Well yes and that was what I attempted to convey from the start of the game. Dr. Lou reiterated it later on. Alabama's calling card is its run game, mixed with play action, a tad of wildcat, Julio on some out patterns the TE drags and a long ball or two for good measure. When Nick did an about face putting the game in McElroy's hands, it actually pumped-up the South Carolina defense, because they were expecting to take it in the mouth and stay out on the field until their tongues were dragging. But Saban chose not to break their will.
McElroy, for as good a field general as he is IMO is out of his element as a gunslinger. He manages, and he is very adepth at it, perhaps better than anyone, because I think that Hanks and Maze are just above average although they both block well downfield.
As for the defense, it would be easy to just to just slough it off and say they are young and inexperienced which they are but the way the game unfolded was a telltale sign of what was to come.
We often see two distinctly different halves in a game but Spurrier knew he had you guessing and had to keep the hammer down of he was going to lose it as evidenced by the failed first possession of the second half.
Still, what we would normally expect with so much time left is Bama grinding it with a controlled short passing game however the South Carolina D was rested and the Bama offensive line looked ordinary and Greg is rattled in spite of having to hear Gary Danielson repeatedly say otherwise.
He held the ball too long and the sacks just worsened the field position.
I thought Bama would have adjusted better at the half, show more patience and pull this one out based on the offensive line pummeling a good South Carolina defensive line with Mark and Trent. They had not failed before as a group and yet the plan never really changed. Alabama beats them seven times out of ten, just not yesterday.
Well, when SC got up pretty big, and you can see they're not going to let off the gas, you kind of have to put it in your QB's hands and start making some throws. The problem? We don't really stretch the field. If we pass it, it's going to be a screen, drag Julio or a TE across the middle, or something like that. McElroy whiffed on reading some wide open guys on post and go routes yesterday. I mean wide-the-fuck-open guys.
Bottom line: outcoached, and outplayed in every way possible. I can explain a million different things that went wrong, but that is the best way to sum it up. We got punked.
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