Alabama Football: Steve Sarkisian will run a Nick Saban offense

Alabama football fans want to know how much Steve Sarkisian will change the Crimson Tide offense. Nick Saban says not much.

Alabama football offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian is a respected offensive mind. Though a sizable contingent of Atlanta Falcons will disagree, Sark has a history of balancing a ‘West Coast’ system against what an opponent gives him. It worked well at USC and Washington before Sarkisian became involved in Alabama football. In fact, Lane Kiffin learned from Sark who learned from Norm Chow, who learned from Lavell Edwards, who learned passing offense from a connection to legendary NFL coach, Sid Gillman. College football historians will attest to the impressive lineage of these coaches.

At its core, the ‘West Coast’ offense emphasizes the passing game in a way that increases production of a team’s rushing attack. Bill Walsh used it to near perfection with the 49ers. Urban Meyer’s spread offense is a derivative.

A healthy Tua Tagovailoa and a physical offensive line can make the Crimson Tide version of the ‘West Coast’ nearly lethal. Alabama football fans remember too well the failures of last season. In the last three games, the Tide defense surrendered, 454, 507 and 482 yards.

The Tide’s record-setting offense when Tua was healthy was spectacular. In every game but one, it was able to outscore opponents, covering up for defensive weaknesses. Then when it mattered the most, turnovers and failures to score in the red zone denied the Tide another national championship. In fairness to the 2018 offense, stopping Clemson was a problem as well.

Last week, Nick Saban said new coordinators don’t much change what the Crimson Tide does, either offensively or defensively. Saban has a system and every coordinator works within that system and makes as many tweaks as allowed by Nick.

Make no mistake, Nick Saban is as interested in offensive production as he is the stubbornness of his defense. Former OCs have always added wrinkles. Jim McElwain, Lane Kiffin, Brian Daboll and Mike Locksley all brought new ideas that became components of the Alabama football playbook.

Steve Sarkisian knows that playbook well, going back to his time as an offensive analyst in the 2016 season. He too will tweak it but he will not fundamentally change it. His challenge is to look back at last season’s Mississippi State and Clemson games and correct the Tide weaknesses.

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Against the Bulldogs, the Tide was held to its lowest rushing yards-per-carry average of the season, 3.2 yards. The Bullies also sacked Tua four times and hit him several other times. The pressure on Tua came so quickly most of the night, the average passing yards-per-attempt was just six yards. The same number for the full season was 11.08 yards.

Against Clemson, the Tide failed to get points on three red zone possessions. The Clemson coaching staff has received deserved accolades for their game plan against the Tide. But really all they had to do was watch the Mississippi State game.

What will Sark do in a realm outside of “not much”? More than anything, Sarkisian will want to use Tua’s arm with quick throws. He will want to minimize the number of hits the Tide star takes during the season. There will likely be more passes to running backs than last season, even without Josh Jacobs in the backfield.

The ‘West Coast’ offense is known more for horizontal than vertical passing. That does not mean Tua will cease to sling some bombs to arguably the four best wideouts in college football. Some of those explosive plays will likely result from play-action passes.

And the Tide will run behind what can become the most physical offensive line in several seasons. It is too early to predict the offensive line first unit at mid-season. But if it by then includes true freshman, Evan Neal or Deonte Brown at guard the Tide could have a run-blocking fierceness that ends short-yardage failures.

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Nick Saban says “we kind of do what we do.” Steve Sarkisian will be looking to that and more in the latest version of the Crimson Tide offense.

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