🏈 The Defense laid an egg on this one...

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

My point is both of those guys weren't worried about pass coverage. Any linebacker can play down hill and side to side. Those two at their size ain't covering these days. It's the coverage aspect where we have trouble. It used to be 7 out of 10 were run plays, now it's 7 out if 10 are pass plays.

UF's 258 rushing yards compared to 181 passing yards indicates otherwise. UF took the football & ran it down the throat of the front 7's Defense.

 

[TerryP]

UF's 258 rushing yards compared to 181 passing yards indicates otherwise.

In context, two to one difference in calls.

 

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

In context, two to one difference in calls.

In context meaning that the run plays called were 2 to 1 run to pass? If yeah, I hate to be captain obvious here but if it works keep doing it. How many times have we seen that done to other opponents? And this is fundamentally why it is critical to stop the run. We couldn't stop it. Especially late in the game.

 

[TerryP]

FWIW, before the season started and we were all in the pre-game Miami thread I said there were four teams I thought could score 30 or more against Bama but I only thought we'd see two of them do so: Miami, Florida, Ole Miss, and A&M. Two down already.

It's looking favorable to only seeing one team reach that 30 mark this season.

 

[TerryP]

In context meaning that the run plays called were 2 to 1 run to pass? If yeah, I hate to be captain obvious here but if it works keep doing it. How many times have we seen that done to other opponents? And this is fundamentally why it is critical to stop the run. We couldn't stop it. Especially late in the game.

Yes, 2 to 1. I'm well aware of both YPC and YPA.

 

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

FWIW, before the season started and we were all in the pre-game Miami thread I said there were four teams I thought could score 30 or more against Bama but I only thought we'd see two of them do so: Miami, Florida, Ole Miss, and A&M. Two down already.

It's looking favorable to only seeing one team reach that 30 mark this season.

Ummmm, that's a maaaaaybeeee for me but I can see it...

UF game was always a concern for me. It was really turning into 2020 Ole Miss but on the ground. And thank God it was on the ground because if UF had a real threat passing it would have been ugly. But they didn't.

I cannot remember the last time our defense was gassed before a half. But it happened due to a perfect storm of Swamp a$$ humidity, the offense going 3 & out three times in a row, & a good UF game plan, that Defense was toast physically & lost mentally. Are those conditions going to be duplicated later in the year with other opponents? I seriously doubt it. Especially with the humidity. But Ark & AU will definitely try to run the ball down our throats. No doubt about it.

CNS knows how to take these teaching moments & coach the team up better after games like this. He is the best in the business at getting better as the season progresses. Hopefully the defense can take things to heart. But this defense better use every waking moment to get better by Ole Miss because we do not have last years offense to bail them out.

 

[mando]

My point is both of those guys weren't worried about pass coverage. Any linebacker can play down hill and side to side. Those two at their size ain't covering these days. It's the coverage aspect where we have trouble. It used to be 7 out of 10 were run plays, now it's 7 out if 10 are pass plays.

Our problem yesterday was stopping the run. We used to make offenses one dimensional so we narrowed the options down and made it easier to defend. Also stopping the run put a lot on the QB' shoulders and controlled the game. Now our offense scoring a ton of points is another way to make an opponents offense one dimensional because they have to throw to stay up. I do think UF probably will be the best offensive running team we face this year. They had shown in the two prior games that rushing offense was their strength. I still do not like it!!!! A bama defense should never give up that many yards on the ground ever!!!!!.

 

[Destiny's Child]

Helams had a really poor performance. He was on the wrong end of almost all of the Gators big plays. He isn't alone as To'To had a ton of missed tackles. but when you rewatch the game watch how many times Hellams made a mistake and how costly they were. It is suprising to me since he has always seemed solid. I wanted if he is hurt. Does anyone know if he has been banged up.. it wouldnt excuse his play as many of his mistakes were mental.

 

[Davestwin]

Helams had a really poor performance. He was on the wrong end of almost all of the Gators big plays. He isn't alone as To'To had a ton of missed tackles. but when you rewatch the game watch how many times Hellams made a mistake and how costly they were. It is suprising to me since he has always seemed solid. I wanted if he is hurt. Does anyone know if he has been banged up.. it wouldnt excuse his play as many of his mistakes were mental.

