Kiffin had about 2-3 series where I thought he called some bad first down plays that really played into their defensive strength on 2nd and 3rd and long. Chavis started run blitzing aggressively midway through the 2nd quarter and Kiffin was entirely correct in deciding to go to the pass. I don't think our passing plan was very good this weekend. I think TAMU playing hat on hat and close across the board discouraged some of the bubble and tunnel plays. I believe they were concerned about Garrett and Hall fanning out on sweep actions for negative yardage plays or strips. Those two things took away some of the low risk but effective horizontal stretch plays we've used most of this season with Hurts.
We just didn't have a good counter that was something safe with a true freshman QB. Hurts has been great for us but he's gonna have to develop some confidence throwing over the middle. Quick slants and square ins would have been my choices for passing against their looks but the staff hasn't really trusted Hurts with those throws too often.
I always appreciate your analysis. I agree. The relatively few times Hurts has thrown downfield and over the middle this season have produced some eyebrow raising results and I can see why the staff is uncomfortable with the risk. However, I have to confess sometimes I get frustrated with Saban seeming to be so risk averse, so conservative in decision making (why are we seemingly always so cautious going into halftime?). I get it strategically, but I wonder if sometimes that doesn't rub off on the players in a counter productive way. You can't play well if the little voice in your own head is whispering, Don't make a mistake.
Jalen looked extremely comfortable running the ball, but as much success as he's had running, I have to wonder if it is affecting his presence and feel and decision making in the pocket; in the back of his mind he may already be thinking, If I don't see exactly what I want pull the ball and run. Because we usually can't see the secondary on the TV it's hard to know what he was seeing, but he hesitated to pull the trigger a lot today, looked at a loss at times, and pulled the ball quite a bit. It worked out well for some nice scrambles, but there were some bad plays in there, too. He seems very cerebral. I'd love to see him pass with the same instinctual ease with which he runs.