Can ’Bama keep pace?
Crimson Tide’s offense has been frustratingly inconsistent
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Give Alabama coach Nick Saban a free pass at describing Clemson’s offense, and he’ll wax poetic for 100 words, give or take, which in one regard is to be expected: Saban’s way of combating the praise and acclaim the public heaps on the Crimson Tide is to play devoted publicist for his team’s opponent, whether that’s Mercer or, in this case, the defending national champion.
“They obviously have a very good offensive team. They’re very productive,” Saban said this week. “I think the quarterback now is probably even a better runner, if that’s possible, than the guy we played against the last two years, who was probably the best player in college football, in my opinion.
“It’s a real challenging preparation. They have very, very good players who do a great job executing what they do. So this is just as good an offensive team as we played against in the past. They’ve got a lot of guys back, and those guys know what they’re doing. They do a really good job of playing together and executing together.”
You might say that this time, unlike most of the others, Saban’s admiration for Clemson’s offense is rooted in fact. In the shift from one quarterback, Deshaun Watson, to another, Kelly Bryant, the Tigers have managed to reach another College Football Playoff, this time as the format’s top seed. After all, twice Saban and his defensive staff have crossed swords with Clemson’s offense, and twice they’ve failed to get the job done.
On the flip side, the perception of Alabama’s offense — and the results
“They obviously have a very good offensive team. They’re very productive.” Nick Saban Alabama coach, on Clemson
that ensued during the regular season — can be summed up in a word: frustrating. Or another: uneven. Even a third: inconsistent.
The overall numbers tell one story. The Tide enter the Sugar Bowl matchup with Clemson ranked 10th in the Football Bowl Subdivision in yards per play and 12th in scoring, averages that help to paint the picture of an offense in high gear. Your eyes tell another story: Alabama has feasted on most of its schedule — a Vanderbilt here, a Tennessee there — but struggled to make ends meet when tasked with combating an upper-echelon defensive unit.
Take the Tide’s two opponents currently ranked among the top 15 nationally in yards allowed per play, Florida State and Auburn, and tally up the yardage: 269 yards against the Seminoles and 314 against the Tigers for 583 yards in total across two Saturdays, or the same number as Oklahoma’s topranked offense averages per game. And in case you were wondering, Clemson’s defense sits at fourth in the FBS in yards given up per play.
“We know we’re going face a great opponent, a team that’s been playing really well this year,” junior running back Damien Harris said. “They’re the No. 1 team in the country right now. We know we have a big task at hand. But we know that if we play our best football we’re a tough team to beat. So that’s what we’re looking to do.”
The deciding factor when Alabama meets Clemson? Don’t get bogged down in the details and minutiae. Think big, not small. The third matchup between these two national powers in three years will come down to a simple factor: Whether the Tide’s occasionally frustrating, uneven and inconsistent offense can keep pace with Clemson.
“You guys ask the same questions in the spring, you ask the same questions whatever opportunity y’all have,” sophomore quarterback Jalen Hurts said. “You guys ask the same questions, and it’s the same, nothing changes. We’re just trying to improve and get better.”
It was almost inevitable that firstyear offensive coordinator Brian Daboll would come under scrutiny, following in the footsteps of former coordinator and current Florida Atlantic head coach Lane Kiffin. Maybe Kiffin was unorthodox; maybe his style — on the field and certainly off — didn’t mesh with Saban’s approach. But Kiffin brought Alabama’s offense into a new phase with an uptempo, spread-based scheme that took advantage of the program’s talent base.
In one area, general explosiveness, Daboll’s offense hasn’t produced the same impact. A year ago, the Tide ranked second nationally with 51 offensive plays spanning 30 or more yards. This season, Alabama sits smacks in the middle of the Football Bowl Subdivision with 27 such plays. To be fair, there has been one area of improvement: Alabama ranks first nationally with eight turnovers after committing 19 a year ago.
But in an overall sense, the offense has at best treaded water despite returning a core of impressive underclassmen.
“We want to have great balance in our offense. We want to make explosive plays. We have to be able to execute all phases of the passing game better,” Saban said.
“Same thing with pass protection. Same thing with pass routes. Just the overall efficiency is everyone’s responsibility. I think that’s something we need to improve on. We need to make it a little easier in some ways so we can get better execution. We have too many guys who can make plays that we need to utilize their talents better, and that’s something we’re going to work really hard on.”
So the onus falls on the defense, again among the nation’s best, and the hope is that familiarity breeds success. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney remarked that offenses must earn “every 6 inches of grass you get against Alabama,” but that’s just lip service: Clemson has gained 1,061 yards in the last two meetings, or 38,196 inches. The recent history in this series says that Alabama can’t simply rely on its defense — the Tide need to score points, and not just score points but respond to each Clemson punch with a body blow of their own.
“I mean, that would be kind of stupid if we weren’t trying to score as many points as possible,” Harris said. “Not saying that’s a stupid question, but it would be stupid to think that way.”
It’s uncharted territory, in a way. For a decade the Tide have stood as college football’s biggest bully, presenting a riddle that might be answered once — by the odd Texas A&M or Mississippi — but never truly solved.
Even if Clemson has become the Tide’s Kryptonite, the last two Alabama teams have brought enough offense to the table to win one national title and barely miss another.
This year tells a new and different story. While favored by a field goal in Vegas, Alabama is the perceived underdog. Alabama is viewed the challenger. Alabama, not Clemson, brings a major question into the Sugar Bowl — can this offense hold up its end of the bargain, or will the Tigers assert themselves as college football’s new standard?
“Michael Jordan said it the other day: You don’t lose you, you learn,” Hurts said. “I think we’ve learned from a lot of things this year, even last year’s loss. How can we show the world that we’ve learned, how far we’ve come? I think we’re trying to learn from it now.”