Really hoping our guys find an answer to the HUNH!

Al A Bama said:

I think this was a good game to get Bama ready for the aTm's, the Barn's, et al. Sometimes, you learn from your mistakes. Looks like we made plenty yesterday on defense.

It's unbelievable that we had more offensive plays than WVU did.

With Sims at QB, I want to see more NO huddle. Don't give the Defense a chance to breath. That's what these HUNH teams do to us. When we play a HUNH team, however, we need to control the clock and put up 50+ points! Control the clock to keep the D fresh.

Click to expand...

Bingo. The secret to defending the HUNH is to turn the tables on them. Make their Defense experience exactly what ours do. When their Defense gives their Offense no choice but to slow down to give them breathing room, they'll be forced to abandon the HUNH in it's entirety.

I'm not so sure that the HUNH is here to stay, either. Maybe for a while, but eventually teams will realize that there is value in time of possession.

Bama Reb said:

Bingo. The secret to defending the HUNH is to turn the tables on them. Make their Defense experience exactly what ours do. When their Defense gives their Offense no choice but to slow down to give them breathing room, they'll be forced to abandon the HUNH in it's entirety.

Click to expand...

We made WVU do that last by running ball down their throats, but on one seemed to notice.

TideFan in AU said:

We made WVU do that last by running ball down their throats, but on one seemed to notice.

Click to expand...

there was a point in the late third or early 4th quarter where we ran a few straight runs and gained huge chunks in a row and they showed the wvu coach on the sideline looking like he wanted to throw up.

he knew that if we leaned on them with the run they'd be whipped.

and the commentators mentioned that he slowed their tempo in the second half to give his d time to rest.

I agree that we need to turn up the speed on offense and use their game plan against them...As long as our QB (whoever gets the permanent start) can effectively run at that speed, and we're able to put up points and establish a decent early lead. There's a fine line to running the HUNH and keeping the edge in the TOP, and giving your D adequate time to rest. I noticed toward the end of the game, we were wearing them down and were gashing them on the ground very effectively. I couldn't understand why they would go back to the line with the game clock running, and snap the ball with as much as 20 seconds left on the play clock. If we had milked the play clock, we could have run off 2-3 minutes of the 4th qtr and WV would have had at least one less possession.

That's where I'm torn between the old smash mouth, clock eating, and wear em out style of Bama.....and the new HUNH style of play. I think they can coexist, but there needs to be a balance.....

Out of curiosity what is everyone expecting a defense to accomplish against the hurry up no huddle. I think the bar and expectation needs to be reset. If people are expecting our defense to hold an offense like that to under 150 yards rushing and passing, then I think that is unrealistic.

We held them to 28 rushing yards and 365 passing yards. That is a one dimensional game and we will come out a win more times than not. They were 5/14 on 3rd down.

Taking all of this into consideration I think the defense played pretty well. The fact that they made plays on us is just reality of while you play the game.

It is easy for Alabama fans to have become spoiled and in a sense an elitist just based on our last 5 years. But the game has evolved now.

davefrat said:

there was a point in the late third or early 4th quarter where we ran a few straight runs and gained huge chunks in a row and they showed the wvu coach on the sideline looking like he wanted to throw up.

he knew that if we leaned on them with the run they'd be whipped.

and the commentators mentioned that he slowed their tempo in the second half to give his d time to rest.

Click to expand...

The same things win that always won...

Play ball control, minimize turnovers, and convert on 3rd down. The offense should improve over the next few weeks which will help our defense, and holding onto the ball will keep them rested. Coach Saban is right when he said our offense causes other teams problems because not many people are running the pro-style anymore. We should be able to manhandle some of the defenses out there. Having an athletic QB is definitely a plus too, and Sims can definitely cause opposing defenses some problems. The key to defeating the HUNH is keeping our guys healthy, rested, and on the bench. The best defense is a great offense!

Oh yeah no more special team's breakdowns!

Bamafan78 said:

Oh yeah no more special team's breakdowns!

Click to expand...

Amen brother, I hate seeing 10 seconds wipe out 5 minutes of hard work.

It's not his fault... Some he just got beat fair and square.. If that was Millner he would've got beat too.. so ...watch the tapes.

230kv_barehand said:

I don't care how many times I re-watch the film, I will NOT be happy with Bradley Sylve's play. Not trying to hate on the kid because I think he came in as a ATH/WR type and never hit it off on offense so they moved him to see if he could play. Same for Cyrus.

But with the best DB coach in the country and some big time talent we need to be out there teaching them and/or letting them learn. I'd much rather see a scenario like 2010 because it gave Milliner a lot of PT even though he wasn't ready and after he suffered a good bit that year he came out and shut everyone down and was a star on one of our top defenses of all time.

