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Bama v. AU - My Perspective
Posted on 11/27/23 at 8:39 am
Posted on 11/27/23 at 8:39 am
My perspective on this game (outside of the 4th & 31 miracle), is that our defense had some serious struggles against the AU run game. I don't quite understand how we were unable to stop the AU run, when we knew they were going to run. Their passing game is non-existent... yet they were able to run the ball down our throats. What gives? Were we looking ahead to UGA after seeing AU get throttled by New Mexico State? Does it have to do with only 25% of our roster being from AL these days? Just curious to get some opinions, because we need to shore up the run defense before the UGA game or we are in for a world of hurt...
My only other insight - everyone wants to act like Bama got so lucky on 4th and 31, but we wouldn't have been in that situation without the errant snap. We were in a great position to score before Seth launched the ball into the backfield, and this was allegedly caused by an AU defender clapping. We played pretty well (offensively) towards the end of the game to give ourselves a good chance to win.
My only other insight - everyone wants to act like Bama got so lucky on 4th and 31, but we wouldn't have been in that situation without the errant snap. We were in a great position to score before Seth launched the ball into the backfield, and this was allegedly caused by an AU defender clapping. We played pretty well (offensively) towards the end of the game to give ourselves a good chance to win.
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Posted on 11/27/23 at 8:46 am to Crimson_Chaos
quote:
Does it have to do with only 25% of our roster being from AL these days?
I think I can take this one - no.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 8:47 am to Crimson_Chaos
I thought they did a good job of scheming up angles in their run blocking that gave their OL an advantage. In that case it’s up to LBs to make plays and tbh Lawson and Marshall were pretty terrible Saturday.
They did the same thing to UGA
They did the same thing to UGA
This post was edited on 11/27/23 at 8:48 am
Posted on 11/27/23 at 8:47 am to Crimson_Chaos
Alabama made some changes in the secondary that led to some busts. Downs was at Star. Moore moved to safety. Auburn was able to confuse both on multiple occasions.
Lawson was just back off injury and it showed. Campbell had struggles as well.
Tim Kennan got banged up and seemed to have mobility issues.
I think we overlooked them on top of all of this too.
Lawson was just back off injury and it showed. Campbell had struggles as well.
Tim Kennan got banged up and seemed to have mobility issues.
I think we overlooked them on top of all of this too.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 8:52 am to CapstoneGrad06
I haven't watched Auburn enough this season to know exactly how they generally run the football, but they clearly had a strategy on Saturday to do 2 things:
(1) Play triple option RPO football
(2) Run slow developing run plays
I know that stuff has been in their playbook all season, but I'm not sure how often it's been their main identity. I think we knew they were going to lean heavily on running the ball - Saban said as much in his press conference when he noted going up 2 scores early was a huge point of emphasis for us to take them out of their run the ball gameplan.
However, from my perspective in the Upper Deck, we looked very confused on assignments and approach to the LOS on their base run stuff. Safeties and LBs were repeatedly overrunning things or getting pinned down, and because of the slow developing nature of those counters, triple option type reads and stretch plays, that meant that once the RB hit a hole there was not much back behind it.
We were better in the 2nd half (though they also adjusted to our adjustment by spreading us out and running QB draws), but we still never seemed to totally get comfortable with it. We were chasing their scheme/play calling the entire night.
(1) Play triple option RPO football
(2) Run slow developing run plays
I know that stuff has been in their playbook all season, but I'm not sure how often it's been their main identity. I think we knew they were going to lean heavily on running the ball - Saban said as much in his press conference when he noted going up 2 scores early was a huge point of emphasis for us to take them out of their run the ball gameplan.
However, from my perspective in the Upper Deck, we looked very confused on assignments and approach to the LOS on their base run stuff. Safeties and LBs were repeatedly overrunning things or getting pinned down, and because of the slow developing nature of those counters, triple option type reads and stretch plays, that meant that once the RB hit a hole there was not much back behind it.
We were better in the 2nd half (though they also adjusted to our adjustment by spreading us out and running QB draws), but we still never seemed to totally get comfortable with it. We were chasing their scheme/play calling the entire night.
This post was edited on 11/27/23 at 8:53 am
Posted on 11/27/23 at 8:56 am to SummerOfGeorge
I know he only had 5 completions, but it sucks letting a QB that can't throw look good in the passing game. Their last wide open TD was infuriating.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:00 am to Marktastic86
quote:
I know he only had 5 completions, but it sucks letting a QB that can't throw look good in the passing game. Their last wide open TD was infuriating.
Yea that bust was rough, but it was definitely because we were so focused on the triple option run game stuff.
One of the only things that can really frustrate me about the strict philosophical approach of the Saban Defensive Philosophy is when we play a team that is doing something very well and is almost entirely deficient at something else.......and we refuse to load up and make them do their poor thing.
Florida State basically did that to Florida in the 2nd half. They loaded up the line and dared Florida to beat them with their freshman QB. We just refuse to do that, especially when the offense is a "good run/bad pass" type team.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:00 am to Crimson_Chaos
quote:
What gives? Were we looking ahead to UGA after seeing AU get throttled by New Mexico State? Does it have to do with only 25% of our roster being from AL these days?
