No real screwing around this week. Just a look at what we could be looking at when the Alabama offense is on the field against the Aggie defense Saturday. I went back and watched two games: 2014 LSU and Alabama and last week's game between Arkansas and the Tide. I was expecting to see some real changes in terms of offensive scheme from Blake Sims to Jacob Coker, but there wasn't. On the other hand, we may be able to glean a good bit of John Chavis' gameplan from how he dealt with Alabama last year.
First, a look at LSU defensively last season in a game that Alabama won in OT, 20-13. In that game, Blake Sims passed for 209 yards, but the Tide only ran for 106 and less than 4 YPC. Up front, LSU went with a setup similar to what we're seeing now with A&M's starters: one moderately big tackle and one quicker guy. Christian Lacouture (a one-time A&M commit) played the role of Alonzo Williams at 6'5", 300, while freshman Davon Godchaux was the Julien Obioha at about 290. Danielle Hunter and Jermuria Rasco were the ends, and they were definitely in the quick but undersized category. Rasco was also used in some roles as a standup linebacker. Here's where I think it gets interesting: LSU ran a 4-2-5, with Jalen Mills as the nickel to start that game. Kendall Beckwith and Kwon Alexander, two big but fast LBs, were in that 4-2-5 set.
The idea in this game was clearly to take away Alabama's running game (which included Sims), and let the pass beat them. That's a real dare considering Amare Cooper was out there, but by and large it was successful. I know John Chavis said he wasn't going to change a lot of things up this week, and I believe that will be the case in terms of personnel. But it was pretty clear that he was definitely looking to press the issue with more guys up on the line of scrimmage than we've seen to date.
In probably half the plays, either Mills or a standing-up Rasco served as essentially a fifth lineman, standing up outside of left tackle Cam Robinson. Since Robinson, in most cases, wasn't getting help -- the tight end was on the other side, uncovered at the line -- LSU had a personnel advantage to that side. The idea wasn't necessarily to stop the run to the left, but to have a guy get off the snap quickly and with limited opposition to get to the backs before they headed upfield, largely straight up the gut.
The secondary setup was what we've seen: press man. That's not going to change. In several instances, though, the strong safety was up far enough that he was in the box, adding an eight man to the run defense, the idea being that he should be able to diagnose play action and still get back if they tried a deep post (or possibly a double move to that side of the field).
So here's what I think you're going to see from A&M starting Saturday: A front of Garrett, Williams, Obioha and Hall; Washington and Hilliard at linebacker; Wilson at nickel; Harris, Williams, Watts and Evans in the secondary. Wilson fills the Jalen Mills role, and Evans would be the stalking safety in the box.
Now, looking at Alabama's offense, I was really surprised at how many spread concepts they're still using this year. With an average (if that) QB in Coker who really isn't all that mobile, I would have expected them to have gone back to more of an I-formation, ground pounding sort of deal that we saw in 2012 and 2013. Not so. The Tide is still running a lot of stuff out of the shotgun or the pistol, with four wides (well, in a lot of cases, two of the wides are tight ends). Interestingly enough, Arkansas didn't bite much; they stuck with their 4-3 bases and two-deep zone almost the whole game no matter what Alabama came out in. They clearly didn't fear their receivers, except for Ridley.
Their running game now looks a lot like A&M's: shotgun set, one back next to Coker and their line blocks downhill for the power game. They had a little more success against Arkansas' big front than A&M did (46 carries for 139 yards), but not much -- they averaged less than 3 yards a carry. Derrick Henry was the only guy who really had a respectable game. If they try to get outside, it's largely going to be sweeps with the back in motion or one of the wideouts on an end-around. They show it pretty clearly and they didn't have much luck getting to the edge against Arkansas, something A&M could do.
Coker largely looks for quick passes underneath, but he did go long a few times off of playaction, something we've come to expect from Alabama. That's something the Aggies will have to watch, especially with Ridley. The Tide did run a little bit of an option look here and there, but it was largely to disguise a quarterback run off tackle. Coker kept the ball in most circumstances.
The offensive line of Alabama was not impressive in pass protection. Arkansas didn't blitz, but still got a lot of pressure, typically right in Coker's face. That could mean big things for Obioha, who disrupted Dak Prescott several times last week. It could also mean that we see Myles Garrett move inside on occasion, something Chavis has mentioned doing in the past. This is a big line, but not the tremendously physical one that we've seen in the past. They're definitely going to have some issues accounting for the edge rushers, Garrett and Hall, just because of their speed. Robinson is definitely hurt and his arm injury is going to really cause him trouble when he tries to handle Garrett one-on-one. I wonder if Alabama will change its scheme somewhat and drop a tight end on him to try to help out, otherwise Myles may give them fits.
