Not a fan of either team, but even in the first quarter the game could have gone completely different save two plays. Harris was very close to fumbling and turning the ball over on the goal line and Bama's next score could have just as easily been ruled an incomplete pass in the back of the end zone on 3rd & 5. It's funny how those plays could have completely rearranged the narrative around Kyler Murray's performance even though he had nothing to do with them.
I thought Kyler struggled on the first couple of drives.
Anfernee Jennings throws him to the ground just with a handful of jersey and Kyler had to be thinking, whoa, so this is what this is going to be like. Then he waits for guys to get open, nobody does, and he gets sacked from behind as the most decorated offensive line in college football gets their ass handed to them by Bama's defensive front full of NFL players.
It's no wonder he turned around and turfed a ball he could normally hit in his sleep to Marquise Brown on the swing.
After really those three plays though, Kyler Murray settled down immediately and played his football. He really did.
People want to get on him about a couple of passes and I think they're just seeing the result and not seeing the plays conceptually.
He throws a deep ball to Marquise Brown who pulls up lame with a hamstring on the play, and of course it looks overthrown.
He fits a 50/50 ball in to the 6'5" and 254 lbs Carson Meier in the end zone, and it looks thrown behind him, because Deionte Thompson shoved Meier in the back and pushed him forward and to the ground, nearly picked off. It was aggressive, some may say a little reckless, but it was also nearly a winning play.
He throws high to CeeDee Lamb on a slant into the end zone, and nobody stops to think, why? Perhaps because two Bama defenders stood right in the passing lane, completely unoccupied, waiting for the 5'10" quarterback to try and drill a ball that would've been easily interceptable if it were thrown low where Lamb could've caught it? Ya think???
Murray tried to get it over the defenders and it went high. He should've just checked off it and hit Calcaterra in the flat. Bama baited this, and Murray took the bait, but notice he STILL processed the situation quickly enough to make the last second adjustment on the ball to try and get it over these defenders.
There was another throw to Charleston Rambo on the sideline when Quinnen Williams tried to murder Kyler Murray, clearly a miscommunication, and to me it looked like the receiver freelancing to try and get open instead of going where the quarterback expected.
It's not as if Kyler Murray didn't have poor throws. Like I said, he turfed the ball to Marquise Brown on the swing. He could hit that one in his sleep. He threw high and outside to Brown on a comeback during an extended time situation, although it's tough to tell without the back view whether that was another passing lane situation. He threw inexcusably high to Grant Calcaterra over the middle and very nearly had it picked off.
But when he hits slot WR Myles Tease twice on the hands over the short middle, in very tight quarters, on 3rd and 4th down, you've got to catch those. When he hits Marquis Brown on the hands on 3rd & 6, which would've at worst set up a very makeable 4th & 1 near the goal line, you've got to catch that.
Other stuff he's just trying to throw guys open against the leverage of the defenders, and they either weren't finishing the play, or the Bama coverage was just too damned good. They're the best team in the country for a reason.