Click to expand...

Al A Bama said:

With Sims at QB, I want to see more NO huddle. Don't give the Defense a chance to breath. That's what these HUNH teams do to us. When we play a HUNH team, however, we need to control the clock and put up 50+ points! Control the clock to keep the D fresh.

Click to expand...

CNS talked about that, in yesterday's presser. He stated that he and CLK felt Sims was more comfortable without a huddle, and going without one he seemed to be more confident. When asked if he was going to do more of that, he made that slightly disinterested look of contempt, and said "I'll do whatever gives our team the best chance to win."

You may get your wish.

CoastGhost said:

We looked a helluva lot better than Free Seafood University did tonight.

Click to expand...

Bingo! On another Bama board, people were posting during the Florida State-Oklahoma State game thread that Florida State's defense looked awesome and that they would blow out anybody in the SEC right now. Of course, they posted that crap in the 1st quarter, before OSU put 31 on that "awesome" defense.:biggrin:

JustNeedMe81 said:

It's not his fault... Some he just got beat fair and square.. If that was Millner he would've got beat too.. so ...watch the tapes.

Click to expand...

You may be on target with this ^. Soon after the game I was ready to throw Sylve under the bus. After review via dvr, it may simply be that WVUs #11 was simply THAT good.

PS: Mods, are the two HUNH threads on the first page similar enough to be merged?

Exactly!!!!!!!!

bama579 said:

You may be on target with this ^. Soon after the game I was ready to throw Sylve under the bus. After review via dvr, it may simply be that WVUs #11 was simply THAT good.

PS Are the two HUNH threads on the first page similar enough to be merged?

Click to expand...

I think there was a play in second quarter... or third, not sure which, but slyve had a man locked down.. and the QB just threw over his shoulder to the right, and it was well timed pass... Slyve did his part. I gotta find the link to certian part...and I'll repost it here.

bama579 said:

You may be on target with this ^. Soon after the game I was ready to throw Sylve under the bus. After review via dvr, it may simply be that WVUs #11 was simply THAT good.

PS: Mods, are the two HUNH threads on the first page similar enough to be merged?

Click to expand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVSPgeN1dLQ

On 7:30 mark - He slips on that pass, allowing his man to go past by him...if he hadn't done that, his man wouldn't caught that pass.

8:05 Wasn't his man, but he came back and got him.

9:40, his man was covered but cameback inside tocatch the ball. Slyve did his part. I don't know if this was a busted coverage or not.
20:25 Cyrus wasn't playing tight on his man.. and Receiver went slant on that play... nothing he could do, but to tackle.
40:03- Sylve got mauled on that run.....
46:50 - That's the one I was talking about in previous post.. he covered his man well and receiver still made impossible play... I don't see how anyone could stop that pass. Watch the replay too. Slyve had several moments throughout the game..... Now, I would be little concerned about Cyrus Jones...He made more mistakes than Slyve did...

WVU had as many drops as they had incredible catches. But I will say after watching A&M and WVU receivers are vastly better at catching the ball and adjusting their routes than what we have seen in the recent past. A&M's receivers basically caught everything thrown to them regardless of how tight the coverage was.

But as far as defending a HUNH, I think one like AU's based off the run is the most difficult to defend because they do control the TOP just the same as dominating run game in the pro-style.

Oh No, The Sky Is FALLING.................................(Blue Font)
You're not going to "STOP" the hunh offense in the way that we fans think we should. Bama held WVU's offense to 16 points. Yes they dropped some passes, but so did we. The game could have just as easily been 41 - 16.
As for Sylve, he needs to turn his head and locate the ball to give himself a better chance to make a play.
O-line did a really good job.
Hard for any defense to get a good rush when the qb is throwing so quickly. IMHO the key in that situation is to jam receivers at the line but hard to try that on the first game with a relatively young secondary.
D held WVU to 6 points in the 2nd half so they made adjustments and improved as the game went along.
Not our best game but certainly not the worst game either.

I thought playing WVa in the opener was a good thing for Bama, and the game proved that my instincts were right. While they were not one of the "elite" teams, they provided some difficulties for the Bama defense that just cannot be replicated by the scout team. Now the coaches know what works and what doesn't, and can make real adjustments. Unfortunately, the final answer may not involve shutting out every HUNH team out there(although it can happen), but limiting the damage they can cause by turning TD drives into FG's or forcing enough punts to keep the game from turning into a track meet. Since there is no D in HUNH, Bama will run up the score. The Defense just has to keep the other team from matching every score.