I don't know why folks think Saban can't or won't change. He ran the 4-3 at LSU and some in the pro's before switching to the 3-4 - his LSU defensive playbook is out on the interwebs for everyone to see if you just google it.
I know we all like to talk about how great our 3-4 is, but the reality is that most of the time we have a 4 man line where the NT comes out our Huge DE's line up as DT (which they are sized right to do), and we have an OLB (or two) put a hand down along with a more true 4-3 DE (Allen, Pettaway if not using 2 OLB, etc). Like Jess said, we probably only use the base 3-4 10-15% of the time anyway.
Also there are two things at play that need to be discussed, not one. Even though both Okie and AU used tempo (and A&M), the are completely different offenses. It would be silly to use the same plan to try to stop them both.
First - how to deal with tempo. This does require some 'changes' from our philosophy of making a ton of adjustments to have the 'perfect' defensive call. We're probably going to have to have 5 or 6 standard defensive calls we can make out of any particular personnel package and alignment. Once the prior play is over, our guys have to line up in the base alignment and be ready to go waiting for that call which will have to be made quickly. IMHO, doing something like this will eliminate a lot of the other issues. When we got gashed against AU and OU many times it seemed like our guys were still trying to get lined up.
Now - for the types of offenses. I actually think the 3-4 or a 3-3-5 with a tweaner S/LB is the right way to stop a team like AU, but it takes DISCIPLINE, which we didn't get on the outside too often. Their offense this year was mostly running based. It's designed to pressure the edges by isolating the player on the end of the LOS. If he stays home, the handoff goes to the RB inside. If he bites inside, the QB takes off around the edge. TAMU does the same thing for the most part. For whatever reason, our edge guys didn't do well at setting the edge this year with discipline. too often they were baited inside, and all it takes is one step inside and the edge is now open. Upshaw was superb at this, and still get's mentioned by his teammates in Baltimore for how well he does it. For the record, he's bigger than Hubbard so it's not about being smaller/faster/athletic, it's about discipline. Hubbard got pulled in a LOT. BTW - Reamer and Harris were also FANTASTIC at this from SAM (also, they weren't as small as some mentioned. Both were around 235-240lbs - smaller than our current SAM for sure, but not really small 215-220 guys either. It was Reamer doing this against UT that resulted in the hit from Marcell that took Colt out.
now let's say we get a guy who will set the edge. That turns things back inside, either from the RB, or from the QB if he makes a bad read and pulls the ball even though the OLB/DE set the edge correctly. Now we need some BIG bodies in the middle. Why - because since the read DE is left unblocked, there are 5 OL now blocking down onto 2 or 3 DL and the LBs, so we still have to clog up the middle, which is what those big bodies are good at, and letting the LBs make the plays.
OU beat us throwing the ball, so it's a completely different issue to fix from a defensive gameplan POV, which for the most part we did at half time by pulling the CB's up close to the line instead of playing soft zone. Defensively we only allowed one TD in the second half after shutting them out in the 3rd qtr, so the adjustments made seemed to have worked. Also, 28 of their total points came from turnovers (one directly by their defense, and another that gave OU the ball inside our 20, very short field). If we finish those drives with kicks we consume a lot more clock, keep their offense off the field. Take those miscues away and our defense suddenly doesn't look quite as bad.
