Alabama vs. Ole Miss: Grading The Crimson Tide’s Performance

Statistically speaking, Alabama did not have a bad day on offense. In fact, the Crimson Tide outgained Ole Miss 396-323. T.J. Yeldon was the first to player to run for over 100 yards on Ole Miss this season, Blake Sims passed for 228 yards, and Amari Cooper finished with 91 receiving yards.

The problems on offense stemmed from penalties and lack of communication. Center Ryan Kelly went down with an injury midway through the third quarter and was replaced by Bradley Bozeman. Bozeman did not snap the ball in time on two separate occasions, which forced Nick Saban to burn two very important timeouts. These timeouts likely changed the way Saban approached Alabama's final drive.

Seven of the eight penalties committed by the Crimson Tide were on offense. Every penalty was costly, but none more costly than a holding call that erased a Blake Sims' first down inside the Ole Miss 15. From 2008 to 2012, Alabama was in the top 15 in fewest penalties. This year they are 58th. One penalty can affect the outcome of a game, so the offense needs to become more disciplined and avoid those type of mistakes.

Some blame goes on the special teams' shoulders (we will go into further detail shortly), but the Tide did not take advantage of scoring opportunities when they were presented. Alabama was forced to punt six times after only punting five times in the previous four games.

This offense is capable of being one of the best in the SEC. Focusing on player development and minimizing mental errors will go a long way in deciding how far this team will go.

The Crimson Tide did a lot of good things on defense including holding the Rebels to just three points in the first half. The defensive line had a push up front and even knocked down a few of Bo Wallace's passes.The unit showed discipline by not biting on trick plays and allowing very few big gains. However, they did get lucky on a few plays where a missed assignment almost led to huge plays.

It was the second half effort that resulted in a modest C as their grade. Wallace passed for 185 in the second stanza after only passing for 66 in the first half. The secondary seemed confused when Ole Miss lined with three receivers to one side. Wallace also took advantage of one-on-one coverage between his receiver and true freshman cornerback Tony Brown.

Alabama did manage to hold the Rebels to just 72 total rushing yards in the game. However, Wallace managed to get three first downs using his legs in the game. This does not seem like a big deal, but it is a concern looking ahead to future opponents with running quarterbacks like Mississippi State and Auburn.

There is absolutely no question that this defense is deep with talent. The unit just needs to learn how to adjust when their opponent throws a wrinkle in the original game plan. The Rebels figured out how to move the ball and the defense never figured out how to slow them down again.

This will hopefully be the last time you see the special teams receive such a low grade, but punter JK Scott great day (51 yards per punt) helped keep this from being an F.

Adam Griffith went 1-3 on field goal attempts, missing from 46 and 51 yards out. It is no secret that Alabama has continuously struggled in their kicking game over the past few seasons. In the Tide's five losses since 2011, they missed 11 of 16 field goals attempts. Alabama has grown into a team notorious for missing field goals in crucial moments. Hopefully, as the season progresses, we will see the Adam Griffith that won SEC Special Teams Player of the Week earlier in the season.

In addition to the missed kicks, Ole Miss had kickoff returns of 39 and 54 yards that set up great field position. Griffith's kickoffs were short, but the coverage team failed to get into position and missed tackles were the result. Alabama currently ranks 104th in the country in kickoff coverage.

The most costly special teams error of the day came from returner Christion Jones. A fumbled ball recovered by Ole Miss set up a touchdown that put the Rebels ahead and gave Alabama less than three minutes to score with only one remaining timeout. Those mistakes have to be limited if not diminished, and there has to be some work done to improve this unit as a whole.