| FTBL Bama's Rushing Offense...

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

I went back and dug into the game stats... A lot of attention is on Milroe and the passing game, and that's fine, but the run game this year has really underperformed. Part of the reason for that is some early season injuries and shuffling along the OL... and a road grader like Roberts is still limited which hurts some. Also, there hasn't been much of a commitment to the run game, other than some occasional drives here and there (we saw one yesterday when Bama came out and ran 8 straight times in the 3rd). But, the lack of big play runs is a concern.

Note: These numbers don't include the behind the LOS tosses to guys like Law that basically are runs, but counted as passes in the stats. Those types of plays are a lin this offense though, and I'd like to see more of them. They've been very successful overall.

Rushes of 10+ yards through 7 games...

Western Kentucky = 10 (4 from RB's)
South Florida = 7 (4 from RB's)
Wisconsin = 6 (3 from RB's)
Georgia = 5 (2 from RB's)
Vanderbilt = 3 (2 from RB's)
South Carolina = 2 (0 from RB's)
Tennessee = 2 (1 from RB's)

So, to break it down a bit more...

-35 rushes of 10+ yards all season, 17 of which came against WKU and USF.
-In SEC play, Bama has only had 5 rushes of 10+ yards in 4 games from the RB's.
-There is an ugly trend in the overall numbers that needs to be reversed, immediately. The OL is better than that. The RB's are better than that. The overall scheme is dynamic in what it offers as far as a rushing attack. This needs fixed almost as much as QB play does. And to a small degree at least, they go hand in hand.

 

[BAMAneck]

I posted this in another thread but worth repeating. We had 33 yards from the RB’s. Thats a recipe for disaster in itself. We wont get many top RB recruits with those kind of stats. Jalen can’t do it all. Our O Line should be able to facilitate a 100 yard rusher in every game.

This OC reminds me of Mike Leach with all these passes. He's got to be flexible.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

I posted this in another thread but worth repeating. We had 33 yards from the RB’s. Thats a recipe for disaster in itself. We wont get many top RB recruits with those kind of stats. Jalen can’t do it all. Our O Line should be able to facilitate a 100 yard rusher in every game.

This OC reminds me of Mike Leach with all these passes. He's got to be flexible.

I hear ya, but Bama ran it 34 times yesterday. They just couldn't get it going, and they were never going to with Milroe. The Vols went into the game with the strategy that for better or worse, they were shutting his ground game down.

 

[mando]

Also, there hasn't been much of a commitment to the run game,

I lean towards this being as big of a problem as anything. This is on the game planning and OC calling the game on gameday. CKD has to make it clear that is what he wants to see from the OC.

 

[BAMAneck]

I hear ya, but Bama ran it 34 times yesterday. They just couldn't get it going, and they were never going to with Milroe. The Vols went into the game with the strategy that for better or worse, they were shutting his ground game down.

14 of those rushing attempts were Milroe’s though . He should have more along 7-10 max per game.

Roydell was a loss for us as far as a 1st and 2nd down back. But the guys we have are good enough. RB’s Gotta have more than 20 attempts per game

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

14 of those rushing attempts were Milroe’s though . He should have more along 7-10 max per game.

Roydell was a loss for us as far as a 1st and 2nd down back. But the guys we have are good enough. RB’s Gotta have more than 20 attempts per game

They stuck with the zone read too long yesterday, and like everything else with Milroe, he really floundered with it as well when they did run it.

I'm pretty high on Jam Miller. I think they'll probably be portal shopping for a back after the season though.

 

[bamafan9201]

I can break it down a bit, but essentially UT run blitzed on almost every 1st down of the game. They assumed if it was a pass, they might get beat and lived with that. We really needed to stretch the field sideline to sideline, because Milroe was struggling to complete the passes in those situations all game. WR screens, TE screens, Jet sweep, RB screens, TE hot route seam passes. There's so many easy ways to force them out of this routine and open up the run game. He has done this in previous games but for some reason still abandons the run too much.

I think the run blocking has been average at best but I also think we're way too easy to abandon the run when we don't get 8-10 yards on an individual run. We get like 4-6 yards and then think it's a negative play and just decide to throw it 2 times after that. I'd really like to see some more creativity on rolling Milroe out and giving him RPO options.

 

[BAMAneck]

I believe i heard on the Read & React show last week BAMA only ran the ball on back to back plays like 2 or 3 times the entire game.

 

[64Tide]

This is Alabama. We should be able to run the ball and our “feature” back should be good for 100+ per game.

 

[footballer]

Our offense Should be balanced so as to keep defenses Off balance.

 

[mando]

The OC abandons the run to quickly historically. Need to commit to it as they did on one scoring drive against the Viles.

On blizes they need to have a hot route in play. 45 years ago in high school we did that. As slot/flanker if the LB blitzed we broke off the route and went right where he left. Even way back in the stone ages we knew how to do that .

 

[BamaFan334]

I have to wonder how they stack the box waiting for Milroe to run and boom, they have stopped us for short gains with whomever carries the ball.

They effectively stop 2/3 (rushing attack, passing attack, and Milroe being an athlete) of our offense by planning to stop Milroe running. That means they focus on him running, which means the whole running game, and they can also frustrate him with that same pressure if he throws.

Even our fans know when Milroe is keeping it around the edge.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

I have to wonder how they stack the box waiting for Milroe to run and boom, they have stopped us for short gains with whomever carries the ball.

They effectively stop 2/3 (rushing attack, passing attack, and Milroe being an athlete) of our offense by planning to stop Milroe running. That means they focus on him running, which means the whole running game, and they can also frustrate him with that same pressure if he throws.

Even our fans know when Milroe is keeping it around the edge.

The last 2 teams have eaten Bama alive on the edge. I thought a bit more motion and eye candy could have helped against TN... that little flip pass to Law with about 7 minutes to play in the first that went for 20 yards... a well designed play (technically a pass), but they have some misdirection stuff like that which works well and lures defenders out of position. Wanted more of it.

 

[mando]

I have to wonder how they stack the box waiting for Milroe to run and boom, they have stopped us for short gains with whomever carries the ball.

They effectively stop 2/3 (rushing attack, passing attack, and Milroe being an athlete) of our offense by planning to stop Milroe running. That means they focus on him running, which means the whole running game, and they can also frustrate him with that same pressure if he throws.

Even our fans know when Milroe is keeping it around the edge.

Milroe has to figure out how one area of his game being shutdown does not affect the other. Also, pressure gives him happy feet and effects all parts of his game. CKD and OC has their work cut out for them because if he can get his edge back, he is a hand full like he was against UGA.