Cincinnati was obviously more concerned with getting beat over the top and giving up quick, explosive scores than with Alabama having to sustain long, clock-eating drives that required a lot of snaps to score. If it works, it keeps the scoring down and increases the likelihood of the offense committing costly mistakes and drive-killing penalties, especially an offense like Alabama's that is not accustomed to playing ground and pound. Frankly, while watching the game I would have preferred to see a more heavy dose of the ground game than we saw. Far more often than not when we passed, Young was under heavy pressure and was frequently getting hit as he released the ball. He didn't have a lot of time to find receivers and his passes were often not very accurate due to the pressure and an inability to follow through on his throws and/or his receivers having insufficient time to get separation. That resulted in several drives in which we had been successfully gashing them with the run to stall. Had Cincy's offense not been completely deprived of oxygen by the Bama defense it might have kept the game closer for them. A perfect example was the blocked pass attempt by Mathis (I believe) that prevented a sure TD after Kool-aid's ankles had been completely broken by a Cincy receiver.
Great win, and it was satisfying to see us finally beat up a defense with a consistent ground game. You win them any way you can, but as a long-time Alabama fan it was good to finally see a ground and pound performance from the offense. My only gripe with the game was seeing subpar pass protection rearing its ugly head again.
Great win, and it was satisfying to see us finally beat up a defense with a consistent ground game. You win them any way you can, but as a long-time Alabama fan it was good to finally see a ground and pound performance from the offense. My only gripe with the game was seeing subpar pass protection rearing its ugly head again.
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