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At Nick Saban’s press conference on Monday, it became clear that Texas A&M presents a host of challenges, perhaps most deceptively on defense.
The Aggies are tied for 16th in the nation with 20 quarterback sacks. However, Alabama ranks first in the nation in the same category with 27 sacks.
Texas A&M is stronger in takeaways than Alabama with 17 compared with Alabama’s 14, although the Tide has been more effective at cashing in on the takeaways. Alabama’s 11 non-offensive touchdowns this season represent more points than South Carolina’s offense has produced.
Saban isn’t ready to give away any secrets to his team’s success either.
“If we tell everybody what we do, then what do we do when we play them?” he asked.
While most are focusing on the enticing matchup of A&M’s versatile offense vs. Alabama’s opportunistic defense, the matchup on the opposite side, that of Alabama’s run-heavy offense vs. A&M’s aggressive defense, is still an intriguing one.
Two things to consider: Jalen Hurts has brought a new wrinkle to Alabama’s offense, but Myles Garrett is back from injury this week against Alabama. Last season, Garrett could rush the passer and have better odds of getting a sack with Jake Coker standing in the pocket. Defensive ends have caught Hurts’ blind side, but he is better at eluding the potential sack than Coker.
“I just think that he adds an extra element to it that makes the defense have to account for him, which makes them in some cases a little softer on some of the other things that we do, which I think all of those things complement each other to help our offensive team,” Saban said.
Alabama runs the read-option a lot more this season than in 2015, but Saban said it isn’t all that different from plays Alabama ran in the past.
“This is sort of the direction that we wanted to go that we started with Blake Sims,” he said. “Jake (Coker) was a different type of guy, and he did what he did very well. But now we’re sort of back, even beyond what we did with Blake Sims, which I think has made us the most effective offense based on the skill sets that we have. We still want to have elements of pro-style in what we do so that we can control the game when we need to — being able to run the ball and throw it in the pocket if we need to.”
At some point this season, Alabama will find it more challenging to pick up rushing yards. So far, the team has mostly run over opponents, tallying more than 400 against Tennessee. In all likelihood, A&M isn’t the game where the rushing attack falters. A&M offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone scoffed at Alabama containing the Aggies, saying, “We’re not Tennessee.”
And yet, the Volunteers managed to rush for 282 yards in a double-overtime win over the Aggies.
If not against Texas A&M, the Alabama rushing attack could very well face its biggest test against LSU. However, A&M presents a challenge by the pressure it applies to opposing quarterbacks. Saban wants more out of the passing element of his offense.
“I still think that we need to make some improvements in the overall passing game, whether it’s protection, route-running, reading, getting the ball out of our hand, especially when you play against a team like this who can rush and the pace of the game is going to speed up,” Saban said. “There’s plenty for us to work on and to continue to build on the things that we’ve done well, but we’ve got lots of things to work on and to improve on.”
