Following Alabama’s loss on Saturday night to Tennessee, many college football followers have questioned the playcalling of Alabama head coach Nick Saban, especially in the closing seconds of regulation.
With the game tied 49-49, the Crimson Tide were driving for the game-winning score in Tennessee territory. Rather than run the football and use the clock, the Crimson Tide opted to pass on three straight downs before attempting a field goal, which they missed. That allowed the Volunteers to get the ball back and drive the ball down the field for the game-winning field goal.
CBS Sports college football analyst Rick Neuheisel called out Saban’s playcalling at the end of the game.
Here’s what Neuheisel said Monday on the Dan Patrick Show (via Saturday Down South):
“Not only does [Saban] recruit the best talent, but he manages games extremely well. You have to run the ball at the end of that game. You have to run the ball and not only try to get a few more yards for your kicker; you have to make Tennessee use their timeouts. Without those timeouts, Tennessee can’t get themselves back into field goal range.”
Neuheisel — a former head coach at Colorado, Washington, and UCLA — also compared Tennessee to the 2019 national champion LSU Tigers.
“It will all be reliant on the success of their quarterback in the Josh Heupel system. … When you spread people out, you can basically pick your poison as to how you’re going to play them. If they go out and spread with us, we have a running game inside, including with the quarterback run. … The offense works as long as you have a trigger man. I kind of liken this team now to what we saw in 2019 with (Joe) Burrow and company. Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, this receiving corps, and remember Cedric Tillman’s not available, he wasn’t available this game. … This is a really potent offense.”
After their win Saturday, Tennessee is now favored to make the College Football Playoff.
About Stacey Mickles
Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.