Eight of Alabama's Nine Losses Have a Common Theme Based on Opponents

cuda.1973

Hall of Fame
Dec 6, 2009
8,506
607
137
Allen, Texas
We don't have to be perfect on offense. Just stop playing behind the sticks on 2nd down, convert on 3rd-and-short, and a lot less 3-and-outs. Especially after the other team scored. Wears out ANY defense. Even ours.

All we have to do is play up to The Process, and the O will be fine.
 

BigBama76

Suspended
Oct 26, 2011
1,002
0
0
Atlanta, GA
Ok, you win. AU, TAMU, and OU only scored drives where they running the HUNH. The outcome is the same with or without the flashy name. :)

Again, I do agree that the offense, turnovers and special teams issues contributed to our 2 losses, but defenses that "aren't struggling with the HUNH" aren't giving up 128 points and 1450 yards (483 YPG!) in 3 games. Especially when our offense gained 1579 yards in those 3 games. Good defenses have to be able to overcome adversity, turnovers, and missed opportunities at times. To just put a blanketed blame on our offense for our performance in those games says that we have to be near perfect on offense to win. That's not all always going to happen, and historically, it has very rarely happened here. In fact, we've won many a championship with below average offenses. Tons have people have said "If we just could have gained 1 yard against AU, we win the game!" or "If TJ hadn't fumbled on the goal line, we would have put the game away against TAMU", but you can just as easily say if our defense doesn't give up 4+ TD's in each of those games, we would have won all 3 easily.

I think the type of players CNS has recruited this year (especially the D linemen) will make a big difference against the HUNH. I just don't understand why so many continue to ignore the fact that we have struggled against it, when even our HC has talked so much about it, reshuffled the defensive coaching staff, and recruited players to combat it.
What doesn't get mentioned, and in my mind may have as much impact as anything, is that Coach Saban and Coach Smart's defenses have relied heavily on structured defensive calls pre-snap. The HUNH when in use doesn't allow that so to some extent our players are playing in a way that they aren't coached to play. I'm betting that CNS knows that and will look to changing some of their defensive strategies when facing that type offense.
 

TideFan in AU

Hall of Fame
We don't have to be perfect on offense. Just stop playing behind the sticks on 2nd down, convert on 3rd-and-short, and a lot less 3-and-outs. Especially after the other team scored. Wears out ANY defense. Even ours.

All we have to do is play up to The Process, and the O will be fine.
I agree with that as well, but our defense gave up 59 1st half points to TAMU, AU, and OU. Of that 59, more than half (35) was allowed in the 1st quarter. That means they were almost as in the 1st half as they were in the 2nd half, so being worn out had little to do with that. The numbers still say we have to improve on defense against HUNH teams. Giving up 19.7 PPG in those 3 games before halftime had as much (or more) to do with us losing than what the offense did, IMO.
 

bamahippie

All-SEC
Apr 8, 2000
1,971
0
0
47
Cullman, AL
They're all team losses in one way or another but I think of offense, at least traditional Bama and CNS offenses, kind of like the 4 corners offense in basketball. It's an offense but one of its top functions is to keep the ball moving and away from the other teams offense.

Defensive players will tire quicker than offensive players because of the differences in player function so it's critical for your teams offense to have extended drives even if they don't score on every one. That's what our offense failed to do in the games we lost and when you don't make critical 3rd and 1's you can pretty much point to the offensive line as the culprit for most of that.
That's all well and good, but that just sounds like excuses being thrown the defense's way, and I'm just not willing to do that. I can't ignore 32 pts/game, and chalk it all up to the offense not moving the ball well. Some of the offensive numbers during those games do not bear that out. We moved the ball against some of those teams. But as you, and several others have said, those 3rd/4th and shorts killed us. Quality of competition, as someone else pointed out early in this thread, certainly made a difference, though there were some decent teams in that 9.5 ppg mix.

Bear in mind, I agree with what you said re: the defense being tired, etc. But I just can't look at these games without seeing lack of execution in all 3 phases during key moments in most of those losses. 3rd downs, turnovers, etc. That's on the offense. Not stopping the other guy, that's on the D. Missing makeable field goals, or getting them blocked, etc. That's on special teams. That's the way I see it. It's ok if we disagree.
 
