Our offensive line is offensive

OL has been inconsistent this year to say the least

The most frustrating thing is how penalty prone we are.

yeah Cam has had better days for sure...

don't you ever say that name again!

Our line has been suspect ever since Pendry left, despite the most talent

I'd hate losing his recruiting, but maybe some new coaching may help us improve

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I'd hate losing his recruiting, but maybe some new coaching may help us improve

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Its probably best to start hiring better coaches who can teach. Recruiting will take care of itself.

OL is slightly better than last year. That's not saying much. Maybe if Cam had been made to run up every aisle of steps at BDS every day for a week after each false start, that problem might have been solved. No excuse for a guy about to be paid millions of dollars for having as many as he has had in his career.

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Back to the subject at hand, our OL play has been questionable for a few years now. When we got the ball back with 8 min to go, we had the opportunity for one of those grown man, MTAQ kind of drives.

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Those kind of drives are a thing of the past. It is akin to the atrophy of a muscle. The saga that was the hiring of Lane Kiffin came full circle last night. Yes, he brought a different approach to Alabama's offense, and aided Alabama in winning a lot of games during his time as coordinator- some of which most likely won have been losses with just about any other coordinator. However, you live by the sword and die by the sword: Exits by Kiffin have never been smooth anywhere he's been, so it should have been expected that when he left, it would be a dumpster fire exit. And, dumpster fire is what you saw last night. Outside of a few plays, the offense was crippled, manned by a quarterback that couldn't/can't complete a pass beyond ten yards.

Hurts began to regress later in the season around the same time he began facing better defense- a surefire combination for failure. Was this because he was not being developed properly by his coach? Perhaps. Was it because the gameplans began to be whittled down to limit the opportunities that Hurts was asked to make plays with his arm? Look at the last half of the season for your answer. A team gets as far as Alabama late in the season with title hopes on the line, winning becomes priority #1, not developing a young quarterback. As such, playcalling was limited. Some ask why we don't run the ball more? As I said before, Alabama has forgotten how to line up and run on people. Now, this doesn't mean they can't run at all, mind you, as last night was but one example. However, those runs, especially Bo's, came when Alabama was still in the early stages of the game. Once Clemson figured out that Alabama really couldn't throw anything downfield, all eleven men on Clemson's defense began to play up- many times with all eleven within ten yards of the line of scrimmage. Again, the spread/ east-west gameplans of the last few years have caught up with Alabama. No longer can the offensive line take over a game when all is on the line.

An additional point to be made concerning the offensive line's inability to be a strength is recruiting. Plain and simple. Evaluations were off for quite some time, as there were huge misses on the trail- this includes guys that ultimately made it to Alabama, but became busts. The 2011 and 2012 lines were great. They were coached by a technician, and it showed. But what happened to recruiting during that period? It's as if guys were recruited as Pendry was preparing to retire, they were developed into elite players, then everything stopped.... Four years out from the last great line Alabama had and fans are seeing (and have seen for the last three years) the price to be paid for mismanagement between 2010-2013.

And last but not least.... the defensive backfield. The only other area of the team that is as glaring bad as the offensive line. Again, one can point to the same issues giving rise to the offensive line woes- misses on the trail and development. At this point, part of the problem is scheme. Defensive Backs are being coached to play a style which gets them beat against good receivers. It is what it is ten years in. Most of the time, the style works and the defense doesn't surrender boatloads of yards through the air. However, last night showed just how bad Alabama has whiffed on defensive backs in the secondary over the last few years. A converted corner was the team's best safety, who admittedly, reached his potential once the position move was made and played great. But after he went down? You get what happened last night- safeties picking their own men, corners/nickels not able to play combo coverage properly on the outside- even after being beaten before in the game with an almost identical play.

I have hope for Sarkisian. I may be in the minority, but I don't believe Alabama has to run what Kiffin implemented to win. See Arkansas as an example. If they were able to field a better defense, they would be a very dangerous team year-in and year-out, all while running a pro-style offense that isn't hesitant to use a developed passing game. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king: When everyone is running a spread system and defenses are built to stop them, the team that has a great power run game will be at the top.