Auburn could go into an Iron Bowl in Jerden Hayur on a 20 game losing streak where their average margin of defeat was 27 points and still look like a 10 win team. It literally does not matter what has transpired in the season up to that point. You can just ignore all that and safely assume it will be a one score game with a bunch of weird shite.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:05 am to SummerOfGeorge
quote:
One of the only things that can really frustrate me about the strict philosophical approach of the Saban Defensive Philosophy is when we play a team that is doing something very well and is almost entirely deficient at something else.......and we refuse to load up and make them do their poor thing.
Good point. At some point you just have to say to hell with our scheme and put 8 in the box and play cover zero behind it.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:07 am to CapstoneGrad06
Good points. I'll say this, I truly don't understand how Marshall is still starting over Campbell. In every game, Marshall is directly responsible for a few big plays due to poor angles / awareness / coverage. Our defense seems better with Campbell next to Lawson.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:08 am to SummerOfGeorge
Most of AU's long runs were due to poor gap responsibility. Just LBs plugging in the wrong spot and opening a big hole for the running back.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:11 am to JIB
quote:
Most of AU's long runs were due to poor gap responsibility. Just LBs plugging in the wrong spot and opening a big hole for the running back.
Yep, which were baited by the way Auburn was setting up those runs. I don't know if that's just how they run the ball and we didn't respond well or if they saw that our backers and safeties are aggressive on film and ran a lot more slow developing stuff to get our LBs/S downhill and then have a puller pen then.
Either way, it worked brilliantly and we never quite got the hang of stopping it.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:12 am to BrianFantana
quote:
Good point. At some point you just have to say to hell with our scheme and put 8 in the box and play cover zero behind it.
Especially when their only success in the pass game was directly related to the run game.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:12 am to SummerOfGeorge
quote:
One of the only things that can really frustrate me about the strict philosophical approach of the Saban Defensive Philosophy is when we play a team that is doing something very well and is almost entirely deficient at something else.......and we refuse to load up and make them do their poor thing.
I couldn't have said it better. This was one of my main frustrations, and the reason for asking this question. It's entirely possible that I missed something... I just really didn't understand why we didn't fully commit to stopping the run and forcing them to beat us through the air. Sure, they may get 1-2 fluke passing TDs, but I would rather have McKinstry, Arnold, and Moore/Downs in man coverage and load the box.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:16 am to Crimson_Chaos
The one wheel route TD they had was just Malachi not thinking. It was a smart play by them and may have scored anyway.
AU brought a RB in motion at the snap and had the WR on the left side (who was guarded by Kool Aid) run a rub route. Malachi may have had a hard time getting to him, but then again, it wasn't a well thrown pass and there's a chance if he recognizes what's going on he breaks it up or even intercepts it.
AU brought a RB in motion at the snap and had the WR on the left side (who was guarded by Kool Aid) run a rub route. Malachi may have had a hard time getting to him, but then again, it wasn't a well thrown pass and there's a chance if he recognizes what's going on he breaks it up or even intercepts it.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:20 am to JIB
Yeah I saw this. I'm not an Xs & Os guy, but it seems to me that they should have switched off, or maybe Moore thought they were going to switch off.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:20 am to JIB
quote:
The one wheel route TD they had was just Malachi not thinking. It was a smart play by them and may have scored anyway.
AU brought a RB in motion at the snap and had the WR on the left side (who was guarded by Kool Aid) run a rub route. Malachi may have had a hard time getting to him, but then again, it wasn't a well thrown pass and there's a chance if he recognizes what's going on he breaks it up or even intercepts it.
On replay it almost looked like his assumption was because he got bumped and was going to have trouble recovering that somebody on the backend would recognize it and pick the guy up. He was initially rolling coverage with him, got chipped and just kind of stopped as if he made a decision.
Either way, there was nobody back there to pick him up
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:22 am to Crimson_Chaos
A lot of people are concerned with our run defense after this game. That is understandable, but people forget that Auburn did similar things to Georgia earlier in the season in the exact same stadium.
Auburn rushing vs. Alabama
42 rushes for 244 yards
Auburn rushing vs. Georgia
43 rushes for 219 yards
Auburn rushing vs. Alabama
42 rushes for 244 yards
Auburn rushing vs. Georgia
43 rushes for 219 yards
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:24 am to SummerOfGeorge
I went back and looked at old box scores for Alabama’s matchups with Hugh Freeze coached Ole Miss teams. I would have sworn they ran the ball better on us. Not so much. Most of the damage was from big plays in the passing game.
Posted on 11/27/23 at 9:25 am to CapstoneGrad06
quote:
I went back and looked at old box scores for Alabama’s matchups with Hugh Freeze coached Ole Miss teams. I would have sworn they ran the ball better on us. Not so much. Most of the damage was from big plays in the passing game.
2014 was the trips formation stuff
2015 and 2016 were Kelly and all those dudes they had at WR/TE
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