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Pete Fiutak
I tend to have football crushes over quarterbacks who don’t have any real talent, but always seem to lead the way to the win. Granted, the Jay Barkers and Danny Wuerrfels of the world were surrounded by obnoxiously talented teams, but in college, yeah, sometimes you simply need a guy who doesn’t screw up and can make the key third-down throw when needed.
I know I’m supposed to love Greg McElroy, considering he hasn’t lost since he was an embryo and his NFL future consists of ordering the Sunday Ticket Package, but for all he has done and for his phenomenal win-loss résumé, this game showed that he might be the weak link.
Ryan Mallett didn’t wilt. He didn’t choke, gag, or blow it. He threw for 357 yards against a national title defense, and his three interceptions came because he had to force the ball down the field. Granted, the one in the end zone was lazy, but once his receivers started dropping passes, and with nothing happening with the ground game, he had to force throws and Arkansas got tagged. McElroy didn’t need to force anything.
If McElroy is going to be a game manager in every sense of the term, he can’t screw up. Ever. He might have completed 18-of-26 passes for 194 yards and a touchdown, but his two picks almost turned out to be death blows.
Mark Ingram got his yards, and the offense matched Mallett and the Hogs' attack stride for stride, and Arkansas still had its chances to win the game if Mallett didn’t throw those two big late picks. This game has to be a bit of a wake-up call; unless McElroy doesn’t make mistakes, Alabama might lose a game this season because the other team’s quarterback is simply going to be better. Not better for a particular offense or for a system, but better.
As the national championship showed, Alabama doesn’t need McElroy to be good; it just needs him to not be bad. He wasn’t bad against Arkansas, but he wasn’t perfect. With six games left on the slate against teams with two weeks off to prepare for him and the Tide offense, he’s going to have to be sharper.
Considering his résumé and what he did over the second half of last season, I won’t be shocked if he is.
Richard Cirminiello
Alabama QB Greg McElroy may have played poorly in Fayetteville, but when it mattered most, Ryan Mallett was worse.
Mallett has a tremendous career ahead of him, with Arkansas and whenever he takes his powerful right arm to the NFL. On this day, however, he absolutely gagged on the big stage. His two picks in the fourth were awful and inexcusable for any SEC quarterback, especially for one who used to have Heisman aspirations. On the first one, he sailed the ball, setting up ‘Bama for the game-winning score. On the second pick, he ended any hope for a Hog comeback in the waning moments of the game. Memo to Mallett: If you’re trying to throw the ball away, make it a souvenir for a fan in one of the first few rows.
For Alabama, this kind of an effort is exactly what you’d expect from a champion. It underscored why the program is No. 1 without a lot of debate. With another perfect season hanging in the balance, the Tide took a deep breath, never buckled, and finished the way elite teams are supposed to, scoring the game’s final 17 points. Outplayed through the first three quarters, ‘Bama only needed the final 15 minutes to break Arkansas’ hearts. If it didn’t wilt in this environment, down 13 on the road in the second half, who’s going to take the Crimson Tide down this year? Knowing how to win these types of games is a rare skill that only a few schools in the country possess.
Matt Zemek
Let’s make this simple: Alabama did what Alabama normally does under Nick Saban. A Bobby Petrino-coached team did what a Bobby Petrino-coached team so often does in the fourth quarter of big games. This game was 50-percent Bama boldness and 50-percent Arkansas anxiety.
This was talked about last week after Arkansas escaped Georgia: Petrino-coached teams have a penchant for going into a shell and playing scared in the fourth quarter. See the 2005 Louisville-West Virginia game or the 2006 Louisville-Rutgers game. When Ryan Mallett came up with a clutch touchdown pass to beat Georgia in the final minute of regulation, Razorback fans had reason to hope that their team – and especially their quarterback – had broken through a major psychological barrier. Yet, Hog fans knew that if the Georgia triumph wasn’t backed up with a win against the king of the SEC West, their moment of temporary elation Between the Hedges in Athens wouldn’t amount to very much.
And so it is.
Everything that was such a concern about Arkansas football; about Bobby Petrino; about Ryan Mallett; and about the team’s fourth-quarter resilience was affirmed. Now, Hog fans have to shoulder a dark memory that will rank alongside December 6, 1969, when another double-digit lead evaporated in the second half against a top-ranked opponent (the Texas Longhorns in that case).
Alabama is fortunate, yes, but Alabama didn’t flinch one whit when Arkansas gained a 20-7 lead. The Tide regrouped and calmly mounted their comeback. Mark Ingram showed why he won the 2009 Heisman Trophy. Bama’s defense kept coming at Mallett, and while Mallett’s interceptions weren’t entirely “forced turnovers,” Bama certainly fixed the issues that existed through the first two and a half quarters. Saban and defensive coordinator Kirby Smart put their players in better positions and fixed the issues that existed in the early stages of this showdown. You normally need luck to pull off an 18-game winning streak, but you also have to be very adept at maximizing that luck. No team maximizes the breaks that come its way more than Alabama does. Not many other teams in college football can say the same thing.
