Master Coaches Poll Blog - by Gene Stallings

This is the first installment of the Master Coaches Poll Blog. I am one of seventeen Master Coaches, starting our third season, that make up the panel of voters on the Master Coaches Poll.

The other day I asked my son, Johnny, who is his all-time favorite coach at Alabama.  Well, he didn’t pick his daddy… he said Nick Saban.  That just proves Coach Saban is doing a great job getting the Bama fans behind his program … even in our household! 

Coming into the game against Georgia this past weekend, Coach Saban had Alabama playing with a lot of confidence. Against Arkansas, the Tide pulled off their first 4th quarter come from behind victory in five years. One of the main reasons for achieving the 4th quarter comeback is Alabama has some guys who are playing good football …. wide receiver DJ Hall and running back Terry Grant. DJ, who had 3 receptions for 46 yards against the Dawgs is the type of kid that can turn a bad play into a good one. He’s got blazing speed and can be a gamebreaker. Grant is the real deal, a really outstanding player. Against the Bulldog defense, he had 80 yards on just 11 carries for a 7.3 yd average.

Georgia allowed Alabama to hang around with some penalties and missed field goals, but made one more play than Alabama did. The Georgia receivers dropped passes time after time, but Bama could not complete a long pass. The Tide managed to hang around with stingy defense when they needed it and kicked a field goal on the first possession of overtime. Their lead wouldn’t last long though, because Matthew Stafford threw an absolutely perfect pass to Mikey Henderson on their first play and Georgia got a huge SEC win.

If you’re going to look at one statistic that will determine the outcome of a game, I would look at 3rd down effectiveness. Georgia converted 3rd downs 9 out of 16 times and Alabama converted just 3 of 15 times on 3rd down. Alabama seemed to get 6 or 7 yards on first down throughout the game, and then they would try to air it out. When my teams were ineffective on 3rd down, I would just run the ball on 2nd and short to get the first down.

The Alabama offense will definitely have to improve their 3rd down effectiveness and big play ability against a Florida State defense that had the week off to re-energize. FSU has struggled on both sides of the ball this year and is not playing with much confidence, so the Seminoles will search for anything to give them a spark. I’m speaking at the Quarterback Club in Tallahassee this week, so maybe that will provide some motivation. All kidding aside, it should be a great match-up for college football. Coach Bobby Bowden, an old friend, matching wits against Coach Saban. The game will be on a neutral field, but is being played in Jacksonville, Florida, so that could favor Florida State.

   >>>>  Download the Master Coaches Poll Q&A eBook for more information.