Alabama vs. Arkansas: Grading The Crimson Tide’s Performance

The offense has been a hotbed for miscues in the last two weeks. Alabama was held to 227 total yards, its lowest total of the season by 169 yards. The struggles lasted from start to finish on Saturday night. After Alabama scored the go ahead touchdown with 12:36 left, the offense didn't manage another first down.

Amari Cooper was limited in the game, and Sims never was able to spread the field and hit other wide receivers. He had two errant throws dropped by Arkansas defenders or else we may have seen a different outcome. On top of that, Alabama is still leaving points on the field by failing to finish drives.

The offensive line continuously was pushed around and did not open up holes for T.J. Yeldon or Derrick Henry. The injury to Ryan Kelly at center has taken a clear toll, while it appears that there is a battle going on at right guard between Leon Brown and Alphonse Taylor. If Alabama wants to move forward, a decision will need to be made to solidify the line. This will likely lead to more success in the ground game and less penalties.

Yet another issue is on the receiving end of this offense. Amari Cooper is hands down the best receiver, but what happens if he gets hurt? With DeAndrew White already being banged up, it looks like Blake Sims will need to spread the field more to guys like Cameron Sims or Christion Jones. While Cooper is talented, he cannot carry this team on his back.

Defensively, it was not a flawless performance for the Crimson Tide, but then again what is? The defense literally carried this team to victory. It started with a Trey Depriest forced fumble and ended with a Landon Collins interception.

Arkansas averages over 278 yards rushing per game but were held to a season-low 89 yards on Saturday. The defensive line came up huge throughout the game including a stop on 4th and inches that gave Alabama the ball back. Quarterback Brandon Allen had many of his passes batted down at the line of scrimmage because there was a significant push up front. It was a great day considering they were going up against the biggest offensive line in both college and professional football.

The only concern in this game were a few miscues in the secondary. Missed assignments led to wide open receivers and big gains and resulted in Allen throwing for a season-high 246 yards. Kirby Smart dialed up a few blitz passages that did not work in time and led to a couple of long third conversions for the Razorbacks. Oddly enough, it was still one of the better performances by this secondary. They have the capability of getting even better.

Special teams still continues to be a weak spot on this team. Christion Jones muffed a punt return by diving for the ball, which led to Arkansas having great field position. Later in the game on another punt return, the ball bounced off Maurice Smith and led to another Razorback recovery. Alabama avoided complete disaster by recovering two additional fumble on special teams.

Adam Griffith picked up where he left off from the past two weeks by his missing his only field goal attempt of the night. Griffith was a perfect 7 for 7 in the first three games. In his last three games, he has gone 1 for 5. Missed field goals will cost you wins, and if this pattern continues, it will cost Alabama another game.

So who saved Alabama's grade on special teams this week? JK Scott and Jonathan Allen. Scott punted a career high eight times and averages over 44 yards per punt. His ability to down every single punt inside the Arkansas 20 yard line is what made this performance so special. Fans have been so impressed by his punting, that they have started a Heisman campaign for him via Twitter.

Of course, the special teams play of game came from Jonathan Allen. Without his blocked extra point, Alabama may have not won this game. So while special teams almost cost them the game, it also won them the game.