Must say from this Bama fan I like the play, a lot! 9 is way too high. Bama is getting everybodys best every weekend this year, every team wants to knock the #1 team in the nation and the defending national champions. In addition to that, Florida has had this game circled since December when Bama embarrassed them, made Tebow cry, and put their coach (Urban) in the hospital. Just like Florida with this game, Bama had that '09 SECCG circled and worked their ass off every week so they could get back to Atlanta and exact their revenge.
These are two of the best coaches in college football at scheming and developing a game plan each week for their opponent. I always hear analysts say that Nick Saban is one of the best defensive minds in football and if you give him the time to develop a scheme/gameplan, the opposing team is in trouble and up until last Saturday I believed them. However, what I saw Saturday from our defense and defensive coaches was baffling, especially in the first 3 quarters of the game. Saban and Smart's inability to make any in game adjustments to slow Ark and Mallett down was disconcerting and painful to watch. Going into the game, everyone knew that one of the keys to the game was to get pressure on Mallett. He is a pocket passer with a huge arm and if you just let him sit back there in the pocket with all day to throw, he will find someone open and make your defense pay. Evidently Saban and Smart either didnt get that memo or didnt agree with that plan because for the first 3 quarters we only rushed 4 and very rarely blitzed a 5th man. Anybody that watched the game knows that plan didnt work so well and Mallett looked like Peyton Manning back there carving up our secondary. Alabama has lacked a dominant pass rushing DE for a few years now but have been able to compensate for that by designing different types of blitzes and being able to disguise those blitzes. Anyway, finally after 3 quarters Saban and Smart woke up and started sending 5 and 6 guys after mallet, blitzing from the corner and safety and mlb. The result of that was 3 turnovers. Everyone thought that if you could put pressure on Mallett, rattle him, flush him and get him runnin for his life he would make wild throws....and he did. Once he got knocked to the ground and hit hard a couple times, things changed and he started making some errant throws and trying to force it.
To sum all of this up, I have always had my concerns about our offense and our playcalling. IE: Run the ball down after down getting 4-10yd a run, until youve moved the ball 80 yds down to your opponents 15 yd line and eatin up 8 min off the clock and your in the red zone. Then abandon the run go to a 5 receiver set and try and throw the ball three times in a row unsuccessfully and have to settle for a FG. Im used to that, Ive come to expect that every now and then. The defense on the other hand, I have never worried too much about because Saban always seems to be ready for every opponent and if anything goes wrong, he makes the adjustments. That didnt happen Saturday, well it did but it took way too long and damn near cost Bama the game. I just hope that was not a sign of whats to come. Our defense has a long way to go, especially our secondary. We have some glaring weaknesses in our secondary and I hope it doesnt cost us the Florida Game. This is gonna be a battle and a close game in my opinion. I dont bet on Alabama games but if I were neutral I would have to take Florida and the points this week. GL To All on this one :toast: