🏈 Bama Should Stop Running the HUNH

[Crtuneman]

Monday night is a perfect example of why I Hate to see Bama run the hurry up offense. During Kiffin's entire career at Bama I have hated watching Bama run the HU because it always puts our defense at a disadvantage. Especially when we are not producing points off of it. Clemson ran 99 plays against us. 99! That's absurd. There's not a defense in the country that can stand up to 99 plays. I realize a part of it is that we could not stop them on 3rd down when we had to, but it also goes back to our offense trying to go fast and giving the ball right back to Clemson. I want Bama to go back to a grinding, slow-paced offense that keeps the ball out of the opposing offense's hands. That's the only way to beat the HUNH teams. Don't give them the ball. I understand that a lot of kids coming out of high school feel comfortable in the HUNH, but maybe we should stop recruiting those guys and recruit QBs like AJ or Mcelroy, who know how to run a slow, huddle up offense. I don't want Bama to look like all the other teams in the country. I want Bama to play Bama football. Smash mouth, choking, grinding, soul-stealing football. I absolutely despise the HUNH. /rant

 

[musso]

Unrealistic unless they change the rules to allow the defense to sub independently of offensive subbing, not to mention enforcing OL advancing past the LOS on RPOs and enforcing a minimum delay between plays.

 

[Crtuneman]

I'm not saying stop other teams from running the HUNH. I just want Bama to stop running it, because it keeps our defense on the field too long.

 

[musso]

I realize what you're saying, but my point is that an offense and defense work together. It's a symbiosis. Saban has already commented extensively about his decision to appropriate the HUNH. In an earlier post of mine I talk about the only way to "defend" against the HUNH better than we have done is to improve our ability to control the ball when it's needed later in the game. I say:

The truth is, there isn’t much we can do about it. Teams who can’t match Bama’s talent in the box will concentrate their recruiting, development, and scheme at two positions: QB and WR. They will put all their eggs in those two baskets, and when they play us, they will negate any talent disparity in the trenches by effectively eliminating the trenches from the game. You do this with the shot gun, tempo, spread, quick passes, QB runs, and one-on-one matchups with undersized DBs. Our opponents know that the supply of tall cornerbacks is just too small for even mighty Bama to attract on a regular basis.

The best response Saban can deploy is offensive, not defensive, that is by putting a premium QBs, RBs, and OL. And this is where I think we found ourselves in an unusual position this season. We ended up with a starting QB with a limited ceiling for the season as a true freshman. We only had one RB (Bo) who could be a suitable threat both between and outside the tackles and therefore a critical ball control tool in the 2nd half. However his availability was limited. And we also didn’t have good play in the interior of our OL. Even by fixing one of these three weaknesses before last night, I say we get by with a win, despite Clemson’s deadly talent profile.

 

[OldPlayer]

I saw a lot of huddles by the offense on Monday

 

['65 Cobra]

In today's game, we need to be able to do both, which we already can, but we just didn't. I was yelling at the TV several times during the game, "Slow Down!!" at our offense. At one point, we had (I believe) 10 three and outs in a row with several series lasting well under one minute. This was torturing our defense. All we had to do was huddle more and slow down getting the snap off. We didn't. Of course, converting a third down or two would have been nice.

 

[UAgrad93]

Monday night is a perfect example of why I Hate to see Bama run the hurry up offense. During Kiffin's entire career at Bama I have hated watching Bama run the HU because it always puts our defense at a disadvantage. Especially when we are not producing points off of it. Clemson ran 99 plays against us. 99! That's absurd. There's not a defense in the country that can stand up to 99 plays. I realize a part of it is that we could not stop them on 3rd down when we had to, but it also goes back to our offense trying to go fast and giving the ball right back to Clemson. I want Bama to go back to a grinding, slow-paced offense that keeps the ball out of the opposing offense's hands. That's the only way to beat the HUNH teams. Don't give them the ball. I understand that a lot of kids coming out of high school feel comfortable in the HUNH, but maybe we should stop recruiting those guys and recruit QBs like AJ or Mcelroy, who know how to run a slow, huddle up offense. I don't want Bama to look like all the other teams in the country. I want Bama to play Bama football. Smash mouth, choking, grinding, soul-stealing football. I absolutely despise the HUNH. /rant

I believe if you go back and watch, we really didn't run maybe 4-5 HUNH plays all night. We may not have always huddled, but neither did we rush a snap within 5-7 seconds in true HUNH fashion.

Personally and I may be way off base here, I feel that we LOST discipline and focus when we rushed. We had more chunk or explosive plays than in past years too, which put us back on the field defensively quicker. I think that we moved away too much from the identity of a ground and pound offense. Saban may look to go back to an extent with Sarkisian. It will be hard with all of the weapons though, to NOT call "shot plays" or get frustrated when Ridley or Stewart take a bubble screen 70 to the house or Harris rips a run 65 down to the 1.

 

[Crtuneman]

I believe if you go back and watch, we really didn't run maybe 4-5 HUNH plays all night. We may not have always huddled, but neither did we rush a snap within 5-7 seconds in true HUNH fashion.

Personally and I may be way off base here, I feel that we LOST discipline and focus when we rushed. We had more chunk or explosive plays than in past years too, which put us back on the field defensively quicker. I think that we moved away too much from the identity of a ground and pound offense. Saban may look to go back to an extent with Sarkisian. It will be hard with all of the weapons though, to NOT call "shot plays" or get frustrated when Ridley or Stewart take a bubble screen 70 to the house or Harris rips a run 65 down to the 1.

This is what I was saying. I know we don't run the true HUNH because we don't go as fast, but several times we did get the snap off with 20 seconds or more left on the clock. I agree completely that we rush and get confused. Like the 3rd and long run by Hurts where they had stacked the line to the left and we ran to the left. We may have run out of time on that one, but that's just an example. I really want to go back to the pound and ground. That is when we are at our best. Another thing I was thinking Monday was that our defense was so tired, not just from that one game but from the long 15 game season. Maybe Saban is right and the playoffs are actually bad for the players. Don't know, just wondering. But our offense definitely needs to get away from rushing plays at the LOS. Oh, and more pistol formations. I really think we run best out of the pistol.

 

[T&B]

There are times for the HU, and there are times not to run HU.

14-0 lead with the games best defense is a good time to NOT run the HU. When you cant make a single first down that is another time you should abandon the HU. If your defense is approaching 80-100 plays that is definitely a good time to cut out the HU. :lol:

 

[footballer]

Better offensive line blocking and discipline and a viable passing attack is what is needed in my opinion, no matter if we huddle or run NH or HUNH. I'm sorry to say this, but we have had subpar line play the last few years and have my doubts if they will be much better next year. I also have major doubts that Hurts will show much improvement in his decision making and passing ability next year. Hope I am wrong.

 

[Crtuneman]

I agree about the line blocking. The OL in 2012 was the best Bama ever had. They could run over anyone, even if the box was stacked. I will say though that our line should be outstanding next year. Everyone will be back except Cam, and guys like Cotton and Womack will have plenty of experience. I believe our run game should be the strength of this team next year.

 

[94 Grad]

First off... HUNH has nothing to do with how much time we take to snap the ball... HUNH with Temp does. We don't run "Tempo" very often.

I have no issues with running a HUNH... It keeps the other team from subbing... we still use almost the entire play clock...

The "HURRY UP" part of HUNH is hurrying to the line of scrimmage to prevent the other team from being able to sub easily. You can still use the entire play clock to snap the ball...