Aaron Suttles
TideSports.com Senior Writer
It rolls in like waves, one after the other, unrelenting and with pace. Just when you think you've caught your breath, the next crest storms in, bowling you over and making balance all the more difficult.
Kevin Sumlin's Texas A&M offense isn't so much a bulldozer as it is those swells coming at defenses every series with a frenzied pace that never quite allows time for adjustment, physically or mentally.
No offense has given the prideful Alabama defense more trouble than Sumlin's. Will it be any different this season?
It's a tough chore.
Against its last 100 opponents, UA's defense has held 31 teams to less than 200 yards of total offense and 63 to less than 300 yards. But Texas A&M has bucked that trend.
Since coming into the league in 2012, the Aggies totaled 1,046 yards of total offense and 71 points against Crimson Tide defenses that finished those seasons with the No. 1 ranked total defense in the SEC.
In 2012, Johnny Manziel led an upset over No. 1 ranked Alabama 29-24 with 29 points and 418 total yards. A year later he upped the ante with a performance for the ages in a 49-42 loss with 628 yards of offense.
Manziel is gone, in his place a sophomore in Kenny Hill who caught the nation's attention in his first start to open the 2014 season, throwing for more passing yards in a game than Manziel ever did. Hill completed better than 73 percent (44 of 60 for 511 yards and three touchdowns) of his throws that night against South Carolina.
New quarterback? No problem. The Aggies rank third nationally in passing yards with 396 a game.
"It's still the same A&M," senior middle linebacker Trey DePriest said. "They're going to spread it out and go fast."
Despite the offensive production, the previous three games haven't exactly been smooth sailing. Arkansas nearly pulled of an upset in a neutral-site game in Fort Worth, and the Magnolia State dealt a pair of rough losses with 17- and 15-point defeats, respectively, to Mississippi State and Ole Miss in back-to-back weeks.
Enter Alabama off a rough stretch of its own. Which program bounces back? The answer lies in the secondary.
There's no way to adequately describe what it's like for Alabama's defensive backs once the onslaught of wide receivers spread them out all over the field. Precision timing routes with concepts and pre-snap movements designed to confuse and a pace designed to fatigue both physical and mentally create mass confusion at times.
UA defensive coordinator Kirby Smart looks like a crazed man in those moments, maniacally bouncing up and down on the sideline while signaling in the defense.
"It's really no possible way to be ready for what they run," former cornerback John Fulton (2010-13) said. "We had a good scout team, but until you actually go up against that Sumlin offense and actually get eight plays in a row in under two minutes and are baptized by fire, you have to jump into it because there is no way you can possibly prepare for it in practice.
"Physically you come into the game you're prepared. You get hydrated and everything like that. So it's more mental. When it comes down to the seventh play of the drive sometimes you get tired and your mind goes. You think you have this but you actually have this.That's really what the hurry-up offense does to you. It's the mind game.
"It's really no way you can possibly get ready for it in practice. After you're baptized by fire two or three series, that's when we're ready."
If practice isn't the answer, the games are. The proliferation of hurry-up, no-huddle offenses have UA more seasoned now. Five of its six games this season came against teams that ran similar offenses, the lone exception last week against the Arkansas pro-style offense.
Going back to last season, seven of UA's last eight games (Auburn, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Florida Atlanta, Southern Miss, Florida and Ole Miss) were against variations of the hurry-up, no-huddle offenses.
Has repetition created the achieved results? It's hard to say.
Alabama's had success and struggled, depending on the team. Against Auburn, Oklahoma and West Virginia, the defense struggled. The Tigers and Sooners combined for more than 800 yards to close the 2013 season. The Mountaineers opened 2014 with nearly 400 yards of total offense.
Against Ole Miss the defense did the job for most of the game, but periodical breakdowns led to three Rebels touchdowns in the second half in the loss.
"We've been practicing against fastball since spring ball and even before that," DePriest said. "If you've been doing it that long you're eventually going to get comfortable with it and not be as shocked when it comes out and they go fast."
Still, there is something different about Texas A&M in they way it runs Sumlin's offense. How much of that is the Manziel-effect, based in fact or perception, remains unseen.
Sumlin's offenses were productive before Manziel, and they've been productive without him.