I haven’t seen anything about Helams being hurt but I definitely saw how many bad plays he made. The truth is Bama hasn’t had a “Bama” defense in several years. Now I know the game has definitely changed but there are still some good defenses out there … UGA being one of the best. It appears to me Bama keeps running the same schemes week to week, season to season and the great offensive minds in the league know how to attack Saban’s once vaunted defenses. That didn’t matter with Kiffin and Sark as OC’s and Tua and Mac at QB because Bama could outscore those teams (except Clemson in 18). Unfortunately, I’m not yet convinced O’Brien, Bryce and the starting receivers can win a shootout but it’s still early. The good news is Bama isn’t alone … so far there aren’t any dominate teams.

 

[BamaFan334]

UF's 258 rushing yards compared to 181 passing yards indicates otherwise. UF took the football & ran it down the throat of the front 7's Defense.

You're talking one game dude. And we were eaten up by the tight end yet again to sustain drives. Linebacker duty, right? 3rd and 19 conversions? You think Saban said defensive games in the past are in the past because teams are running it more?

 

[BamaFan334]

Our problem yesterday was stopping the run. We used to make offenses one dimensional so we narrowed the options down and made it easier to defend. Also stopping the run put a lot on the QB' shoulders and controlled the game. Now our offense scoring a ton of points is another way to make an opponents offense one dimensional because they have to throw to stay up. I do think UF probably will be the best offensive running team we face this year. They had shown in the two prior games that rushing offense was their strength. I still do not like it!!!! A bama defense should never give up that many yards on the ground ever!!!!!.

Well, and that's why I put it on the coaches!!! Their option plays were all chunk plays.

 

[mando]

Well, and that's why I put it on the coaches!!! Their option plays were all chunk plays.

Saban has not forgotten how to defend the option. Someone take the QB and someone take the pitch guy. Now were the players not getting off blocks that were supposed to take the pitch guy or was the person that was supposed to take the pitch guy getting blocked or taking the wrong person or was he taking bad angles? That is what the film study should be exposing. Why were they not prepared for what should have been taken care of during the game week prep? Was the plan good but our guys slow getting to their assignment due to UF's speed or was something else going on? All of that has to be what the coaches are looking at in post game film study as they look for answers.

 

[Destiny's Child]

I think there is multiple things that have changed with Saban's defense and how people attack us. First of all, not everyone has the personel to pull it off but there are some that do... Flordia and Ole miss this year. Arkansas also has a tough running QB.

With the HUNH looking like the great equalizer we started getting smaller Defensive linemen no more Mt. Cody's, Chapman or William's. Then he started slowly getting smaller and faster LB. Now instead of running a 3-4 designed to stop the run we mostly run nickel which normally doesn't hurt us as not many dominant RB and offensive lines out there and especially with a tough running QB.

Now I think we can play great defense with the guys we have but we need someone to get pissed off and hold guys accountable for effort and mistakes. Some of them are great scheme by OC's some are bad calls by our DC but most of the issues we have had is missed tackles, bad angles, mental errors missed assignments. Hellams filled the wrong hole several times in the running game, had multiple missed assignments and several costly missed tackles. To'To missed a bunch of tackles and took some questionable angles.

 

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

You're talking one game dude. And we were eaten up by the tight end yet again to sustain drives. Linebacker duty, right? 3rd and 19 conversions? You think Saban said defensive games in the past are in the past because teams are running it more?

Yes, of course it was one game here... I would not have begun this post had it not been for the 258 rushing yards against us from that one game. Alabama is always going come up against 2-3 teams a year (including play offs) that are going to get their yards via the passing game. That will always happen because they are good too. See Clemson w/ Deshawn Watson & Trevor Lawrence. Heck UF last year in the SECCG. They got a good amount of yards in the air. But they didn't get tons of yards via the ground because we stopped the run & they had to throw.

We couldn't stop the run Saturday. Inevitably, our LB's started creeping at the LOS & started creating the obvious holes in the defense to throw to a big TE. Therefore, Mullen would call runs that can't be stopped, the ILB's would creep in, then he would throw to the TE's in the open field. Rinse & repeat.

The HUNH changed how CNS has recruited & called defense. And one of the most successful coaches against CNS defense was Malzahn's HUHN which always focused on running the ball first. When they could run on us, it was close every time & it was the offense that had to keep us in it. When our Defense could stop the run, the game wasn't close. Therefore, the first objective has been & will still remain to always stop the run first & foremost.

Thankfully their kicker missed an extra point. Otherwise, I think they would have had an edge in OT because of homefield advantage & that we could NOT stop the run.

It's not that I don't have any problem with our defense being able to cover guys etc. I think that is just fine. But we are in the SEC, if we can't stop the run, then we have a really, really bad problem.

