Playoff team profiles: The 4-seed Alabama Crimson Tide
Nick Saban avenged himself on assistant Kirby Smart and has Alabama back to their bully ball, power football ways. Can that style win another National Title for college football's GOAT head coach?
For the last two years, Alabama didn’t quite look like Alabama.
They had some misses at defensive tackle and along the offensive line which limited their ability to overpower teams in the trenches, making room for Georgia to be the nation’s preeminent trench daddy squad. Meanwhile the offense adjusted toward a more pro-spread attack in order to make the most of Bryce Young’s unique ability as a passer, but they didn’t have enough top receivers to make it work.
Despite some of those issues, they still fielded some of the best players in college football and were an injury or two away from winning the National Championship in 2021. They were perhaps even a portal recruiting win or two away from having a shot in 2022 as well.
This year? Alabama looks more recognizably Alabama again. I had this pegged going into the SEC Championship where I just knew Kirby Smart wouldn’t be willing to avoid a slobberknocker in favor of something more asymmetrical. Carson Beck only made 29 pass attempts (for 243 yards) and Alabama held the two Georgia backs to 85 yards on 23 carries at 3.7 ypc.
Meanwhile Alabama ran it 41 times for 163 yards, a number which belies their effectiveness in controlling this contest on the ground.
Here’s the real story of the SEC Championship game, watch Georgia’s nose tackle.
There’s a lot of whoopings going around on this play.
Alabama might be back to being a sort of “default champion.” The team which will just bully and out-talent other teams if they don’t have the pass game dimension it takes to bring them down. Yet even beyond the dangers of a great passing team, there are a few other hangups for this squad we’ll get into…
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