Kirby did too much on defense; I don’t think Saban makes same mistake

I think it was in 2011 or 2012 when Gus was featured on ESPN in a segment about getting yards against an Alabama defense. This might have been 2009 actually after the Iron Bowl. Not sure, but it was during a time that Saban had struggled to shut down Auburn’s offense.

Anyway, Gus broke down the Saban defense (coordinated by Kirby at the time) and showed how their defense lived by bringing field pressure. He also discussed the multiple coverages that Saban liked to use in the secondary.

I had forgotten about that segment until the game yesterday when Auburn scored on a receiver screen out of the trips formation. Georgia was showing blitz from the field - two guys even - and Gus (or Chip...whoever) had the perfect call. It was obvious to me sitting at home that Georgia was running that blitz and it seemed like easy picking for Gus to get a big play.

If you think back to the LSU game and what LSU did to adjust to Auburn’s fast start, you’ll realize that blitzing Gus and doing fancy things on defense actually plays right into his hands. LSU simply brought a safety into the box and played more of a base defense with man to man coverage. Let the defensive ends force Stidham into bad throws and shut down the run game by clogging holes; not blitzing to blow it up in the backfield.

Kirby was too cute with his blitzes and coverages and should have played it simple. I can’t imagine Saban and Pruitt making the same mistake.

Going to be a close, low scoring game in the IB as long as the Auburn defense shows up.

*Not really considering injuries here. I’ll never expect an Alabama team to lose the physical game more than once no matter how banged up they are.