re: Bama Football Tidings

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We have made it to game week for Alabama football.

Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide will face Duke on Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga., to open its season.

Each team under Saban has a different identity and per senior cornerback, Trevon Diggs, this year’s group is focused on getting its respect back.

Regardless of Duke not being the caliber opponent that Alabama is used to scheduling for a neutral site season-opener, this matchup is more about the Tide than the Blue Devils.

Saban exited a season in 2018 where his players were not always disciplined and the ideal leadership was lacking at various positions.

For a program that is known for finishing, the Tide did not finish well at all versus Clemson and it allowed Oklahoma to make the Capital One Orange Bowl interesting in the second half.

With a squad of veteran coaches and hungry players returning, this week will provide the blueprint on how bad does Alabama want to win.

In this two-part series, Stephen Smith of Touchdown Alabama Magazine will dissect five important keys offensively and defensively for the Tide against Duke.

Let’s start on offense
Mindset of Tua Tagovailoa, Steve Sarkisian

He had a preexisting relationship with the Tagovailoa family and recruited Tua Tagovailoa to Alabama – prior to his move to the Atlanta Falcons – but Saban reunited the marriage of Tagovailoa and Steve Sarkisian during the offseason.

While the offensive mind and quarterback savant has a plan to get the Tide back on top, the Heisman finalist and All-American from 2018 is ready to define himself as the most efficient signal-caller in college football.

Despite owning the Heisman Trophy race through seven to eight games last year, injuries and stiff competition caused Tagovailoa to struggle down the stretch.

Although he won’t turn down his desire of wanting big plays every time, Sarkisian and Saban have gotten the native Hawaiian to understand the value of protecting his body.

The returning junior will have a better offensive line; however, it is his job to control the flow of the game and find ways to make Alabama as effective as possible.

In coming off an 8-4 season, David Cutcliffe will have the Blue Devils’ defense showing Tagovailoa different looks.

Duke lost one of its 24 sacks from a season ago, as Victor Dimukeje returns as its leader in sacks (3.5) and tackles for loss (nine). Other playmakers on the Blue Devils’ defensive front include Chris Rumph II, Drew Jordan, Terrell Lucas, Leonard Johnson and Derrick Tangelo.

All of these combined for 11.5 sack.

For Tagovailoa, he has to make sure he checks into the right calls in pass protection and run blocking to keep the team ahead of schedule. Creating favorable matchups is the big thing for Sarkisian, where isolating this group of talented wide receivers are concerned.

Both guys must remain on the same page.

Alabama’s running backs

“The more things you do well, the harder you are to defend.”- Steve Sarkisian

It’s the second time around for Alabama’s offensive coordinator and according to what he told local reporters at Open Practice/Fan Day, Sarkisian is committed to running the football.

Seeing how Kyle Flood came with him from the National Football League, it is only right for Sark to boost the confidence of the Tide’s offensive line as well. It will not have Trey Sanders, true freshman (five-star) this year, but Najee Harris, Brian Robinson, Jerome Ford, Keilan Robinson (freshman) and Chadarius Townsend (converted receiver) are more than capable.

The combination of pounding the rock and taking calculated shots with Tagovailoa provides a balance that Alabama did not have in 2018. Saban wants to get back to controlling games, having a mixture of quick-strike and soul-crushing drives, and watching his team impose its will.

All the backs desire the same as well.

Left side of O-Line

The left side under Saban has served as the strong side of Alabama’s front line.

This season looks to be nothing different as Duke will see Alex Leatherwood and true freshman, Evan Neal.

After playing right guard last year, Leatherwood is back at his natural left tackle spot. At 6-foot-6 and 310 pounds, the native Floridian and five-star comes in a lineage of left tackles that includes Andre Smith, Barrett Jones, Cyrus Kouandjio, Cam Robinson and Jonah Williams.

Leatherwood has the potential to be the next great one.

As for Neal, the five-star in the 2019 class from Florida is an imposing presence at 6-foot-7 and 360 pounds.

He was a standout throughout spring practice, summer workouts and fall camp.

Neal has worked with the first-team group at left guard all off season.

If he and Leatherwood create opportunities, it will be a long day for Duke.

Miller Forristall

Alabama returns a fleet of receivers, but tight end is area that has Saban scratching his head.

He graduated both Irv Smith and Hale Hentges to the NFL, and does not have much experienced depth at the position. Even with this, Miller Forristall is prepared to end all of Saban’s concerns.