Last edited:

RTR91

Super Moderator
Nov 23, 2007
39,407
6
0
Prattville
That's all well and good, but that just sounds like excuses being thrown the defense's way, and I'm just not willing to do that. I can't ignore 32 pts/game, and chalk it all up to the offense not moving the ball well. Some of the offensive numbers during those games do not bear that out. We moved the ball against some of those teams. But as you, and several others have said, those 3rd/4th and shorts killed us. Quality of competition, as someone else pointed out early in this thread, certainly made a difference, though there were some decent teams in that 9.5 ppg mix.
Let's look at the stats I posted on the first page. In the 12 games, opponents scored 6.91 points per game off turnovers and missed FGs. They then averaged 8.41 points per game off of failed third down and fourth down conversions. That is a total of 15.32 points per game scored based on the offense not getting the job done. I'm not going to place the entire blame on the offense, but its hands aren't spotless for the 32 points per game given up by the defense.

GameFumblesINTsFGsOpponent Points Off Turnovers and Missed FGs
2008, Florida012/20
2008, Utah121/310
2010, South Carolina102/37
2010, LSU1106
2010, Auburn202/20
2011, LSU022/66
2012, Texas A&M121/113
2013, Auburn000/413
2013, Oklahoma321/228
Total91011/2283


GameThird DownFourth DownOpponent Points Off Failed Conversions
2008, Florida5-120-124
2008, Utah4-130-014
2010, South Carolina5-132-314
2010, LSU7-140-015
2010, Auburn3-123-47
2011, LSU5-130-00
2012, Texas A&M7-151-213
2013, Auburn4-131-27
2013, Oklahoma6-120-07
Total46-1177-12101
 

bamahippie

All-SEC
Apr 8, 2000
1,971
0
0
47
Cullman, AL
Let's look at the stats I posted on the first page. In the 12 games, opponents scored 6.91 points per game off turnovers and missed FGs. They then averaged 8.41 points per game off of failed third down and fourth down conversions. That is a total of 15.32 points per game scored based on the offense not getting the job done. I'm not going to place the entire blame on the offense, but its hands aren't spotless for the 32 points per game given up by the defense.
Yes, and I agree with that. And in many of those cases, the opponents had short fields. I get that. But in other instances, they still had a lot of real estate to make up. We need to be able to rely on our defense. I mean, turnovers are gonna happen, as are 3rd down stops. Unless I'm missing something here. bamagradinATL has a point though LOL.
 

RTR91

Super Moderator
Nov 23, 2007
39,407
6
0
Prattville
GameFumblesINTsFGsOpponent Points Off Turnovers and Missed FGs
2008, Florida012/20
2008, Utah121/310
2010, South Carolina102/37
2010, LSU1106
2010, Auburn202/20
2011, LSU022/66
2012, Texas A&M121/113
2013, Auburn000/413
2013, Oklahoma321/228
Total91011/2283

GameThird DownFourth DownOpponent Points Off Failed Conversions
2008, Florida5-120-124
2008, Utah4-130-014
2010, South Carolina5-132-314
2010, LSU7-140-015
2010, Auburn3-123-47
2011, LSU5-130-00
2012, Texas A&M7-151-213
2013, Auburn4-131-27
2013, Oklahoma6-120-07
Total46-1177-12101
Focus on the "Points off..." columns and then look at the picture below.


Also, this is worth the read since we're discussing Bama against the uptempo teams.
 

RTR91

Super Moderator
Nov 23, 2007
39,407
6
0
Prattville
This has its own thread, but I thought it went along with this discussion of the 9 losses. In the last 5 years, Alabama averages 4.49 penalties and 36.48 yards a game.

Here are the penalty and penalty yards for the losses in those 5 years.

GamePenaltiesYard
2010 South Carolina531
2010 LSU325
2010 Auburn740
2011 LSU673
2012 Texas A&M656
2013 Auburn645
2013 Oklahoma645

Just one penalty more a game can cause an offense to stay on the field or ruin an offensive drive. We've seen it help us and hurt us.
 

bamahippie

All-SEC
Apr 8, 2000
1,971
0
0
47
Cullman, AL
I've seen a lot of analytics and articles recently, and mostly point to the offense in our recent losses, so kudos to you guys. But there was a stat I saw yesterday, that in our losses, we allowed near 70% completion rate in our losses. But it's been mentioned many times before that we tend to get "career days" when facing hot QBs sometimes.
 

Latest threads

TideFans.shop : 2024 Madness!

TideFans.shop - Get YOUR Bama Gear HERE!”></a>
<br />

<!--/ END TideFans.shop & item link \-->
<p style= Purchases made through our TideFans.shop and Amazon.com links may result in a commission being paid to TideFans.