JessN: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as well

JessN · Oct 23, 2016

Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as well

Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as well
by Jess Nicholas
TideFans Editor-In-Chief
October 23rd, 2016 03:45 AM

By Jess Nicholas TideFans.com Editor-In-Chief Oct. 23, 2016 Before any in-depth analysis takes place, it should be noted that Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin deserves a heap of praise for evaluating the condition of the Aggie program last year and fixing the core problem: Himself. Sumlin had fallen in love with the high-flying, all-passing-all-the-time […]

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CrimsonEyeshade · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

Well done.

Speaking of questionable game plans ... why is it that in so many big games, Lane Kiffin seems to be auditioning for his next job? All those ridiculous red zone plays we ran on first down cost us at least two touchdowns and maybe more, particularly with our passing game at its ebb and Harris and Jacobs 5 yards downfield before they were touched.

Results trump aesthetic. Run the ball.

GrayTide · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

Thanks Jess, excellent game summary. I don't believe it will come down to a FG against either LSU or auburn, but if it does, we may be in trouble.

B1GTide · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

This is a horrible post-game analysis, IMO. This is written as if aTm blew this game instead of Alabama dominating it. Really starting to wonder what you are thinking. As for the "Alabama is not built to come from behind" bit - you need to go back and watch the Ole Miss game again.

SMH

JDCrimson · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

B1GTide said:
This is a horrible post-game analysis, IMO. This is written as if aTm blew this game instead of Alabama dominating it. Really starting to wonder what you are thinking. As for the "Alabama is not built to come from behind" bit - you need to go back and watch the Ole Miss game again.

SMH

That OM comeback was aided by 3 non-offense TDs. I agree with Jess if we fall behind to solid ball control offense with a good defense we are going to struggle. Jalen hasn't solved the riddle on downfalls passing. He wants to see what he is throwing to meaning he is throwing at the receiver and that is making him a count late in getting throw off. He can't pass well enough yet to be down 2 scores with 6 minutes to play and us likely coming back.

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Toddrn · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

I know that TB hasn't played that much but should he not be up to speed due to how long he has been here and he was able to practice while suspended? Any input from those in the know would be great.

CrimSonami · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

As for me I agree with the aTm game plan, uh, lacking. Simply do not understand why Sumlin and Mazzone didn't take more shots down field. That's THE ONLY chance they had to pull this game out. I realize Jonathon Allen proving he could fly like Kenyan Drake may have stricken a bit of fear into the aTm heart but................:conf3:

As far as Bama not built to come from behind. Don't necessarily agree. Not preferable but capable.

CajunCrimson · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

B1GTide said:
This is a horrible post-game analysis, IMO. This is written as if aTm blew this game instead of Alabama dominating it. Really starting to wonder what you are thinking. As for the "Alabama is not built to come from behind" bit - you need to go back and watch the Ole Miss game again.

SMH

The good news....no dominant QBs left on schedule. And not likely until we get to the playoffs...so there is time to develop

QBs like LSUs Ettling don't be Bama

B1GTide · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

JDCrimson said:
That OM comeback was aided by 3 non-offense TDs. I agree with Jess if we fall behind to solid ball control offense with a good defense we are going to struggle. Jalen hasn't solved the riddle on downfalls passing. He wants to see what he is throwing to meaning he is throwing at the receiver and that is making him a count late in getting throw off. He can't pass well enough yet to be down 2 scores with 6 minutes to play and us likely coming back.

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After falling behind, you outscored them 42-6 before relaxing. NOTs or no NOTs, your offense dominated play when it needed to in that game. Dominated.

RJ YellowHammer · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

B1GTide said:
This is a horrible post-game analysis, IMO. This is written as if aTm blew this game instead of Alabama dominating it. Really starting to wonder what you are thinking. As for the "Alabama is not built to come from behind" bit - you need to go back and watch the Ole Miss game again.

SMH

The Ole Miss game is a bad barometer. It's nice to be have punt return TD's and defensive scores, but that isn't happening every game. If we have to depend on a true freshmen QB to stand and read multiple downfield progressions we're in trouble. That isn't a knock on Jalen Hurts or Kiffen either. I expect #2 to develop those skills. It's just a work in progress.

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B1GTide · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

RJ YellowHammer said:
The Ole Miss game is a bad barometer. It's nice to be have punt return TD's and defensive scores, but that isn't happening every game. If we have to depend on a true freshmen QB to stand and read multiple downfield progressions we're in trouble. That isn't a knock on Jalen Hurts or Kiffen either. I expect #2 to develop those skills. It's just a work in progress.

