Three Keys for Alabama
by Year2 on Dec 4, 2009 5:00 PM EST
in SEC Football
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PrintGet Mark Ingram going.
Last year, Glen Coffee was the man for Alabama. He ground out 112 yards on 21 carries, including a beastly 18 yard touchdown run for the Tide's first score of the game. He was an important factor in Alabama being able to run its offense the way it wanted to run it and control the game for much of the third quarter.
Ingram played in last year's game too, but he had just 21 yards on eight carries (2.6 average). Obviously he's greatly improved over his freshman self, but something about Florida's defense stymied him last year. He must find what Coffee found, because another 16 carry/30 yard effort will put Bama in seriously bad shape.
Stop Florida's running backs.
Dan Mullen kind of stole my thunder on this one already, but it's true. Jeff Demps is a threat to take it 50 yards. Chris Rainey can juke guys out of their jocks. Emmanuel Moody is averaging over seven yards per carry. Florida's got some very dangerous options at tailback.
On option plays, it would behoove the Tide to focus on those guys. As tempting as it is to try to take a shot at the Golden Boy, the Golden Boy has a far lower average and median rush than the other guys do. Most of Tim Tebow's longest runs come on busted pass plays or designed runs disguised as pass plays, and there's not much you can do about that. However, make him be the ball carrier on the standard running plays. He'll get some yards, but he won't take it half way down the field.
Put pressure on Tebow in the pocket.
Many defenses get confused on what stopping Tim Tebow actually means. You can tell who are the ones that don't know because they celebrate wildly for stopping Tebow on a two or three yard rush. That's not stopping him though; it's just a side effect of having a big dude at quarterback run some option. It's a known issue with the UF offense, and the game plan is built knowing that will happen about seven or eight times a game.
Stopping Tebow is pressuring him, forcing him to make bad decisions, and getting him to turn it over. Throughout his whole career, his worst games have come when he's getting sacked repeatedly. The Florida offensive line has been shaky at times, and it even has an obvious vulnerable point in true freshman LT Xavier Nixon. Nixon has done well so far, but he's still a true freshman and he can and will be beat.
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16 carries/30 yards
I seriously doubt that UF is going to ride 8-9 in the box, every single time Ingram is in the game like the Barn did. It was a sell-out strategy designed to lose close.
There will be blitzes and occasional overloads in the box, but I just don’t see Strong putting the team in the position to A) shut down one player which results in B) losing on a series of 7-9 yard passes.
"Hollywood made a movie of my life. The film had me proposing to my wife on the football field. I would never misuse a football field that way." -Crazy Legs Hirsch
by Stuck in the Plains on Dec 4, 2009 6:30 PM EST reply actions
Dont be suprised too much
if they stack the box all game long. Of course on 3rd and 5 or more, they most likely wont. UF’s DB’s are comfortable with man to man coverage they have been doing it 3 years in a row now, Bama’s passing game isnt bad, but its nothing to be scared of. So why would they not emphasise on stopping the run to force a 1st yr QB in the biggest game of his life to make some plays. If he starts picking apart the Gator secondary, its going to be a long day for UF.
"Why does bottled water have an expiration date?"
Aren't there two teams in this game?
I mean, you’ve written “Three Keys” articles for each team, but all you talk about is Florida’s players and what Florida does. You wrote two articles about the UF/Bama matchup and didn’t mention Rolando McClain, Julio Jones, Javier Arenas, or Terrence Cody. You mentioned only four Alabama players in total, one of whom is in the NFL right now. Hell, in this article it’s five Gators and two Tiders. In the other one, it’s nine to two.
For example, in the Three Keys for Alabama piece, you could mention that it’s important for Alabama to stretch the field and make Florida’s defense respect the passing game, which means getting Julio Jones and Marquis Maze involved early. You could mention that Alabama also has three terrific running backs by including discussion of Trent Richardson and Roy Upchurch; Alabama’s running back trio is arguably as dangerous as UF’s and has unquestionably produced more yards than their orange-clad counterparts. But you didn’t mention any of these things.
I understand that you are a Gator, but I think you should either make a serious attempt to write about both teams or else don’t try to. This is one reason why people perceive this to be a Florida blog more than an SEC blog.
unquestionably produced more yards than their orange-clad counterparts
Actually UF has averaged more yards rushing per game and more total yards then Bama has. I know you wernt counting Tebow as a RB, and only making an arguement that Bamas trio is better then UF’s. But realistically UF’s trio is better then Bamas, if you count Tebow.
