Back in October, Alabama coach Nick Saban finally waved the white flag.
The usual defensive connoisseur had seen enough. The idea that “the defense wins championships,” to Saban’s displeasure, is a relic of college football’s past.
“Before it was a good defense outweighing a good offense,” Saban said before winning in Tennessee. “A good defense no longer outweighs a good offense.”
And, although the six-time national champion reluctantly accepted this reality, and has adapted his team to an offensive juggler, the Crimson Tide still
And on Monday night at the university’s national football playoff championship, presented by AT&T, Alabama’s defense will be the toughest test of the season from the state of Ohio, of great power.
Justin Fields. Chris Olave. Trey Sermon. Garrett Wilson.
“They have a lot of guns,” said Pete Golding, Alabama’s defensive coordinator. “This is [not] a game [where] you come in and say, “Hey, I stopped this guy, we’re going to win the game.” That is not the case. “
How well Alabama slows the Buckeyes will play a key role in Monday’s result.
This is not a Nick Saban defense.
The dramatic offensive change in college football has also ravaged Alabama. Take the Saban 2011 BCS National Championship team as an example.
That season, which included a 9-6 overtime loss to LSU in the “Game of the Century,” Alabama’s top defense was stifling. The Crimson Tide allowed a minimum of 178.7 yards per game to Conference 5 Power opponents, 3.3 yards per game and 7.8 points per game.
This season, Alabama has dropped nearly double the field (353.2 yards per game), five yards per game and 19 points per game. In eight of his 12 games this season, the Crimson Tide has given up more yards than the 2011 average.
This is less an accusation of Bama’s defensive performance and more indicative of how the game has changed, for everyone.
“It’s not really about how many yards you give up,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said Thursday.
“It’s all about stopping … You can let them drive the entire length of the field, but if they score field goals or you get business losses along the way, good things will happen.”
The numbers illustrate the offensive rise of the sport. Since 2011, the national average of yards per game against Power 5 conference teams went from 376.3 yards to 403.5 in 2020. Yards per game increased from 5.4 to 5.7 and the score increased by more than two points: from 26 points per game to 28.9.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt about the fact that college football has changed drastically in the last 10, 12 years,” Saban said this week.
“I think the arrival of the spread, the RPOs, blocking the downfield when passes are caught behind the fighting line, all of these things have dramatically changed the style of play offensively, and that affects all parts of the game.
“You have to defend how you choose players to play in certain positions, because now the game is much more perimeter than it used to be, and your scheme to defend that kind of change has been pretty dramatic.”
Although Marea’s defense is more forgiving now than it was then, he is still at the top level of the sport. It is the fifth nationally in allowed points (19) and allowed gardens per game (5) and the 17th nationally in allowed gardens per game (353.2).
In other words, despite all the entertainment, they usually get the stops they need.
While it’s good, Alabama’s defense has been frustrated at times this season. Two games stand out: the Oct. 10 against Ole Miss and the SEC championship against Florida.
The 48 points scored by the Rebels are tied with Auburn for the highest score any team has achieved against Alabama in the Saban era. Ole Miss’s 647 yards were the most the Crimson Tide has ever allowed. Saban and striker Dylan Moses commented that night on whether Rebel coaches and Saban’s former aide, Lane Kiffin, knew his signals, which Kiffin later denied.
This week, Saban and Golding attributed the struggles to countless factors.
“They had 250 yards after contact,” Golding said. “It’s hard to win at any level when you do it … I think we also had 28 mental mistakes in this game.”
Saban stated, citing four of five new high school starters and three freshmen in defense: “The knowledge and experience we had was probably not what we needed to be able to make the adjustments and adjustments in the game and also in the preparation”.
Florida’s 46-point burst in the SEC title game was the second a Saban-trained Alabama defense has allowed. Golding lamented Alabama’s third performance (the Gators converted eight of 11 chances) there and stressed that the tide must be better against Ohio State, a more explosive offense than the two teams it fought against. Alabama.
Mental errors must be “reduced in number,” adjustments must be solid, and the tide must be “dealing with space,” Golding said.
“You can’t give these guys these plays,” Golding said of the Buckeyes. “They’ll make enough disputed plays because they have a lot of really good players.”
Despite the inconvenience related to these actions, Alabama’s defense over the past two months has been good. The tide has allowed 17 points or less, under 300 yards of passing and less than five yards per game in seven of his last eight games. In the College Football Playoff semifinal against Notre Dame, Alabama only allowed 14 points and 4.7 yards per play, though it wasn’t as good as Golding would have wanted in third downs (8 of 16).
The team attributes an added gaming experience to the improvement.
“We learned from experience what to do,” said cornerback Patrick Surtain II. “We’ve done better every week flying the ball, making adjustments and learning from past games where we fought.”
Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson agreed.
“Ole Miss’s game was early and … I think Alabama has improved because they’ve been able to play [more games]”, He said.” They are a great talented, long defense. They will make it incredibly difficult. “
Ohio State will be Alabama’s toughest challenge so far.
The Buckeyes are the team with the most scorers Alabama will face (43.4 points per game) and have run more than 200 yards in each of their seven games this season, tied in the longest FBS streak in active.
Sermon has driven the running game recently, averaging 212 yards and 9.1 yards per carry in the Buckeyes ’last three contests.
Fields, a true quarterback with a double threat – the guy who has given Saban defense problems in the past – is among the best in the nation. And Olave and Wilson provide him with a very talented receiving duo. Olave has five catch catches in pitches of 25 or more yards this season, matched to the maximum in the Power 5. Surtain said Olave’s speed is a challenge: “Create a quick separation at the top of your routes … he is very patient and fluid with his journey “.
Because of the Buckeyes ’firepower, Golding believes turnovers will be the key.
“The state of Ohio averages 43 [points] – And when they don’t, it’s because they’ve turned the ball around, “Golding said.” It’s not because people stop them, it’s because they made a mistake. … So I think it’s a key piece to this game. “
Clemson, who is in a stratosphere of similar talent in Alabama, was dominated by the Buckeyes. Ohio State averaged 8.9 yards per play and finished with a total of 639 in their 49-28 victory. Ohio State turned the ball over only once.
But the Buckeyes said this Alabama defense looks like part of the video.
“They’re the kind of group that never goes wrong in terms of what gap they’re supposed to be,” Ohio State center Josh Myers said. “If they’re in a blitz, no one gets hurt … I’ve been watching a lot of movies about them, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.”
Kevin Wilson said: “[Our offensive line is] they’ll do the strongest test Monday night with the Alabama front because they’re the best we’ve seen. ”
Saban and Golding praised Day’s insight, and Golding said the mix of lineups and tempos makes the Buckeyes a challenge.
“He does a really nice job manipulating things by training,” Golding said. “They do a lot of different things from the same group of staff.”
As Alabama’s defense changed with college football, so did his offense. The Tide is the nation’s second-highest-scoring team (48.2 points per game), and its transformation into an explosive unit has meant that Saban’s defense is no longer asked to shut down teams. Mac Jones, Najee Harris and DeVonta Smith are likely to do their part on Monday.
Still, Tide’s defense has a tough challenge ahead. If it comes to slowing down Ohio State on Monday, it will be reduced to several key factors, Golding said: tackling the space well, forcing the Buckeyes down obvious descents, executing third descents, and creating bills.
Regardless of the garden, Alabama just has to stop.
“The most important thing is that the big teams do what it takes to win every week, and that’s what their defense does,” Kevin Wilson said. “And that’s what coach Saban has done, as well as anyone who has ever coached the football game.”