Alabama - Clemson CFP Semifinal Game Discussion

[LA4Bama]

OK, my 2 cents...

1. Have someone on the staff chart our tendencies in our harder games; playcalling has been too predictable. A big part of our win in the LSU rematch was that we went in a different direction.
2. As many have noted, build the passing plan around quick hitters.
3. Part of me wonders if we should have some plays with Tua at QB and Jalen at RB (can Jalen block ). You know, deep handoff to Jalen, who take a few steps forward and then throws a jump pass to a streaking TE...
4. Unleash Buggs and Davis.
5. Our two x-factors on offense are Jacobs and Jeudy--I'd like to see both of them involved early.

This keeps coming up about JH throwing "quick hitters" and people wondering why the OCs (about 3 of them now) didn't do more of that.

All three of the last OCs know more about football than any of us arm chair guys so there's a reason they are not calling these plays.

Now, us arm chair guys ought to be able to figure that out just by observation and the two reasons have got to be:

1. JH isn't quick enough in his decisions and his release on these "quick hitters."

2. JH struggles with his accuracy. A ball a foot or two behind the receivers on these kind of routes end as an incomplete pass about 90% of the time OR worse can get deflected for a tipped INT or the route can get jumped for a pick six the other way.

If it were just about Daboll calling better plays CNS would have made sure that was happening. It's just deeper than that!

I agree it's more than just deciding to call quick passes. Something I haven't seen mentioned, when the other team crowds the box or crash a safety to stop the run, they also are disruptive on short and quick passes. AU played with one deep safety most of the game. There has to be a threat the ball will go over a shallow safety or they will just be up on you all day. And you are right that inaccuracy and late passes over short middle are high risk. Teams are willing to force us to attach with the deep ball (or tackle the receiver when he's behind the safety), and we need to be able to exploit that. We cannot just stop taking what the defense gives us, and if we can't exploit that then we are going to be in trouble. We can't run 40 times against a 7-8 man front without some explosive plays to compensate.

 

[CajunCrimson]

Bama needs a revamp of the offense in this month, and that's not a crazy thing to say. The concepts and plays are already in the playbook. They just need to be emphasized over the next month. Examine what the team has done that worked against teams like MSU, LSU, and the barn, and keep some of those concepts while opening other parts of the playbook that haven't been used much. I remember seeing a toss sweep play a couple of times this season. There is a way to attack the edges. We have run from under center a few times as well. Incorporating those types of plays, that are already in the play book, with a month to prepare should be possible. Bama has done that before. Think back to the first game against LSU vs. the second game with LSU. The offense was like night and day. The difference may be taking some things out of Jalen's hands, as it relates to RPO's, instead of putting more into his hands as they did with AJ. It may be wrong to even think of it as taking it out of his hands as much as giving him a different approach to the game.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[/QUOTE]

I like this play -- let's run this one

 

[USCBAMA]

Get NC State to email their offensive game plan.

NCSU threw the ball using a pro-style passing attack. Bama simply does not bring that to the table IMO, which is unfortunate as that is clemson's weakness on D. Fortunately for clemson they did not face many teams with that capability. Syracuse really the other team who did this, and it worked well for them. I don't think Bama can go all out passing, but mix in downfield passing plays with a power running game should open up some long passes. Venables loves to gamble on D and sometimes it pays big dividends but other times it cost him.

Defensively shut down clemson running game and shut down Renfro. Too many opponents look at Renfro as their 2nd or 3rd WR, but IMO he is their top guy and needs to be the focus of Bama secondary.

 

[westide]

NCSU threw the ball using a pro-style passing attack. Bama simply does not bring that to the table IMO, which is unfortunate as that is clemson's weakness on D. Fortunately for clemson they did not fact many teams with that capability. Syracuse really the other team who did this, and it worked well for them.

Defensively shut down clemson running game and shut down Renfro. Too many opponents look at Renfro as their 2nd or 3rd WR, but IMO he is their top guy and needs to be the focus of Bama secondary.

