SABAN SAYS THIS ALABAMA OFFENSE ‘FUN TO WATCH’
Alabama won its 2009 national championship behind the rushing of Heisman Trophy running back Mark Ingram, and another Heisman back, Derrick Henry, powered the Crimson Tide to the 2015 national title.
Trent Richardson polished off Alabama’s 21-0 win over LSU for the 2011 championship with a 34-yard touchdown run, and Eddie Lacy’s 140 rushing yards and another 108 by T.J. Yeldon helped the Tide demolish Notre Dame 42-14 for the 2012 crown.
Whether Alabama wins this season’s national title won’t be known for months, but this Tide team does not resemble its power-based predecessors.
“Going out and scoring almost 50 points a game is pretty fun,” Alabama senior running back Damien Harris said after last Saturday’s 45-23 defeat of Texas A&M. “Seeing us spreading the ball around and seeing a lot of guys have success is a great feeling. Being one of the older guys on the team, it’s exciting to see a lot of these younger guys step up into these big roles on our offense.
“We’re fortunate to have a lot of guys who can play at a high level, and it’s fun to play with them.”
Harris elected to return for his senior year despite posting backto-back 1,000-yard seasons. He has averaged a robust 7.4 yards per carry through a 4-0 start, but he is not on pace for a third 1,000-yard showing.
There are simply too many quickstrike weapons available for offensive coordinator Mike Locksley and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Heading into Saturday’s expected mismatch against Louisiana of the Sun Belt Conference, Alabama has averaged 49.5 points per game through three quarters and already has 10 scoring drives that have required less than a minute.
Tagovailoa threw for 387 yards and four touchdowns against the Aggies, and he didn’t play in the game’s final 17 minutes.
“It’s not surprising the way football is now,” Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said of this year’s new offensive look. “If you gave up 400 yards passing 15 years ago, you might get fired when you came to work the next day, but it happens pretty regularly now. A lot of those things are RPOs (run-pass options), and those things, in my opinion, favor open-air offensive football, and I think it’s fun to watch.
“I think the fans probably enjoy it, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It’s more common now to score a lot of points relative to the rules of college football.”
Ingram and Henry became the first two Heisman winners in Alabama’s storied history, and Tagovailoa could be the first Tide quarterback to receive the honor. The 6-foot-1, 218-pound sophomore leads the nation with a 230.5 efficiency rating, having thrown 12 touchdown passes and no interceptions.
Tagovailoa also has rushed 18 times for 103 yards and two scores.
The dazzling play of Tagovailoa, who replaced Jalen Hurts before the start of this season, has overshadowed the stellar first year of Locksley, who was promoted to coordinator after last season, when he served as receivers coach.
“We can’t just go out there and run whatever we want,” Harris said. “He does the scouting reports and puts together the best game plan possible, and it’s up to us as players to go out there and execute. Without his game plan and without his football mind, we wouldn’t really have anything to run. He’s done a tremendous job, and he gives us a lot of confidence, because he’s confident in his ability to call plays and dissect a defense and do what’s best for us.”
Said Saban: “Mike has been doing a good job. I think he’s a good play-caller, and he does a good job of organizing things for the offensive staff. I think we really have a good offensive staff. All those guys work well together, and they do a good job. His leadership has probably contributed to that in a very positive way.”
Alabama became the first program in Southeastern Conference history to score more than 50 points in each of its first three games, and this is the first Tide team to score 45 or more points in each of its first four contests since 1920. Alabama ranks third nationally with 53.8 points per game and 10th in total offense with 539.5 yards per contest, and each of those numbers is misleading given the plethora of youthful players seeing action after halftime.
“We know that when anybody on our offense gets the ball in their hands, anybody can make an explosive play,” Harris said. “That makes our confidence go up, because nobody feels like they have to carry the load of this offense. There are a million guys on this offense who can go out and have a 70- or 80-yard touchdown at any given moment.”
Sophomore receiver Jerry Jeudy is averaging 21.5 yards a reception and has six touchdowns through four games, while the Crimson Tide have converted 30 of 53 third-down conversions for a healthy 56.6 percent.
The average halftime score of an Alabama game so far is 37-5, and Saban seems well aware of just how dynamic this year’s offense has been, no matter how he tries to temper things.
“People have some really high numbers when it comes to offensive stats,” he said. “If you look at the stats for total offense, we’re third just in our league, so it’s not like we’re setting a world record or anything like that.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@ timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.