Ty Simpson did what he needed to do to lead Alabama to a win on Saturday against Auburn in the Iron Bowl, which clinched the Crimson Tide's spot in the SEC Championship Game this weekend. But Simpson's elite play in the middle of the season set the bar high, and his recent performance hasn't lived up to that.
It's certainly not all on Simpson; Alabama's wide receivers have had issues with drops. Not just Ryan Williams, guys like Germie Bernard and Lotzeir Brooks have seen a few ricochet off their hands in recent weeks. Losing Josh Cuevas to an injury hurts at TE. Alabama schemed up a wide open Marshall Pritchett against Auburn, and the freshman TE saw the ball bounce off his hands as he fell to the earth with nothing but green grass in front of him.
But Simpson has also been far from sharp. He continues to struggle with the deep ball. On Alabama's opening drive in the Iron Bowl, Simpson had an open Bernard for what should have been a touchdown. It was overthrown, as many of that type of pass have been from Simpson this season.
Simpson threw for a season-low 122 yards against Auburn. He made the plays that had to be made, including a couple gutsy throws in the redzone and some big plays with his feet, but he knows after watching film there's plenty that can be cleaned up.
"Love to clean up some stuff, just like anybody would," Simpson said. "I need to be better in post-snap recognition, be better just in general of drifting in the pocket. I thought there were some good plays that were made and some plays that you can learn from."
Defenses have adjusted to Ty Simpson - he has to adjust in response
One of Simpson's greatest strengths this year has been his ability to make pre-snap reads. He, perhaps frustratingly at times to Alabama fans, makes a ton of checks at the line of scrimmage to get everyone in the right position to make a play against what he's seeing.
The problem is, against Auburn and Oklahoma, the picture was being changed at the last possible second by the defense to guard against it. That's what Simpson means when he says he has to be better at post-snap reads. Defenses are muddying the picture for him, and he hasn't always made the right read off of it.
You can watch a terrific breakdown of Alabama's offensive issues against Auburn below:
Auburn and Oklahoma are two of the best defenses in the country. And while Georgia has made strides on that side of the ball - and Kirby Smart is one of, if not the, brightest defensive minds in college football, the Bulldogs haven't been on the same level as the Tigers and Sooners defensively.
Simpson played a terrific game against Georgia in September in Athens. He was lethal on third down. But Alabama's offense stagnated in the second half and was held scoreless.
Smart and Georgia DC Glenn Schumann have seen on film everything that has given Simpson trouble. They'll look to replicate that in Atlanta this weekend. It'll be on Simpson to make the necessary adjustments to lead Alabama to a win, securing its place in the College Football Playoff.