1. Iām glad the game is at home and beating The Who is always great but it just seems better in BDS.
Bama pretty much owns them on both fields, but winning at home in front of the fans is always fun. And with it being at night, the atmosphere will be rocking.
2, some have stated that The Who will be tougher to beat with Kelly gone. How so?
I used the example of a shitty UAB team beating a ranked Memphis team days after Dilfer was fired a couple weeks ago. But teams tend to regroup and refocus after a major change like that. Often times, some issues and problems that were lingering under the previous head coach evaporate which I'm sure helps. But the advanced scouting and tendencies used to formulate the gameplan also become less reliable. Maybe their offensive staff now has the green light to do some things Kelly had overruled previously, for example. And now they have an extra week to install and tweak some of those things. It just brings more unknowns into the equation and makes gameday adjustments that much more important. All that to say, it is by no means a given than LSU
will be tougher to beat... but it's a valid reason as to why they could be and probably
should be to some extent.
3. We only have 2 like teams to compare, vanderbilt beat them by 7 and USCe, The Who beat them by 10. Scratching me head.
IMO, Vandy has played better and been the better overall team this season (compared to LSU). Not the most talented, but the best team, and the best coached. I do think Nussmeier's lingering injury impacted LSU's play to some extent in those games, especially South Carolina.
4. Will we start slow after the bye week or go for the throat right out of the gate?
A small sample size of history would say that Bama will come out of the bye week playing fast and sharp. In the 3 previous instances under DeBoer at Alabama, the Tide is 3-0 following byes, with wins over #2 UGA, @ #15 LSU, and @ #5 UGA. And Bama scored touchdowns on their first 2 offensive possessions of each game (I think).
5. Will we see improvement in the running game?
I think we will see an effort to be a little more creative. I think it's unlikely we see much improvement (at least consistently) on the runs up the middle. There are opportunities on the outside though that I think can be taken advantage of. Also, while it doesn't always show up as "runs" in the stats, some of the stuff they do with the WR's is really just an extension of the run game. And if they don't get too cute with it, there are again opportunities there, IMO.
6. Will the defense show improvement in stopping the run?
Let's break this down game by game... This is how many run plays went
over 10 yards...
FSU- 6
ULM- 1
Wisconsin- 1
Georgia- 6
Vandy- 3
Mizzou- 5
Tennessee- 5
South Carolina- 3
That's not good. But, I don't know that it's
as bad as some would believe. The problem has been the 2 or 3 busts a game where the opposing runner gets free for over 20 yards, and Bama is 2nd worst in the SEC there, having given up 13 of those runs. The busts need to get cleaned up. But as a whole, this defense is siting in a good spot. Yes, if Wommack wanted to shift things and shut down the run more, he could... but that obviously takes away from the pass defense, which Bama excels at (giving up just 163 YPG). But some of this softness on run defense is just built into the cake... both by its design and by personnel.
7. I realize weāve been spoiled with the great receivers of the past because the majority of the time they caught the balls that were easy to catch as well as some wonky throws. Will this factor be improved?
The only player that has had a drop problem thus far is Ryan Williams. Yes, other guys have drops, but out of the 14 dropped passes (which is considered a catchable ball, not just something a player happens to touch on a leap, dive, etc...) Williams has 7 of them. Only 1 other payer has more than 1, which is Isaiah Horton who has 2. But, on Williams, 7 is a lot. However, 3 came in week 1 against FSU. Still, averaging just over a drop per game isn't ideal. However, we've seen good payers have the drop issues before. In '19 Jerudy had 7. In '20 Metchie had 6. In '21, Metchie had 8 more and Jameson Williams had 6. in '22 Ja'Corey Brooks had 5. As a team, Bama is on pace to be about average for what Bama teams have been in recent years, going well back into the Saban years.
But, yes, Ryan Williams needs to improve... IMO he has since the start of the season. He's using his hands more instead of his body and he needs to continue that as they work on making his hands stronger. The other part is mostly just concentration.
