All-22 Breakdown: Alabama Preview

Ohio State is set to take on Alabama in the CFP National Championship on January 11th. Alabama enters the contest at 12-0 with one of the most dominant offenses in college football. To see what makes Alabama so explosive on offense, we broke down the SEC Title game and a Steve Sarkisian clinic talk to coaches over his offensive philosophy.

Alabama comes in as the No. 6 offense in college football. They have elite talent all across the board, and offensive coordinator Sarkisian does a great job distributing the ball. As we uncover what their offense truly is, it will surprise you that it is actually quite simple.

Alabama bases their offense out of 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR), and will mix in 12 (1 RB, 2 TE). Alabama heavily uses bunch sets for a variety of reasons. First, this closes in a defense and gives the offense space to the hash and sideline.

Second, Alabama runs mesh (think crossers) and this cuts down how much grass they have to cover along with protection time.

Third, it forces defenses to be really gap sound and screws with run fits. Sark takes it a step further and will motion receivers from bunch sets, but will not get away from his core philosophy.

Sarkisian bases his entire philosophy on offense starting with the inside/outside zone. Sarkisian RPO’s every single run scheme that they utilize, forcing the defenses to cover the entire length of the field. In a clinic from 2019, Sarkisian states, “The whole premise is to run the ball until you tell me that I can’t. We then build on that to RPO’s, PAP, and 3 step”. He wants all of his core plays to build in that order and all look the same.

Sark will always put a defender in conflict and ensure he is never running the ball into bad looks. This is the same line of thinking of what Clemson does on offense, but in a different way. Sark will play inside the box and force defenders out of it with RPO’s. He has built in answers to whatever a defense throws at him, but starts his offense with inside zone. To put it best, Alabama and Sark can get it done with the run and the pass.

Here is the run concept that Sark builds his offense on. This is a basic lead inside zone, that is tagged with a hitch route into the boundary. Before the snap, Florida has 6 defenders in the box vs. Alabama’s 6 defenders.

QB Mac Jones has an outlet throw to WR DeVonta Smith if given cushion like he is here. To the front side of the play, Alabama has slant RPO’s to read the Mike LB. If he plays the run quickly, Jones can pull and throw the slant in behind. There are multiple options for Jones to hit, and for the defense to account for.

To offer a constraint on his lead zone, Sark runs split zone. On split zone, the TE is responsible for the back side C gap defender. Jones is reading the apex defender aligned over #2. If the apex defender plays the D gap, Jones gets the ball out to the #2 WR. On this example, the apex defender runs with #2, and the safety plays the D gap.

Alabama will consistently run G/H counter. In this example, they run it from bunch. The backside guard will pull and kick the end man on the line of scrimmage. The "H" back will pull to lead. The thing with counter, Alabama runs their most explosive RPO's off it.

Counter is a downhill running scheme that influences LB's. Because of this, Alabama will run skinny posts/slants right behind it.

Many of the teams Alabama played in 2020, tried to play man vs bunch. This is odd, because bunch usually attracts zone coverage and teams will "banjo" it. Meaning, zone defenders will take a first in, first out approach. With LB's being influenced with the run, and teams playing man coverage behind it, it has been explosive.

Alabama ran G/H counter vs Florida for much success. Off this, Alabama would run a "glance" RPO. For QB Mac Jones, this is a pre-snap identifier for a give or throw. This is in the same line of NFL thinking of giving the QB two calls at the line of scrimmage.

Jones obviously sees that the safety is down in the box, with man coverage on the Heisman winner. If the safety is out of the box and a zone coverage look, the ball would go to Najee Harris.

Lastly, Alabama will run Duo. Like I mentioned before, Alabama likes to play in the box in the run game. Duo is power without the puller. This gives the offense more double teams at the point of attack. The X receiver push-cracks the safety (D gap run fitter), and the corner now has to be the force player.

Moving on from the run game, Sark then finally ends his offensive philosophy with the drop back game and play-action pass. Sark mentions many times that he builds his offense on what his QB can do. He mentioned that Mac Jones is more of a progressive thinker and very organized.