HIs offenses at Houston ranked No. 2, No. 1. No. 11 and No. 1 in total offense respectively, during his tenure as the Cougars' head coach from 2008-11. And the lone finish outside the top 10 in 2010 came after his starting quarterback Case Kennum tore his ACL in the third game of the season. Houston still finished the season ranked 11th in total offense.
Post-Manziel, Texas A&M's offense is still rolling, currently ranking fourth in the nation in total offense.
If there is anything different, it's that Hill doesn't present the running challenge that Manziel did.
"It's the same offense just different without Manziel," junior safety Landon Collins said. "It's the same pace. They come with the quick slants, bubble routes, bubble screens and everything."
Collins has his hands full, reading his keys and making the calls and right adjustments for the secondary. He reads the quarterback and his signals to attempt to identify certain patterns and plays to make his own adjustments. Then he looks at the wide receivers, looking to recognize anything he's seen on film.
In many ways he's an extension of head coach Nick Saban and Smart. Saban calls it eye discipline, and it's one of the most important things in defending Sumlin and his offenses.
"I don't think there's any question about the fact that you've got to play very, very disciplined, have great eye control in terms of reading run/pass and discipline in coverage responsibility," Saban said. "Affecting the quarterback is always important. Getting turnovers is always important, and not allowing them to have a lot of explosive plays, which we didn't do very well last year.
We need to do a much better job in those three areas if we're going to be able to control their offense at all."
The Aggies made a living off big plays in 2013 with 11 plays going for more than 15 yards, including gains of 32, 35, 34, 34, 16, 17, 17, 20, 24, 32 and 95 yards.
Manzie's gone but not much has changed. Saban still sees the same concepts in Sumlin's offense this year.
"Guy's a phenomenal coach, has done a really, really good job wherever he's been, and I think has done an outstanding job at Texas A&M since he's been there," Saban said.
"They've always been a spread out, like to be four open, four wideouts as much as they can, spread you out, make the defense declare itself, do the no-huddle thing to try to put themselves in the most advantageous play - pass, whatever, relative to the coverage. QB throws the ball to the right guy based on how the defense declares itself."
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1693772#sthash.FYvrL5OC.dpuf
TideSports.com Senior Writer
It rolls in like waves, one after the other, unrelenting and with pace. Just when you think you've caught your breath, the next crest storms in, bowling you over and making balance all the more difficult.
Kevin Sumlin's Texas A&M offense isn't so much a bulldozer as it is those swells coming at defenses every series with a frenzied pace that never quite allows time for adjustment, physically or mentally.
No offense has given the prideful Alabama defense more trouble than Sumlin's. Will it be any different this season?
It's a tough chore.
Against its last 100 opponents, UA's defense has held 31 teams to less than 200 yards of total offense and 63 to less than 300 yards. But Texas A&M has bucked that trend.
Since coming into the league in 2012, the Aggies totaled 1,046 yards of total offense and 71 points against Crimson Tide defenses that finished those seasons with the No. 1 ranked total defense in the SEC.
In 2012, Johnny Manziel led an upset over No. 1 ranked Alabama 29-24 with 29 points and 418 total yards. A year later he upped the ante with a performance for the ages in a 49-42 loss with 628 yards of offense.
Manziel is gone, in his place a sophomore in Kenny Hill who caught the nation's attention in his first start to open the 2014 season, throwing for more passing yards in a game than Manziel ever did. Hill completed better than 73 percent (44 of 60 for 511 yards and three touchdowns) of his throws that night against South Carolina.
New quarterback? No problem. The Aggies rank third nationally in passing yards with 396 a game.
"It's still the same A&M," senior middle linebacker Trey DePriest said. "They're going to spread it out and go fast."
Despite the offensive production, the previous three games haven't exactly been smooth sailing. Arkansas nearly pulled of an upset in a neutral-site game in Fort Worth, and the Magnolia State dealt a pair of rough losses with 17- and 15-point defeats, respectively, to Mississippi State and Ole Miss in back-to-back weeks.
Enter Alabama off a rough stretch of its own. Which program bounces back? The answer lies in the secondary.
There's no way to adequately describe what it's like for Alabama's defensive backs once the onslaught of wide receivers spread them out all over the field. Precision timing routes with concepts and pre-snap movements designed to confuse and a pace designed to fatigue both physical and mentally create mass confusion at times.
