Nussmeier is capable of calling very competent games. When he was on, Alabama was boatracing teams out of the tunnel. When he was off, it was truly stupefying to watch. The best halftime adjustment made under Nussmeier's watch was actually made under the directive of Nick Saban. At halftime of the 2012 SECCG, Saban told the staff that they couldn't block these guys in pass pro and we HAVE to run it.
That is the crux of Nussmeier's limitations. If he has a good plan developed in the preparation then you will absolutely thrash the team in the first half and it is all over but the crying (for the other team). He is not a tactician when it comes to in-game adjustments. Kiffin has proven to be a vast upgrade in this regard. The big thing for this arrangement is that McElwain does have that good tactician sense as an offensive playcaller, so I think this relationship can work successfully. Nussmeier can do the bulk of the preparation but McElwain has a headset to communicate what he is seeing from the field.
I'd add that I'd only put one of our poor offensive performances on the coaching staff (Kiffin)...the LSU game. Logically, it was a pretty sound approach to check to fades when they press and roll a safety into the box. Practically, it never worked because the game was called very loose on the perimeter and the WRs weren't getting good releases over the top. It played both ways (that arguable DPI no call that ended the game). The plan should have been axed much earlier in the game simply because how that game was being officiated wasn't going to garner much success. The Ole Miss game was mainly on the combination of the Drake and Kelly injuries. We were dominating Ole Miss on the ground with Yeldon sweep runs until the moment Kelly went down. The Arkansas game was a spillover of those issues created by the Kelly injury with the OL.
That is the crux of Nussmeier's limitations. If he has a good plan developed in the preparation then you will absolutely thrash the team in the first half and it is all over but the crying (for the other team). He is not a tactician when it comes to in-game adjustments. Kiffin has proven to be a vast upgrade in this regard. The big thing for this arrangement is that McElwain does have that good tactician sense as an offensive playcaller, so I think this relationship can work successfully. Nussmeier can do the bulk of the preparation but McElwain has a headset to communicate what he is seeing from the field.
I'd add that I'd only put one of our poor offensive performances on the coaching staff (Kiffin)...the LSU game. Logically, it was a pretty sound approach to check to fades when they press and roll a safety into the box. Practically, it never worked because the game was called very loose on the perimeter and the WRs weren't getting good releases over the top. It played both ways (that arguable DPI no call that ended the game). The plan should have been axed much earlier in the game simply because how that game was being officiated wasn't going to garner much success. The Ole Miss game was mainly on the combination of the Drake and Kelly injuries. We were dominating Ole Miss on the ground with Yeldon sweep runs until the moment Kelly went down. The Arkansas game was a spillover of those issues created by the Kelly injury with the OL.
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