Louisiana-Monroe vs. Alabama Complete Game Preview
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban won’t have to look too far for a little inspiration regarding Saturday’s game against Louisiana-Monroe.
Not only are the Crimson Tide coming off a 43-37 loss to Ole Miss, but the last time the Warhawks visited Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2007, they won.
It occurred during Alabama’s textbook disbursement scandal that resulted in five players being suspended and the team spinning into a four-game losing streak. Alabama was coming off close back-to-back losses to No. 3 LSU (41-34) and Mississippi State (17-12) but was still considered a sizable favorite in its home finale.
A flat Crimson Tide outgained ULM 409 yards to 282 but squandered numerous opportunities in the 21-14 loss.
Afterward, coach Nick Saban said he was "embarrassed for all our fans” during his postgame press conference.
"We did all the things in this football game that will get you beat regardless of who you play."
Here’s everything you need to know for the rematch:
Date: Saturday, September 26
Time: 3:01 p.m. CT
Place: Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa
TV: SEC Network
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network, K-104 FM (Monroe, La.), Sirius 83, XM 190
Spread: Alabama -38 according to OddsShark.com
Alabama Keys to Victory
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Find an offensive identity
Even though Alabama has already played three games this season, no one knows what kind of offense the Crimson Tide want to be, including the Crimson Tide. Nick Saban has always been a proponent of being balanced, but after falling behind to Ole Miss last week, Alabama executed 58 passing plays compared to 42 rushing plays.
Even with the 100 offensive plays from Alabama, Ole Miss pulled out the 43-37 victory.
“I think toward the end of the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter we had the game that had kind of taken a toll on them and our style of play had taken a toll on them,” left tackle Cam Robinson said. “I guess it wasn’t enough.”
Don’t make crucial mistakes
After making five turnovers and busting the coverage on the pop pass, Alabama felt like it gave Ole Miss 31 points last week.
“I don’t think it was luck,” linebacker Dillon Lee said of the 73-yard touchdown to Cody Core. “That dude made a play. He stuck with the play the whole time and it paid off for them.”
It’ll be interesting to see what kinds of changes Alabama makes on kickoff returns, but regardless, ball security will be a theme at practice this week.
Get back on track
Alabama’s brutal October doesn’t begin for another week, but ULM isn’t going to feel sorry for the Crimson Tide. If anything, the Warhawks will be even more confident of a pulling off a possible upset.
How Alabama rebounds and plays this week could set the tone for the rest of the season.
“It depends on how they respond to the loss, that's all I can tell you,” Saban said. “We're going to try to do the right things and I like the character and chemistry of this team. I thought the game we lost last year [to Ole Miss], we lost completely different than the way we lost this game. We had energy. We had almost fanatic energy, but we didn't channel it in the right direction. We kept coming back in the game, but we also shot ourselves in the foot so many times it made it difficult to overcome.
"Last year we got ahead in the game and kind of got sort of relief syndrome or something where they got momentum in the game and we could never get it back. That never really happened. We just came up short this time."
ULM Keys to Victory
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Turnovers
See if this sounds familiar: During the previous meeting with Alabama, the Warhawks forced four turnovers, blocked a field goal and stopped three Crimson Tide drives in the fourth quarter to hold on. Last week Alabama had five turnovers against Ole Miss, which turned them into 24 points.
Be aggressive on offense
The Warhawks probably won’t be able to do much in the ground game, but last week they amassed 593 yards of total offense (391 passing, 202 rushing) against Nicholls State in a 47-0 victory. It’s a spread offense that head coach Todd Berry thought was too conservative last season, so he’s back calling plays. ULM finished last in the Sun Belt in total offense and scoring offense despite leading the conference in passing in 2014.
Don’t be overwhelmed on defense
ULM has nine returning starters on defense but new co-coordinators with linebackers coach Travis Niekamp and safeties coach Adam Waugh getting promoted after Troy Reffett left for Memphis. It’s a 3-3-5 scheme, so one has to wonder how well it might stand up to Alabama’s running game, but as 2007 proved, the longer the Warhawks can stay in the game...
Alabama Players to Watch
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Jake Coker
After starting sophomore Cooper Bateman last week, it appears that Alabama is ready to ride with Jake Coker. He completed 21 of 44 passes for 201 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in Week 3.
“Both quarterbacks always seemed extremely poised,” left tackle Cam Robinson said. “They didn’t let a turnover or anything rattle them. That’s really important. Both guys were really composed and really poised.”
