Cover1Key

Crowell and Brown will both play on Sundays.

Hard to show much when you are an 18-year old Freshman who has battled injuries, and currently averages roughly 3-4 carries per game.

The 4th Down TD run vs Georgia where he was stuffed playside on Counter then reversed field and out-ran the Georgia defense to the far pylon.

I agree, the defense was also the reason they were 7-1 in SEC play and made it to the SECCG and Playoffs.

Alabama is 27-1 under CKD when the offense has produced 21+ points in a game.

That’s the thing though…..he picks and chooses his spots to press and be aggressive in the Secondary…most people base “soft” coverage strictly off of the depth of the two perimeter Corners.

So what you are seeing is CKW protecting #5, and especially with Z Brown out, trying to limit the opportunities for opponents to go “FSU” on us with 1-on-1 coverage and our guys losing on jump balls or getting (a lot) of PI calls.

I think CKW had just as much confidence in #5 as he does on #2 when Bama kicked off the season.

He played aggressive “press” man coverage and also pressed when they “matched” out of “quarter-quarter-half” (Cover 42/Cover 8), and FSU had #5 and #3 mugging, grabbing and getting lost with the ball in the air for 3 straight quarters before he finally backed them off.

D Lee’s struggles have been well-documented, and #2 being sidelined, is why you saw the “soft coverage” against UTk especially.

Heupel wants to throw vertical any chance he can, and CKW was only going to commit on his own terms.

The people complaining about the defense holding UTk to 12 points in the 1st half, would be raging and demanding his resignation if he gave up 5 deep balls for long TDs over the top against press coverage (Golding accomplished that very feat in a 52-49 loss 2022).

Meanwhile, fans were griping about Wommack when Bama’s offense turned the ball over on 3 out of the first 4 possessions of the game deep inside their own territory.

They were also without:
- T Green
- Zulu
- J Hill
- Z Brown

Heupel lamented the fact that it was only 12-10 at halftime (Bama’s defense also setup all 10 of Bama’s point total).

It still took until UTk’s 13th possession of the game to eclipse 19 points despite Bama being down to just 5 starters left on the field for most of the 4th quarter.

Last year, Bama ranked #3 Nationally in Pass Defense and #2 in Pass Efficiency Defense, allowing just 160.1ypg.

In 2024, they finished 7th in passing defense and 5th in efficiency.

I think that proves that CKW is quite capable of playing aggressive in the Secondary and also very efficiently.

It is very apparent that opponents are going after #5 and avoiding #2.

Hopefully Z Brown will stay in healthy and continue to play at a very high level as the “Boundary Corner”, so that #5 can play to the “Field” at all times.

Alabama can be ELITE defensively when healthy. Their performance against UK and USCjr look very impressive in retrospect, and these past two games have been extremely impressive as well.

Vandy 2-15 on 3rd down
3 turnovers on Downs

Defense bailed them out.

I know most (not every single person) on here are not fans of Wommack and want him gone, but he clearly loves being at Alabama and puts everything he has into it.

The defense has played extremely well going back to when he ditched the 4-2-5 after the Vandy loss in 2024, and switched to a 3-4-Under.

I love how physical they are, they play hard, they don’t give up very many points and they have forced more turnovers than any team in CFB since 2024-present.

I love the guy’s energy and passion. Love the defense!

How can Grubb go back and watch this film and not be PERSONALLY embarrassed by the product he produced???

I’m 100% convinced Grubb is auditioning for a HC job back West somewhere and only cares about “PYpg” and “Ppg”, and he pads both of those in 4-5 games, then takes days like this FAR less serious than last week, and tells himself they will score 30 points bc of the talent discrepancy.

The guy CLEARLY does not like to be at Alabama imo, and I hope I’m right bc it means he is less likely to be extended or sign an extension in February and we will be hopefully be rid of this disease forever.

Turnover incoming

Yep. Just blitz and he’s toast.

I only feel okay when they have BOTH TE’s on the field.

quote:

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And now we can’t get pressure…

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All of a sudden you lose 2 of your top 3 players just like that

Defense just cannot stay healthy

Yup…..

Go at #5 is the way to move the ball.

CKW plays him tight and he won’t turn his head back around to find the balls it’s a completion or PI (despite being “in-phase” most always).

Then he plays him off and offenses start throwing the short shite everyone gripes about.

What is stunning is how they survived LSU without Z Brown locking down 1/2 the field