He wants things consistent, and in a 1-2-3 style approach. Compare that to Tua Tagovailoa where he could adjust things at the line and signal to his WR’s what he wanted. In 2020, Alabama is more of a progression based offense.

In terms of play-action, Alabama runs it all off their run game action. Alabama likes to pull a lot of offensive lineman in play-action protection. Again this just puts LB's in a bind, as well as the defensive line. With the defensive line, they are getting a run read. Instead of rushing the passer, they are defending the run. LB's are trying to fit the run in the box when routes are getting run in their coverage area.

In this example, the BSG pulls just as he would in counter. This forces the LB's to play their run fit first, just like the video below. This opens up space for a basic Y-Cross concept that gets hit behind the Mike LB. Jones is first reading the go route from the #1 WR to the boundary, then to the crosser.

In 2020, Alabama is running crossers over and over and over in their drop back game. They are forcing defenses to run the entire length of the field all night. This is even more true when defenses are in man coverage. Seeing that Ohio State does mix in man, the Buckeyes DB's need to be conditioned.

Sark believes in his receivers catching the ball on the run vs. in a stationary position, and this attributes to the gross amount of crossing routes they run. Within these crossing patterns, Alabama will pick DB's to get them out of position.

On this "wave" concept that Sark loves, the read starts with the front side post by #1, and then to the cross by Smith. Jones is excellent at getting through his progressions and hits his second. This concept takes forever to protect, and this is where the Buckeyes need to game plan. With the amount of crossers Alabama runs, the defensive line has to get to Jones.

In Sark's drop back game, he utilizes mesh as a focal point. He believes if a team is in man coverage, he will run defenders all night in mesh and crossing routes. If Ohio State wants to try and play cover 1, expect to see this pass concept. Jones starts his progression to the RB on a wheel, then to the mesh coming to the backs side.

Here, Jones gets to his second progression and Smith makes a great play. Clemson ran this same concept early in the game vs Ohio State while in cover 1, and it led to a 30 yard gain.

When Alabama bunch's their formation, expect the "mesh" concept. The goal is to pick DB's and get them out of position. Florida luckily plays cover 2 behind it, and gets it hit for a 4 yard gain. This again requires protection to uphold, so getting to Jones will be important.

Lastly, another thing that stood out breaking down Alabama was how they got the ball to the back in the passing game. According to Sark, they are the least utilized position when passing the football. It was more apparent when defenses played cover 1, and it forced LB's to try and cover Harris. Again, this just isn't going to end well.

Unfortunately for Florida, they tried to play man and zone against Harris in the passing game. On each occasion, he still scored. This was especially true in the red zone. On this example, Alabama runs "snag", and Harris is the horizontal flat route.

With motion from a bunch set, the corner leverages inside too far, and Harris gets to the sideline quickly.

Again, running bunch sets gives you space to the hash and sideline.

Alabama will also use Harris on option routes. Here, Alabama runs a stick, H option. The LB on Harris plays with outside leverage, and Harris runs a inside slant route. Harris is also given the option to run a out if the LB has inside leverage.

This has been the everlasting question for defenses playing Alabama. To add my two cents, I think Ohio State needs to force Alabama into run looks.

First, Ohio State needs to have 5 DB's (nickel) on the field for a majority of the game. For starters, Ohio State would benefit lining up in a 2 high shell, giving Alabama favorable numbers in the run game.

This would play into Ohio States ultimate strength on defense, which is their defensive line and linebackers. The 2 high shell would offer back support for the explosive play makers that Alabama employs.

This would force Alabama to string together drives, which they are not accustomed to playing. A bigger goal is to put an end to what Alabama does well, and that is getting the ball to Smith.

To stop Smith and force Alabama to get the ball to someone else, they can "bracket" Smith from a 2 high look. If Jaylen Waddle does in fact play, Ohio State can bracket both sides of the field from a 2 high look. Again, this puts 2 sets of eyes on Alabama's best receivers.

With Ohio State primarily in a 1 high look, this will force pass looks. This will play into Alabama's strength, which is throwing the football. This is why I am a big proponent on forcing run looks and playing to the Buckeyes strength, as well as being protected as much as possible in the back end with bracket coverage.