Alabama football fans want boldness against the Dawgs

Does the old adage that fortune favors the bold apply to Alabama Football on Saturday? Boldness is often rewarded in college football, but not always. As Lane Kiffin showed this season chasing a first down, on fourth down at his team’s own 30-yard line, sometimes boldness is simply stupid.

Though he has never stopped trying, Gus Malzahn’s coaching career proves gimmicks may win occasional games but they do not lead to championships. Which brings this conversation to Nick Saban, who is about as much different from Kiffin and Malzahn as anyone can be.

In the great majority of cases, Alabama football fans are appreciative of Nick Saban’s steadiness, buttressed by a strong resolve to follow his own unparalleled path to greatness. There are a few exceptions, and this week is one of them when Crimson Tide fans believe more than the normal amount of Nick Saban’s boldness is required.

What makes this week special? Thanks to data from Phil Steele, reported by Brad Edwards it is easy to see why.

• Alabama Football is an underdog for the first time since 2015.
• The last time the Crimson Tide was an underdog to a top-5 team was the 2009 SEC Championship game.
• This week’s Georgia game is just the Alabama Crimson Tide’s third time as an underdog in an astounding interval of 13 seasons.

Time for Alabama Football Boldness

No wonder some Crimson Tide fans are a bit nervous. We don’t have much practice thinking about the whys and hows of the Crimson Tide winning in an upset.

Intense followers of Alabama Football are speaking up. Many of them are convinced the Tide must do something different to beat the Bulldogs. Different, not just in execution, but also in scheme. Second-guessing Tide coordinators, Pete Golding and Bill O’Brien is habitual, as it has been for many of their predecessors. Applying similar scrutiny to Nick Saban borders on heresy.

There are reasons for Bama fans to be pessimistic about the Tide’s running game and pass protection against the stout, Georgia defense. If past performance does predict future results, the Tide needs to try something new against the Dawgs.

That new could be tempo, plus heavy reliance on RPO. It could include the opposite of max-protection, consistently going with four wides and mixing in screens to spread and slow the Georgia defense. While most of the ‘be bold’ exhortations are directed to the Crimson Tide offense, more frequent use of blitz packages is being asked of the defense.

Thankfully, pressure from fans does not penetrate Nick Saban. Perhaps some out-of-character boldness is needed against Georgia – but not the kind of decision-making like a fake-punt run by a backup quarterback.