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Nugget about the Alabama vs. Texas A&M Game
Alabama vs. Texas A&M and Virginia Tech Recap:
Much of what I’m going to tell you is not my opinion – it is fact. And if you doubt me, go back carefully review the game as I have done. The reason I am posting a post-game write-up is so people can understand what they saw on Saturday and why they saw it. I’m also doing it because I announced prior to the season that I intended to “Max Bet” the Texas A&M game, so I think an explanation of why I am sticking to that strategy in the wake of the Virginia Tech game is in order.
First off I want to remind people that Virginia Tech is my second favorite college football team. I’ve had many friends and family members graduate from that school, and I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Blacksburg over the years. I say that because this game could not have been a more perfect result for me personally. Alabama won and covered the 1st half and game lines, and Virginia Tech acquitted themselves very well on national tv. And because of that, they should have a lot of confidence going forward, and hopefully that confidence will blossom into a very successful season for the Hokies.
I have posted about Alabama’s offensive line on several occasions, but I think a brief review is in order, particularly in light of what we saw in the Virginia Tech game. We all know that Alabama is replacing 3 linemen who are now on NFL rosters. I have explained in the past that the 3 replacements are all “individually” experienced and talented guys. But offensive lines are not plug and play. Offensive lines are more about continuity and on-the-field leadership than talent, and Alabama is lacking in both at this early point in the season. That said, I’m sure most reading this have forgotten that people were pressing the panic button on last year’s o-line after the second week of the season when they surrendered 7 sacks in the Western Kentucky game. The following week Alabama trounced Arkansas 52-0.
Going into the Virginia Tech game, I knew Tech had one of the best defensive lines in the country, and that they would test Alabama’s nascent offensive line. That was clearly Tech’s best matchup on the field, and to their credit, they took full advantage. Yes, Alabama missed some blocking assignments as I knew they would, but they weren’t alone. The running backs and tight ends did as well.
Right now the biggest thing that Alabama is suffering from is the loss of tight end Michael Williams. As of now Alabama really don’t have a replacement that they are happy with in terms of blocking in the run game. The bottom line is this is not last year’s team, and I have said it many times and so has Saban, this will be a different looking offense this year. They’ll run off tackle more, and between the tackles less – at least early in the season. But most importantly Alabama will run more of a west coast type of an offense to take advantage of the plethora of playmakers on the roster. We saw one of those playmakers score 3 touchdowns against Virginia Tech, but Alabama has a lot more playmakers than just Amari Cooper and Christian Jones.
I can tell you that this new-look offense is very explosive, because I’ve seen it in action several times in the spring and fall. What the public saw in Alabama’s spring game is in stark contrast to what was happening in practice behind the scenes. The offense was absolutely raping the defense, but when the cameras were on, Saban intentionally handicapped the offense by limiting them to variations of about 6 offensive plays. So if you watched the spring game, you probably came away with the impression the offense was really struggling. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
For example, in two private scrimmages, Amari Cooper had 9 catches for 228 yards and 5 touchdowns – and that was in very limited action. Others such as McCarron also accumulated gaudy stats. In one of the scrimmages McCarron went 23 for 29 for 319 yards and 5 touchdowns. He had no interceptions.
Now that last scrimmage I attended, the defense caught up quite a bit and really held their own, particularly the in the secondary. In case you don’t know, Alabama’s secondary is very, very good.
My point is that despite what you saw in the Virginia Tech game – and I will get into that in a bit – I stand by my prediction that this will be the most explosive offenses in Alabama’s history.
Now let me remind readers of the of the 2008 SEC Championship game when Florida beat Alabama 31-20. The entire offseason was dedicated by coaches and players alike to beating Florida, and Florida wasn’t even on their schedule. The result was that Alabama did end up facing the Gators again in the SEC Championship game, and completely dominated them. The exact same thing has happened this offseason, except I would say the Texas A&M preparations have been even more intense than they were for Florida in 2009. Everything Alabama has done, and is doing is in preparation for that game. You really need to understand that if you want to get on the right side of this game.
Now on to the Virginia Tech game itself . . . finally huh???
