Alabama Football: Will 2017 Be ‘Run-Daboll’ Or ‘Air-Daboll’ Or Something Else?

Alabama football fans hoping for ‘Run-Daboll’ may be surprised. ‘Air-Daboll’ is as likely to be Tide’s 2017 theme. Let’s look at Tide offensive stats from recent seasons for clues to the 2017 Alabama Offense.

Let’s think back to the mindset of the Crimson Nation on New Years Day 2017. Despite a less than stellar offensive performance in the CFB Playoff semi-final, Alabama football fans shared abundant optimism.

Twenty-five consecutive wins in FBS football is thrilling. It is also seductive.  The head knows it cannot go on forever. But the heart gets tricked, seduced by an unquenchable thirst for more. Throughout the Crimson Nation, there was little doubt the Tide was soon to cement its status as the greatest dynasty in college football history.

Nine days into 2017 and at the opponent’s last second, suddenly, it was gone. A moment passed, never to return in the same time and space.  For many of us, the depth of the void was visceral. In response, we hide behind temporary disinterest, turned to less psychologically risky diversions and tried our best to cope … waiting impatiently for the potential redemption of next season.

Before we ponder what lies beyond the current Crimson Tide crossroad, let’s consider what has happened over the past six seasons.

Alabama football is not staring into the abyss. Alabama football was one second and two yards short of claiming college football’s greatest dynasty status. Alabama football came up short. It is time to move on with whatever it takes to rectify or rebuild championship aspirations.

Most of the fan angst has focused on offensive woes. With three offensive coordinators in less than three months, much scrutiny is given what changes will be made by Brian Daboll. Will Alabama football return to more of a power run game? Can Daboll make Jalen Hurts a more efficient and more explosive passer?

Will the 2017 offense be ‘Run-Daboll’ or ‘Air-Daboll’ or ‘Whatever-Nick-Calls-Daboll’ – We don’t know. We will not learn much on April 22, either. Saban is not about to give Jimbo any clues during a spring game.

We can come to some conclusions prior to Sept 5. We have an abundance of information. We can analyze where the 2016 offense compared to the offenses from 2011-2015.

In the pages to follow we will do just that. We will compare the 2016 offense to 2015. We will also compare the 2016 offense to the three national championship seasons, 2015, 2012 and 2011.

Inside the numbers are clues to indicate the direction of the 2017 Saban-Daboll offense. We will offer conclusions as we move through the stat analysis and at the end, we’ll include our prediction of what to expect from the 2017 offense.

There are ten tables of stat data provided courtesy of rolltide.com. On mobile devices, viewing the tables may require rotating your screen.

Don’t miss the last page that explains what to expect from the 2017 Alabama football offense.