Renfro is their clutch receiver. Man he has some great hands. I watched the Syracuse game. I was impressed with Clemson's speed on offense and their D-line. Not so much with their secondary. Syracuse's dual threat QB had a very good day. Got rid of the ball quickly and threw well rolling out. Reminds me more of Tua than Jalen. They gave up a couple of long runs to Clemson. If you want to beat Clemson, you are going to have to pass to open up the running game.

 

[tusks_n_raider]

We have a guy right now...... that if we used him properly...... would have the 3 other playoff teams DC's up all night sweating bullets!!!

His name is Damien Harris. He averages 8.2 YPC!!! That is 5th....FIFTH... F.I.F.T.H..... in the entire NCAA.

The ONLY P5 RB's name you've ever even heard of that's higher is Bryce Love from Stanford....barely... at 8.3 YPC.

He's better than Jonathan Taylor (Wisc), Ronald Jones (USC), Royce Freeman (ORE), Josh Adams (ND), Saquon Barkley(PSU) or JK Dobbins (tOSU) etc.

He's better than Kerryon Johnson (AU), Snell Jr. (UK), Nick Chubb (UGA), Sony Michel (UGA), Derrius Guice (LSU) etc.

He's better than any other runner on our ENTIRE TEAM, The SEC, or the NCAA.... other than maybe Bryce Love....and that's debatable.

He has the 3rd highest Career YPC in the HISTORY of the SEC....THIRD...EVER. He's in the Top 20 of the NCAA....EVER.

It's absolutely ridiculous that he is not the nucleus of our entire offense. We should be WRECKING teams running the ball with him backed up by Bo and Josh. PA Passing off him would create easy completions to open WR's.

But for some godforsaken reason we decide THIS year to NOT feed our Clear #1 RB and operate like the dang N.O. Saints who rotate backs with no rhyme or reason instead??

AU had NO answer for him....NONE. We would have beat them by multiple TD's and be undefeated right now if we were committed to running him.

He should by all rights be getting ready to go to NY right now to collect some Trophies like Mark or Derrick.

Watch this Highlights video embedded below. His Vision is ELITE, his Cutback ability is ELITE, he runs with Power and Speed (somehow he even got FASTER in the off-season). He makes the 2nd level of defenses look like absolute clown show circuses. When he finds any crease/lane he just explodes through it like a bat out of hell with incredible balance and body control!!!

WHY have we not let him be the MAN this year???? HE is the guy that can be the catalyst to us winning #17!!
#FREE-DAMIEN-HARRIS!!!

 

[teamplayer]

Renfro is their clutch receiver. Man he has some great hands. I watched the Syracuse game. I was impressed with Clemson's speed on offense and their D-line. Not so much with their secondary. Syracuse's dual threat QB had a very good day. Got rid of the ball quickly and threw well rolling out. Reminds me more of Tua than Jalen. They gave up a couple of long runs to Clemson. If you want to beat Clemson, you are going to have to pass to open up the running game.

Yes, many said Watson was the MVP of the championship game last year, but until they stopped looking for the big plays and found Renfroe with a lot of quick throws, we had them stopped. He also made a TD saving tackle when we recovered the fumble. The dude is a football player. Of course, Watson was no slouch either. That dude was a stud football player, too. Offensively, we need to be sure to add some things we haven't done and be unpredictable because many times in last year's game it seemed Clemson was in our huddle with us. Our defensive line needs to be able to get some pressure without having to blitz, but we haven't had much luck with that this year. Hopefully, our returning players will help with that since those guys are often edge rushers on passing downs.

 

[LSUgrad2BamaDad]

He has the 3rd highest Career YPC in the HISTORY of the SEC....THIRD...EVER. He's in the Top 20 of the NCAA....EVER.
But for some godforsaken reason we decide THIS year to NOT feed our Clear #1 RB and operate like the dang N.O. Saints who rotate backs with no rhyme or reason instead??

Wow, those are impressive facts regarding his career YPC.

as for the Saints, Payton has made some strange decisions in the past with his RBs, but this year he seems to have found the right rotation. Ingram and Kamara compliment each other perfectly.

 

[tusks_n_raider]

Wow, those are impressive facts regarding his career YPC.

as for the Saints, Payton has made some strange decisions in the past with his RBs, but this year he seems to have found the right rotation. Ingram and Kamara compliment each other perfectly.

