There’s no secret that to win in the Southeastern Conference, you need to be formidable on defense while being able to establish the line of scrimmage on offense. We often put too much shine on quarterback play when, historically, this conference hasn’t possessed an overabundance of top-notch, NFL-caliber QBs.

Players like former Auburn QB Cam Newton are as rare as the BMW M5 G-Power Hurricane RR as we saw him consistently propel an inferior team all the way to a BCS National Championship. But more often than not, it’s quarterbacks more in the mold of Greg McElroy (Alabama) who lead balanced squads to the Promised Land.

That’s why it was all but silly to bury the Tide after a turnover-driven 43-37 loss to a talented Mississippi squad, as it’s hard to fathom many teams replicating the circumstances that led to the Rebels’ victory. And with that being stated, Ole Miss still had to hang on for dear life.

But the reason I’m so bullish on the Tide stems from a defense that’s starting to evolve under new techniques infused by new coaches. Sometimes all it takes is an outside voice to bring a fresh approach, or idea, which yields positive results.

We’ve already seen the evolution of a Tide defense that has predominantly transformed itself into an even-front scheme after making its hay under an odd-front approach. This allows the Tide to press gaps and speed up the clocks of signal-callers with a more organic approach, opposed to mostly relying on simulated-pressure packages.

But one aspect I noticed in the Tide’s 38-10 demolition of Georgia, which might be chalked up to the presence of new secondary coach Mel Tucker, was the Tide’s shadowing of the Dawgs’ top receiver Malcolm Mitchell by potential lock-down corner Cyrus Jones. (Many of you would’ve croaked with laughter a couple of seasons ago thinking of Jones in that manner, but it’s true.)

Jones played press- and off-man coverage on Mitchell most of the game and held him to a respectable 65 yards on three catches. Alabama generally played man across the board with corners able to trail as they had the benefit of two-deep coverage.

The Tide’s goal was to eliminate the explosive pass and keep everything in front of them so their pack of wolves could hunt for kills (as one of my coordinators used to put it.) And UGA QB Brice Ramsey took the bait on one memorable play.

EddieJacksonPickUGA

The Tide did a wonderful job of presenting different pre- and post-snap frames to force hesitation to a generally green offense — at least as far as the receiving targets go.

Here, they are in a two-deep shell with man coverage underneath (the Jones-Mitchell battle is highlighted in red). Be it that Ramsey was performing a back-to-the-basket play-action fake, his original thought was that it was man across the board, but when he finished the process, he was presented a blitz from the nickel corner Minkah Fitzpatrick — who’s doubling as the flat defender, too.

A veteran receiver-QB tandem would have immediately sight adjusted for a hook route, which would have allowed the target to stop and show his numbers in the void of defense. But the receiver, true freshman Terry Godwin, never even turned around and generally looked as if he were running a clear-out route.

And throwing late over the middle against area coverage is the football equivalent to spitting in the wind — it rarely turns out well.

Converted corner Eddie Jackson snatched the gift, everyone watching who played on any defensive unit I’ve been on yelled “Oskie,” and a convoy was formed allowing for Jackson to “pseudo” follow blocks that were formed for him.

Man, I miss playing ball.