At the time that you played Ole Miss, they were full of vim and vigor. They really believed that they were going to beat you. Their coach puts all of their energy and preparation into the Alabama game. It is the perfect barometer. You fell behind by 21 points and then you took the game over, offensively and defensively. Your QB never gets rattled. He never presses. He just goes out there and plays one play at a time. That is exactly what you need if you fall behind.

Hurts has a single weakness in his game - the long pass. IMO, Kiffin needs to stop calling those plays in meaningful games. But he has really improved his timing on short and intermediate routes. He is, right now, a very good QB. And your offense is among the best in the country. Add the ability of your defense to make huge plays and I assert that if Alabama is not built to come from behind, no team in the country is.

92tide · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

RJ YellowHammer said:
The Ole Miss game is a bad barometer. It's nice to be have punt return TD's and defensive scores, but that isn't happening every game. If we have to depend on a true freshmen QB to stand and read multiple downfield progressions we're in trouble. That isn't a knock on Jalen Hurts or Kiffen either. I expect #2 to develop those skills. It's just a work in progress.

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it is actually happening every game.

JBama_in_PCOLA · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

JDCrimson said:
That OM comeback was aided by 3 non-offense TDs. I agree with Jess if we fall behind to solid ball control offense with a good defense we are going to struggle. Jalen hasn't solved the riddle on downfalls passing. He wants to see what he is throwing to meaning he is throwing at the receiver and that is making him a count late in getting throw off. He can't pass well enough yet to be down 2 scores with 6 minutes to play and us likely coming back.

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Though it was aided it by it, the offense was still humming along. After going down 24-3 Bama went right down the field and scored. Still, passing game needs to get cranked up!

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JBama_in_PCOLA · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

B1GTide said:
At the time that you played Ole Miss, they were full of vim and vigor. They really believed that they were going to beat you. Their coach puts all of their energy and preparation into the Alabama game. It is the perfect barometer. You fell behind by 21 points and then you took the game over, offensively and defensively. Your QB never gets rattled. He never presses. He just goes out there and plays one play at a time. That is exactly what you need if you fall behind.

Hurts has a single weakness in his game - the long pass. IMO, Kiffin needs to stop calling those plays in meaningful games. But he has really improved his timing on short and intermediate routes. He is, right now, a very good QB. And your offense is among the best in the country. Add the ability of your defense to make huge plays and I assert that if Alabama is not built to come from behind, no team in the country is.

Short to medium passes would do it, especially after a made first down.

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B1GTide · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

JBama_in_PCOLA said:
Short to medium passes would do it, especially after a made first down.

I agree, and with your receivers every pass completed has a chance to be so much more.

dvldog · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

JBama_in_PCOLA said:
Short to medium passes would do it, especially after a made first down.

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This. Off of PA/short sets.

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JBama_in_PCOLA · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

dvldog said:
This. Off of PA/short sets.

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B1GTide said:
I agree, and with your receivers every pass completed has a chance to be so much more.

It would give him confidence. We've seen him zip the ball to receivers. He has the arm for it.

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JessN · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

CrimsonEyeshade said:
Well done.

Speaking of questionable game plans ... why is it that in so many big games, Lane Kiffin seems to be auditioning for his next job? All those ridiculous red zone plays we ran on first down cost us at least two touchdowns and maybe more, particularly with our passing game at its ebb and Harris and Jacobs 5 yards downfield before they were touched.

Results trump aesthetic. Run the ball.

I'm not going to complain about the ZRO plays in the red zone but I will say the playcalling on both of Alabama's first two drives down there was terrible, because it got away from what got UA to that point on the field.

To be fair, in both cases Alabama had 1st-and-goal from the 10, which is the worst-case scenario because you can't get the first down without crossing the goal line, so there's that. But Alabama had ZROed all the way to the red zone and then did this:

* 1st possession: Hurts, loss of 1; incomplete pass, Hurts loss of 4. The last one was technically a sack (rollout attempt that went nowhere) and I believe the first loss was a pass situation as well.
* 2nd possession: incomplete pass, Hurts for 0 yards (scramble?), incomplete pass.

I'm not going to be "run da bawl" guy but I will say the general weakness of spread offenses -- and this is consistent across all teams for the last 10-20 years -- is red zone offense because the safeties stay within 10-20 yards of the LOS. There is no way to trick them to go deep, since there is no "deep" left in the field at that point. As such, I'm a much bigger fan of red zone sets built around the Ace or even I-formation to create mismatches through play-action. If you're going to stick with something option-based down there it seems to work best as an RPO with the QB offering the threat of a middle run.

