Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban harangued the media in his press conference this week for questioning him about a "letdown" this week after last Saturday's victory over then seventh-ranked Virginia Tech. Well, surprise, surprise! There might have been a little bit of a letdown.
To be fair, unlike last year, when 'Bama followed up the season-opening win over a top-ten Clemson team with a sub-par performance against Tulane, 'Bama's offense appeared to be firing on nearly all cylinders for most of the night. Quarterback Greg McElroy was on fire in the first half, hitting nearly every pass early on and completing 14 in a row - a new school record. He finished 18 of 24 for 241 yards and a TD. Despite sparing play from star wideout Julio Jones (who hurt his knee early in the game) and running back Mark Ingram (who had been hospitalized for the flu earlier this week), the Tide moved the ball up and down the field, although the team had to settle for short field goals from Leigh Tiffin instead of touchdowns on two occasions and missed a third.
In this game, however, the Tide gave up another kickoff return for a touchdown, and then allowed FIU to drive the field and score on a second quarter pass that put the Golden Panthers up 14-13 briefly. FIU's pass-happy offense was somewhat effective, at least until halftime.
Here are my seven points:
1. This year's team appears to be the polar opposite of last year's. The M.O. of the 2008 Tide was to hammer you with the running game, clobber you early and hold on to win. They went to the LSU game before they even trailed anyone. The 2009 Tide starts slow but is much more balanced on offense (averaging 271.5 yards rushing and 235.5 passing), and has destroyed its first two opponents in the fourth quarter, outscoring them 32-7.
2. 'Bama has talent at wide receiver. With Julio out, Mike McCoy stepped up his game, catching 5 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown. But McElroy spread the ball around to a number of wide open receivers, and completed 75% of them.
3. Trent Richardson is going to be special. It wasn't as amazing a debut as Shaun Alexander's breakout game against LSU in 1996, but in Richardson's first significant work, he had 118 yards on 15 carries and two TDs.
4. Congrats to Terry Grant. The fact that Terry Grant was once the starting running back for Alabama may say more about the level of talent under Saban compared to that under Mike Shula. But Grant, who is fourth or fifth on the depth chart now as a senior got a carry in relief and made the most of it, scrambling 42 yards for a touchdown in the final quarter. He has worked hard for four years while seeing less and less playing time, so I'm glad he got a little taste of the glory tonight.
5. McElroy is gaining confidence. After a shaky start, McElroy is 27-36 passing in the last six quarters of play. That's a 75% average, which seems about 25% better than John Parker Wilson averaged.
6. This is probably the last pay-per-view game until November. Given that the SEC Network picked up next week's matchup with North Texas, and the fact that the Tide will begin the meat of the schedule the following week, the next questionable television game is against Chattanooga on the next-to-last week of the regular season.
7. On a crazy second week of college football, a 26-point win is acceptable. The Tide may have underperformed as a 33-point favorite, but considering the upsets suffered today by Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Michigan State - and near misses for Georgia, Florida State and Missouri - 40-14 doesn't seem so bad.
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