In October, Alabama coach Nick Saban finally waved the white flag.
The defensive connoisseur had long since seen enough. The idea that “the defense wins championships”, to Saban’s despair, is a relic of the past of university football.
“Before, a good defense defeated a good offense,” Saban said before winning Tennessee. “A good defense no longer beats a good offense.”
And, although the six-time national champion has reaffirmed that reality – he has adapted his team into an offensive juggler – the Crimson Sea still
And on Monday night at the National College Football Playoff Championship, presented by AT&T, the Alabama defense will take the toughest test of the season in Ohio, high power.
Justin Fields. Chris Olave. Trey Sermon. Garrett Wilson.
“They have a lot of weapons,” said Alabama defensive coordinator Pete Golding. “This is [not] a game [where] you come in and say, “Hey, I just stopped this guy, we’re going to win the game.” It’s not necessary. “
As well as slowing down Alabama, the Buckeyes will play a key role in Monday’s result.
This is not a defense signed by Nick Saban.
The dramatic offensive change in college football has also swept Alabama. Take Saban’s 2011 BCS National Championship team as an example.
That season – which included a loss of an additional 9-6 hours to LSU in the “Game of the Century” – Alabama’s top defense was stifling. The Crimson Sea allowed a tiny 178.7 meters per game to opponents in the Power 5 conference, 3.3 meters per game and 7.8 points per game.
This season, Alabama gave up almost double the field (353.2 meters per game), five meters per game and 19 points per game. In eight of the 12 games this season, the Crimson Tide have dropped more meters than their 2011 average
It’s less an accusation of Bama’s defensive performance and more indicative of how the game has changed – for everyone.
“It’s really not about how many meters you give up,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said Thursday.
“It’s about stops … You can let them drive the whole length of the field, but if they hit targets or earn revenue along the way, good things will happen.”
The numbers illustrate the offensive growth of the sport. Since 2011, the national average for playgrounds against Power 5 conference teams has gone from 376.3 yards to 403.5 in 2020. Playgrounds have increased from 5.4 to 5.7, and the score has increased by more than two points – from 26 points per game to 28.9.
“I don’t think there’s any question about how college football has changed dramatically in the last 10, 12 years,” Saban said this week.
“I think the appearance of the spread, the RPOs, which blocks the ground down when the pass is caught behind the scrimmage line, all those things have dramatically changed the style of play offensively and that affects every part of the game.
“You have to defend how you choose players to play certain positions, because the game is much more of a perimeter game now than before, and your scheme to defend these types of changes has been quite dramatic.”
Although Tida’s defense is more forgiving now than it was then, she is still at the top level of the sport. It is the fifth nationally in allowed points (19) and courts allowed per game (5) and the 17th nationally in allowed courts per game (353.2).
In other words, despite the total garden, he usually gets the stops he needs.
Although good, Alabama’s defense has been frustrated at times this season. Two games stand out: October 10 vs. Ole Miss and the SEC vs. Florida.
The 48 points scored by the rebels are tied with Auburn, the most any team has scored against Alabama in the Saban era. The 647 meters of the Ole Miss were the most allowed ever by the Crimson Tide. Saban and defender Dylan Moses said that evening whether the rebel coach and former Saban assistant Lane Kiffin knew their signals, which Kiffin later denied.
This week, Saban and Golding attributed the fighting to countless factors.
“They were 250 meters after the contact,” Golding said. “It’s hard to win at any level when you do that. … I think I also had 28 mental errors in that game.”
Saban said, citing four out of five newcomers in high school and three freshmen in defense: “The knowledge and experience I had was probably not enough to be able to make adjustments and adjustments in the game and also in training.”
Florida’s 46-point outburst in the SEC game was the second-highest allowed by a Saban-trained Alabama defense. Golding lamented Alabama’s third-down performance (Gators turned 8 out of 11 opportunities) there and stressed that the Sea needs to be better against Ohio State – a more explosive offense than both teams Alabama fought.
Mental errors must be “small in number,” running attacks must be solid, and the Sea must “approach in space,” Golding said.
“You can’t offer those guys those pieces,” Golding said of the Buckeyes. “They will make enough contested games because they have a lot of very good players.”
With all the things that came together about those shows, Alabama’s defense over the last two months has been good. The sea allowed 17 points or less, under 300 yards and less than five yards in seven of the last eight games. In the college football semifinal against Notre Dame, Alabama allowed just 14 points and 4.7 yards per game, though it wasn’t as good as Golding would have liked for the third down (8 of 16) .
The team attributes added gaming experience to the improvement.
“We learned from experience what to do,” said Patrick Surtain II. “We improved every week, flying around the ball, making adjustments and learning from previous games we fought.”
Ohio State Offensive Coordinator Kevin Wilson agreed.
“The Ole Miss game was early and … I think Alabama improved because they managed to play [more games]”, he said.” I am an excellent defense, with talent, length. They will make an incredible challenge. “
Ohio State will be the toughest challenge in Alabama to date.
The Buckeyes are the team with the highest score Alabama has faced (43.4 points per game) and have rushed for more than 200 meters in each of the seven games this season, tied with the longest series active by FBS.
Sermon recently fueled the running game, averaging 212 yards and 9.1 yards per carry in the last three Buckeyes competitions.
Fields, a true defender with two threats – whose guy has given Saban’s defense problems in the past – is one of the best nations. And Olave and Wilson offer him a talented welcoming duo. Olave has five touchdown catches on throws of 25 or more yards this season, at par in Power 5. Surtain said Olave’s speed is a challenge: “He creates the quick separation at the top of the tracks. its … it’s very patient and fluid with running on the trail. “
Due to Buckeyes’ firepower, Golding believes turnovers will be key.
“The state of Ohio has 43 media [points] “And when they don’t, it’s because they turned the ball around,” Golding said. Not because people stopped them, but because they were wrong. … So I think it’s a critical piece to this game. “
Clemson, who is in a stratosphere of talent similar to Alabama, was dominated by the Buckeyes. Ohio State averaged 8.9 yards per game and finished 639 in total in their 49-28 victory. Ohio State turned the ball over once.
But Buckeye said this Alabama defense shows the role in the video.
“I’m the kind of group that never makes a mistake about what the gap should be,” said Ohio State Center Josh Myers. “If I’m on the move, no one messes up … I’ve watched a bunch of movies on them and I don’t think I’ve seen it once.”
Kevin Wilson said: “[Our offensive line is] they’re going to do their strongest test Monday night with the Alabama front because they’re the best I’ve seen. “
Saban and Golding praised the Day-Calling deal, and Golding said the mix of bands and tempo makes Buckeyes a challenge.
“He does a very nice job of handling things through training,” Golding said. “They do a lot of different things from the same group of staff.”
As Alabama’s defenses changed with college football, so did the offense. The Sea is the second largest team in the nation (48.2 points per game), and its transformation into an explosive unit meant that Saban’s defense was no longer asked to close the teams. Mac Jones, Najee Harris and DeVonta Smith will probably do their part on Monday.
However, Tide’s defense faces a tough challenge. If Ohio is to slow down on Monday, it will be reduced to several key factors, Golding said: approaching well in space, forcing the Buckeyes into obvious transient descents, executing in third descents, and creating revenue.
Regardless of the yard, Alabama simply has to stop.
“The key thing is that the big teams do everything they can to win every week and that’s what makes their defense,” said Kevin Wilson. “And that’s what coach Saban did, as well as anyone who has ever coached the game of football.”