{"id":16372,"date":"2023-09-11T17:26:48","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T22:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=16372"},"modified":"2023-09-11T17:26:48","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T22:26:48","slug":"nick-saban-addresses-alabama-offenses-lack-of-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/nick-saban-addresses-alabama-offenses-lack-of-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Saban addresses Alabama offense\u2019s lack of identity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Before\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/alabama-crimson-tide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alabama<\/a> can take a step forward, it must find solid ground. On Monday, head coach <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/db\/coach\/nick-saban-133646\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nick Saban<\/a><\/strong> discussed the Crimson Tide\u2019s offense and its lack of identity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know that in this past game we had much of an identity in the pass game,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=E_CckAW0xlI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Saban said<\/a>. \u201cWe started out early in the game being able to run the ball effectively. And we did not mix up the play action pass  to complement the run game and, eventually, it got harder and harder to run the ball. We did make some explosive plays on offense, but it\u2019s too hit or miss. You got to have consistency, to be able to sustain drives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Consistent drives were few and far between in Alabama\u2019s 34-24 loss to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/texas-longhorns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Texas<\/a>. In the defeat, the Crimson Tide converted on just 5-14 (35.7%) of its third-down attempts. Worse, the team didn\u2019t always make it to third down.<\/p>\n<p>Alabama committed two turnovers on Saturday, both interceptions. Even when the ball wasn\u2019t picked off by defenders, QB <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/db\/jalen-milroe-54407\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jalen Milroe<\/a><\/strong> struggled to find his targets. Alabama tallied just 255 passing yards in the loss, nearly 100 less yards than Texas\u2019 passing total.<\/p>\n<h2>Nick Saban wants to find an identity in the run game<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cWe made explosive plays, but we weren\u2019t consistent enough in terms of developing identity,\u201d Saban said. \u201cThe identity that we\u2019d like to have is to be physical enough to be able to run the ball consistently, effectively.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut also be able to have a good play-action game to go with it, be able to drop back when we need to and be efficient and effective in all those areas. I can\u2019t say that we were in this game. Other than making some explosive plays, we didn\u2019t do that well enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alabama\u2019s run game wasn\u2019t excellent, but it was one of the few areas where it outmatched the Longhorns. In the loss, Alabama averaged 3.1 yards per rushing, picking 107 yards on the ground. Meanwhile, Texas collected just 2.8 yards per carry.<\/p>\n<p>While Alabama\u2019s quarterback room struggles to find consistency, its running backs must step up. With players like senior <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/db\/jase-mcclellan-57326\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jase McClellan<\/a><\/strong>, who boasted 655 yards and seven rushing touchdowns in 2022, Alabama has the pieces to build a scary ground game.<\/p>\n<p>Now, it must put those pieces together. Otherwise, the Crimson Tide\u2019s College Football Playoff hopes will wash away. After Alabama\u2019s loss, the program dropped seven spots in the AP Top 25, falling to No. 10. Alabama will aim to bounce back on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET against\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/college\/usf-bulls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">South Florida<\/a>. The game will be broadcast on ABC.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/college\/alabama-crimson-tide\/news\/nick-saban-addresses-alabama-offenses-lack-of-identity\/\">Nick Saban addresses Alabama offense\u2019s lack of identity<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/admin.on3.com\/\">On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before\u2019s Alabama can take a step forward, it must find solid ground. On Monday, head&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16372\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}