Does Alabama Have An Offensive Identity?

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — What is the identity of a Ryan Grubb offense?

One can be forgiven for not being able to come up with a definitive answer to that question. That's why, after Alabama's 26-10 loss to Tennessee on Saturday, more than a season and a half into Grubb's tenure as offensive coordinator, fans and analysts alike are asking questions about the essence of the Crimson Tide's offense.

Grubb tried to answer as many of those questions as possible in Monday's press conference.

"Our identity is to be able to get our playmakers the ball in space," Grubb said. "I think we're a good gap run team. We've shown that. We showed it on Saturday. We had some good gap schemes, inside zone, and duo. That's where it starts up front, getting the double teams, getting four hands on their biggest players, and then exploiting the secondary area where we think their weakest players are."

Alabama was unable to do any of those things effectively in Saturday's contest. With Ryan Coleman-Williams out, the "playmakers" were the quietest they had been all season. Rico Scott led the team with 54 yards, and Marshall Pritchett was second with 39 on six receptions.

One of those receptions came on a tight-end screen on third-and-22, where a Tennessee defender recognized the play pre-snap, started jumping and pointing at Pritchett, and tackled him just past the line of scrimmage when he indeed did get the ball. The moment underscores legitimate concerns about how easy the offense is to read.

"We're certainly aware of that," head coach Kalen DeBoer said. "Marshall has a role. He comes in at certain times, and you know, identifying them is what they (Tennessee) should do. Because he has a certain skill set and certain things that he can do. It doesn't mean that he's getting the ball, but we certainly need to know where he's at."

Alabama has its bye week after this Saturday's game against Texas A&M, providing the staff an opportunity to work with the players on self-scout and tendencies entering what will be the home stretch of the season.

"There's so much information each week that, you know, now you have just touch of the button almost now from what it was maybe five or 10 years ago, 10 years ago for sure," DeBoer said. "We can have that information on every personnel grouping and what our tendencies are."

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