Everything Ryan Grubb Said After LSU Win, Previewing Oklahoma

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama football offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb held a press conference on Monday morning after the No. 4 Crimson Tide's 20-9 win against LSU over the weekend. Grubb discussed the running game, the team's downfield passing, communication along the line of scrimmage and more. A full transcript, along with press conference video, is published below.

On struggles in the run game:

“I don’t think it’s a mental thing. I think there are some physical things that the guys know we have to do a little bit better. I know we have to battle to make those things right. I don’t think it’s a mental issue. I don’t think there was a bunch of missed assignments or some guys getting beat at the point of attack at times. We got to improve that, and we will."

On whether he worried Ty Simpson would take a shot during double-pass trick play against LSU:

“No, not any more than dropping back and getting hit. No, Ty’s pretty athletic. He knows to keep his head on a swivel.”

On what he has seen from Oklahoma's defense:

“Very multiple. They do a great job. Coach Venables has obviously been around a long time. He knows how to do it. He’s a guy that’s going to look to attack your weaknesses. He’s got a very specific game plan for each offense. I think that’s what makes him somewhat unique is that how he attacks Ole Miss isn’t necessarily how he attacks Texas, and so on and so forth. The multiple looks up front, they have a lot of defensive looks as far as the secondary and how they match to the fronts, and how they mix that up and utilize their personnel in different ways. They got a big kid, No. 5, who’s kind of like the Simmons kid they had at Clemson. They move him all over the field and he’s super athletic. They create different pictures for you, which as an offensive guy, I can really look at and appreciate. He’s going to make you earn it.”

On the strides he would like to see Alabama make in downfield passing:

“The low-hanging fruit there is complete the big open ones. Those are the things I think there’s a little bit of carry over there from the previous [weeks], just getting the ball out earlier and on time and making sure that we give our guys a chance at the football down the field. Obviously, we had a couple that didn’t hit there that would have been big plays, that we had guys open on. I think some of those things you can overthink at times where we’ve seen those guys make those plays a million times out on the practice field. Just getting in a situation where we feel better about when that ball’s coming out, staying on time with our footwork, footwork’s matching the throw. Just staying confident in that process."

On run blocking:

“Yeah, I see it. They’re there. A big part is being able to handle movement. And then just having, you know, bent knees, low angles, tight hands and tight feet. Sometimes, I think, right now we play with our feet a little bit long on our second step, all the details we have to be better at. And some of our double teams have lacked coming together. That’s all the things we need to keep working on. The guys know what it is. I believe in them. I know that they are able to get it done. We just got to stick to the process. Right now, if we continue to just… What I told the guys is if we’re only focused on the outcome right now, I think that’s part of the problem is there’s too much noise right now, or they’re listening to the narrative of ‘We can’t do this, we can’t do that.’ We need to focus on what we can do. And there’s some things we’re really good at. And it’s not showing up right now, but it will. We got good players that are committed to the process. We’re lucky to have them."

On Oklahoma's ability to gather information:

"For sure on all fronts. They're good at that, number one. And number two, we're changing everything. So, if Coach Venables is listening, just know they're all changing. They do everything within the parameters of the game. Nothing illegal about what they do, they're good at what they do. Certainly have to take that into consideration."

On correlation between the running game and struggles with the deep ball:

"Always. It's not a maybe thing. Consistency in the running game is going to allocate more people to the box and open up the throws down the field. We just, I think as far as opportunities, for not having a ton of success running the football on Saturday I thought we had really good opportunities to take shots down the field. It didn't feel like it after the game, but I think four of our top 12 explosive plays on the season happened on Saturday night, so we had some big hits. That's how you got to keep people out of those -- heavy boxes, lot of people in there, trying to make it hard on you, blitzing, things like that. You've got to make them pay. We did, we just didn't enough. We had probably three other hits that would have been 40-plus yard completions. Those are the ones that when you eventually hit 50-yard touchdowns and things like that, they will stop doing it. It's our job to make sure they stop doing it."

On the message to the offensive line against Oklahoma's defense, one of the best in the country:

"I think. Not, I think. I know that our communication has to be elite. That's the one thing that we probably don't talk about enough. Characteristic of a good offensive line, physically you want to have that, but the number one thing is communication. When you have problems in the interior gaps and you don't take care of the interior gaps, whether it's pass protection or run blocking, those problems happen quick. When we have problems on the inside, that's when the TFLs and the sacks come from. The quarterback's eyes will drop from pressure and people being in his face when it's in between the tackles. If stuff happens outside the edge, typically you can deal with that. But interior issues are where all the, you get behind the chains. Whether it's a 4-yard loss on an inside zone run or it's a sack from a guy stepping right up the B gap, those where all your problems happen. To me, our guys, we've got to have a great week of communicating at the line of scrimmage. That's the thing I really challenged the guys with. They'll go after this and they're gonna be excited about the process with Parker, everybody just listening to Parker, and what he says is what we're doing, and stick together with one count. Because if you're gonna be wrong, be wrong together. As simple as it sounds, if you're wrong together, the problem's gonna be outside, not inside, if we're all moving in the same direction. We can't have half the line doing one thing and the other half of the line doing another. If we stick to that, we'll always have a chance. Whether we're protecting Ty or running the football. We've got to do a great job of that this week, and certainly Oklahoma will challenge us on that."