Clemson vs Alabama: How to Stop the Crimson Tide Offense

It will be key, in the Clemson vs Alabama game, for the Tigers to stop the Crimson Tide’s offense. Here is how Clemson stops Alabama Monday night.

The Clemson vs Alabama game is just two days away from kickoff. The Crimson Tide are extremely talented on both sides of the ball and have one of the best defensive front-sevens, if not the best, in the nation.

As good as their defense is, the game may very well be won by who wins the match up between Clemson’s defense and Alabama’s offense. Let’s take a look at how the Tigers stop the Crimson Tide offensive attack Monday night.

Run Game:

Obviously, everything starts up front with the Alabama offense. They have a talented group of offensive linemen and Derrick Henry that makes the power run game so valuable to them as an offense.

At some point, we all know Derrick Henry will break off a run or make a play. That’s just what Heisman Trophy winners do, but the key is to keep getting in the backfield and meet him before he is able to gain momentum and get going. The key to this is penetration by the defensive line. If he gets to the second level, you’re going to have to gain tackle him, which you will have to do some anyway, but the key is to get in the backfield.

In addition to the traditional power running game, Alabama will also run out of the spread. They love to run out the 113 Pistol set and give the ball up the middle to Derrick Henry or sometimes go off the tackle. They will lineup with three wide receivers on one side and this spreads the defense out, which opens up the run-game for the Tide.

Passing Game:

Basically, once you get out of the run sets for the Crimson Tide offense, you begin to look at the passing game. They have Jake Coker, who is your basic pro-style offensive quarterback. He will make plays when they are given to him, but nothing he does just blows you away. Here is what you’ll see from Bama’s passing game.

There are three situations in which you will see Alabama throw the ball:

1. Passing downs
2. Screens
3. Play Action

Sometimes these three overlap, but this is when you will see the Crimson Tide air the ball out. If they get into 2nd and maybe 3rd down and intermediate, you will begin to see them throw the ball. Also, if they get down and have to start mounting a comeback, you will see them throw the ball a lot. Outside of passing downs, here are the other things you will see from Bama’s offense.

You will see screens. Screens are easy ways to get the ball out of your quarterback’s hands and into the playmaker’s on the outside. They will throw to Calvin Ridley and company at least a few times to test Clemson’s corner backs and see if they can make tackles out in the open field.

The last way you will see Alabama throw the ball is through the play-action pass. After running the ball with Derrick Henry five times in a row, the Crimson Tide will elect to try and make the defense forget about the passing game and then..BOOM. The play-action bomb.

Bottomline:

The bottomline is that the Crimson Tide are not a one-dimensional offense, but you know that they will look to run the ball the first. At the end of the day, if Clemson wants to stop the Alabama offense, they have to stop the run game. I’m not saying you can’t give up any yardage, but you, without a doubt, need to get into the backfield and make Derrick Henry earn his yards.

More tigers: Clemson will beat Alabama, There I Said It.

It all starts up front. If the defensive line gets a push up front, it will make it harder for Henry to run the ball and will put more pressure on Jake Coker to make plays and won’t allow him to stand in the pocket and pick the secondary apart.