Iron Bowl Halftime Adjustments

The biggest half-time adjustment was NOT putting in Coker. I'll admit, I had thrown in the towel on Simms and thought Coker might be our only opportunity to make it respectable. The decision to keep Simms and his moxie in was the best no-decision. Glad I'm a fan and not a coach - I would have screwed that one up. The other adjustments were great too.

We started playing with more intensity in the second half. I think that was the biggest adjustment. With the amount of time our defense was on the field in the first half I think we were going to rotate players anyway so I'm not sure if that was an adjustment as much as it was a necessity. Regardless it did make a difference. I noticed our DB's started playing with a lot more aggressiveness and coming up in run support much more in the second half. They were too tentative in the first half and just sat back waiting on the play to come to them. Going to the deep ball was something we should have done more of last year. Their weakness has been their secondary and we did not exploit that enough last year. Once we hit the deep passes, then the running game opened up even more. Yeldon had some nice runs before that but it still felt like they were daring us to run or throw short the entire game.

I'm pretty sure that williams and Evans extra time was a result of the injury to Ryan Anderson as well as devall not playing. All four great players but I don't see how the two young guys have been kept off the field this much. They are both so explosive off the ball.


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I loved all the times we went for it on fourth down. I think there was one very gutsy call kinda at midfield plus a few more. I knew they couldn't stop us running. I mean we were getting like 4 plus yards a carry at that point.

Ole Man Dan said:

Not sure of all our half time changes, but they made a big difference.
Not sure if Blake saw Jake warming up, and it motivated him or not, but after that Blake played a great game.

Marshell is a good QB if no one rushes him. Lots of guys are like that.
If it were up to me, no QB would have the luxury of waiting for a receiver to come open. A man in their backfield would also dictate which direction teams like Auburn would run. Would work on Mizzou too.

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In the post game interview, Blake said he did not see Jake warming up.

In a situation like that, there is probably very little you notice about your surroundings. It's tunnel vision and reflection time. Glad he found it in him to adjust.

OreBama said:

Those are the plays from Tecmo Bowl, right?

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Yes sir. It reminds me of some of these offenses.

R. Evans, T. Williams, and the reemergence of B. Sylve. BS was especially important. He played a great game.

We have been bad in Q3 most of the year, but last night when they out scored the Barn I just knew we would win. I predicted 59-0 so I was dead wrong but in the 2nd half 5 straight drives for TD's showed me we could have done it. I'm very happy with the win & not seeing that play from last year 10 times a day EVERYDAY!

WMack4Bama said:

Couple more things: Not to make excuses for him but Eddie Jackson is indeed coming off a torn ACL and likely isn't as explosive as he could be...Coates being the speed burner that he is, we stuck Sylve (probably the fastest player on our team depending on who you believe, but definitely the fastest defensive player) on him. That helped.


Also, it was a NICE touch putting Vogler in for the victory formation for his final game at BDS

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I was thinking the same thing about E. Jackson (has it even been a year since he tore it?). Sylve showed everyone why he came out of the spring the starter and it was awesome. I imagine he, T. Brown, and Marlon are very close speed wise. The Vogler moment was awesome. Unsung hero for this team for sure.

crimsonaudio said:

I missed that, that's a very nice touch.

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Me too. I will catch it when I watch the game over.

BamaMoon said:

I'd say the most important adjustment is I changed clothes at halftime. The adjustment worked! :biggrin:

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As did I. Felt I needed to be more comfortable in the 3rd qtr. It worked like a charm!

Sylve really made a difference. I'm happy to see him contribute in a big way.

WMack4Bama said:

+1 to the staff for making the following adjustments at halftime:

1. Replacing Eddie Jackson with Tony Brown and subsequently Bradley Sylve. Sylve actually played a whale of a game.
2. Sammie Coates didn't see a target in the 3rd quarter I don't think. Not sure it was double coverage or what, but we took him away for most of the 2nd half.
3. Putting in Tim Williams and Rashan Evans. The two of them kept Marshall incredibly uncomfortable, and ran like the wind for the entire second half.

We normally don't make halftime adjustments that are noticed by the untrained eye, but I applaud the coaching staff for making these changes and not being stubborn.

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You've got eagle eyes man I'm telling ya. You don't miss much.

I'll add that we also committed to giving TJ the reps to get him going and control clock after we threw some Blake to Coop Haymakers.

EDIT: Also we went for and converted what felt several 4th downs. Our Placekicker was never on the field other that XP's....for whatever that's worth. WE MANNED up last night,

WMack4Bama said:

Also, it was a NICE touch putting Vogler in for the victory formation for his final game at BDS

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Vogler has been a favorite of mine since we recruited him from Brookstone HS in Columbus, GA. Nice touch, indeed.

I was sitting there in BD last night thinking how awesome could we be if Cooper and Coates were on the same side of the field, lol. The coaches made great halftime adjustments. That coupled with holding them to only 3 points so many times in the redzone made the difference. RTR!

braggtd said:

Yes sir. It reminds me of some of these offenses.

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and it will likely stand the test of time similarly

WMack4Bama said:

Couple more things: Not to make excuses for him but Eddie Jackson is indeed coming off a torn ACL and likely isn't as explosive as he could be...Coates being the speed burner that he is, we stuck Sylve (probably the fastest player on our team depending on who you believe, but definitely the fastest defensive player) on him. That helped.


Also, it was a NICE touch putting Vogler in for the victory formation for his final game at BDS

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i didn't notice that. thanks for pointing that out.