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Kirby Smart vs the Spread

selmaborntidefan

selmaborntidefan

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crimsonaudio said:
I've not gone back to look at the specific game numbers (yet, not sure I will), but I do recall the defenses under Kirby struggling against good spread-options teams. So far, based on his time here and at UGA and FSU, Pruitt seems to be better at shutting those defenses down. No one is perfect, they each have strengths and weaknesses, and there's zero question CKS is a fantastic defensive mind. I just think that Pruitt is better suited to face these modern option offenses - he seems to keep them on their heals more.
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I literally cannot disagree with anything you said here.

(One of the problems in evaluating the very argument comes down to 'what is the definition of the spread offense' because there are different types of spread attacks. Now - maybe I'm wrong as I'm no Xs and Os genius, but how much has the base offense Malzahn is running actually changed over the years? Because if it hasn't changed much then it's difficult to say Smart ever had much trouble with AUBURN'S particular version save perhaps 2014. Not that we didn't lose some games but the hits far outweigh the misses).

There is much that can be said - credibly critical - of Smart's performance on Saturday and leading up to it. On the flip side, Smart is a second-year head coach in his first job as a head coach and hasn't fully gotten ALL of his parts in place yet via recruiting, either. Georgia made some unforced errors and undisciplined errors as well. Smart's overall essence as a coach can be evaluated in the coming years as to how he responds to what happened Saturday. Let's not forget, folks, while it hasn't happened here at Alabama, Nick Saban has been on the receiving end of his share of blowouts, too, during his earlier years as a head coach. His responses to those defeats has been to treat them as learning experiences and make changes as need be.
 
Go Bama

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Lol, I thought from the title this was about Georgia vs. the betting line therefore I didn’t bother to open the thread.

Good discussion ... carry on.
 
B1GTide

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Tidetwin said:
After both the LSU and MSU games, CNS commented that we couldn't get off the field on third down.
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You had a problems in the first half against LSU, but you dominated them on 3rd down (and every other down) in the second half.
 
R

RT27

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Go Bama said:
Lol, I thought from the title this was about Georgia vs. the betting line therefore I didn’t bother to open the thread.

Good discussion ... carry on.
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I thought the same when first reading title of thread, I knew he did not cover the spread in aub game LOL
 
bamamc1

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Pruitt came up through the high school ranks at Hoover when all the rage was the spread. He saw it everyday at practice and most Friday nights. His plan against AU in the BCS game really impressed me. This was new territory for Coach Saban and Kirby and it showed. Lots of confusion on getting personnel groupings on and off the field and the fact that you could have lineman 8 yards down the field blocking on pass play drove everyone crazy. Rule changes concerning RPO's as well as the ability to sub when the offense did has helped as well.

I have a really close friend who is a D-coordinator in high school and he said they played a team in the first round last week that ran out of the I-formation and actually used tight ends and it was stuff his kids had never seen in their life lol.
 
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lowend

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I think it would be better to say that Kirby had a hard time stopping one-a-generation quarterbacks (Tebow, Manziel) or quarterbacks who were having the games of their career against us (the OSU trifecta, Garcia, etc).
 
bamamc1

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lowend said:
I think it would be better to say that Kirby had a hard time stopping one-a-generation quarterbacks (Tebow, Manziel) or quarterbacks who were having the games of their career against us (the OSU trifecta, Garcia, etc).
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You're exactly right. It usually takes one heck of a performance by a very athletic QB to beat us.
 
TomFromBama

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snake plissken said:
LSU is a spread team now?
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Jet sweep & play-action-pass based offense with lots of motion and "Eye Candy" designed to confuse the defense. Whether its technically "spread" or not, its a style that has (at times) caused us trouble in years past.

And just FWIW, there are "spread" offenses that are not "RPO" based (at least in the sense of a running QB). "Spread" is not synonymous with "air raid" OR "Scrambling QB/RPO". I think we tend to confuse the terms - "for instance" Mike Leach has run "spread" concepts since he was an OC almost 2 decades ago, and he's seldom used "RPO"s extensively.
 
PA Tide Fan

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It could be argued that for a time Alabama didn't really have the type of personnel that could deal with spread offenses very well. Coach Saban had the defense built with a lot of really big guys who could deal with the smashmouth football teams like LSU. These players were somewhat slower and couldn't keep up with the spreads. I don't think it was all Kirby's fault. Eventually Coach Saban realized that he needed somewhat smaller but quicker players to deal with the spread so he started recruiting a bit different. This is only Kirby's second season at UGA so maybe he hasn't really had enough time to get the type of players that may be needed to deal with the spread. We'll know in a couple more seasons whether or not Kirby can adjust.
 
RTR91

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Seems to me Kirby still reverts to his old tendency to sub players even when the offense doesn't and change the play at the last minute, which leads to some confusion.
 
ontopp

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snake plissken said:
Kirby Smart's defense was never that strong against the spread while at Bama. I believe that is the reason AU was able to expose Georgia on Saturday. With Pruitt calling the plays in 2 weeks, Bama should be a lot stronger shutting down their offense.
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I agree from the past Kirby wasn't as good.But Pruitt seem to better when he was at Ga and Fla st. Hope this holds true. Agree. But the our defense is suffering from injuries. The Ga game I just thought the offensive line sucked more than defense the young Qb had a lot of pressure. First time I have saw Ga play this year though.
 
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