Too little too late for me. They have grossly misused and underappreciated Mark his entire career until right now.

He could have had a HOF career if he was on a team that fed him like a true starting RB. He gets better and better as the game goes on and he gets in a rhythm. His whole career as soon as he rips off big runs they yank him out like idiots so the Drew Brees show can go on.

I HATE the Saints more than any team in any level or league of football. More than Tennessee and Auburn combined. Every week I hope Mark runs for 200 yards and 3 TD's and Brees throws 5 Pick 6's and the Saints lose.

 

[rgw]

I like Ingram and Brees. So I have no problem with whats going on down there this year.

 

[VirginiaTide57]

I'm pessimistic. Unless we get more players on defense and better coaching on offense, Bama is in a precarious position.

 

[deliveryman35]

We ran up big numbers on O this year against a generally very weak sec field and I think masked real deficiencies that were manifested as soon as big boy football season started in November. More of the same will simply not work against either Clemson or OU. As banged up as we are on D I really feel like our Achilles heal is our O and having a balanced attack. We rely way too much on Calvin and Jalen and under-utilize Damien, and we are way too predictable in play-calling. Unless we open things up, make wholesale changes, and incorporate more receivers in our passing attack I really don’t see a path to a successful championship run. Am I saying we have no chance? Of course not, but barring major changes in scheme AND execution it will be a short-lived post season.

 

[MobileBama84]

We have a guy right now...... that if we used him properly...... would have the 3 other playoff teams DC's up all night sweating bullets!!!

His name is Damien Harris. He averages 8.2 YPC!!! That is 5th....FIFTH... F.I.F.T.H..... in the entire NCAA.

The ONLY P5 RB's name you've ever even heard of that's higher is Bryce Love from Stanford....barely... at 8.3 YPC.

He's better than Jonathan Taylor (Wisc), Ronald Jones (USC), Royce Freeman (ORE), Josh Adams (ND), Saquon Barkley(PSU) or JK Dobbins (tOSU) etc.

He's better than Kerryon Johnson (AU), Snell Jr. (UK), Nick Chubb (UGA), Sony Michel (UGA), Derrius Guice (LSU) etc.

He's better than any other runner on our ENTIRE TEAM, The SEC, or the NCAA.... other than maybe Bryce Love....and that's debatable.

He has the 3rd highest Career YPC in the HISTORY of the SEC....THIRD...EVER. He's in the Top 20 of the NCAA....EVER.

It's absolutely ridiculous that he is not the nucleus of our entire offense. We should be WRECKING teams running the ball with him backed up by Bo and Josh. PA Passing off him would create easy completions to open WR's.

But for some godforsaken reason we decide THIS year to NOT feed our Clear #1 RB and operate like the dang N.O. Saints who rotate backs with no rhyme or reason instead??

AU had NO answer for him....NONE. We would have beat them by multiple TD's and be undefeated right now if we were committed to running him.

He should by all rights be getting ready to go to NY right now to collect some Trophies like Mark or Derrick.

Watch this Highlights video embedded below. His Vision is ELITE, his Cutback ability is ELITE, he runs with Power and Speed (somehow he even got FASTER in the off-season). He makes the 2nd level of defenses look like absolute clown show circuses. When he finds any crease/lane he just explodes through it like a bat out of hell with incredible balance and body control!!!

WHY have we not let him be the MAN this year???? HE is the guy that can be the catalyst to us winning #17!!
#FREE-DAMIEN-HARRIS!!!

OMG those highlights sent chills through my body. I LOVE Damien! We HAVE to feed him the ball 3 times as much as he has been getting. There is no reason for us to stop feeding it to him. It has become ridiculous how we are managing him at RB. Can we please stop running Jalen all the time and hand the dang ball off more to our most productive “true”running back on the team!? I want Bama to gash Clemson’s defense with our RB’s and not have Jalen “decide” to keep it himself so much! I don’t like it!

 

[deliveryman35]

I'm PESSIMISTIC. Unless we get more players on defense and better coaching on offense, Bama is in a precarious position.