Perhaps, folks are reading that I am throwing the baby out with the bathwater here. My intent from the beginning of this post is to state that the Defense did lay an egg in a way I haven't seen in a long, long time. CNS made this point in the after game press conference about the high rushing yards. This is nothing he doesn't know. I sleep well at night knowing the GOAT is still at the helm to fix things on matters that he has forgot more than I will ever know about this game.

 

[TerryP]

@Crimson&WhiteGecko

RE: the running game and comments Saban made about the number of yards given up:

"...a long, long time" was game three, 2020, at Ole Miss.

Here's an observation: it was a really weird game. (And how do clock issues always seem to rear in games like this but not your 35-7 games?)

 

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

@TerryP

Yep. You're right. 268 yards given up to Ole Miss rushing the ball w/ another 379 given up in the air. This was at Ole Miss in October. So the humidity wasn't as much a factor as last Saturday.

Ole Miss was also 4/4 in 4th down conversions. And CNS said the same thing about that game " We couldn't get off the field on 3rd down". So at some point teams are understanding the success comes from gassing the defense as soon as possible & attempting more 4th down conversions so that the defense is just in a fog by the 4th quarter.

Side note: we all know that games like these the offense tends to contribute to the defenses demise with consecutive 3 & outs. To make matters worse, early 4th quarter, it was very clear we had no interest at running the clock down to zero. Bryce was doing more of that early game but as the game went on, he rarely let it get past 5 seconds. I reckon he got instructed at half time to forget about letting it get so low because it seemed like it was part of the game plan to burn the clock more offensively but bailed on it second half. I'm sure that had much to do w/ the potential delay of game penalties. That whole clock management issue was definitely a weird part of the game where we made things more difficult than necessary. I just place that in the QB & OL inexperience. Playing in the Swamp was probably the best thing that could happen to these guys so they can see how much better they need to get.

 

[BamaFan334]

Yes, of course it was one game here... I would not have begun this post had it not been for the 258 rushing yards against us from that one game. Alabama is always going come up against 2-3 teams a year (including play offs) that are going to get their yards via the passing game. That will always happen because they are good too. See Clemson w/ Deshawn Watson & Trevor Lawrence. Heck UF last year in the SECCG. They got a good amount of yards in the air. But they didn't get tons of yards via the ground because we stopped the run & they had to throw.

We couldn't stop the run Saturday. Inevitably, our LB's started creeping at the LOS & started creating the obvious holes in the defense to throw to a big TE. Therefore, Mullen would call runs that can't be stopped, the ILB's would creep in, then he would throw to the TE's in the open field. Rinse & repeat.

The HUNH changed how CNS has recruited & called defense. And one of the most successful coaches against CNS defense was Malzahn's HUHN which always focused on running the ball first. When they could run on us, it was close every time & it was the offense that had to keep us in it. When our Defense could stop the run, the game wasn't close. Therefore, the first objective has been & will still remain to always stop the run first & foremost.

Thankfully their kicker missed an extra point. Otherwise, I think they would have had an edge in OT because of homefield advantage & that we could NOT stop the run.

It's not that I don't have any problem with our defense being able to cover guys etc. I think that is just fine. But we are in the SEC, if we can't stop the run, then we have a really, really bad problem.

Perhaps, folks are reading that I am throwing the baby out with the bathwater here. My intent from the beginning of this post is to state that the Defense did lay an egg in a way I haven't seen in a long, long time. CNS made this point in the after game press conference about the high rushing yards. This is nothing he doesn't know. I sleep well at night knowing the GOAT is still at the helm to fix things on matters that he has forgot more than I will ever know about this game.

I ultimately point to our defensive gameplan. None of us are dumb enough to think all of the players went rogue out on the field Saturday. It was the play calling of the defensive coordinator. My gripe with your notion was that we aren't recruiting good linebackers, and that's garbage. Every school in the country recruits the same linebackers and we consistently gain the signature of the highest rated ones. Some may find my frustration pointed at the wrong source, but I still blame Golding. Like you stated, you gotta stop the run. We had to have known they would run the ball. Heck, the only time they ever used Emory Jones the last few years was to run the ball, and we as fans even knew he was a running quarterback. I cannot explain why we continued to allow them to gash us like they did. You said it, it was the same exact plays right after another for almost three quarters. So was it the coaching, or was it the players?

 

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

I cannot explain why we continued to allow them to gash us like they did. You said it, it was the same exact plays right after another for almost three quarters. So was it the coaching, or was it the players?

We're on the same page. No question we have recruited well. And not every LB is going to be the Butkis finalist/winner no matter who is being recruited. That's just reality. I get that.

