Rogers: Offensive line bears weight of suspensions

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Balance? How can there be balance on offense when things up front change faster than a NASCAR pit crew?

Zero touchdowns. Mississippi State held Alabama out of the end zone. Maybe that shouldn’t have been a surprise.

Alabama hasn’t scored an offensive touchdown against Mississippi State since Spencer Pennington’s touchdown pass to Le’Ron McClain in 2004.

You think a line missing Antoine Caldwell and Marlon Davis for the third straight game is going to stop that streak?

Last week, the offensive front got blown away more than Wile E. Coyote. This week, it wasn’t much better.

Even the new offensive line has been shuffled. B.J. Stabler has fought injuries and missed practice last week. Right tackle Mike Johnson moved inside to guard for Stabler. Senior Chris Capps started at right tackle, although he also played some left tackle when Alabama wanted to shift Andre Smith to the right side.

“B.J. wasn’t able to practice all the time this week,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “I think it affected our preparation a little bit. (Center Evan) Cardwell couldn’t practice all the time, either. But I think Chris Capps did a pretty good job for the most part. I’m sure there’s some things he could’ve done better. I thought Mike did a pretty good job inside.”

But Alabama got points in threes instead of sevens — and it cost them Saturday.
The best chance, of course, was near the end of the first half. Alabama had first-and-goal at the 3 after John Parker Wilson ran for 3 yards.

The Tide took a timeout with 34 seconds left in the half. Terry Grant rushed for a yard to the 2. Alabama called its second timeout with 27 seconds left. Grant was stopped for no gain on second down. Bama called timeout with 21 seconds remaining.

That set up Wilson’s interception that turned the game around. But Saban pointed to poor execution on those running plays.

“On the play before, if we’d have blocked it right we’d have scored on it,” the coach said. “So we wouldn’t even have been in that situation.”

Cardwell couldn’t explain the offensive troubles.

“I thought we came out and had a good gameplan. We just weren’t able to execute when we really needed to,” he said. “If we would have been able to establish the run, that would’ve helped us a lot but we weren’t able to get that done today.”

Without the running game, Wilson’s job of moving the team grew tougher as the game wore on.

“It’s tough when you can’t get balance,” he said. “When they know you’ve got to throw the ball, it’s tough to get it (the ball) in there.”

Think Terry Grant misses Antoine Caldwell? Surely Wilson does, too.

“I think the guys that played today did a good job,” Wilson said of his makeshift line. “They played their tail off. We could ‘what if,’ I guess, ‘what if the suspended guys were here,’ but they’re not. We’ve got to play with the guys who are here. They fought hard.”

Fighting hard and scoring touchdowns are different things. As different as winning and losing.