News Article: We Still Haven't Gotten Our Identity Back

Sometimes in the game, but not all the time throughout the game can you have both a quick scoring O and a 3 and out D, unless you are 2 or 3 deep at all positions on D and rotate. To get the D rest you must have long drives that eat clock. The quick scoring should come later in the game, IMO. You drive 3 straight, 6-7 min. drives and score TD's and mentally the opponent will start to give up most of the time. That is the only knock on CLK that I have. Maybe last year he had to considering the whole team, but we will see this year if that changes or not. Great D's can't stay on the field all day and still be great IMO.

81usaf92 said:

That's a double edged sword. While people complain about kiffin's offense not being a "bama" offense and is to blame for this and that; consider if coach nuss or Mac were our oc last year how many games do we win. In this day of age you either have a suffocating defense or have a scoreboard lighting offense. We just didn't have the defense last year. I think kiffin is probably one of the biggest reasons that we were capable of coming back and beating the boogs. Until we have a defense that is suffocating offenses then we should probably thank our lucky stars that we have kiffin

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^^^this^^^

The perception that the CLK offense is pass happy is not the reality. Believe it or not the percentage balance between rushing plays and passing plays in 2014 was virtually identical to that of 2013. Of the 826 plays Bama ran in 2013, 461 (55.8%) were running plays and 365 (44.2 %) were passing plays. Of the 1018 plays Bama ran in 2014, 567 (55.7%) were running plays and 451 (44.3%) were passing plays.

^^^ This!

http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/team/8/index.html

Look at the link I provided and you'll see the pass and rush category and how it's broken down for each situation. people didn't realize that Kiffin was actually balancing the offense...

ALA2262 said:

^^^this^^^

The perception that the CLK offense is pass happy is not the reality. Believe it or not the percentage balance between rushing plays and passing plays in 2014 was virtually identical to that of 2013. Of the 826 plays Bama ran in 2013, 461 (55.8%) were running plays and 365 (44.2 %) were passing plays. Of the 1018 plays Bama ran in 2014, 567 (55.7%) were running plays and 451 (44.3%) were passing plays.

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81usaf92 said:

That's a double edged sword. While people complain about kiffin's offense not being a "bama" offense and is to blame for this and that; consider if coach nuss or Mac were our oc last year how many games do we win. In this day of age you either have a suffocating defense or have a scoreboard lighting offense. We just didn't have the defense last year. I think kiffin is probably one of the biggest reasons that we were capable of coming back and beating the boogs. Until we have a defense that is suffocating offenses then we should probably thank our lucky stars that we have kiffin

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We just didn't have the defense last year. Anybody that can't see that has had way too much crimson kool aide. As Jess said, if we are going to make it back to Atlanta and the final 4 it will be on the shoulders of the defense.

I thought they underwhelmed last year. WE missed our reads several times throughout the year, and we had lot of issues with mobile Qbs...

GrayTide said:

We just didn't have the defense last year. Anybody that can't see that has had way too much crimson kool aide. As Jess said, if we are going to make it back to Atlanta and the final 4 it will be on the shoulders of the defense.

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JustNeedMe81 said:

I thought they underwhelmed last year. WE missed our reads several times throughout the year, and we had lot of issues with mobile Qbs...

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We were basically fragments of a complete unit. We were good to great at times,but against great offenses we struggled. I'm not talking about the ole miss game cuz I believe that was more about losing drake and fumbling on special teams. I think trickett in game one gave the blue print on how to beat us. It just took a team that stuck to that blue print and counter kiffin to pull off a win. Our defense was decent but was more comparable to the 08 defense than the 11 defense. I believe it's safe to say our best defense last year was kiffin's offense. The iron bowl proved it

ALA2262 said:

^^^this^^^

The perception that the CLK offense is pass happy is not the reality. Believe it or not the percentage balance between rushing plays and passing plays in 2014 was virtually identical to that of 2013. Of the 826 plays Bama ran in 2013, 461 (55.8%) were running plays and 365 (44.2 %) were passing plays. Of the 1018 plays Bama ran in 2014, 567 (55.7%) were running plays and 451 (44.3%) were passing plays.

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Yes, but if you account for the fact that Sims ran 83 times, that shifts the numbers dramatically toward the pass since most of those were called passing plays. That adjustment nets 534 passing plays, and 464 running plays. That's almost 53% passing to 47% runs...

gtgilbert said:

Yes, but if you account for the fact that Sims ran 83 times, that shifts the numbers dramatically toward the pass since most of those were called passing plays. That adjustment nets 534 passing plays, and 464 running plays. That's almost 53% passing to 47% runs...

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To begin with that would be 484 running plays and not 464. Secondly, although your point is valid, not all 83 were passing plays. There were some option plays. I'll give you 58 of the 83 and call it even. 509 to 509. 50% to 50%.

RollTide1224 said:

It almost cost us the Arkansas game. Right before it was too late we decided to stop sending 6 people and just rush 4 using Evans and Williams and what do you know Arkansas couldn't do a thing. It was like we stopped them all night on first and second down with standard calls then would do an exotic blitz only to get burned for a first down.

We seemed to have issues with timing on blitzes as well as multiple of our players going into the same rush lanes. Several times this led to large QB scrambles. I'm hoping to see improved discipline on blitzes and quite frankly less of them given the pure pass rushers we have on the team.

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What we needed were guys that could beat the man in front of them, without having to blitz. Pure pass rushers. I believe we will be better equipped in that area this year.