You know saying that automatically makes you an eeyore, right?😉

 

[KrAzY3]

I posted stats before in another thread which basically showed that Alabama has the most success when their quarterback play is limited and their running backs are elite. My contention now is not the whole we need deep passes that do this or that, and instead that Alabama focus on sustaining long drives that wear the other team out and drain the clock. So basically how Miss. State almost beat Alabama. They were nowhere near as good as Alabama, but they nearly won just by keeping Alabama off the field. That was the best coaching job done against Alabama, even better than Auburn's brilliant assault Ridley every time he's open plan.

The problem is Alabama just can't ask too much of their quarterback, and I'd contend it doesn't matter who is back there, they shouldn't ask too much or allow him to do too much. People have mentioned the Saints and Drew Brees, well he makes mistakes to, and I've seen him cause the Saints to lose games. You put the game in the hands of your quarterback and he can lose it, that's all there is to it. There's no need to try get too fancy though, just focus on getting first downs. You never really need more than 10 yards per play, (except for rare occasions). 30 yards are nice, but what does more to pay dividends later in the game? Going down the field on a nice 10+ play drive that drains the clock and wears down the other team, or scoring on 3 plays and giving the other team the ball right back? Scoring fast is a good way to get in a shootout, and I'm not sure Alabama beats a Clemson or Oklahoma in a shootout.

On defense, I think as long as they protect them by keeping them off the field, this should be the best defense we've seen all year. They didn't make it through the FSU game without major injuries, and they've been limping along every since. The combination of guys getting healthy and younger guys having more experience should make this a pretty effective group.

 

[WildTusk]

I went back and looked at Clemson's games stats this year and NC State seemed to had the most success by far.

Here is what one Clemson fan had to say about NC State's strategy:

"Go back an watch the videos. NC State's offensive line did something no one else has done all year. Look at the gaps between the linemen. They were very tight and then when snapped they came up like a wall. There were no gaps to split for our front. Teams with wide gaps between their lineman, get eat up by our front. When playing that soft zone, we did't have the people to bring from the edge. About the only thing I can say nice about NC State after their players, fans and coaches antics."

 

[BamaInBham]

I posted stats before in another thread which basically showed that Alabama has the most success when their quarterback play is limited and their running backs are elite. My contention now is not the whole we need deep passes that do this or that, and instead that Alabama focus on sustaining long drives that wear the other team out and drain the clock. So basically how Miss. State almost beat Alabama. They were nowhere near as good as Alabama, but they nearly won just by keeping Alabama off the field. That was the best coaching job done against Alabama, even better than Auburn's brilliant assault Ridley every time he's open plan.

The problem is Alabama just can't ask too much of their quarterback, and I'd contend it doesn't matter who is back there, they shouldn't ask too much or allow him to do too much. People have mentioned the Saints and Drew Brees, well he makes mistakes to, and I've seen him cause the Saints to lose games. You put the game in the hands of your quarterback and he can lose it, that's all there is to it. There's no need to try get too fancy though, just focus on getting first downs. You never really need more than 10 yards per play, (except for rare occasions). 30 yards are nice, but what does more to pay dividends later in the game? Going down the field on a nice 10+ play drive that drains the clock and wears down the other team, or scoring on 3 plays and giving the other team the ball right back? Scoring fast is a good way to get in a shootout, and I'm not sure Alabama beats a Clemson or Oklahoma in a shootout.

On defense, I think as long as they protect them by keeping them off the field, this should be the best defense we've seen all year. They didn't make it through the FSU game without major injuries, and they've been limping along every since. The combination of guys getting healthy and younger guys having more experience should make this a pretty effective group.

I agree with what I think is the essence of your post which is that long sustained drives is Bama's best MO. The reason that most want to be able to threaten the mid and long range passing areas is not to score quickly, but to get 7 and 8 men out of the box so that Bama can run the ball more effectively. The problem against most defenses with a pulse is that they stack the box because there is no perceived threat of a passing game, or at least they conclude that it's not worth committing resources to stop it, thus Bama cannot run the ball consistently. No matter how good your OL or RBs are, they cannot consistently overcome 7-9 men in the box.