First of all, I will tell you that I knew going into the Virginia Tech game that Alabama would be somewhat vanilla offensively, but I thought that vanilla would be more than enough to cover the spread. One of the main reasons I thought that is because I really didn’t think Virginia Tech’s offense could score a touchdown against Alabama’s defense. Ultimately they did score a flukish touchdown, but thankfully it didn’t burn Alabama backers.
It really hit me in the second half of the game when I really needed a score to cover the game line. I was getting pissed because I noticed that Alabama was not really trying to counter anything Virginia Tech was doing defensively. Tech was basically playing the 1985 Buddy Ryan 46 defense which simply brings more defenders that the offense line can block. Alabama has the personnel to easily counter this defense but never tried to implement it. For example, one way to counter it is to spread the field with 4 wide receivers to force the defensive personnel out of the box. Even the announcer Matt Millen wondered out loud on several occasion as to why Alabama kept insisting on running directly into the teeth of an 8 and 9-man box.
Much like what occurred in the spring game where Saban intentionally handicapped the offense, apparently he did much the same in this game. That is no way meant to take away from the great game that Virginia tech played, but this is the simple fact of the matter, and it can be verified by re-watching the game.
Now what I’m going to tell you comes from someone directly affiliated with the program, and I think I can comfortably say what I’m about to say. I asked him about this specifically on Monday and this is basically what he told me. He said that the coaching staff started planning for the Texas A&M game even before they left the stadium last season. As I said earlier, everything Alabama has done in the off-season has been geared toward the Texas A&M game - and now that includes the 1st game of the season as well. He said the plan was to be as bland offensively as possible. The coaching staff was given absolutely the best gift they could have asked for when the defense and special teams combined to score 3 touchdowns. That allowed them to scale the offense back even more than originally planned. He said the offense was scaled back to more than being vanilla. It was scaled back to a “practice game type game plan.” Those were his exact words. He said the staff has not shown any of its hand for the A&M game including personnel packages and blocking schemes.
Another person I spoke with yesterday, who is friends with one of the offensive linemen’s parents, said he knew in advance (through his son) that all Alabama was going to do was straight ahead blocking. No pulling guards or tackles, no zone blocking schemes etc.
That gave me a lot to look for when I reviewed that game in depth, and as I said, what those two sources said can be easily confirmed by re-watching the game. You will noticed that AJ McCarron never audibled one time during the game. No linemen ever pulled. I only saw one play in the whole game where a receiver even went in motion. The offense was simplistic to the point of being comical.
Now ask yourself a question. Do you really believe that Alabama would line up over and over again against an 8 and 9-man front and not check out of a play that had zero chance to succeed under normal circumstances? And although the line had some continuity issues, mostly what I saw was Alabama simply being outmanned at the point of attack. In other words, Virginia Tech was simply bringing more than Alabama could block. Most of the time Tech was bringing an extra guy off of the edge.
There is really only two ways to look at the Virginia Tech game IMO. Either this was one of Saban’s most brilliant coaching jobs, or one of his worst. I believe it was the former because it was effective in two ways. First, as I already mentioned, they have shown Texas A&M absolutely nothing on tape, and secondly, I think this game went a long way to knocking the “defending national champion chip” off of the players’ shoulders. It showed the guys – particularly the younger ones - that they are not invincible. I will point out another thing that struck me as odd. Though all the offensive adversity, Saban remained as calm as a millpond on the sideline.
I readily admit that if I knew what I know now, I would not have “Max Bet” the Virginia Tech game, and that really has nothing to do with how I capped the game. I think I had the game capped very well. Nevertheless, fortunately it did not blow up in my face, and I was still able to cash my Alabama tickets.
I’m sure there will be posters who will conjure up a myriad of counter arguments to what I’ve posted here, but quite honestly I’m not interested in arguing the point. I’m telling you what’s up. I’m telling this game will be a blow out in favor of Alabama. You can believe me and join me in betting Alabama, or you can think I’m full of it and back Texas A&M – or stay away altogether. Just know I really don’t care what you do. As for me, it’ll be my biggest bet of the season.
Peace out!!!
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Originally Posted by russellm9
