Boise State. We've got a long way to go yet, but would anything establish the SEC's dominance of college football more? I mean, other than winning the last three championships and four of the last six?