🏈 Any Improvements Or Wrinkles Needed For Bama To Win Title ?

[rammerjammer]

@uagrad93 hit the nail on the head. I have heard CNS say on numerous occasions that a punt is not a bad thing. It is always your choice to punt, a turnover is not your choice. With the D that we have, a team going the length of the field is a tall order. It is a numbers game and if you do things right, you put yourself in a position to win.

Stallings always said, stop the run on D, establish the run on O, and win the turnover margin. That will win 70% of your ball games. It is the small things that get you up in the 80% range on wins. If you think about it, what has Alabama done since CNS got there? Dance with the one that brought you. In Saban we trust.

 

[UAgrad93]

@uagrad93 hit the nail on the head. I have heard CNS say on numerous occasions that a punt is not a bad thing. It is always your choice to punt, a turnover is not your choice. With the D that we have, a team going the length of the field is a tall order. It is a numbers game and if you do things right, you put yourself in a position to win.

Stallings always said, stop the run on D, establish the run on O, and win the turnover margin. That will win 70% of your ball games. It is the small things that get you up in the 80% range on wins. If you think about it, what has Alabama done since CNS got there? Dance with the one that brought you. In Saban we trust.

I have said this before about Coach Stallings. He once stuck his head in on the QB meeting room with us his first year. He told us to protect the ball, don't turn it over deep in our own territory, punting isn't a bad thing, if we are backed deep in our own territory, gain enough yards so our punter gets the full distance from the snapper. He then walked out. He never mentioned completion percentages, yards thrown, touchdown to int ratio, etc.

 

[Bammerboy321]

Play action on the jet sweeps. Sure every team will be prepping for those, but I think a PA on it with Ridley will be an automatic big play.

 

[Che Boludo]

There are likely some wrinkles that can be added to break some tendencies but for the most part Bama is where it is and the players are who they are at this point in the season.

Coker is a gutsy leader that gives his all, but there is likely a reason why he isn't asked to take more intermediate to long passes. His passing efficiency is set up by playaction to deliver the deep ball. A combination of things from pass protection to consistency in delivering timely, accurate balls make the overall passing game limited. Not a knock on him or anyone else, it just is what it is and it's unreasonable to think it could change over the next couple of weeks.

Schematics-wise: i'm still holding out for the TE to get more play in the passing game and more 2 back sets to create a variety of options to open up the intermediate passing game. But, like I said, much smarter folks than I are designing the game plan and they surely have bona-fide reasons for calling it as they do.

MsU is a solid team, but I'm comforted in that 2015 UA D > 2010 UA D and the 2010 Sparty O > 2015 Sparty O.

Meanwhile, the 2015 UA O may be < 2010 UA O but the 2015 MSU is more or less equal to the 2010 Sparta D.

Point being that the match ups in the first round seem weighted to Bama's favor imo, so I think they can win almost easily just playing their game as it is. Look to break tendencies but not get too cute. Just be who they are.

 

[Bammerboy321]

No new wrinkles for Bama, unless it involves getting OJ more involved. Highly unlikely since we've asked for it all fucking year and still left wondering WTF has happened to Howard.

Defensively, maybe throw in some star blitzes with Minkah and get after Cook. I would love to see what kind of disguised blitzes are being created right now.

 

[BigCrimson]

I think designed read options for Jake would be a nice wrinkle. It opened up the offense against Florida. He's a load to bring down and gives the defense something else to account for.

 

[PCRammer]

No new wrinkles for Bama, unless it involves getting OJ more involved. Highly unlikely since we've asked for it all ******* year and still left wondering WTF has happened to Howard.

Defensively, maybe throw in some star blitzes with Minkah and get after Cook. I would love to see what kind of disguised blitzes are being created right now.

You can't see them. Disguised so well the naked eye cannot discern. Sparty is effed!

 

[JoshB]

I think designed read options for Jake would be a nice wrinkle. It opened up the offense against Florida. He's a load to bring down and gives the defense something else to account for.

Read option and traditional option or spread option would be nice wrinkles to throw.

 

[BigCrimson]

Read option and traditional option or spread option would be nice wrinkles to throw.

Yeah, was thinking the same thing. Jake has proven he can run the ball with success and the dude is a load to bring down (even for LB's). To be able to pull and either pass or run off it would make the offense a lot more dangerous and unpredictable.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

I really feel bad for Jake Coker. The guy has played with more heart and determination than anyone on our team. He isn't a bad QB at all. He has done everything asked of him and been incredibly clutch when required. He has executed the game plan as requested and done an excellent job of getting us into the right plays. There have been countless times he seems to be the only one knowing what's going on trying to get people into position to do their job. He's no Heisman winner, but he gets the job done. Unfortunately an unreasonably large contingent decided before he took his first snap of the season that he wouldn't be good enough for them and have created increasingly grasping ways to demean his contributions. Fortunately the team seems to value him more than these fans. This persistent bit about his long release and poor decision making is overblown. Any post that mentions these and does not also mention the sub-par pass protection he has received this year instantly betrays itself as someone who is more concerned with demeaning his contributions than adhering to reality.

The funny thing about all of the Coker angst is where he's going to measure up in this season of passing. He currently has the tenth best passing year, in terms of yardage, of any Bama QB. He just knocked Hollingsworth out of the top ten. If he passes for eleven yards or more, he will jump Brodie Croyle's best year and sit at ninth. If he passes for his season average of 191, he'll jump over AJ and McElroy's second best years. His current completion percentage of 65.7% (for seasons with 200 or more completions) is behind only McElroy '10 and AJ '12 and '13. Fourth best ever. He's done all of this behind what I consider below average pass blocking (better than Blake's protection last year, but probably worse than any other under Saban).

Alabama fans are more critical of our QBs and kickers than they should. I think I posted about Blake's exceptional season last year, before that trying to convey the younger Tiffin's place in Bama history, etc. Griffith is the same way. He missed his first four and became a pariah, but then he hit 21 of his next 24, including 5 for 5 against aubrun. Adding his two PATs against the barn (he's a perfect 51 for 51) and he scored 17 points as a kicker in the Iron Bowl. One Bama kicker has done more than that in a single game - Phillip Doyle in 1990. That's it.

Historical context will usually blunt contemporary contempt or platitudes.

RTR,

Tim