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The Alabama faithful have been spoiled with success since Nick Saban came to town, but they’ve never been spoiled with an offense like this.
After years of conservative offenses built around a methodical, powerful running game, things look different in Tuscaloosa this season. Partly by necessity, partly through adaptation, Alabama has turned its offense loose on the SEC this year, and its a big part of the reason they’ve risen to No. 1.
The Crimson Tide are posting their highest total yards-per-game figure of the Saban era (472.1). The team set its previous high just a year ago, putting out 454 yards per contest. That offense looked different though, as 46 percent of the Tide’s yards came on the ground and they ran it 55.8 percent of the time.
While the offensive balance has remained the same this year, Alabama is picking up just under 42 percent of its yards on the ground. But Blake Sims’ yards per pass attempt figure sits at 8.9, below AJ McCarron’s 9.1 from a year ago.
So where are the increased yardage totals coming from? It’s simple: tempo. A team that’s been known for its methodical pace has finally started to get with the fast-paced trends of college football. After never averaging more than 67 plays per game under Saban before this year, Alabama is up to more than 72 plays run every Saturday.
The Crimson Tide can probably thank Lane Kiffin’s West Coast influence for that. The Trojans averaged 70 or more plays per game in two of of Kiffin’s three full seasons at Southern Cal, playing more of a pro-style offense than Alabama’s run-heavy attack. This year, they’re right there with notoriously fast teams Texas A&M and Auburn, and only a few plays per game behind Mississippi State.
No matter what the numbers say, Alabama’s offense looks more exciting. Amari Cooper is the scariest receiving threat in college football, capable of breaking a short pass for a long gain or burning the defense for a deep ball. Sims’ mobility, an element Saban’s teams have never had at quarterback, gives every dropback a sense that anything could happen. His silky smooth touchdown run against Texas A&M is proof enough of that.
That’s helped the Tide up their big-play quotient this year. Alabama has long been a middle-of-the-pack team in terms of explosive plays, but this year they’re up to third in the SEC in that category. Cooper is right behind the national leaders in receptions of 15- and 25- or more yards, and while Sims doesn’t take off running all that often, his eight rushes for 10 or more yards are already more than McCarron had in any season.
As mentioned above, not all of this is by choice. Alabama’s line has been in a constant state of disrepair, with just about every offensive lineman dealing with some sort of injury this year, and the running back corps has been banged up as well. The Crimson Tide can’t just steamroll opponents every play this season, so they’ve adapted to outgun them as well.
Alabama still has the powerful defense associated with championship teams, and history points to that being just as or more important than having a potent offense when it comes to taking home season-ending hardware.
But in a playoff field that’s certain to feature high-octane offenses, Alabama looks like it has the firepower to keep up.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
