Alabama football fans who have watched the team this season can feel it-- this is not the same Crimson Tide they have been accustomed to. This is not the power-running offense from the early Saban dynasty, or the QB-run-heavy offense with Jalen Milroe. This team is different. The play calling by Ryan Grubb is creative, and this is the pass-heavy offense that Bama fans envisioned when Kalen DeBoer was hired. Alabama does struggle to run the ball, but maybe they don't need to.
The lack of a dominant run game has been a talking point all year, but it does not tell the full story. No football team can abandon the run game and pass for every play of the game. Offenses become too one-dimensional, and the defense will tee off with their pass rushers. This offense has evolved, though. Instead of pounding the rock through the interior of the offensive line and racking up rushing yards, the Tide is spreading the field and letting Ty Simpson take command. They are allowing their playmakers to do what they do best: make plays in space. The short passing game is now an extension of the run game. This is their ground attack this season.
This team doesn't need a Derrick Henry to rush for 200 yards in a game and kill the clock for the opposing offense. When the short passing game gets in rhythm, this Alabama offense keeps the opponents on their heels. That's what they are relying on instead of the rushing attack, rhythm. Quick gains from the passing game with short and intermediate routes, then take their shot over the top when defenses are playing close to the sticks.
Alabama can't run the ball
With the defense complementing the offense and Kane Wommack turning up the heat this time of year, they don't necessarily have to.
The quick passing game, the one or two trick plays a game, it is there to replace the I-formation runs. Championships have been won before without a running game. From a football fan, this team mirrors another championship football team: The 2014 New England Patriots. Ty Simpson is not Tom Brady, but their leading rusher that year was Jonas Gray with 412 yards rushing for the season. That team, like this Alabama team, is built on timing and getting the ball to your playmakers in space. They won a championship with Brady throwing over 50 times in the game, and the Patriots only rushing for 57 yards. What does everyone remember from that game? Russell Wilson is throwing a game-ending pick in the end zone. With Alabama's defense on fire right now and making plays, creating turnovers, and getting the ball back to the offense, they are still a championship-caliber team.
Multiple comments from players and coaches during the bye week talked about how they worked on the run game and were going to get it right. That did not happen against LSU. This team has evolved, and the rushing attack is not its identity. It's too late to go back and establish a powerful rushing attack this late in the season. Why try to fit a square peg into the round hole? This is who the 2025 team is from an offensive perspective, and it is time for everyone to embrace it.