A three-star from Cartersville, Ga., Forristall came in the 2016 class and impacted the game as a freshman.

He caught five passes for 75 yards that year, but a knee injury crept in the following year and Smith’s rise in 2018 forced Forristall to the sidelines. The 6-foot-5, 242-pounder looks to bring massive production.

Kicking Game

Field goals have been Alabama’s kryptonite for a long time.

In fact, the program missed nine extra point tries in 2018.

Will Reichard, true freshman, is looking more like the individual that will end the run of inconsistent kickers for the Tide. Following a strong high school career at Hoover (Ala.), he nailed a 43-yard try on A-Day and made all four of his extra points.

Joseph Bulovas is improving, but per sources, nothing rattles Reichard and he finds ways to stay loose.

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Legendary coach won three national titles with the Crimson Tide before moving on to take over the Blue Devils

Wallace Wade was known for being a tough disciplinarian and a perfectionist before Dr. George Hutcheson Denny hired him to take over the team prior to the start of the 1923 season. Not only had be been a star guard at Brown, and played in the 1917 Rose Bowl, but was also a cavalry captain during World War I.

“The best you can do is not enough unless it gets the job done,” Wade was known for saying.

His first season produced a 7-2-1 record, but one of the losses, a 23-0 pounding at Syracuse, was the game he claimed taught him more about football than any other.

Apparently he learned a lot because Alabama subsequently put Southern football on the map and won its first national championships.

The run began in 1924, when Alabama went 8-1 and captured its first conference title. The Tide won its first three game by a combined score of 130-0, and didn’t yield a point until its seventh game, a 42-7 victory against visiting Kentucky. A week later, a 17-0 loss to Centre College prevented perfection, but a dominating 33-0 Thanksgiving victory against Georgia clinched the Southern Conference championship.

Not only did the Tide defend its title in 1925, but after outscoring nine regular-season opponents 277-7, it received an invitation to play Washington in the prestigious Rose Bowl. Although Alabama was considered a heavy underdog, it pulled out a 20-19 victory that had long-reaching effects, and gave the region a dose of much-needed pride.

With the national championship in tow, Alabama continued its winning ways in 1926, which included a third straight Southern Conference title, and returned to the Rose Bowl. Although the Crimson Tide didn’t win, the 7-7 tie against Stanford answered any questions about whether the previous year had been a fluke, and again Alabama could claim at least a share of the national title.

He had one more title run in 1930. Even though Wade had turned in his resignation at the end of the previous season, he agreed to stay on for the final year of his contract before heading to Duke.

It was arguably his best team yet, and the only points Alabama yielded that season were seven to Vanderbilt and six to Tennessee, while the offense cranked out 271.

A season-ending 13-0 victory against Georgia meant both a perfect record and fourth Southern Conference championship, resulting in another invitation to the Rose Bowl to play Washington State. This time the game wasn’t close, 24-0, and after winning his third national championship the coach was carried off the field by his players.

Clyde Bolton of the Birmingham News fittingly called it the "greatest swan song in the history of football."

Wade compiled a 61-13-3 record at Alabama, and his teams went 110-36-7 at Duke from 1931-50, though he returned to service during World War II. Many of the losses came in the years after the war, prompting Wade to say, “I’m no longer tough enough.”

Durham Herald writer Jack Horner had a different take: “The truth was that Wade mellowed after seeing 135-pounders die for America as gloriously as 200-pounders.”

Wallace Wade Before Paul W. "Bear" Bryant, Wallace Wade was known as Alabama's greatest coach.

The Iron Dukes
While Wade never won another national championship after leaving Alabama for Duke, he came extremely close.

The 1938 team is the one most bragged about, as the “Iron Dukes” finished the regular season undefeated, untied and unscored upon, closing with a 7-0 victory in a snowstorm against No. 4. Pittsburgh.

However, that still only earned a No. 3 ranking in the final Associated Press poll, and Duke subsequently lost in the Rose Bowl on a last-minute touchdown by Southern California.

The Blue Devils were No. 2 at the end of the 1941 season, but instead of traveling back to California, hosted the Rose Bowl due to West Coast safety concerns following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Although favored, Duke was flat, and lost to Oregon State 20-16.

It remains the only time the Rose Bowl was not played in California.

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(with exception of game threads)

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