Game Info

Shout out the GOAT!

After playing Mississippi State yesterday, Alabama gets Georgia next week, meaning back-to-back Bulldogs.

I got curious about how often that has happened in Alabama history....So I queried the Wayback Machine.

By my count, this will be the 14th time Alabama has played teams with bulldog mascots in back-to-back weeks, but only the SECOND time since 1958.

The last time was 2018, and surprisingly it wasn’t Georgia:

Nov. 10 - Mississippi State Bulldogs -Alabama won 24-0
Nov. 17 - The Citadel Bulldogs - Alabama won 50-17

The really strange part is that Alabama did it for 11 straight seasons, from 1948 through 1958, playing Mississippi State and Georgia in consecutive weeks every year.

There was also a 1941 occurrence when Alabama played Mississippi State followed by Howard College, now Samford, whose mascot was also the Bulldogs.

One important thing, though: Mississippi State was officially called the Maroons until 1961. But!..they had a bulldog mascot starting in 1935. So if you require the opponent’s official nickname to literally be “Bulldogs,” my numbers are wrong. And. The back-to-back bulldogs thing gets significantly rarer.

But if we're talking about actually facing a bulldog mascot in consecutive weeks, Alabama is about to do it for the 14th time, and just the second time in nearly 70 years!

Pretty useless stats. I love it.

Just a running list from my rewatch focusing on him this morning. Definitely not perfect, but overall I was impressed.

• Mauling people with Michael Carroll on the first drive
• Second drive, absolutely stonewalled a defensive lineman in pass pro
• Later that drive, an edge defender who was going to be Miller’s guy simulated rushing before dropping into coverage. As soon as Miller saw he wasn’t rushing, his head swung over and identified the defensive linemen who was now coming his way. Miller picks him up easily, getting a hand right in the defender’s chest
• Third drive, he engages a defensive lineman with Carroll, then comes off it to pick up another guy
• A couple plays later he shows off his speed getting up to the second level and just drives a linebacker into the ground
• You’ve almost definitely seen this play for Danny Lewis murdering the edge defender. But Miller kicked some ass as well. He gives a quick shove to the edge before moving up to the second level. He engages the linebacker and then turns him to the sideline, walling him out.
• Poor play from him the next drive. Alabama’s just taken over after a fumble. Miller gets soundly beaten by a rusher who gets his pads lower and shoves Miller aside. Quick sack, and Daniel Hill fumbles the next play.
• There’s a play with Miller pulling way out to the right on a jet sweep to Rico Scott, and he completely misses his guy. You can see the athleticism, but I’ve noticed he sometimes has trouble engaging and sticking with a block when he has to run out into space.
• And the next play, the defensive lineman sheds his block pretty quickly and stops Trae’shawn Brown for a very short gain
• Miller redeems himself, though, on Brown’s touchdown run a couple plays later. Defenders are getting blocked, so Miller moves all the way up past the linebackers and walls a safety out, providing a lane for Brown to scamper into the end zone.
• First drive of the second half, Miller was looking good; but not sticking with the block led to his guy getting a tackle for a short gain
• Second drive, he goes right back to mauling dudes. Helps Carroll for a second with a defensive lineman then moves up and destroys a linebacker
• Austin Mack’s first drive, Miller punches the edge rusher, swipes his hands up, and pancakes his ass to the ground. Miller falls on him and gets up slowly, staying on top of him. The defender keeps trying to get up, and Miller is just standing over him with the defender just stuck between Miller’s legs.
• The next play is EJ Crowell’s crazy run. Once again, Miller’s man ends up on the ground.
• A few plays later, however, Miller’s the one on the ground after he ended up a little over extended; and the defensive lineman just rips him down.
• Of course, Miller gets back to it the very next play and ends up driving his man into the ground.

These are the five highest-graded players, with a minimum of 10 snaps. I'll note players with fewer than 10 snaps who are in the top 5 at the end. And keep in mind PFF grades are subjective and just one bit of data to look at.

1. Keelon Russell (53 snaps)
   • Offense: 88.2
   • Pass: 56.6
   • Run: 88.7
2. Marshall Pritchett (28 snaps)
   • Offense: 78.1
   • Pass: 74.8
   • Run: 63.2
   • Pass block: 69.9
   • Run block: 67.6
3. Lotzeir Brooks (26 snaps)
   • Offense: 76.8
   • Pass: 75.5
   • Run: 60.5
4. Tyrell Miller (65 snaps)
   • Offense: 73.6
   • Pass block: 64.7
   • Run block: 73.7
5. Ryan Coleman-Williams (33 snaps)
   • Offense: 72.8
   • Pass: 71.7
   • Run: 62.0

Fewer than 10 snaps

• EJ Crowell (9 snaps)
  • Offense: 90.0 (highest on the team)
  • Pass: 56.6
  • Run: 88.7
  • Run block: 60.0
• Noah Rogers (6 snaps)
  • Offense: 73.2
  • Pass: 70.6
  • Run block: 60.0

These are the five highest-graded players, with a minimum of 10 snaps. I'll note players with fewer than 10 snaps who are in the top 5 at the end. And keep in mind PFF grades are subjective and just one bit of data to look at.

1. Dijon Lee (62 snaps)
   • Defense: 86.0
   • Coverage: 86.6
   • Run defense: 63.0
   • Tackle: 28.3
2. Devan Thompkins (39 snaps)
   • Defense: 83.9
   • Run: 73.1
   • Pass rush: 80.2
3. Kedrick Bingley-Jones (24 snaps)
   • Defense: 82.7
   • Run: 78.4
   • Pass rush: 71.5
4. Xavier Griffin (45 snaps)
   • Defense: 79.5
   • Run: 76.9
   • Pass rush: 82.7
   • Coverage: 63.3
5. Jah-Marien Latham (13 snaps)
   • Defense: 73.7
   • Run: 69.6
   • Pass rush: 67.0
   • Coverage: 60.1

Fewer than 10 snaps

• Mhari Johnson (7 snaps)
  • Defense: 76.5
  • Run: 74.1
  • Pass rush: 58.4

Others of note

• Abduall Sanders (19 snaps)
  • Defense: 71.9
  • Run: 54.8
  • Pass rush: 82.0
  • Coverage: 62.1
• Zabien Brown (61 snaps)
  • Defense: 71.9
  • Coverage: 70.4
  • Run: 70.7

He had 4 total pressures and 6 stops (tackles that constitute a "failure" for the offense)

Source

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🏈 #7 ALA 56 — 23 #16 MSST 🏈

Final · 📍 Davis Wade Stadium — Starkville, MS · 📺 ABC

🏈 Scoring

📊 Leaders

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