| FTBL Pete Golding

I think Kiffin never even considered that he wouldn't score right out of the gate and he let his pride override common sense in those 4th down calls (after the 1st one anyway). Lane bit off more than he could chew, and instead of pushing the plate away and sipping some water, he went in for more bites. That's a humbling lesson that most would learn from, but Lane ain't wired that way.
 
I think Kiffin never even considered that he wouldn't score right out of the gate and he let his pride override common sense in those 4th down calls (after the 1st one anyway). Lane bit off more than he could chew, and instead of pushing the plate away and sipping some water, he went in for more bites. That's a humbling lesson that most would learn from, but Lane ain't wired that way.

I think he knew he would need a break or two. Say what anyone wants, but he knew his defense couldn't stop our offense. Like they say, you almost gotta be perfect to beat us, and then hope you get a little lucky as well. O don't fault him, because he had the offense to get it done, they just had some drops and our defense finally had some players make some plays up front.
 
I saw all I needed to of our defensive coaches when Kiffin went for it on 4th down with that option. He watched the Florida game and saw our vulnerability there. This time, Alabama executed correctly and dropped the pitch man for a loss and they failed to convert. Golding and company did their jobs - watched the film, diagnosed their deficiencies, coached the players for a better remedy, then relied on the players to execute correctly. Great job all around.
 
Is there a team that doesn't have their first 15 or so offensive plays scripted?

There have been Ds in the past that it didn't matter that they were scripted. They still stopped them. However, there haven't been teams in the past to have the nerve/gall to go for it on 4th. It was good to see this defense stiffen up & do their job despite Ole Miss's success at that point.
Adding to your thought here there haven't been many teams we've seen Bama face who brought Corral and Kiffin to the playing field: as close to a Manziel type of threat as we've seen in the SECW
 
I already replied in the Good, Bad, and Ugly thread, but I'll add that I think a lot of it was Bill O'Brien's offensive gameplan and Brian Robinson to be thanked more than Golding. Our time of possession was 17 minutes more than Ole Miss, meaning we held the ball over a quarter longer than them. Defense played great, but we still were vulnerable on 3rd down and long, the middle was open as usual. The biggest difference was the defensive line being tough and Drew Sanders being awesome. As I said, I don't think Golding is ghe reason for that success as our holes were still there. Lane going on 4th down so much also helped. Defense was great, but one has to wonder if it was the offense helping limit a lot of that as well. 50 carries, that's a lot of clock control.
Our offense went back to the ball control approach of 2009-15. Those defenses benefitted from that very same thing.

*edit - meant 2009, not 2019.
 
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Our offense went back to the ball control approach of 2019-15. Those defenses benefitted from that very same thing.
I'm reminded of the Mercer game when they were dropping eight and Bama was still running passing plays. Was that 'prep' for that they were expecting from the three man front of Ole Miss (and UArk?) I suspect so.

Saban mentioned this in a round about way: "playing a style Bama wasn't accustomed to playing." (sic.)

I suspect we'll see what we've come to know as the Tide's "traditional offense" this week against A&M. Going into Arkansas I can see them returning to ground and pound: it'll be another three man front unless Odom changes their scheme. :rolleyes: Ain't gonna happen in week six.
 
This was a great D performance all around. Before the Bama run game could really pay ball control dividends, the Bama D was still shutting down the Ole Miss offense.

OM had all time lows under Kiffin in points, yards, etc. It was a masterpiece. You don't get to that level just because the O helps you out.

OM was gifted their last TD. This was a 14 point game they put up.

Great scheme (3 and 4 man fronts with blitzes added in so you never knew where the pressure was coming from) great execution, and great effort from the players.

Last year's game seems even crazier in context now. Looking back, it was like last year Kiffin didn't run his offense, he ran a big sheet of plays which represented plays he learned were trouble for Saban's D. And he just kept calling unique plays and they kept working. This year, he had to run his offense and it got the clamps put to it.
 
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