Maybe he talks more about the Gators becuase, its been clear the formula to beat Bama is stop Ingram. The formula to beat UF is not that simple. That sounds like an insult, but its not meant to be. Floridas success is depended on several players, not just Tebow running the dive. Bama success is Ingram running the ball well.
"Why does bottled water have an expiration date?"
If you count Tebow, it's not a trio.
So, let’s talk about Alabama’s top three RB’s plus their QB, and Florida’s top three RB’s (who were all mentioned by name) plus their QB. Alabama’s four guys have 2,324 rushing yards. Florida’s four guys have 2,430 rushing yards. What was your point again? That 106 yards over 12 games is a significant statistical difference? Note that these numbers favor Florida only because we’re going three deep in RBs; if you only count the top two, Alabama has the edge in rushing by 25 yards – and that’s including Tim Tebow’s numbers and McElroy’s. If you count Bama’s top rushing trio regardless of position vs. UF’s top three regardless of position – which I think is a reasonable comparison given Tebow’s role in UF’s rushing game – Bama has even better rushing numbers compared to Florida. Overall yardage is in UF’s favor, I know, and that’s worth mentioning. But Trent Richardson is worth mentioning, too – just ask Arkansas and Auburn.
If the key to beating Alabama is simply to stop Mark Ingram (which is unsupported by actual on-field losses), then clearly UF will do that and then Alabama has to… what? Oh, nothing, apparently. Alabama clearly has no other options, like another running back (cough :Richardson:) or any passing game at all (cough :Julio:). You don’t think Julio can have an impact against Florida’s secondary? OK, while I disagree, I can see why someone would say that. What I can’t see is why anyone would completely neglect to even mention Julio Jones. How can you write about UF vs. Alabama and not mention Julio? McClain? Cody? Arenas, the SEC’s all-time leading punt returner? The only possible reason I can see is because the writer is only focused on Florida. Which is the point I made in my previous comment.
Let’s keep in mind here that I live in Gainesville; I am a grad student at UF; I am an enormous fan of both Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer, and a Gator fan second only to being an Alabama fan. I’m not objecting to any analysis that suggests that UF will beat Bama. My point is that the analysis is ALL FLORIDA. This illustrates clearly the difference between a blogger and a journalist, and I have only myself to blame for hoping for more.
I would agree with you wholeheartedly, except that I tried not to repeat myself with these “three Keys” posts. I’ve written thousands of words and talked for a good bit on Tuesday’s podcast this week, but I tried to make everything on Friday as fresh and new as I could.
I praised Alabama’s running backs and the depth there on the podcast.
I didn’t talk about Cody much because I don’t think he’ll be much of a factor. Both Pouncey brothers were able to successfully block him one-on-one for much of last year’s game, and the only time he got near Tebow on a pass play was on a jailbreak screen.
I’ve talked about the Alabama passing game quite a bit, but more in the frame of reference Greg McElroy than Julio Jones. Jones is not the weak link there, and what he can do is pretty self evident. McElroy is a first year starter in his first championship game, and that was the more interesting angle to me.
You’re right on McClain. Not talking about him more was an oversight.
Javier Arenas got his feature yesterday.
Also, whenever Team A is ranked higher than Team B in every poll and is nearly a touchdown favorite to boot, my natural inclination is to phrase things in a format of what Team B must overcome to beat Team A. Florida happens to be Team A in this case.
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I dont disagree, 3 is a trio, good job for pointing that out.
My point is, if you include Tebow they average more yards per game, they average more yards per attempt, and they have more total yards. Considering that more then half of Bamas yards are coming from Ingram, and no Gator has over 800 yards rushing. So its not too hard to see why all of the Gators runners are mentioned, mean while only Ingram is mentioned for Bama.
I think your forgetting this is his 3 keys to Bama winning, or Florida winning. Not, lets name the best players from both teams. Julio Jones is not a key factor for Bama. Julio Jones is a great reciever but against Joe Haden, I dont see him having a break out game, carrying his team on his back. On the contrary I do see Igram carrying his team on his back. Would you rather he said, Mclain and Cody will have to stop UF’s running backs? Maybe he didnt say that because theres 11 players on defense, not 2. Any way, I just think you more biased then Year2, because your looking for Bama to be talked up and praised instead of actually listening to what other people think of the game. Like I said these are his 3 keys to the game, not best players.
"Why does bottled water have an expiration date?"
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