Alabama-Kentucky: Perception Isn't Always Reality

By Terry Pellman

“Perception is reality.”

I’m sure everyone reading this has heard the phrase; the majority here have probably used it on more than one occasion.

I’m sure there are many here who don’t believe what is perceived is reality.  But, “perception is a reality, in the sense that it’s something we have to deal with. But perception isn’t reality itself. In fact, perception is often demonstrably false.”

“Perception is reality” is usually just a clumsy but short way of saying that people do not react to reality, they react to their perception of it.

Let’s consider…

Three turnovers allowed the opposition to stay in the game, when in reality, they should have been put away very early.

Their quarterback had a good night, completing 50 percent of his passes, gaining 300 yards in offense, including a touchdown.

Their rushing attack was a minimal threat, accounting for around 25 percent of their total offensive production.

The odds-on favorite to win the game were held far below their average in terms of points scored and allowed more points scored against them on average as well.

This isn’t Alabama football.

No, seriously, this isn’t Alabama football I’m talking about here.  In fact, it is a brief recap of what happened when Florida lost to Ole Miss just eight days ago.

What is the difference?  While Alabama comes out with a win to start the season at 6-0, Florida dropped yet another game against the Rebels.

A win, folks.

I want you to ask yourself before we continue.  Is there a soul, just one, that truly believed the Crimson Tide would be entering their first off-week of the season undefeated?

You, the guy who just raised your hand, you are lying.

I purposely avoided fan forums last night after the clock struck zero because I didn’t want to read what Alabama fans had to say about the game. 

It wasn’t a decision made because I didn’t want to acknowledge the reality of Bama’s situation, it was due to the fact I didn’t want to read the majority of the fans' perceptions.

At the half, I did venture over to the RollTideBama Football forum and sure enough, within the first thread I opened, I saw what I expected.  A fan voicing what they perceived to be the “Tulane game all over again.” 

While the score may seem to have reflected that, the mere reality of the situation demonstrated that Alabama did have the intensity that most thought was missing. 

No matter how many ways you slice it, when a team has over 250 yards on offense in the first half, it is not a team that is “playing flat.” 

When a team allows the opposing offense less than 60 total yards in offense?  Again, the reality is, that team is playing with a lot of intensity.

Alabama’s offense and defense did have their low points Saturday night; the third quarter play, perhaps the lowest of the night.

But, when push came to shove, the team resorted to its “bread and butter,” as Coach Saban called it, and returned to the strength of its game, riding on the back of Glenn Coffee’s rushing (25 carries, 215 yards)

There is one other reality that fits with the perceptions; a game plagued with penalties against the Tide.

Much like basketball, some football games are called differently than others.  One of the biggest penalties that applies to in college football is holding.  By definition, it could be called on every play. 

While a few of the holding calls could be called “questionable,” a few of them were blatant.  The flag thrown for pass interference against Julio Jones in the second half was another call that looked like “football” from my perception, but the reality was it ended up with the Alabama team being flagged for a drive-killing penalty. 

The penalty of “ineligible receiver” on Nick Walker wasn’t questionable, it wasn’t a case of perception versus reality, it was a case of a seriously blown call that resulted in yet another drive being stifled.

I make no apologies to anyone when I state this.

When a tight end is on the line of scrimmage, even in an unbalanced set and he’s covered up, if he remains on the line of scrimmage until the play is over, he isn’t a receiver and can’t be called ineligible.

Well, yes he can: he was. But, that was another case of the perception of the line of scrimmage not being the reality…but I digress.

There are more things we can point to that weren’t what was expected from this game.  None of them are on the Kentucky side of the ball.

We knew they would come out in man coverage, and they did.  We didn’t do a good job of getting open against that coverage. 

When that happens, combined with poor protection of the quarterback, the perception that the QB had a bad day is reality. The perception that is it all his fault, is demonstrably false.

We knew Kentucky would come out and “stack the box” with seven and eight men against the run.  A Kentucky team that stopped the vaunted Alabama rushing attack leads one to perceive they did well against the Alabama running attack. 

The reality that Alabama still accumulated 282 yards running the football tells you they failed to contain the Alabama attack.

Something many have perceived is this is a team that needs a break.  Very true.  After playing six games this season at a very high intensity level, the Alabama squad is emotionally, mentally, and physically tired.  This off week couldn’t come at a better time.

So far, has this team exceeded expectations?  I have to say no, because there isn’t a game on the first half of our schedule I looked at before this season and thought we couldn’t win.

However, I didn’t expect to see this team sitting at the midpoint of the season at 6-0.  As I looked at the schedule, I thought we would be looking at one, perhaps two losses.

My perception of this season then is far from the reality of it now.

College football fans, one and all, are invited to join us at RollTideBama.com.