re: Florida - Defense Play Charting - Full Game (cliffs - DL not dominated, the ILB were)

quote:

---

Alabama fans experienced their team play an uncharacteristically close game over the weekend against Florida. The Crimson Tide had to keep the Gators out of the end zone during a two-point conversion attempt with under four minutes remaining to preserve a 31-29 victory in a rematch of last year’s SEC Championship game.

Some think the performance was cause for concern with Nick Saban’s team. However, former Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy doesn’t believe so. Many had criticisms of the defense and coordinator Pete Golding after the narrow win. McElroy had a message for those fans.

"I'm a little tired of having to answer the question, 'Fire Golding?' It's ridiculous,” Mcelroy said. “And if you look at the plan, this had nothing to do with (coaching). There were a lot of times Alabama players were in the right position to make a play and just didn't. Their best player defensively, Christian Harris, or at least one of their best players defensively, I thought he had a really disappointing performance.

"I thought Henry To'o To'o played really subpar, based on what we've come to expect from the second-level defenders. I thought the defensive line improvised far too often for my comfort level. And that's not coaching. That's players' execution. The call, in some ways, was perfect and just wasn't executed properly. You often times saw Alabama players running into each other. They were a mess, in a lot of ways, and it wasn't something that I'm really used to. But you also have to give credit to the offense.

“I saw Christian Harris have to cover a whip route by a wide receiver, he had to react to a counter, he had to get wide on a speed option. He had about six or seven different looks and different formations to react to in a period of eight or nine plays. They went right after Alabama's strength and they said, 'We're going to get you thinking. And if you're thinking, you'll play slow.' And that's exactly what they did at the second level. So I would say that, hey, you can blame the coaches. You can want to fire everybody in the building. But ultimately it's about the players. And the players, their performance on Saturday left a lot to be desired."

Saban was asked on Monday if there were schematic issues with the defense. He elaborated quite a bit, as the Crimson Tide (3-0) are set to take on Southern Miss. (1-2) this Saturday.

"We didn’t execute,” Saban said. “I think maybe there was one time when we had a pressure on that they ran a speed option or something and we didn’t have enough guys there. But it really came down to executing. It really came down to players -- they did some different things but you’ve got to adapt to those things and play things on principle. And at times we didn’t do that very well. And we weren’t very aggressive.

“We didn’t get off the field on third down, especially in the second half. We had opportunities to get off the field on third down and did not do it. A 99-yard drive, we had several opportunities to get off the field. We had a 3rd and 19 and didn’t get off the field. Those are plays that you have to make in the game. That’s something that we just need to continue to work on."

---