A Ryan Grubb offensive staple accounted for 2 of Alabama’s biggest CFP plays

Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb isn’t the most popular person in Tuscaloosa right now. Last season, rather than join Kalen DeBoer, his longtime boss, at Alabama, he tried his hand at NFL play-calling, staying in Seattle to join the Seahawks. However, that stint in the league was short-lived, largely due to his run-game struggles and one-dimensional attack. 

Now, despite the program notching its 11th win of the season, 34-24 at Oklahoma Friday night to advance to the College Football Playoff quarterfinal, Grubb’s approval rating is far from 100 percent. The Crimson Tide offense has suffered the same symptoms that ailed the Seahawks a year ago, and without a reliable run-game, Alabama opened as a 6.5-point underdog to No. 1 Indiana for the Rose Bowl. 

Yet, for all of Alabama’s struggles, Grubb helped Ty Simpson settle into a game that began with three straight three-and-outs and a 17-0 deficit, and he did it by relying on a few of his play-calling staples, which accounted for three of Alabama’s biggest plays of the game. 

Ryan Grubb gave Ty Simpson the answers he needed to come back from down 17

The identity of the Grubb offense is a pass-heavy attack that is very multiple with its formations and tempo, and utilizes pre-snap shifts and motion as much as any in the country. Grubb gives his quarterback agency to get into the right play at the line of scrimmage, and his passing game can morph to fit the player he has under center.

In 2023 in Washington, Grubb constructed a passing game that stretched defenses vertically and leveraged Michael Penix Jr.’s ability and tendency to throw outside the numbers. With Ty Simpson, he has a more timing-based passing game that allows Simpson to maximize his anticipation to the middle of the field. 

However, regardless of which part of the field Grubb wants to attack, he is an expert at creating advantages for his wide receivers and giving them space to work one-on-ones. That was particularly important to Simpson against Oklahoma head coach and defensive mastermind Brent Venables, who dials up some of the most difficult blitz looks for opposing quarterbacks to diagnose.

Simpson is good at the line of scrimmage and was often tasked with setting protections on Friday night. Still, rather than engaging in that pre-snap chess match every play, Grubb went back to one of his favorite formational tendencies to simplify things for his quarterback, and was rewarded with two explosive plays in the passing game. 

Most play-callers will have the strength of their formation into the field, especially when using a bunch formation. It gives the three receivers on that side more room to work with, while the backside X lines up into the boundary. Grubb flips that. He often runs bunches into the boundary with an X to the field. That gives the X receiver a ton of room to work, and often, safeties are in a bind, reluctant to shade towards the single receiver side. That formation is one of the reasons that Rome Odunze was so dominant in 2023. 

Isaiah Horton used that space to win his one-on-one with undersized sophomore cornerback Eli Bowen. Germie Bernard’s one-on-one came in a 2x2 set with 12 personnel, but the X was still to the field, and play-action held the safety long enough to get the one-on-one Simpson wanted. 

Grubb is a flawed play-caller. There are issues with Alabama’s offensive line and running back room that have exacerbated the run game problems, but Grubb isn’t a good run-game designer and doesn’t seem willing to change that. Still, it’s hard to say that the good doesn’t outweigh the bad, especially after Friday night’s comeback win.