A couple of good pieces on how Saban appears to be remaking the Alabama team – one from Ian Boyd, the other from Michael Casagrande at al.com. And three observations from me…
- One, I think Boyd is spot on with this: “For years, all of this versatility and talent choked out SEC offenses with individually crafted game plans. But then Auburn’s Gus Malzahn and his up-tempo company came around. One Alabama source says Malzahn, the author of The Hurry-Up, No-Huddle, is inside Saban’s head.” Did you ever think it was possible for another coach to pull that off? I didn’t.
- Two, for all the “Kiffin did this and Kiffin did that” stuff, let’s not forget which team led the SEC last season in yards per offensive play and scoring. And with a lot less soul searching, it seems.
- Three, if Nick Saban is going all in with shedding weight in the secondary – as Boyd notes, “Barring some big summer weight gains, this will be Saban’s first Alabama secondary to not feature a DB over 200 pounds.” – Brian Schottenheimer sure as hell better have a game plan prepared to take advantage of that by pounding the snot out of them. Because it seems like he’s got the players with which to do so.
Get The Picture 
This is Richt’s opportunity for redemption for getting drilled in the fourth quarter by the SPUAT game a few years ago. He has an absolute stud at RB in Chubb that should platoon with Marshall and Michel to wear those small DBs down in the fourth.
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Looking at that Scoring list, you would think these new spread offenses would lead the league in scoring. Instead you see Ga and Ala at the top. That is funny.
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Saban has an issue because he has been able to have a similar game plan for every opponent and deploy much better players. That has been a very successful plan. Everybody know what to do and you use your superior speed and strength and size to dominate a lesser opponent. Malzahn requires new plans and neutralizes talent advantages, like the pissheads in Atlanta do to us. As a control freak I’m sure “it’s in his head.” For us, we have to have new plans every week anyway. we aren’t showing up in many sec games and saying “our roster is too good for you to handle.” Bama has done that pretty well until recently.
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Alabama’s averaging 12-2 and pushing for better. As Ian notes, most successful coaches, like Mack, will ride their proven formula for success to the bitter end rather than change. Kind of remarkable.
Is it just me, or does anyone else see the Alabama game being a defensive slugfest? And while Alabama has a new offense, it looks like they are a year away from having anyone to run it optimally.
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We have better chance of winning a track meet. Winning a slobber knocker worries me because we are better vs. the pass then power running. Not say we can’t win a 17-13 but I’d rather the winner be in the 40’s.
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Alabama’s front 7 is going to be very good. Pounding them will be difficult
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There are plenty of things you can do with formations to negate some of that, particularly if there’s less bulk in the defensive backfield.
And don’t forget, it’s not a front seven when they’re in the nickel.
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I’m afraid Bama will only be in a nickle D because it’s 3rd & long.
A dual TE set-up with single RB does bring some exciting blocking and mismatch opportunities to the offense. When you think about it, a NFL OC is probably what you want to take on Saban. Now, about those other 11 games….
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Also, throwing to the TEs could be very useful, especially if some 190 lb, 6’0 DB is covering a TE that’s 3-4 inches taller and 30-45 lbs heavier.
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I have to admit “pounding the snot out of” Alabama is very high on my wish list for this season.
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“Kiffin did this and Kiffin did that” against a harder schedule than the one Bobo faced. Yes, UGA had a better yards per play number, but I seem to remember reading something about the SEC West being better than the East.
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True. But Georgia’s OOC schedule kinda evened that out, didn’t it?
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Until the bowl games when they all laid eggs.
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Nice shot, Debby Upper. Everyone conveniently forgets that since ESPN made the West different. They ain’t that different to us.
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The West’s greatness was a bit overblown. Georgia destroyed its two Western opponents last season. They did to Arkansas and Auburn what nobody in the almighty Western division could do. This is part of the reason I’m pissed off about last season. Georgia was arguably the best team in the league and couldn’t even win their division.
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Correct brother. It’s nuts that the Dawgs didn’t win the east last season. I’m sayin’ (along with all the other personalities) that if the Dawgs had only gotten to play in the SEC Championship Game last year they woulda been SEC Champs.
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Stranger things have happened. The OBS lost 3 SEC games and still won his division. Missouri got run by the Dawgs. Chomp beats Georgia. Go figure.
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I’ll take a 1 point win and be giddy.
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50 years ago 18-17 felt pretty good—dang I am getting old
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Senator, your item 2 above is exactly why I am so optimistic for the upcoming season. Keep it up on O and if we get any improvement on D–we’re right there!
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I think Sumlin got to Nick’s head 1st, but Gus certainly takes up more real estate currently.
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Running back a missed field goal 109 yards to win a game tend to do that to a coach. 🙂
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+1
Nice.
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Build to beat Malzahn and you aren’t built to beat Georgia. Sometimes, the old ways are better.
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Georgia is built to beat itself so it’s not a problem.
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