Why Alabama Changed Rushing Strategy After Strong First Drive vs. Florida State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Alabama football's running backs combined for 42 yards on the No. 8 Crimson Tide's 16-play touchdown drive to open this past Saturday's game at Florida State. The group finished the game with 67 yards, as the offense moved away from the run in the 31-17 loss.

"Some of it, probably the later part, is the run game can be a softening process at times, and you hope that you can play with the lead or get into that late third and fourth quarter and really put the hammer down," offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said Monday. "Obviously, we didn't get that opportunity late in the football game."

The Crimson Tide trailed 24-7 at one point, eventually rallying back to bring the game to within one score. However, the opening touchdown was the only time the Crimson Tide held the advantage on the scoreboard during the contest.

"That certainly is a part of it," Grubb said. "I think that some of the run hits and adjustments they made at some point, we had to try to overcome that. And they did. We had some nice third-quarter run hits, but we've gotta keep the lead and stay ahead of the chains. The biggest part for us was honestly staying on the field, the third downs, being able to stay out there and sustain the run game."

Senior starter Jam Miller got hurt during the team's second scrimmage in camp midway through August. In his place, four different running backs saw the field in the game. Richard Young led in carries with nine (of 19), while redshirt freshman Kevin Riley had 31 yards on the ground to lead the stable.

"Kev... showed up. I thought he showed a good burst. That's something we're excited to see, was who, what game reps were gonna show up from what running back," Grubb said. "You always wanna have, I think we had right around 20 running back touches in the run game.

"You'd love that number to be higher, like 25 to 30... We've gotta be able to run the ball in any situation. Down two scores or not."

The team had approximately two weeks to prepare for how the game plan was going to take shape with Miller unavailable. Grubb said the way the group was utilized strategically did not have to do with Miller's status. Reps were limited for all four players. Young played well with 16 yards on the opening drive (Riley had 17); he and his teammates were hampered by pass-heavy play calling.

Apart from Young and Riley, Daniel Hill and Dre Washington also made appearances in the backfield at Doak Campbell Stadium. Hill had nine yards on three carries. Washington got his feet wet in his Alabama debut, but without much to show for it on the stat sheet, collecting one yard on two carries.

Florida State did not struggle even slightly to run the football. All four touchdowns scored by the home squad were on the ground. Seven players combined for 230 rushing yards. Quarterback Tommy Castellanos (78 rushing yards and a score) was able to use his legs to make life tough for the Crimson Tide defense all afternoon.

Alabama hopes to have Miller back by its SEC opener at Georgia on Sept. 27. No matter who is or isn't in the backfield, or how the passing game has evolved, 67 total rushing yards by tailbacks in a true road game against a Power Four team isn't usually going to yield a ton in the way of results.

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