So if Alabama 'murderball' is the best way to win, why did they get away from it?

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Saban told you in those quotes.

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In the quotes, he's saying that "murderball" can't keep up with modern offenses.

Has that suddenly changed?

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I think what he’s asking is, if it made sense to get away from murderball (which his quotes explain why it did) and he had success under the more spread out RPO system, why is he now saying they need to return to murderball? What changed?

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They ain't got no QB. Necessity is the mother of reinvention.

I think people are going a little overboard on how "old school" we'll play offense and how "wide open" we played offense pre-BoB. Kiffin, Daboll and Sark did not run some sort of 5 wide, Air Raid offense. They both ran lots of 12 personel stuff and pistol. With Mac we ran a lot of power run with Najee and our best pass plays were play actions.

2018 with Tua/Locks and then 2021 and 2022 with Bryce/BoB were much more pass oriented - 2018 with tons of RPO and 2021/2022 with just a bunch of bullshite 2004 era NFL shotgun, 4 wide, no motion drop backs.

Rees is going to run much more of a Sark version offense - tons of motion, multiple tight ends, pistol, etc. But that doesn't mean we're gonna start running stuff out of the I formation with 1 WR or something.

The biggest thing that I think Saban took away from the last few years was that when your entire offense is based around the RPO it is very, very hard for your linemen to then morph into regular power run stuff when you are in 3rd and short or goal line. That style and the RPO zone style are just not the same, and you cant expect guys to be able to just morph into road graders when they never do it in practice or games.

I think Saban watched what Georgia did with Monken - establish the run (in general as a team during a season, not even necessarily in a specific game), and that allows you to control tempo and the flow of the game. You throw when you want, you run when you want, you go fast when you want, you slow down when you want. Georgia had games where they came out and threw on 75% of downs for the first 4-5 drives. They had other games where they came out and bludgeoned people from the first snap. That's what Saban wants in terms of an offense, IMHO.

The question of course is can Rees do a good job of making our offense consistently and smoothly look like that. And that is something we won't know until they get the season started. I think I've read enough that he has the ability to do it, but he also seems to have had some Kiffin in him where he almost gets too caught up in perfect calls and a play he loves that he loses track of the overall flow of the game. We'll see.

I’d rather have a coach that’s willing to make changes to what they are doing fundamentally than standing pat because it worked before.

Things are always changing in college football. He’s never really been the first to do something but he’s better than anyone at adapting and quickly.

In this case going back to something.

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I think Saban watched what Georgia did with Monken - establish the run (in general as a team during a season, not even necessarily in a specific game), and that allows you to control tempo and the flow of the game. You throw when you want, you run when you want, you go fast when you want, you slow down when you want. Georgia had games where they came out and threw on 75% of downs for the first 4-5 drives. They had other games where they came out and bludgeoned people from the first snap. That's what Saban wants in terms of an offense, IMHO.

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This is why I think many underestimate Bobo with this kind of talent. Talent like he's never had. Bobo has always understood the necessity of balance and how important the run game is in opening up the pass game.

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BAMA got away from the so-called "murderball" when Tua was running out of a ton of spread concepts also. We morphed back in with Mac Jones and suddenly we were in a lot of 12 formation and with early movement everywhere. Najee Harris won the Doak Walker and DeVonta Smith won the Heisman so throwing from the double tight end look and being super successful running downhill is more about personnel than anything else.

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2020 Alabama was definitely not "murderball" with regards to how most of your fanbase uses that term.

That was a full on RPO style offense and passing attempts vs rushing attempts per game were pretty close to 2022 Alabama.

You just had better execution and probably playcalling as well. Specifically, you had a lot better production from your receivers.

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Now, he's supposedly going back to doing the thing that wasn't working and it's being applauded by Alabama fans.

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Are you deaf and blind? BAMA won the National Championship in 2020 playing physical football. The problem is more people over here are better at insulting people than actually grasping the Xs and Os of schemes.

And the absolute biggest mistake coach Saban has made at Alabama in his entire tenure is keeping Pete Golding for 5 years as DC.

The truth is the spread under Tua and Bryce's offenses could have easily brought home an NC, but Pete Golding's defenses couldn't keep up in a firefight.

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I can see where he may have been confused. The first statement could mean running almost the same offense as you did under McElwain.

That would be different than your second statement.

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I should be more specific then. Finding the balance we saw with Kiffin or Sark. Going back to that. Not the McElwain offense.

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The truth is the spread under Tua and Bryce's offenses could have easily brought home an NC, but Pete Golding's defenses couldn't keep up in a firefight.

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Golding isn't to blame for y'all managing just 16 and 18 points in the 2018 and 2021 national championship games, respectively.