Complete scheme & tactical breakdown for Alabama vs. Ohio State

For fans of dynamic coaching, schemes and tactics it doesn’t get much better than a College Football Playoff game pitting Ohio State University versus the University of Alabama.

The thought of OSU coach Urban Meyer, perhaps college football’s preeminent offensive mind, matching wits with Tide coach Nick Saban — who’s without a doubt the best defensive mind in all of football — is enough to bring this grown writer to his knees. (Man that felt weird to type.)

I’ve stated many times that I’m an unabashed supporter of all things Saban — dating back to his time under Bill Belichick with the Cleveland Browns — but this is one of the rare times he will look across the sideline and see a coach who is every bit his equal in Meyer.

Meyer’s work with the Florida Gators (2005-10), which spawned two BCS National Championships, was some of the best in modern history. He recruited at an abnormal clip; he developed said players.

He’s never had a losing record as a head coach, which includes previous stops at Bowling Green and the University of Utah; thus far his time at Ohio State has been nothing short of incredible: 12-0, 12-2, 12-1, respectively.

Saban, who has been Alabama’s coach since 2008, already has four national titles to his credit (three with Bama) and has put players in the NFL at a record clip, as well.

The pair only had a few battles when they were both coaching in SEC, in which Alabama won two,  and those battles read like a who’s who as far as personnel goes.

And while many believe OSU doesn’t quite have the talent to compete with Bama, as they feel the Big 10 Conference puts out an inferior product, Meyer has the scheme, personnel and big-game coaching ability to make those people eat their words.

This should be an interesting one, folks.

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No matter how you feel about Meyer, or the Big 10, you have to admit this is one of the best coaching jobs ever.

To lose your starting quarterback to injury a couple of weeks before the start of the season, who also happened to be the reigning conference player of the year (Braxton Miller), and develop a freshman (J.T. Barrett) to near Heisman status says all you need to know about Meyer and now former offensive coordinator Tom Herman (now head coach of the University of Houston).

Losing Barrett for the season right before the Big 10 Championship Game and having sophomore Cardale Jones step up and lead the team to a 59-0 stomping of the University of Wisconsin — en route to a game MVP award — only further cements what’s going on in Columbus.

And don’t gloss over that blanking of a game Wisconsin squad; the Buckeyes play a physical brand of defensive ball as Meyer’s squads are perennially known for.

Offensive Breakdown

There’s no secret that Meyer is one of the modern day pioneers of the spread-based offensive attack. All of his QBs are going to be of the play-making variety — dating back to Josh Harris (Bowling Green), Alex Smith (Utah) and Tim Tebow (Florida) — and will threaten defenses in a myriad of ways.

He’s the master at lessening the box only to attack between the tackles. He’ll also bend the edges when it looks as though a between-the-tackles run is coming. And when OSU really has it cranked up in the run game, you can expect some serious vertical-passing elements off of play action.

The Meyer scheme is based on tendency breakers; when you believe you have a beat on what he’s doing, expect something totally different to happen.

Just look at how the offense toys with an unblocked defender on the open side of the formation; he was trap-blocked here.

That same unblocked defender was frozen here as he was weary of the trap-block, which in turn left enough space for Jones to hitch and complete the 3-route.

In Jones, Meyer has a rocket-arm behemoth who is capable of navigating the between-the-tackles or edge-threatening option game. The 6’5″, 250-pound signal-caller is not quite the athlete of Barrett or Miller, but he’s a good enough athlete to execute exactly what the scheme calls for.

Obviously, you want to get Jones moving laterally as he just doesn’t have the prerequisite quickness to outrun a stud-athlete like Tide inside linebacker Reggie Ragland or the other edge-defenders who will be deployed in this tilt. Buckeye running back Ezekiel Elliott, 6’0″, 225-pounds, is a perfect blend of physicality and finesse.

Thus far, Elliott has generated a hefty 1,402 yards with 12 touchdowns on just 217 attempts, while backup Curtis Samuel has chipped in with 376 yards of his own (56 attempts).

As good as they’ve been, I fully expect the Tide’s front seven to put both guys on a milk carton; Bama is the premier rushing defense in the nation.

However, Bama may need to jump into its “Rocket Alignment” as they wouldn’t want to get caught in a hurry-up, no-huddle situation in a 3-4-based power defense. Hybrid rusher Jonathan Allen should be aligned at a 3-technique alongside fellow star A’Shawn Robinson.