UA defensive coordinator Kirby Smart looks like a crazed man in those moments, maniacally bouncing up and down on the sideline while signaling in the defense.
"It's really no possible way to be ready for what they run," former cornerback John Fulton (2010-13) said. "We had a good scout team, but until you actually go up against that Sumlin offense and actually get eight plays in a row in under two minutes and are baptized by fire, you have to jump into it because there is no way you can possibly prepare for it in practice.
"Physically you come into the game you're prepared. You get hydrated and everything like that. So it's more mental. When it comes down to the seventh play of the drive sometimes you get tired and your mind goes. You think you have this but you actually have this.That's really what the hurry-up offense does to you. It's the mind game.
"It's really no way you can possibly get ready for it in practice. After you're baptized by fire two or three series, that's when we're ready."
If practice isn't the answer, the games are. The proliferation of hurry-up, no-huddle offenses have UA more seasoned now. Five of its six games this season came against teams that ran similar offenses, the lone exception last week against the Arkansas pro-style offense.
Going back to last season, seven of UA's last eight games (Auburn, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Florida Atlanta, Southern Miss, Florida and Ole Miss) were against variations of the hurry-up, no-huddle offenses.
Has repetition created the achieved results? It's hard to say.
Alabama's had success and struggled, depending on the team. Against Auburn, Oklahoma and West Virginia, the defense struggled. The Tigers and Sooners combined for more than 800 yards to close the 2013 season. The Mountaineers opened 2014 with nearly 400 yards of total offense.
Against Ole Miss the defense did the job for most of the game, but periodical breakdowns led to three Rebels touchdowns in the second half in the loss.
"We've been practicing against fastball since spring ball and even before that," DePriest said. "If you've been doing it that long you're eventually going to get comfortable with it and not be as shocked when it comes out and they go fast."
Still, there is something different about Texas A&M in they way it runs Sumlin's offense. How much of that is the Manziel-effect, based in fact or perception, remains unseen.
Sumlin's offenses were productive before Manziel, and they've been productive without him.
HIs offenses at Houston ranked No. 2, No. 1. No. 11 and No. 1 in total offense respectively, during his tenure as the Cougars' head coach from 2008-11. And the lone finish outside the top 10 in 2010 came after his starting quarterback Case Kennum tore his ACL in the third game of the season. Houston still finished the season ranked 11th in total offense.
Post-Manziel, Texas A&M's offense is still rolling, currently ranking fourth in the nation in total offense.
If there is anything different, it's that Hill doesn't present the running challenge that Manziel did.
"It's the same offense just different without Manziel," junior safety Landon Collins said. "It's the same pace. They come with the quick slants, bubble routes, bubble screens and everything."
Collins has his hands full, reading his keys and making the calls and right adjustments for the secondary. He reads the quarterback and his signals to attempt to identify certain patterns and plays to make his own adjustments. Then he looks at the wide receivers, looking to recognize anything he's seen on film.
In many ways he's an extension of head coach Nick Saban and Smart. Saban calls it eye discipline, and it's one of the most important things in defending Sumlin and his offenses.
"I don't think there's any question about the fact that you've got to play very, very disciplined, have great eye control in terms of reading run/pass and discipline in coverage responsibility," Saban said. "Affecting the quarterback is always important. Getting turnovers is always important, and not allowing them to have a lot of explosive plays, which we didn't do very well last year.
We need to do a much better job in those three areas if we're going to be able to control their offense at all."
The Aggies made a living off big plays in 2013 with 11 plays going for more than 15 yards, including gains of 32, 35, 34, 34, 16, 17, 17, 20, 24, 32 and 95 yards.
Manzie's gone but not much has changed. Saban still sees the same concepts in Sumlin's offense this year.
"Guy's a phenomenal coach, has done a really, really good job wherever he's been, and I think has done an outstanding job at Texas A&M since he's been there," Saban said.
"They've always been a spread out, like to be four open, four wideouts as much as they can, spread you out, make the defense declare itself, do the no-huddle thing to try to put themselves in the most advantageous play - pass, whatever, relative to the coverage. QB throws the ball to the right guy based on how the defense declares itself."
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1693772#sthash.FYvrL5OC.dpuf
