The way you beat Bama is establishing the run and throwing the ball. We need to establish the run and take the medium passes Bama will flat out give you all day long. Bama in their "close" games (yes, that is a relative term) has given up: 421 passing and 101 rushing to TSUN; 400 yard passing and 73 rushing to Arky; 164 passing & 114 rushing to A&M; and 92 yards in the air & 33 rushing LSU. We need to rush for at least 200 yards on the ground and also pass for another 250-300 yards. We aren't gonna be able to bomb away on Bama, but we have the talent to take the medium range passes they will give up and potentially bust a few big gainers. However we have to be able to keep pressure on Bama's D with the run. Make them respect our run and the passing game will work much much better. Also let Johnson continue calling offensive plays this week (added as an edit).

Believe it or not, again this week we want Bama throwing the ball. Bama isn't used to winning games through the air on top tier talent and will want to lean on the run game. We must limit the success of their run game and put all the pressure on Hurts to beat us with his arm. Hurts has been dynamic most of the year but he has looked like a true freshman the last 2 games. Why...D's limiting the run game and him having it all on his arm. However, our O has to be able to move the ball or we will end up like LSU in the second half. So again this week, our D must maintaining pressure, containment duties, and not giving up huge pads to the Bama receivers. We want our DBs being in tight to the Bama receivers and batting balls. We need to have 2-3 picks of Hurts in this game to have a legitimate chance.

Lastly, we need our special teams to be clicking on all cylinders. We need special teams to give us an edge in the field position game. We also need to let Dear be the main returner. We are getting to many fair catches from Ross and Gray. Let Dear return as we need yards after punt and not just a fair catch, so make a change. We also need to have Graves kicking med to short FGs like he does extra points. He drives extra points right down the middle, so have him kick FGs the same dang way. We are going to need to get points from special teams to give us a shot at a W.