By Kyle Golik
Paul Finebaum can finally say it out loud and say it proud in his Tennessee orange checkerbox overalls that the Alabama dynasty is over. This opening line shouldn’t be taken out of context and it isn’t being disrespectful. We can look back and typically will pinpoint a time and place when it actually happened.
I feel when Georgia cornerback Kelee Ringo had the pick-six in Indianapolis for the national championship, that was the moment the Alabama dynasty truly died. This isn’t to slight the job Nick Saban did in his final two seasons.
I always say you know you have a great coach when he can scheme a win or two that should have been losses with vulnerabilities in key areas. That was Alabama in 2022 and 2023, the latter to me was one of Saban’s best coaching jobs throughout his career.
If you want more proof of that claim, look at the 2024 team for evidence of the difference a coach can be.
What’s wrong with the Alabama offense?
Alabama is not playing complimentary offensive football right now. This reminds me of the 2022 group where fans often blamed the much maligned offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien for their woes.
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As O’Brien has Boston College rejuvenated this season, current offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan is feeling the heat a bit. While Sheridan’s group through seven games has averaged 164.3 rushing yards this season, that is inflated by the Crimson Tide’s weak out-of-conference schedule. In SEC conference play, Alabama has averaged 109 yards per game on the ground, down from the 238 yard per game they averaged in non-conference games.
Take away the Georgia game where the Crimson Tide had 173 yards, Alabama is averaging 87.7 rushing yards per game, that isn’t going to get it done.
This was also the fourth consecutive game where running back duo Jam Miller (12 carries, 42 yards) and Justice Haynes (8 carries, 22 yards, touchdown) failed to reach 50 rushing yards individually.
There is a legitimate argument that quarterback Jalen Milroe is simply doing too much as a dual threat. Milroe has carried the ball 91 times this season, compared to Miller and Haynes combining for 110 carries. This is uneven from a season ago where Jase McClellan and Roydell Williams combined for 291 carries to Milroe’s 161.
I personally feel Haynes and Miller aren’t getting enough touches to get into rhythm as the competition has stiffened defensively.
I feel when I watch Milroe this season in comparison to last season, he is more inefficient. The overall numbers don’t bear that out, but when you begin to dissect his 2024 season it has been really telling.
During Milroe’s first four games, Milroe had three games with 90 or higher QBR. In Milroe’s last three games he has averaged 71.8 QBR, but during that span Milroe’s performance has regressed each week from 76.7 against Vanderbilt to 65.3 against Tennessee.
One of the reasons Saban benched Milroe was over turnovers, those turnovers cost Alabama the Texas game last season. After the benching, Milroe had four interceptions the rest of the way. Milroe had two turnovers against Tennessee, it was his fourth consecutive game with a turnover (6 interceptions, 1 fumble lost), but even more concerning it was his third consecutive game with multiple turnovers.
The mistakes Milroe is making with the ball might be a carry over from him trying to do too much and putting unnecessary pressure on himself.
Lastly, Alabama’s discipline issues continue to rear its ugly head. For the third time this season, Alabama had 10 or more penalties in the game. Alabama is averaging 8.9 penalties per game which is 128th in the nation. This isn’t a new revelation for Alabama fans, and something Saban was never truly ever to fix. If Alabama continues their lack of discipline, it will be the fourth time in six seasons that Alabama will finish 100th or worse in penalties.
This year’s group has been penalized 62 times for 548 yards, they are on pace for Alabama’s third season of 100 or more penalties committed in the last four seasons.
Current Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said the following after the disappointing Tennessee loss:
“It’s a little bit of everything. It’s false starts, you know, just getting off to a rough start there, and then there’s a couple more intermixed in there. There’s some mental mistakes, you know. The two games, right, earlier in the year and this one, you just can’t get over the hump and it’s going to put you in situations where you got your backs to the wall. And we can’t kill ourselves like that. There’s times where you see like we’re locked in, but we got to be better. There’s no question. You can’t win a football game when you have mistakes like we had out there, and all the penalties.”
While DeBoer inherited the discipline issues, the issues with Milroe have festered again. I firmly believe it was Saban’s discipline that kept Milroe in line. DeBoer being laissez-faire with Milroe, DeBoer gave Michael Penix Jr. autonomy as well, maybe Milroe simply isn’t as disciplined as Penix and needs that structure.
There were times last season when you forgot who Dillon Johnson was for Washington, we shouldn’t be surprised when Haynes and Miller get the football. Ultimately, DeBoer has to get into position to fix his recipe. This may have worked at Sioux Falls, Fresno State, and Washington but it won’t work at Alabama. The more DeBoer resists tightening up his team, this won’t be an anomaly for Alabama and DeBoer won’t be in Tuscaloosa long because this isn’t the recipe for a championship team. Alabama has seen the real thing and knows it.
