For the last few weeks, Alabama has faced pro-style offenses, but this week it will see something different when the Ole Miss Rebels come to Tuscaloosa.
The Rebels made the switch to a no-huddle, spread offense this offseason under first-year head coach Hugh Freeze and have had relative success with it so far.
Through four weeks of the season, Ole Miss has averaged 36.8 points per game and have done it with tremendous balance, averaging 259.8 yards rushing and 228.3 passing. Last season, the Rebels finished 114th in total offensive yards per game, but are up to 24th under Freeze.
“Ole Miss is really, a much, much, much improved team,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. “The offensive numbers that they’ve been able to put up against everyone that they’ve played — they have been very, very impressive.”
It’s the Rebels’ up-tempo style that has captured the Crimson Tide coach’s attention. Rather than huddling after every play to get a new call in, Freeze has his team rushing back to the line of scrimmage, looking to the sidelines for the call and snapping the ball as quickly as possible. This creates confusion for the defense, which has to make adjustments without much time to communicate.
Saban compared it to Auburn’s offense under former offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.
“We just basically ‘muddle huddle’,” linebacker C.J. Mosley said. “Where everybody kind of gets in their position so they won’t be running all over the field once they get ready. It’s kind of hard to simulate that kind of thing in practice. But the main thing we’ve got to do is just everybody look to the sideline at coach. It’s all about communication.”
Conditioning will be the key, as the Tide tries to keep its best players on the field, but team depth will be equally important. With Alabama winning big the last few weeks, reserve players have gotten significant playing time at the end of games. As players get tired faster, reserves are counted on to quickly substitute in and contribute right away.
“We’re going to play against a team that’s going to try to run 80 plays on offense. That’s their goal,” Saban said. “More players are going to have to contribute and the players that play are going to have to be able to sustain their performance for a longer period of time.”
Another feature of Ole Miss’ offense is the read option, where the quarterback makes a split-second decision of whether to hand the ball off to the running back, or keep it himself. The key is reading the defensive end opposite the quarterback — hence the name “read option.” If he crashes in to stop the run, the quarterback keeps it. But if he stays in place, the running back gets the ball.
Alabama saw a little bit of read option during its season opener vs. Michigan. Wolverines quarterback Denard Robinson was held to just 27 yards on 10 carries and Vincent Smith led all Michigan rushers with 33 yards.
“As a defense, we’ve got to be ready for things like that,” Mosley said. “We worked on it during camp and actually did it during spring ball. We kind of practice on other teams so when the time comes we have some film on what we need to do and what we need to improve on.”