Derrick Henry
He’s coming off a 23-carry game in which he had 127 rushing yards along with five catches for 39 yards. Considering Alabama will subsequently face Georgia, Arkansas, Texas A&M and Tennessee before its bye, the coaches won't want Henry to take a pounding. Ideally, he'll get his yards and then get off the field.
Alabama secondary
It’ll be another long game for starting cornerbacks Cyrus Jones and Marlon Humphrey, who had their hands full last week, but neither of ULM’s starters is as big physically as the Ole Miss wide receivers.
Aided by the deflected ball for a 66-yard touchdown and the busted coverage on a 73-yard pop pass, the Rebels passed for 341 yards.
"Well, you know, there are some things that we need to do better, but the stats always look bad because I think there's about 150 yards on those two plays,” Nick Saban said. “But we busted in the secondary on that play. We miscommunicated what we were playing. So that play should have been covered and it was not because of a mental error.
"But I'm not down on players in the secondary. We had a few missed tackles, we had some things we could have done better, we could have covered a few things better, but they did not really have a sustained drive. They got the ball with great field position and they scored. They made big plays and they scored. They drove a couple times and kicked field goals.
"So all in all, other than those few plays—which have to be eliminated—they have to be eliminated with fundamental execution and communication, it wasn't terrible. It wasn't all that bad. But we need to improve."
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ULM Players to Watch
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Quarterback Garrett Smith
The redshirt freshman is out of Smithson Valley High School in Spring Branch, Texas. His career is off to a good start as he’s completed 79 percent of his passes (49-of-62) for 576 yards, five touchdowns and just one interception. Smith’s passer-efficiency rating is 180.5.
Linebacker Michael Johnson and nose guard Gerrand Johnson
Michael Johnson leads a defense that boasts nine returning starters and six of the top seven tacklers. Last year Gerrand Johnson was the first defensive lineman to lead ULM in tackles since 1980 (93 total tackles to go with 12.5 tackles for loss including six sacks), while Michael Johnson topped the team in both tackles for loss (16) and sacks (8.0).
Wide receivers Rashon Ceaser and Ajalen Holley
Rashon Ceaser has 31 catches for 388 yards in his last three outings, which includes the 2014 finale. He finished last season with 77 receptions and a team-high 872 receiving yards. Last week Ajalen Holley had eight catches for 155 yards. His career high of 175 yards came against Idaho last year, when he tallied 57 catches for 863 yards and seven touchdown catches. Ceaser also returns punts.
What They're Saying
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Alabama head coach Nick Saban:
“It would be easy to sit here and say that the turnovers were the issue. But we need to have better fundamental execution of what we're doing. Too many negative plays on offense. Too many big plays on defense. Too many miscues on special teams in terms of who's blocking who.
"I think our players had tremendous energy in this game but we have to learn to channel our energy and focus into the right places so that we get better execution on a consistent basis. That starts with me. It starts with us as coaches in terms of doing a better job through the course of the week in preparing guys to be able to execute better.
"That's really where it starts. The focus is to improve our team. We're looking forward. There's many lessons to be learned in the last game, and hopefully our players will learn those lessons and we will do a good job of improving our team in the future so that we can get more consistent execution. We've got to address the ball-security issues. We've got to address getting the turnovers, and we've got to eliminate the big plays that are negative plays on both sides of the ball."
ULM head coach Todd Berry on facing Georgia during the season opener, per GeorgiaDogs.com:
"For the most part, they just had too much for us. They know what they're doing. We can go back to some of our other ball games against Top 10 teams where we've had some success. Sometimes they didn't handle schematically what we were doing on defense, couldn't handle the quarterback running around, those sorts of things. Georgia handled it really well.
"That's one of the things I think in relation to the opening game where they have a little more time to prepare for, and we hope that weekly that gives us a little bit of a differential advantage because it's a little harder to prepare for. They had a little bit more time to do that, and I'm sure it helped them. We just weren't able to dictate anything today at all."
Prediction
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This is really a benchmark game for Alabama, which will be trying to establish its identity without giving away too much to next week’s opponent, Georgia. It’s also the last game before the Crimson Tide start to hit the meat of the schedule
ULM opened the season at Georgia and lost 51-14, with the game called with 9:54 remaining due to inclement weather. The Bulldogs shut down the running game (45 yards on 26 carries) but were a bit vulnerable in the air as Garrett Smith completed 23 of 29 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns. In addition, Rashon Ceaser had 13 catches for 153 yards and both scores.
In theory this game should be pretty similar, depending on how motivated Alabama is even though ULM is coming off a bye.
Despite the last meeting and the Warhawks having defeated a Power Five program in each of the last three seasons, look for the Crimson Tide to bounce back.
Prediction: Alabama 45, ULM 10
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.
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