I have held my criticism of Golding for years because of all the turnover of defensive coaches, injuries, & changing the defensive philosophy somewhat. That's a lot to adjust/change. But good grief, we haven't developed our ILB's well enough to be those Alpha LB's anymore. To'o To'o shows some glimpses. Perhaps he carried some UT mentality with him & that has to be coached out of him. Dylan Moses was very promising his freshman year in 2017. He had Pruitt then. But since that 2017 team, 'Bama has not been close to the same at developing these ILB's in to monsters. I was hoping 2021 Golding was going to turn the corner but it doesn't look promising. And take a closer look, our outside LB's are just BEASTS who are coached by Sal Sunseri. The inside LB's are coached by Golding. From what I can see there is a stark difference in those position groups. It's been that way a while. And it's not the players.

 

[NickelDoubleDog]

I ultimately point to our defensive gameplan. None of us are dumb enough to think all of the players went rogue out on the field Saturday. It was the play calling of the defensive coordinator. My gripe with your notion was that we aren't recruiting good linebackers, and that's garbage. Every school in the country recruits the same linebackers and we consistently gain the signature of the highest rated ones. Some may find my frustration pointed at the wrong source, but I still blame Golding. Like you stated, you gotta stop the run. We had to have known they would run the ball. Heck, the only time they ever used Emory Jones the last few years was to run the ball, and we as fans even knew he was a running quarterback. I cannot explain why we continued to allow them to gash us like they did. You said it, it was the same exact plays right after another for almost three quarters. So was it the coaching, or was it the players?

I just don't know where the pass D went in the last 6-7 years.

Does the D run pattern matching anymore - basically a matchup zone? There was a CRUCIAL 3rd and 18, and Florida hit a pass to a wide open slot WR for 17 yards, allowing them to go for it on 4th and 1. The D had giant holes in the zone and receivers free releasing. Henry T didn't carry any WR vertically through the zone like is done on C2.

If you watch Georgia play zone D, they have guys in underneath coverage playing a zone, but matching up with receivers in their area. They smother those routes. The Alabama D has guys simply in one spot, like it's drawn up on the chalk board, and nobody matches up with WRs in their area, so offenses can get their receivers open to make easy catches.

I don't get it. Just a stop here or there and this game is a 2 TD win.

I also think the WRs are playing poorly overall. Jameson is pretty good. Metchie isn't making plays downfield.

Freshmen WRs have to get more of a look. There is nobody who can win 50/50 balls in the WR rotation. Agiye Hall has to get a shot. If Bryce gets any help from WRs, the offense will be very hard to stop.

The run game will come around -there were some signs of life, it just wasn't consistent enough.

 

[BamaFan334]

I just don't know where the pass D went in the last 6-7 years.

Does the D run pattern matching anymore - basically a matchup zone? There was a CRUCIAL 3rd and 18, and Florida hit a pass to a wide open slot WR for 17 yards, allowing them to go for it on 4th and 1. The D had giant holes in the zone and receivers free releasing. Henry T didn't carry any WR vertically through the zone like is done on C2.

If you watch Georgia play zone D, they have guys in underneath coverage playing a zone, but matching up with receivers in their area. They smother those routes. The Alabama D has guys simply in one spot, like it's drawn up on the chalk board, and nobody matches up with WRs in their area, so offenses can get their receivers open to make easy catches.

I don't get it. Just a stop here or there and this game is a 2 TD win.

I also think the WRs are playing poorly overall. Jameson is pretty good. Metchie isn't making plays downfield.

Freshmen WRs have to get more of a look. There is nobody who can win 50/50 balls in the WR rotation. Agiye Hall has to get a shot. If Bryce gets any help from WRs, the offense will be very hard to stop.

The run game will come around -there were some signs of life, it just wasn't consistent enough.

I agree with all of this. You're exactly right about Georgia. They look more WAY more comfortable than our guys do in their defense and run/pass coverage. I have zero clue what has happened to the back half of our defense. We have the athletes, but just aren't where they need to be. I seriously feel it's the play calls.

As far as receivers, you are voicing my thoughts exactly as well. Metchie is playing well, but for some reason he looks disinterested to me. Almost like he doesn't want to be the #1, or like he didn't learn under DaVonta what it would be like to hold that torch. Hall definitely needs to get thrown in there because Bolden is showing he is good for one or two plays a game and then you don't hear his name. Earle is learning and I'm happy with him. Jameson Williams is the only reason we are a threat in the air if you ask me at this point. Throw the freshmen in there and see what they can do. Maybe light a fire under some others.