Blake Sims Proves Himself as Alabama Beats Florida
Alabama Beats Florida 42-21
Player of the Game: Blake Sims-23 of 33 for 445 Yards and 4 Touchdowns
Were we supposed to question if Blake Sims could be Alabama’s starter? Seriously?
At what point since the season started was that a legitimate question? Sims didn’t have a touchdown pass his first game but completed 72 percent of his passes for 250 yards and had 42 rushing yards. Doing that and getting the win should not have been enough to lose your starting job.
But it sparked a debate. Sims mostly ended that debate the next two weeks after going 12 of 14 and 12 of 17 in wins against Florida Atlantic and Southern Miss respectively, throwing for 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions each time. But he still looked like a very efficient, mobile game manager.
Then came Florida, and against a very good, complex defense, Sims torched them, throwing for 445 yards and 4 touchdowns. Now, on the season he has 1,091 yards, 8 touchdowns, only 2 interceptions, and has completed more than 70 percent of his passes.
In four weeks Sims has gone from being expected to being the backup to being expected to lose his starting job to being viewed as a game manager to now being viewed as a potential Heisman candidate.
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Who’s AJ McCarron again? Sims has already surpassed his career high in any game over three years of starting by more than 50 yards.
Oh, by the way, this is supposed to be a dual threat quarterback. He also has 114 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns on the year.
Maybe it’s Lane Kiffin, maybe it’s recruiting, maybe it’s a change in philosophy, but so far this year it seems Alabama has been winning games on offense this year, not as much on defense as they had been in the past.
On Saturday, Florida appeared to be threatening, but the offense continued to rally. It could have had at least 2 more touchdowns were it not for turnovers.
Alabama is obviously far more-talented and better coached overall, but Florida was good enough that if they had gotten the lead they got, they could have pulled off the upset.
The Tide’s offense didn’t let that happen. Sims at the very least validates how good of an offensive coach Kiffin may be.
And that is scary. After years of having game managers at quarterback and winning national titles, Saban might just have his best quarterback ever. Let’s wait a few weeks, but he looked as good as any other Alabama or LSU quarterback the pas 15 years on Saturday.