Bama's OL is much better than they get credit for, both in run blocking and pass pro. In the running game they are hampered by loaded boxes, in the passing game they are hampered by a QB who bails far too quickly and by either the OL and/or the QB not being able to read blitzes properly. I.e., the OL doesn't adjust their protections and/or the QB doesn't identify blitzers or hit his hot receivers. So, the OL is sometimes overwhelmed by numbers and/or ineffective QB play.

 

[KrAzY3]

The reason that most want to be able to threaten the mid and long range passing areas is not to score quickly, but to get 7 and 8 men out of the box so that Bama can run the ball more effectively.

Don't get me wrong, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I do agree with trying to have balance. But it felt like this year, the passing game was built more on just trying to hit the deep man, than trying to sustain drives. Hurts was 10th in the SEC in yards per attempt, which is great and all but Alabama paid for bigger plays with a lack of consistency.

I think context also matters. You do have to take some shots, just to keep the defense honest, but they need to come at the right points in time. I'd argue the best time to do it is as you near midfield, where you have already secured decent field position, and a bad result (like a sack) won't take you out of field goal position. But yeah, you have to pass some, but it shouldn't be how Alabama plans on scoring.

 

[WishIwasInBama]

I am in no way a coach and don't know anymore than I can see from TV but in my opinion Alabama is caught between 2 philosophies that do not mesh with thier coaching techniques. I may be way off base and my next offensive line meeting will be my first but I read an article awhile back about how the up-tempo style of offensive schemes are not only killing QB developments but also killing how offensive linemen develop as well. I think we are still recruiting/developing more of the pro-style athlete and they can't just adapt their techniques on the fly, depending on what played is called.

I think that since Blake Sims took over, Kiffin needed to adjust due to how much Sims bounced around different positions and his development was not where it would have been had he been in QB meetings/practice groups his whole tenure on the team. He called games like Gus does and played fast and it didn't require a lot of reading the D. Then Sims (and Kiffin) went and lit the offensive record books on fire and thus Bama has been trying a hybrid Pro/Up Tempo/RPO offense ever since.

I am all on board but I still feel that culturally, and they way we are set-up (RB's/TE's/O-Line) we are a pro-set team at our core and the other stuff is clashing with that. I may just be a purist and love old school football but I think we need pick a style and ride or die with it

 

[deliveryman35]

I am in no way a coach and don't know anymore than I can see from TV but in my opinion Alabama is caught between 2 philosophies that do not mesh with thier coaching techniques. I may be way off base and my next offensive line meeting will be my first but I read an article awhile back about how the up-tempo style of offensive schemes are not only killing QB developments but also killing how offensive linemen develop as well. I think we are still recruiting/developing more of the pro-style athlete and they can't just adapt their techniques on the fly, depending on what played is called.

I think that since Blake Sims took over, Kiffin needed to adjust due to how much Sims bounced around different positions and his development was not where it would have been had he been in QB meetings/practice groups his whole tenure on the team. He called games like Gus does and played fast and it didn't require a lot of reading the D. Then Sims (and Kiffin) went and lit the offensive record books on fire and thus Bama has been trying a hybrid Pro/Up Tempo/RPO offense ever since.

I am all on board but I still feel that culturally, and they way we are set-up (RB's/TE's/O-Line) we are a pro-set team at our core and the other stuff is clashing with that. I may just be a purist and love old school football but I think we need pick a style and ride or die with it

I agree with this. We need to settle on the right identity. Right now I don’t feel like we have one on O. I feel like we let the game dictate too much what we do instead of imposing our will on other teams and setting the tone, like we used to do with Sims and Coker.

 

[Ole Man Dan]

We need a much better performance than our last game on defense. This isn't the same Clemson team from the last two seasons. They're not as good in the throw game, so stopping the run is critical. Should be a fun game.

We should be on their QB the whole game. Chase him and what passing game they possess will diminish. Watch the end arounds and make their RBs go up the middle.

We know Clemson will stack the box on us. Short passes and lots of Running plays will control the game, the time clock, and give us a rested Defense. We can't ignore our running game, they need to be featured.
(I don't care what they do in the NFL)
We need to get better at 3rd down production. I don't care if it's Jalen or one of our stable of Running Backs. Pound the rock, until they expect it then hurt them with some passes.