SEC Lovers and Haters

Jan 8, 2013, 5:28 PM

After watching Notre "Shame" get blown out by Alabama, most college football fans are convinced that the Crimson Tide are one of the best teams that has ever played. Rightly so. The Alabama defense was stout, holding Notre Dame scoreless until the third quarter, and the Tide was even better on offense. The Tide rolled, and racked up 28 points before Notre Dame scored even one! By the end of the night Notre Dame had scored 14 and Alabama had scored a whopping 42! It was an easy victory for the Tide, but was it as amazing as many would lead you to believe? No!

Here's what you have to consider after last night's game. First, Alabama is a great team, deserving of all the accolades that comes with a championship, but Notre Dame is a great team as well. The problem is that while Notre Dame is a great team, they do not have a great offense. The Alabama defense easily stopped the Irish's ball carriers and their freshman QB was able to do little to bring them back from what was certainly an insurmountable deficit. But why was Alabama able to crush Notre Dame's offense so easily? Answer: scheme.

The Alabama defense, just like most other SEC defenses, is setup to stop a top tier rushing attack and a long, downfield passing game. The one thing that the Tide struggles with is a true spread offense. Take their loss to Texas A&M for example. The Aggies, lead by freshman standout Johnny Manziel, employ the use of a spread offense, enabling them to move the ball quickly, but mostly in short bursts. Often the spread will sort of substitute a 5 yard completion for a 5 yard run. Traditional offenses like the I-Formation, Singleback, and even a Read-Option will gain short yardage through the use of the running game. So how does that change what a defense does?

Easy, it forces the defenders to drop into coverage and play the pass on nearly every play. When a Spread offense is able to establish a simple rushing attack, coupled with lots of short yardage passes, the defense is forced to choose between either stacking the box to prevent the run, blitzing to prevent the pass, or dropping into coverage to prevent the completion. Obviously the defense cannot do all three at once. In the case of most SEC defenses, you will notice extreme pressure being placed on the QB of the opposing team. Why? Blitzing!

SEC teams use complex blitz schemes to confuse most QBs and offensive linemen, hopefully forcing an errant throw and possibly resulting in an interception. This is why when Clemson played against LSU in the Chick-Fil-A bowl QB Tajh Boyd seemed to be under constant pressure. Most offenses, especially those that are built in a traditional manner of establishing the run first, have difficulty dealing with this; however, correctly run spread offenses are able to throw the ball quickly to a receiver left open by a blitzing linebacker or defensive back. We have seen this a million times when an offense runs a HB screen.

Basically what happens is the HB is able to slip through uncovered because the defender that would normally cover him is in the backfield trying to sack the quarterback. One of two things results from a good short passing game. Either the offense will continue to be forced to throw quick passes and moving the ball slowly, or the defense will have to blitz less or with less defenders. Once the defense backs up a bit, a good spread team will be able to run to any of the gaps effectively.

Pretty much, my reasoning is, because Notre Dame runs a more traditional style offense, Alabama was able to maintain pressure on the QB, forcing 3rd down and long, and three and outs. Good job Tide, bad job Brian Kelly. Notre Dame failed to adapt to the increased pressure from the Alabama defense, leading to a crushing defeat.

I say all of this just to make one statement, and one statement only. Say what you want, but Clemson could have played Alabama closer, and dare I say could have had a shot at winning.

Clemson's offense against LSU was faced with the same type of pressure that Notre Dame felt against Alabama. The difference is that because Clemson runs a Pistol Spread offense, and runs it right mind you, they were able to utilize quick passing routes and multiple ball carriers to work their way down the field slowly, eventually culminating in a win against a defense that was supposed to be one of the best in the country, a team that was supposed to be "one game short" of a national championship.

So SEC lovers.... SHUT UP! We did it against LSU, we could do it against Alabama.

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A NC doesn't mean he can be excused for putting a sorry excuse for an offense on the field.

The amount of points that Clemson scored doesn't matter. Obviously you either didn't read my post well or you don't understand the multiple applications and abilities of a well run spread offense.

You see, a good offensive coordinator knows that a spread offense can do two things extremely well.

1. Score Points

- If a team has a weak defense or is easily exposed by big plays, then a spread offense can score extremely well, often resulting in final scores in the 40s and 50s.

2. Ball Control

- In a situation where a spread offense faces a good defense that achieves its goals through pressure on the QB, a coordinator can use short, quick throws to hit the flats and the second level, taking advantage of the blitzing linebackers and defensive backs. Often times this results in long scoring drives, running lots of time off the game clock, wearing down the opposing defense, and ultimately limiting the amount of snaps one's opponent can take.

The latter would explain Clemson's defeat of LSU. You see, Chad Morris understood the fact that he wasn't going to put up 50 on LSU, and that's fine. What he did instead was wear on the LSU defense the entire game. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around there was no more gas left in the tank; those big, physical defensive linemen had turned into nothing more than big stumbling blobs. The secondary could no longer keep up with the Clemson receivers, forcing them to drop into zone coverage. That is when Morris called the play on 4th and 16. Hopkins got just behind the defender, and Boyd threw a perfect pass. The rest is pretty much history, sir.

It's time for you to face the facts man. Clemson imposed it's gameplan on LSU. The real Tigers from the real Death Valley beat the Bayou Bengals from Baton Rouge.

There is still hope for your offense though. Since LSU loves stealing other schools' logos and traditions they could take something from Georgia Tech. Instead of being the "Ramblin' Wreck" LSU could be the "Bumblin' Stumblin'". Makes sense

SEC Lovers and Haters

Now just go on to bed and sleep it off. Useless!!!

??? You ^^^ make no sense***

Re: SEC Lovers and Haters

How many spread offenses do they EVEN see? 2? Bama, LSU

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LSU just got another

So if LSU's offense isn't even halfway decent then how did

Re: So if LSU's offense isn't even halfway decent then how did

Re: So if LSU's offense isn't even halfway decent then how did

Re: So if LSU's offense isn't even halfway decent then how did

Re: So if LSU's offense isn't even halfway decent then how did

Whoaa. That was long.

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Watching Clemson vs LSU again.

Re: Watching Clemson vs LSU again.

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