Previously, we’ve taken a look at both the LSU and Alabama defensive schemes. There’s no doubt these two defenses are the best in college football. Now it’s time to take a look at what the Alabama offense can do, and how it will match up against the LSU defense that held it in check in their first meeting this season.
When Nick Saban arrived at Alabama he hired former NFL Offensive Coordinator Joe Pendry as his offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator. The other co-offensive coordinator was former Texas quarterback Major Applewhite. Named for former Tide great Major Oglivie, he was a very popular hire. However, his offensive philosophy was the high-powered spread attack he had coordinated at Rice. Pendry, on the other hand, was more old school and agreed with Saban about the need for a balanced, pro-style attack.
The first year in any new system can be a challenge, but it was clear for most of the year there was a fundamental disagreement on the playcalling. During a halftime interview during one of the games in Saban’s first season, he was asked about a fourth down play call. He replied “I made the decision to go for it on fourth down, but I wish we’d run it in there behind big No. 71 (Andre Smith).” It was no surprise after the season that Applewhite left Alabama to join Mack Brown’s staff at Texas.
* * * *
Several years ago the Spread offensive became all the rage. Teams like West Virginia, Florida, and Northwestern had great success using this wide open offense. Appalachian State used it to defeat Michigan in 2007, in arguably one of the biggest upsets in college football history.
The concept of the spread is to force the defense to cover the entire field and create running and passing lanes based on players lining up all over the field. Teams could vary what they did out of the spread, employing either option running or extensive passing. The quarterback lined up in the shotgun position four yards behind the line of scrimmage, usually with one running back. High school teams quickly caught on to the success colleges were having, and soon the spread offense was employed all over the country.
While many teams still employ the spread, its popularity is starting to wane. Florida and Texas are two examples of former spread teams who have reverted back to a more balanced, pro-style attack. I recently watched a bowl game where a team had fourth down and goal from the six-inch line. They lined up in the shotgun, so the quarterback took the snap at the five yard line and was stuffed. Teams are starting to realize that they must have balance in their attack and the best way to get that is with a pro-style offense.
During his introductory press conference at Alabama, Saban said his philosophy on offense was simple; it was based on balance, the ability to both run and throw the ball. In his first year, Alabama didn’t perform particularly well in either phase of the offensive game. That began to change when he hired Jim McElwain after Saban’s first year at Alabama. “Mac” had NFL experience with the Raiders as well as significant college experience. McElwain installed his version of what Saban wanted from his offense; a one-back, pro-style attack that featured a punishing running game and a pro-style passing game designed to create balance and take advantage of play-action passing.
In his four years as Alabama’s offensive coordinator, Alabama has improved each year in most offensive categories, and this with a different quarterback in three of his four seasons. There is no dispute that much of Alabama’s success over the Saban era is due to the outstanding job performed by McElwain. It is often said the most popular player on any college campus is the backup quarterback. If that is the case, the most unpopular person is often the offensive coordinator and McElwain is no exception. However for people who truly understand the intricacies of the game, they know that the scheme McElwain has employed is one of the best in college football. So what does Alabama do that has created so much success on the offensive side of the ball?
McElwain’s basic philosophy is an almost exclusive use of a one-back, multiple tight end offense. When identifying offensive personnel groupings, many teams use a numbering system. The first number is the number of running backs in the game, the second is the number of tight ends. Therefore, if a team uses one running back and two tight ends it’s called “11 Personnel,” two backs and one tight end is “21,” and so on. You will often see teams use these signs when sending in defensive plays, because it tells the defensive players what groupings the offensive is using.
Alabama uses a wide variety of personnel groupings, but their base package is predominately “12” personnel, using one back and two tight ends. In almost all cases, one of the tight ends is the “A” back, lined up off the line of scrimmage and put in motion on almost every play. Brad Smelly fills that role this year and lines up in the backfield, out wide in the slot, or near the offensive line. These personnel options allow Alabama to have an extra blocker on running plays, but also get four receivers into pass patterns quickly.
Alabama also lines up in some variation of the shotgun formation on many of their plays, with the quarterback four to five yards behind the center. Alabama will often show their ’empty’ package with only A.J. McCarron in the backfield and the rest of the Alabama backs and receivers lined up wide. The purpose of this to keep teams from stacking the box with seven to nine defenders to stop the Tide’s powerful running attack. Most of the plays from Alabama’s empty package are quick passes; either slants or crossing patterns to take advantage of man-to-man coverage by the defense. By throwing often on first down, the Tide is able to stay ahead of the chains and open up the running game.
McElwain also makes use of the ‘pistol’ formation made popular by Nevada. In the pistol, the quarterback is still in the shotgun formation, but a step closer to the line of scrimmage. The single running back is lined up immediately behind the quarterback. This allows for better running angles, as the running back can go to either side of the line on running plays, or quickly into the pattern to either side of the formation on passing plays.
