Coach Herb and “When the freaks come out” was again impressive this year, but I have just not seen a single (surely I missed a lot of them?) aggressive block by an offensive lineman on a run play. Are we still so tentative because we are not sure of what we are supposed to be doing? We have the size, apparently the strength, and know the snap count (which the defense does not), so why are we not knocking holes (at least occasionally) for our running backs? Thoughts?
I did see some successful blocks on many plays Saturday night, but if you turn someone loose, they make the tackle and you don’t notice the ones that were successful. I do think the amount of running game yards are hard to notice because of six sacks. There were 131 yards gained running. Austin Allen actually ran for 39, but lost 49. There were 58 yards lost total to reduce the net to 58. Rawleigh Williams averaged 3.8. Devwah Whaley averaged 4.2. Kody Walker averaged 3.8. Some of the positive rushing yards by the backs came late when Alabama was rushing the passer, as it should have been.
Okay, so there were (at least somewhat) successful blocks that you observed which I probably missed while watching the running back get tackled for little or no gain. The statistics that you cite are somewhat anemic (given, Alabama has a very stingy defensive line in the base case, but what about the other games also), and I can understand that it only takes one great play by a single defender to result in a play for few or little yardage. And, inexperienced players make mistakes. However, you would think that occasionally every player would do the correct thing and we would have a large gain on the ground. Where are those plays? Any ideas why they are so few or nonexistent? What has happened to the running game for which Coach B.B. has been so well known for in the past?
Apparently Arkansas’s blocking against Bama was the worst ever.