ALA2262 said:

This says it all:

"And it should also be noted that, because Kiffin’s offense was successful and quick to score, and because of the struggles on third down, Alabama’s defense was on the field for a record 945 plays in 2014. By contrast the 2011 national championship defense was on the field for 720 plays."

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It should be noted that Bama played 13 games in 2011 vs 14 in 2014.

teamplayer said:

This is a point that I try to make with those who love Kiffy so much. Yes, his offense had some big plays and set records in the passing game. However, in many games we had several three and outs that were all incomplete passes where no time ran off the clock even though our running game was working. He often seems to pass just for the sake of passing. It seemed like it was either a quick strike score or a pass-pass-pass-punt most of the time, which wears out your defense. That doesn't seem to go along with our defensive minded toughness. It seems the game is moving toward the 60-57 type of games, though, so maybe Saban is just trying to adapt.

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You can complain about kiffin's offense all you want to, but pit nuss or Mac in the oc job we probably lose 3-4 games last year. Kiffin's one game last year that I agree he got way too cute was lsu, but the ole miss and OSU games were more due to self inflicted disasters all around, untimely injuries, and the other team just being the better team that day. Without a dominating defense you need an oc that doesn't panic, knows how to score, and know the defenses weakness. The 2013 and 2014 iron bowl are prime examples of why kiffin is needed at the time being. In 2013 AJ and cooper were unstoppable, but nuss and CNS tried the same scheme they have tried forever and panicked when auburn answered every score.Then in 2014 kiffin basically didn't panic and he rolled over auburn at their own game. It's basically like stallings finally waking up and letting homer smith unleashing barker on Georgia in 94. I'm not saying kiffin's offense is the long term solution but we really don't have a choice until Kirby finally figures out how to keep modern offenses under 24 points.

Lost identity = 1. Overrated lines. 2. Lack of a consistent second option to Cooper. 3. MIA tight ends. 4. Banged up Yeldon and injured Drake. 5. A loss of a couple steps at linebacker. 6. Veritable debacle in the secondary.

Yet we still played for a national championship. Quite the accomplishment for a team with so many soft spots. Now, will the problem be solved with better players or a return to the old way of doing things?

BamaInBham said:

It should be noted that Bama played 13 games in 2011 vs 14 in 2014.

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OK, as long as you also note that 67.5 plays per game is much greater than 55.4 plays per game.

I'm with Gray here. Some folks need to acknowledge (and some have on here) that we just didn't have what we had had. What we had was NOT bad - in fact, it would have won the national title in a year like 2010 or 2003.

Ohio State's offense put 35 points on us with a third-string QB in his second start. There is NO getting around that. The comments about our quick strike offense are on target but they also miss the bigger point. The ONE thing I'll give these guys is they were more together and didn't get down as a unit last year.

As far as the Arkansas debacle, that's one of those times I wish I DIDN'T have this memory thing.

Time will tell, but I am still not sure if CNS and Coach Smart have figured out the hurry up read option offense. I realize we have recruited quicker, faster LBs and edge rushers so we will have to see how all of this plays out. I know it is way too early to predict any outcome, but I have a gut feel the offense will not be as productive as last year's which will put more pressure on the defense.

Agreed, Gray.

GrayTide said:

Time will tell, but I am still not sure if CNS and Coach Smart have figured out the hurry up read option offense. I realize we have recruited quicker, faster LBs and edge rushers so we will have to see how all of this plays out. I know it is way too early to predict any outcome, but I have a gut feel the offense will not be as productive as last year's which will put more pressure on the defense.

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I agree with this very much. I will say that I feel like last year we did a better job of not looking totally lost making last minute substitutions on defense. The thing I'm waiting to see is how much we will actually play the fast twitch players that we have been recruiting. Up until now they have been young and some of them have been injured/suspended, but now it is time for them to step up to get the defense to where it needs to be. The Denzell Deval vs. Tim Williams/Rashaan Evans will be quite telling to me about how much Coach Saban is buying into the fast twitch model.

Read/heard recently (think around A-Day game) that CNS has basically recruited for 2 different defenses and has the players in place to run them.

We know we'll need to go big against power rushing teams like Wisconsin, Arky and LSU, but I think this year, for the first time, we'll actually see this other defense put on display.

Other than who's qb, I think this is the most anticipated aspect of the upcoming season.

GrayTide said:

Time will tell, but I am still not sure if CNS and Coach Smart have figured out the hurry up read option offense. I realize we have recruited quicker, faster LBs and edge rushers so we will have to see how all of this plays out. I know it is way too early to predict any outcome, but I have a gut feel the offense will not be as productive as last year's which will put more pressure on the defense.

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I'm with you on this. We have heard year in and year out how this will be the year where the hunh dies, but we don't stop it. I mean we basically circled the ATM game in 2013 because they beat us the year prior, but Johnny had a far better day in 13 than he did in 12. Same goes for auburn they had a better day in 14 than they did in 13. Granted we won the rematch games but they made you want to chug a bottle of Prilosec down to avoid ulcers. I believe our defense is the bigger concern on the team, and that's a bigger concern than who is qb. I believe it when I see it in regards of Kirby solving the hunh problem

One thing going forward: Ohio State appeared faster and stronger than our team. We were big and heavy on both lines. They appeared big and cut and far quicker to the punch on both sides. Linebackers and DBs the same. The gap in physicality was something I thought I'd never see under CNS, but it was clear. Wonder if we're analying not only whmo we're recruiting but how they're being physically prepared?