by Kyle Golik
Question: Does Alabama have a discipline issue?
Answer: YES
While the Crimson Tide was much cleaner this week in the penalty department, committing only five penalties this week against USF, compared to 10 last week versus Texas, they still had costly penalties that took away great field position and points off the board.
In the first half, after Kool-Aid McKinstry‘s muffed punt, the defense held USF to only a field goal. Trailing 3-0 on the ensuing kickoff, Alabama returner Terrion Arnold had an apparent 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, but the play was negated by a holding penalty on the kickoff, placing the ball on the Alabama 12-yard line.
Late in the second half, freshman tackle Kadyn Proctor committed a holding penalty that negated a 16-yard Roydell Williams touchdown. While Alabama was able to overcome the mental errors, a team struggling so hard to find any traction offensively can ill afford costly mistakes like this.
Saban will continue to emphasize better discipline on this young team.
The Crimson Tide benefitted from playing an offensive incompetent team. If USF had any offensive competency, especially in the passing game, Alabama would have lost this game.
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Question: Does Alabama have run defense issues?
Answer: NO
Up until the final Alabama possession, where the Crimson Tide depended heavily on Roydell Williams on an 11-play 80-yard drive that milked nearly six minutes of game time off the clock, USF had outrushed Alabama 177 to 123.
Alabama, a season ago, yielded only 130.4 yards per game on the ground, and many Crimson Tide fans felt the much-maligned defensive coordinator Pete Golding wasn’t the answer at all. Golding departed during the 2023 offseason, and Saban replaced him with a familiar face in Kevin Steele.
While Alabama held Texas to 2.8 yards per carry last week, this week, USF averaged nearly four yards per carry. The difference was USF’s only option on offense was quarterback Byrum Brown’s scrambles that nearly hit 100 yards rushing.
I don’t feel there is much to worry about here, but some minor refinements that Saban and Steele will iron out over practice this week.
Question: Does Alabama’s offensive line lack physicality?
Answer: YES
It’s amazing to think with all the high-end talent and size Alabama has on the offensive line, it lacks physicality, but it does, especially on pass blocking.
One of the graphics shown during the ESPN telecast displayed the size advantage Alabama enjoys on the offensive line, and it is as large as many NFL offensive lines, including three offensive linemen above 350 lbs. But during this week’s game, I did not see any sign of the expected physical dominance by that unit until the end of the game, when the USF defensive line was completely gassed.
Last season, USF surrendered 41.2 points per game, which was 130th in the country, and surrendered defense 516.6 yards per game. Alabama could only muster 310 yards of total offense today and did not get its first explosive play (20+ yards) until 6:28 left in the third quarter when quarterback Ty Simpson connected with tight end CJ Dippre on a 45-yard reception that set up a Roydell Williams touchdown.
Even with the transfer portal, there isn’t a bevy of elite defensive talent flocking to Tampa to play for USF. USF seemed to demonstrate that it possessed an elite defense that finished with five sacks and eight tackles for loss.
The star for USF was defensive back Daquan Evans. Evans, a 5’11” 190-pound defensive back, finished with eight tackles, four tackles for loss, three sacks, and a pass breakup.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Crimson Tide as they begin their SEC in-conference schedule with Ole Miss.
While the offensive line seemed to get momentum and play extremely physical on a run-heavy 11-play final possession, it seemed to not get its footing in pass protection at all during the game.
“We didn’t execute great, so I don’t feel good about that,” Saban said. “But the way we competed in the game, I thought, was outstanding.”
Getting some semblance of physicality will be a priority and needs to be remedied ASAP.
Question: Has Alabama found an offensive identity?
Answer: YES
While Saban was seeking to find a resolution to the quarterback situation — more on that in a minute — it did find along the way an offensive identity upon which to build momentum: a physical ground game.
Senior running back Roydell Williams stepped up, and it looks like he will be able to complement fellow senior running back Jase McClellan. Williams and McClellan combined for 203 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries against the Bulls.
It also seemed the offensive line began to gel in the fourth quarter on run blocking, and opened massive holes for Williams, who was instrumental in securing a tough victory for the Crimson Tide.
Until Alabama figures out its quarterback situation, it is going to have to rely on power football and an opportunistic defense to get them through.
Question: Who should be quarterback for the Crimson Tide?
Answer: MILROE
Alabama has a significant quarterback situation, and to be honest, they really don’t have a good option, no matter where they turn to.
What I can say is Tyler Buchner was a disaster.
While it was reasoned that Buchner has intimate knowledge of offensive coordinator Tommy Rees’ scheme and could execute at a higher level against an inferior opponent, that simply did not happen on Saturday. Coming into the matchup, the Bulls had surrendered 282 yards passing a game to opponents last season and this season surrendered 374 to Florida A&M and 336 to Western Kentucky. They allowed only 107 yards to Alabama.
Buchner finished passing five for 14 for 34 yards and was not effective by any means and was replaced by freshman Ty Simpson.
Simpson wasn’t that much better, finishing five for nine passing for 73 yards, and had a rushing touchdown to put the Tide up 17-3.
Saban was mum after the game about the direction of the quarterback situation, “I know you’re going to ask about the quarterbacks,” he told reporters. “We’re going to evaluate the quarterbacks that played today and evaluate Jalen Milroe in terms of how he played and decide this week who gives us the best opportunity to be successful as an offensive team. And that’s the way we’ll go.”
Amongst the three quarterbacks, I feel Milroe is the best option. While Milroe doesn’t have the touch on short and intermediate passing, he does have a good touch on the deep throws.
What may benefit the Crimson Tide in the interim is the dual-threat ability of Milroe to help masquerade the issues on the offensive line with his ability to scramble and extend plays.
Simpson may have the bigger upside, but that wasn’t on display today when he had an opportunity to make an emphatic statement. With that said, rallying around Milroe and developing Simpson, to me, is the best course of action for the Crimson Tide at the moment.