This may be a game for speed-rushers Rashaan Evans and Ryan Anderson as Bama will want to have as much athleticism on the field at all times. Expect a ton of “10” and “11 personnel,” ran exclusively out of Shotgun and Pistol formations from the Buckeyes.

But where the game might be won for OSU is with its vertical-passing game. Despite a wealth of talent in the secondary, real or perceived, Bama has had trouble defending explosive, downfield passing.

In fact, Bama made Auburn QB Nick Marshall look like a draftable prospect, with a career-high 456 yards, with as great as his deep ball looked in the pair’s season finale.

When you combine Jones’ incredible arm strength with, perhaps, the best deep-ball specialist in college (Devin Smith) you have a potential nightmare in the making for the Tide secondary.

While Smith only has 30 catches on the season, he’s racked up an incredible 799 yards for a 26.6 average per reception (11 TDs)!

If OSU is able to crank up the run game, he will receive man coverage; he will dominate.

Here we see Smith operating out of the slot and putting the hurt on a University of Wisconsin defensive back. He’s a smooth route-runner with speed to spare.

His underneath complement, the 6’3″, 212-pound Michael Thomas (43 catches for 680 yards with 8 TDs) is a very good player in his own right.

Overall, the offense is very capable of competing with the Tide’s stout defense. But if Bama is able to dampen the effect of OSU’s run game, it should be able to go to more of a two-deep shell coverage and guard against the explosive pass.

For that to happen, the front seven must be on its A-game.

Defensive Breakdown

One of the reasons I admire Meyer so much is that although he’s known for his spread-based offense, his true background is on defense — where he played DB at the University of Cincinnati.

And for an ex-DB like myself, it got no better than the DB play during Meyer’s tenure at Florida. At one point, Meyer had a secondary that consisted of Joe Haden (Cleveland Browns), Janoris Jenkins (St. Louis Rams), Will Hill (Baltimore Ravens) and Ahmad Black.

While OSU’s secondary doesn’t quite carry the name value, yet, senior corner Doran Grant is a step in the right direction. He is very good in man coverage and has superb ball skills.

But I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating: There’s not a corner alive who can cover Tide star receiver Amari Cooper in man situations (college or pro). The Buckeyes play a lot of area coverage in the form of Quarters, so expect there to be plenty of help for whoever encounters Cooper.

A team can certainly disrupt the timing of the offense in an attempt to slow him down by affecting quarterback Blake Sims — who’s having an all-time great season for Alabama. Sims has proven he can manufacture plays when bolting the pocket, but he also does well from within it.

But no QB can complete a pass from being plastered on the turf, and OSU has the ultimate edge-player in the sophomore uber-freak Joey Bosa. His ability to combine shear strength with developed pass-rush moves is uncanny.

At 6’5″, 285 pounds, he may remind some of great NFL combo players Muhammad Wilkerson (New York Jets) and J.J. Watt (Houston Texans). His 13.5 sack-season has to have gotten the attention of Tide offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin.

He normally lines up against the right tackle which should put Alabama’s Austin Shepard on notice. Expect a tight end to be deployed on Bosa’s side to provide help.

Bosa is equally good against the run, as seen in the above sequence, but will have his work cut out to slow up the Tide duo of T.J. Yeldon and Derrick Henry — although the former is dealing with injuries and could take on more of a part-time role.

OSU DC Luke Fickell runs a traditional even-front alignment that plays sound assignment football. You won’t find a ton of manufactured pressure, but you will get a few timely blitzes which takes advantage of a host of interior players — most notably senior Michael Bennett.

Case in point: Bennett is the one that actually got home in this well-timed run blitz; he beat a double-team and a lead block from the fullback.

Behind the defensive line, OSU possesses fast-flowing linebackers who can scrape and disengage from blocks. “Will” LB Josh Perry could make a name for himself chasing down Henry on his patented zone-stretch runs.

At 6’4″, 250 pounds, Perry has prototypical size which coincides with the type of physical defense that co-DC’s Fickell and Chris Ash have developed.

OSU is one of the most well-schemed teams in the nation that appears to execute on an SEC-like level; Alabama is the most well-schemed team that is the king of the SEC.

With the two very best coaches in the nation — with apologies to Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher — receiving nearly a month to gameplan for one another, one can only imagine the wrinkles that will be unaccounted for…

Is it game time, yet?