Alabama’s running attack often looks very simple out of their “11” or “12” personnel groups, but if you listen to opposition coaches after games with Alabama, they will tell you it is one of the most sophisticated running schemes in college football. Turning and handing the ball off to Trent Richardson or Eddie Lacy looks pretty simple. However, if you watch closely, you’ll see the Tide’s blocking schemes are extremely complex. The Tide will often pull guards or tackles to the side of the play to create mismatches from double teams and trap blocking. One advantage of multiple tight ends is you can put them in motion and create additional blockers, giving the Tide a mismatch at the point of attack.
Alabama’s offensive line is among the best in the game today because of their ability to work together. Center William Vlahos is the quarterback of the offensive line and is charged with recognizing the defensive front and then getting the correct blocking scheme call made prior to the play. He is terrific at this and is a reason for much of the success of the Alabama running game.
Because of the powerful running game, McElwain has employed an outstanding play-action passing game. If you watch A.J. McCarron closely, you will see he makes the same action whether he is handing the ball off to a running back, or faking the handoff to then throw the ball. Many of these plays are “bootleg” passes, in which McCarron turns to fake an off-tackle run play, then circles out the opposite way. Because the flow of the play has been one way, the opponent’s linebackers aggressively flow towards the run, so when McCarron turns on the bootleg fake, he often has tight ends and receivers going against the flow of the defense towards the backside where he is moving with the ball. This has been one of Alabama’s most successful plays this year, as the tight ends are almost always open on this play.
Discussion of the Alabama passing attack must include wide receivers. With the departure of my fellow Foley alum Julio Jones, Alabama no longer has the threat of a single receiver who had to be accounted for by the defense. However, the current mix of receivers, led by Marquis Maze are terrific. When Alabama is in ’11’ personnel, it allows three wide receivers on the field. Because of the amount of man coverage Alabama sees from their opponents, McElwain runs a lot of crossing patterns or “pick” plays where the receivers run very close to one another as they cross the field. One receiver will often get in the way of the other receiver’s defender, similar to setting a pick in basketball, thereby freeing the receiver. Alabama uses these plays a lot to take advantage of teams who are aggressively playing the run, leaving one-on-one man coverage with the receivers.
Alabama’s tight ends are also great pass receivers. Both Smelly and Washington are outstanding. Washington is a huge target and is often matched up against smaller defensive backs, creating a size mismatch that McElwain will take advantage of several times during the game. Alabama also has one of the best screen packages in the game today. Because of the amount of run blitzes the Tide sees (blitzes designed to stop the run), Alabama has had great success having one of the backs fake blocking and then slip out into the flat vacated by a blitzing linebacker. Several of Trent Richardson’s biggest plays this year have come off screens.
If I have any complaint about the Alabama offense, it would be for occasionally getting too cute with the play calling or as I call it, out-thinking ourselves. The LSU game is a good example of this. On the drive where Maze threw the pick on the trick play, Richardson was slashing the LSU defense and really had them on their heels. While the play call was a creative one and one that would have been lauded had it worked, I would have liked to have had Trent keep slashing away at LSU and then maybe a play-action pass over the top where we had a better passer making the throw. Again, I don’t fault McElwain too much for this play, but we need to make sure we continue to use what got us where we are.
Prior to one of Alabama’s National Championship games, Coach Bryant was asked what changes he would make prior to the game. “We’ll dance with who we brung.” Alabama would be well served by following this advice when they get to New Orleans.
So what will Alabama do differently in the rematch with LSU? I look for the play calling to be much more aggressive in this game. It is not a secret the standard game plan against Alabama this year has been to stack the box with eight defenders and force A.J. McCarron to throw the ball. I look for Alabama to throw extensively on first down, some out of the empty set, but also with play-action passing. I also think with all the preparation time, Alabama will have several wrinkles on offense they have not shown this year. For example, I would not be surprised to see a fair amount of “13” personnel, with one back and three tight ends to create better blocking opportunities for run plays and play action passes. I also would not be surprised to see some “21 and 22” personnel, with Richardson and Lacy in the backfield at the same time. In the 2009 championship game the Tide ran several plays with RIchardson and Ingram in the backfield, one of the few times they showed that formation all year. Late in the year, Alabama starting doing a better job getting the ball to Maze in space, so look for more short hitches and bubble screens to get the ball to him in space. Finally, look for Alabama to take a few more deep shots against LSU, mostly off play-action on first down.
Finally – and this is a big factor – don’t underestimate the effect of McElwain having been named Colorado State’s head coach. Not only does he want to have two rings to flash to future recruits, he also wants to demonstrate to them what type of offense to expect from him at Colorado State. Because of this, I expect this to be one of the best games Mac has ever called for Alabama.
In our final installment of Alabama Football 101, we’ll take a look at the ever-changing LSU offense.