The short TD pass to Ridley is an example of how to do it right; faking a dive followed by drawing the LB/S in to protect against the QB going off tackle. Sort of a double play-action with the play set up to a receiver + edge blocking.

JessN · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

B1GTide said:
This is a horrible post-game analysis, IMO. This is written as if aTm blew this game instead of Alabama dominating it. Really starting to wonder what you are thinking. As for the "Alabama is not built to come from behind" bit - you need to go back and watch the Ole Miss game again.

SMH

All I can say is I'm sorry the points made, particularly those in the breakdown, were lost in the translation. There's no point in going over again what I've already written so the article stands as written. If you didn't agree with them before, you're not going to agree with them now.

But I will address the issue of coming from behind: Despite Alabama running up a historic string of NOTs, you cannot gameplan in any way to get those from week to week. They are all happy accidents. Alabama's superior ability certainly makes the likelihood of creating a crucial turnover much more possible, but Saban is not walking into a coaches' meeting mid-week and saying, "Hey guys, while you're scripting the first 20 plays or so, script in a sack-strip for a TD."

Ergo, any NOT is just gravy on the biscuit. I'm focused on the offensive system right now and here's what Alabama is dealing with at the moment:

* True freshman QB, who while very impressive, does not yet possess a superior understanding of the game versus the veteran defenses he faces. No TF QB does.

* WR corps that aside from two guys at the top plus the TE, has not lived up to expectations (except for run-blocking, where the whole group is excelling). Meaning, Ridley and Stewart (especially Stewart) have been just fine, as has Howard, but Dieter has not made quite the impact it was hoped he'd make. Sims has been basically benched. Foster has yet to start making plays. Diggs has probably come the farthest since the season started but still isn't getting a ton of snaps, and I don't know whether he'll be shifted back to S now that Eddie Jackson is hurt. Hentges has been targeted maybe once since Ole Miss. Here is the definition of disparity (remember, Alabama has four starters, 3 WR + 1 TE): SE/FL/TE starters -- 93 receptions, 13.1 avg., 10 TD; slot WR starter + all reserves -- 34 receptions, 12.1 avg., 1 TD. That second group includes 8 people, which means the slot starter (Dieter) plus the rotational players are averaging 4.3 catches each for the year. Not per game, the whole year. Obviously you're not going to have equal production from the top to the bottom of the depth chart but if I wanted to spend the time breaking down production on a per-snap basis I don't think it's going to look pretty.

* Midrange/long-range passing is a QB issue right now not only because of issues of understanding, but also arm/footwork mechanics, experience in the system and timing. I'm not going to say "arm strength" because Hurts has plenty of it. For anyone who still believed that arm strength was a problem, the Hail Mary attempt at the end of the first half should put it to rest.

For the issues that concern Hurts alone, time will fix most. I'm not worried about him in the long-term. I am worried about UA 2016 down two scores with less than 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Alabama has been incredibly efficient -- and fast -- when its whole offense can be put in play. The use of the ZRO as part of the offense has allowed for chunk plays from the RBs, set up by some measure of deception. If Alabama found itself, say, down 10 at LSU at 8:00 Q4, I'm not sure you would see Kiffin stick to that approach, especially since you'd figure the reason you were down 10 at that moment anyway had more to do with offensive breakdowns than defensive breakdowns. You have to ask yourself at that point whether you believed this QB and this WR group could function without the ZRO or threat of play-action. I would say any answer in the affirmative is based on faith and not prior evidence (from this season, at least). The couple of times Alabama has bogged down around the 40 near the end of the first half with the two-minute offense in play has to do with the offense being placed solely on the arm of the QB and not also on his legs.

B1GTide · Oct 23, 2016

Re: Texas A&M recap: Questionable game plan helps sink Aggies, but Bama loses big as

Jess - if you read your post game analysis, it sounds like you feel that Alabama is lucky to have won the game and will be lucky to win out. Frankly, neither is true. You are substantially better than any team that you will face, and that includes in the playoffs. It is like your glass is 90% full and all you want to talk about is the 10% that is empty. Sure, you could be better, but every team in the country has weaknesses that can be exploited. No team has fewer weaknesses than Alabama. No team has a coaching staff better able to take advantage of the weaknesses in other teams.

Now, if you are trying to channel your inner Bryant or Saban, I get it. Otherwise, relax. This is a GREAT team.

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