Why Alabama is finally ready to stuff Ohio State's tempo attack

Published Dec. 28, 2014 2:30 p.m. ET

Stewart Mandel

NEW ORLEANS -- The knock on Alabama’s generally stout defenses the past few years was that they struggled to adjust to the sport’s hurry-up no-huddle craze. Up-tempo teams Texas A&M, Auburn and Oklahoma handed the Tide their only defeats in 2012 and ’13.

Alabama’s opponent in Thursday’s playoff semifinal game, Ohio State, loves to play fast.

But the 2014 Tide defense is much better equipped to face up-tempo teams than years past in large part because Alabama’s own offense joined the no-huddle craze this season. Under coordinator Lane Kiffin’s direction, the Tide increased their plays-per-game from 65.9 to 72.8.

“We’ve exposed our guys more this year than ever to [tempo],” Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart said here Sunday. “… We practice differently by going against our offense that now has a tempo package. We try to start every practice with tempo to do things to get better at it.”

It was only last February that head coach Nick Saban was leading the charge to curb college hurry-up offenses under the guise of purported player safety concerns. All the while, though, he was making systemic changes in his program to better maximize tempo on offense and better prepare for it on defense.

For one thing, Alabama was late to the party in terms of utilizing deeper defensive rotations to keep its guys fresh. The depth chart lists Jonathan Allen, A’Shawn Robinson and Jarran Reed as the Tide’s starting defensive linemen, but Dalvin Tomlinson, D.J. Pettway and Brandon Ivory all saw significant action.

“You go talk to teams, that’s the No. 1 thing they do that we didn’t do as much,” said Smart. “We were more of a pro mentality -- play the best 53. Now we’ve got to use more guys, especially in the defensive line, where they get more exhausted faster.”

Alabama goes into Thursday’s game sporting the nation’s ninth-ranked defense when adjusted for tempo (4.68 yards per play), a seemingly impressive showing yet not nearly as exalted as the Tide’s 2009 (4.08), 2011 (3.32) and 2012 (4.18) national championship defenses. Smart called this year’s secondary a “mixed bag” that gave up more big plays than previous years’ squads. And Smart cringed when asked about Alabama’s 55-44 Iron Bowl shootout against Auburn, a game he said “exposed” the Tide’s secondary and served as a wake-up call.

But even though Auburn coach Gus Malzahn is one of the sport’s most prominent hurry-up proponents, Smart said the Tigers weren’t as successful against the Tide when they went fast.

“Less teams try to go fast when you execute fast,” he said. “So it’s not like we had every team try to do it. Not as many tried to do it as they did in the past.”

So the bigger issue this week will be Ohio State’s talent. Smart and the Tide’s players were effusive in their praise of the Buckeyes’ skill players, in particular tailback Ezekiel Elliott and a speedy receiving corps that Smart said is actually deeper than Auburn’s.

“Every single one of their skill positions can fly,” said Allen.

“They look a lot like an SEC team,” said cornerback Cyrus Jones. “Speed-wise they have a lot of guys that can run, and their backs are very physical and run hard.”

While Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman does utilize tempo, it’s not like the Buckeyes are Oregon or Baylor. In fact, Ohio State runs barely more plays per game (73.9) than Alabama (72.8), though that stat is deceiving due to the fact so many of Ohio State’s games were decided by halftime.

Tempo may well prove a deciding factor Thursday, but it could be either team’s offense that exploits the other’s defense.

Stewart Mandel is a senior college sports columnist for FOXSports.com. He covered college football and basketball for 15 years at Sports Illustrated. His new book, "The Thinking Fan's Guide to the College Football Playoff," is now available on Amazon. You can follow him on Twitter @slmandel. Send emails and Mailbag questions to Stewart.Mandel@fox.com.