Alabama All Day: The Screen Game

Stanford boy gets it otherwise (and he’d have been deserving as well, though Suh was No. 1 in my book from midseason on).

or was that just by chance that they were blitzing against a screen

I found the article on Bama to be one of the best that I have read. I have watched all the Bama games, and I would not disagree with you on your overall assessment. There are a couple of comments that you made that I do have some disagreement, such as on our defense and Reamer, but your views are fair and reasonable. I have not watched either Texas or Nebraska play. I do not mean that to be a slight of any kind, but I am a SEC homer, and I watch the SEC teams. You mentioned that Florida left points off of the scoreboard because of missed plays. Bama also left points off of the scoreboard because of some dropped passes and missed assignments. Has there ever been a football game played that every play was successful? This woulda, coulda, shoulda serves no useful purposes. I can predict that in the BCS Bowl there are going to be more points left on the field rather than on the scoreboard. It is not how many points you could have had, but how many you actually had.
Bama dominated Florida in every area. It could have been worse if Saban had decided to run up the score. Surely you noticed that? You are grossly underestimating Bama’s defense and making some unfair comparisons. You do realize that Bama runs a 3-4 defense? Our O line is not designed to make sacks or blitzes. It can put pressure on the qb, but our LB’s and Safties are the ones that are designed to make the sacks. I have seen this unfair comparison with 4-4 and 4-3 defenses made all the time. It will be interesting to find out after the game if Nebraska and Oklahoma’s defenses are superior to Bama’s. I believe that Bama is far better than either of these teams on defense, but we shall see. Also, we’ll see if the longhorns burn Arenas. No one else has this year. Just as Tebow.
RTR

is relevant when discussing scheme and tendencies. What I got out of watching the SEC CCG is that the Bama defense is very solid, with some positions being excellent. But a properly executed offense with similarly talented players can move the ball and score against them.

Also Tebow is not good at reading defenses and going through his progressions. He missed two wide open receivers off the top of my head that would have been easy TDs. He even had time to throw to them, he just didn’t look that direction.

4 receivers went down field taking the secondary with them and spread them out over 30 yards of field. the secondary was to widely spaced to stop a runner like Ingram.

If the offense sends 3 receivers streaking down the field they will take 3-5 players with them. Then the offense can get get 8 on 6. If your receivers are not especially good blockers it better they run their defenders out of the play than attempt some half assed block.

Looking at the last frame, in the 15 yards from the LOS you could guess that Alabama had 5 men ( 4 blockers and Ingram) in that area and Florida had maybe 2 if 4 went with the 4 receivers. Since two were on the opposite side of the field then Florida would have had 4 men to cover the right side from the LOS to the end line against 4 blockers and Ingram with the ball.

I wonder if you have thought about doing something similar for us SEC homers on Texas that you did on Bama? Again, I hope this is not taken as a slight against Texas, but I have not had the opportunity to see Texas play this year. I would be interested in some insights into Texas. I have heard that Texas runs a spread offense similar to Utah’s spread. Is that true? What sort of defense does Texas run, 4-4, 4-6? I know that McCoy is your qb, and that Shippley is one of his favorite receivers, and that exhausts my knowledge of Texas Longhorns.

…. but I still see Alabama’s OL’s ability to dominate the #1 scoring defense’s front-7 as our biggest challenge. Will Muschamp has put a super defense out there all season, however, I don’t see our front-7 being superior to that of Florida. If they can replicate that effort, then we won’t have many opportunities to score. Alabama will play typical Saban designed field position, TOP-dominated football. I hope I’m wrong.