First, a look at LSU defensively last season in a game that Alabama won in OT, 20-13. In that game, Blake Sims passed for 209 yards, but the Tide only ran for 106 and less than 4 YPC. Up front, LSU went with a setup similar to what we're seeing now with A&M's starters: one moderately big tackle and one quicker guy. Christian Lacouture (a one-time A&M commit) played the role of Alonzo Williams at 6'5", 300, while freshman Davon Godchaux was the Julien Obioha at about 290. Danielle Hunter and Jermuria Rasco were the ends, and they were definitely in the quick but undersized category. Rasco was also used in some roles as a standup linebacker. Here's where I think it gets interesting: LSU ran a 4-2-5, with Jalen Mills as the nickel to start that game. Kendall Beckwith and Kwon Alexander, two big but fast LBs, were in that 4-2-5 set.
The idea in this game was clearly to take away Alabama's running game (which included Sims), and let the pass beat them. That's a real dare considering Amare Cooper was out there, but by and large it was successful. I know John Chavis said he wasn't going to change a lot of things up this week, and I believe that will be the case in terms of personnel. But it was pretty clear that he was definitely looking to press the issue with more guys up on the line of scrimmage than we've seen to date.
In probably half the plays, either Mills or a standing-up Rasco served as essentially a fifth lineman, standing up outside of left tackle Cam Robinson. Since Robinson, in most cases, wasn't getting help -- the tight end was on the other side, uncovered at the line -- LSU had a personnel advantage to that side. The idea wasn't necessarily to stop the run to the left, but to have a guy get off the snap quickly and with limited opposition to get to the backs before they headed upfield, largely straight up the gut.
The secondary setup was what we've seen: press man. That's not going to change. In several instances, though, the strong safety was up far enough that he was in the box, adding an eight man to the run defense, the idea being that he should be able to diagnose play action and still get back if they tried a deep post (or possibly a double move to that side of the field).
So here's what I think you're going to see from A&M starting Saturday: A front of Garrett, Williams, Obioha and Hall; Washington and Hilliard at linebacker; Wilson at nickel; Harris, Williams, Watts and Evans in the secondary. Wilson fills the Jalen Mills role, and Evans would be the stalking safety in the box.
Now, looking at Alabama's offense, I was really surprised at how many spread concepts they're still using this year. With an average (if that) QB in Coker who really isn't all that mobile, I would have expected them to have gone back to more of an I-formation, ground pounding sort of deal that we saw in 2012 and 2013. Not so. The Tide is still running a lot of stuff out of the shotgun or the pistol, with four wides (well, in a lot of cases, two of the wides are tight ends). Interestingly enough, Arkansas didn't bite much; they stuck with their 4-3 bases and two-deep zone almost the whole game no matter what Alabama came out in. They clearly didn't fear their receivers, except for Ridley.
Their running game now looks a lot like A&M's: shotgun set, one back next to Coker and their line blocks downhill for the power game. They had a little more success against Arkansas' big front than A&M did (46 carries for 139 yards), but not much -- they averaged less than 3 yards a carry. Derrick Henry was the only guy who really had a respectable game. If they try to get outside, it's largely going to be sweeps with the back in motion or one of the wideouts on an end-around. They show it pretty clearly and they didn't have much luck getting to the edge against Arkansas, something A&M could do.
Coker largely looks for quick passes underneath, but he did go long a few times off of playaction, something we've come to expect from Alabama. That's something the Aggies will have to watch, especially with Ridley. The Tide did run a little bit of an option look here and there, but it was largely to disguise a quarterback run off tackle. Coker kept the ball in most circumstances.
The offensive line of Alabama was not impressive in pass protection. Arkansas didn't blitz, but still got a lot of pressure, typically right in Coker's face. That could mean big things for Obioha, who disrupted Dak Prescott several times last week. It could also mean that we see Myles Garrett move inside on occasion, something Chavis has mentioned doing in the past. This is a big line, but not the tremendously physical one that we've seen in the past. They're definitely going to have some issues accounting for the edge rushers, Garrett and Hall, just because of their speed. Robinson is definitely hurt and his arm injury is going to really cause him trouble when he tries to handle Garrett one-on-one. I wonder if Alabama will change its scheme somewhat and drop a tight end on him to try to help out, otherwise Myles may give them fits.
