Football is a game with dozens of mini matchups that interact over the course of 60 minutes. Those can be player-to-player or even coach-to-coach. So, there are multiple reasons why Alabama was able to jump out to a 30-7 halftime lead over Georgia, and there are many more explaining how the Bulldogs erased that deficit and even took a short-lived lead. However, The Monday Read was particularly taken with something the Crimson Tide did on Carson Beck’s first interception of the game, and unpacking it shows just one of many chess matches that evolved throughout the game.
Before the snap, Alabama shows a defensive alignment with no safeties deep, and they run a coverage called Cover 0. It’s seemingly about as straightforward as defensive football can get: seven men on the line of scrimmage, four DBs playing man coverage standing on the line to gain on third-and-8.
Before the snap, the Tide actually rotated into this look with a late change in alignment by their defenders. That prompted Beck to make a check at the line of scrimmage, communicating something to the rest of his offense. Up front, it’s a math problem for Beck. There are seven rushers and (at maximum) six blockers. Someone will come free, and Beck has to get the ball out quickly. It’s a way for the defense to dictate terms to the offense. In a perfect world you get a sack, but if not, the ball’s out and the routes aren’t far enough down field for the first down. The DB just has to make a tackle short of the sticks, and the offense has to punt.
This game of cat and mouse began because Alabama had basically not shown this on film to date this season at all. You might recall a certain defensive-minded coach retired from Alabama in January, and Kane Wommack is now the team’s defensive architect. According to Pro Football Focus, the Tide have only run one snap of Cover 0 all season — vs. Wisconsin along the goal line, where the defense doesn’t have to worry about anything getting behind them. Bama’s also barely blitzed at all this season.
The zero blitz is high risk and high reward play; it is the most aggressive blitz a defense can bring. If the defensive backs bust in coverage or the quarterback can buy just a second extra, it can have disastrous effects (just ask the 2020 New York Jets). Coming into this game, the Tide only brought five or more rushers on four plays this season, each time against USF in Week 2, according to TruMedia.
Bama didn’t bust here, but Georgia had something dialed up that could have beaten the zero blitz: a wide receiver screen. The only problem was a breakdown in communication involving UGA receiver Arian Smith, which Kirby Smart admitted after the game. Smith runs to green grass in the middle of the field instead of getting behind the screen blockers and almost assuredly getting a huge gain. Screens are particularly effective against zero blitzes because so many players are in the offensive backfield there are plenty of blockers to plow the road downfield.
It all comes together to force a mistake. Beck has to get the ball out quickly, and he ends up throwing the ball directly to Bama’s Domani Jackson. The Tide went up 21-0 three plays later.
Over the course of the game, Alabama went back to this look repeatedly in obvious passing situations for Georgia. The pick to Jackson was Georgia’s first normal third-and-long of the game. Of Georgia’s seven drop backs of third-and-8 or more yards, Bama lined up in the Cover 0 look on five of them.
But just because they showed the look presnap doesn’t mean they always brought the blitz, and that’s the point for the defense. Brian Flores’ Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings defenses have been at the forefront of fooling teams from this alignment. Maybe Alabama brings the house, but maybe it doesn’t, and it’s up to Beck and his pass protection to figure that out.
The Tide show the look again on a second-and-10 before halftime, but drop half of the eight players on the line of scrimmage into coverage and Beck throws an errant pass.
On third-and-10, Alabama shows a Cover 0 look presnap, but this time it’s no bluff and Bama gets a safety because Beck’s pass is ruled intentional grounding.
The play Georgia had dialed up this time takes too long to develop. It was essentially three vertical routes, and Beck actually pump fakes to try to freeze the defense back at the bottom of the screen. If he had connected, it would have been a huge gain and perhaps a touchdown. Because of the pressure, though, Beck just doesn’t have enough time to make it work and has to throw a prayer up in an attempt to avoid being sacked for a safety. Up to this point, Georgia’s yet to execute the right answer and Bama’s winning this chess match.
Still down 30-7 in the third quarter, Georgia finally beats the pressure through the air with a quick-hitting wide receiver screen for a gain of more than 40 yards on a second-and-3, only for the play to be called back due to a holding penalty. On the same drive, third-and-10, Bama successfully gets a stop showing the zero look only for for players to drop into coverage. However, the Dawgs converted a fourth-and-short to keep the drive alive. Six plays later, Dominic Lovett takes a quick strike from Beck against the pressure all the way into the red zone for only the second time in the entire game. Georgia scores on the next play to cap a 15-play drive, and the comeback is officially on.
UGA figured out how to handle what the Tide defense was showing them through trial and error. Over the course of the game, the Bulldogs ended up settling on a simple answer: the play with Lovett is simply him taking a couple steps, catching the ball and making someone miss. Keep that in mind if Alabama and Georgia meet in the future. It’s a shame for Dawgs fans that this isn’t a through line to the greatest comeback story in Georgia football history thanks to what happened next.
Notable quotable of the week
UNLV coach Barry Odom said it was business as usual this week but we all know it was anything but in the wake of the Matthew Sluka NIL debacle. It was clear from a few of his former teammates that some UNLV players were fine with Sluka leaving the program. Perhaps they had an inkling about what Hajj-Malik Williams would do in his place, but nobody could have expected 300 total yards and four touchdowns. Fresno State is no slouch, and Williams had a tremendous debut. Allow receiver Ricky White to explain a good use of redirected NIL funds in a quote given to ESPN:
“I would ask that somebody reach out to the Circa CEO and ask him, with that $100,000 that he wanted to donate, give it to our O-line please.”
Coaching carousel opening of the week
Purdue has gotten the coaching carousel off and running. Offensive coordinator Graham Harrell is the first coach or coordinator to be fired during the 2024 season for on-field performance. The Boilermarkers have scored 38 points in four games this season and are around 100th or worse in the country in basically every significant offensive statistical category.
Win of the week
East Tennessee State’s 34-17 win over the Citadel definitely had some added emotion to it after the Buccaneers were stranded for 12 hours and stayed overnight in the parking lot of a homeless shelter due to the effects of Hurricane Helene.
“We end up going over a bridge, and about 10 minutes later, the bridge collapsed,” ETSU coach Tre Lamb said in an interview with The Athletic on Saturday morning. “At that point, we can’t turn back.”
As the team raced through Asheville, North Carolina, to beat road closures and flooding, it received word that two-way traffic on Interstate 40 was shut down due to flooding and mudslides. Its only option was to continue heading south on I-26, but soon after receiving word of the closure, cell service for all 120-130 people in the travel party went down, including the police officer escorting the buses.
“We didn’t have service for 12 hours. No communication with anybody. Could not get through to our wives, our AD, our operations girl who was here at the hotel. That was the most frustrating part,” Lamb said. “We couldn’t get any information.”
The Bucs ended up getting a huge win to come home with and an incredible story to tell.
Thing to flip out about of the week
Perhaps you’ve seen one of the most bizarre pregame videos you’ll ever see when Oklahoma defensive back Makari Vickers is taken out inadvertently by an acrobatic cheerleader flipping down the field?
Vickers was apparently ok after this and played five snaps in the game, according to Pro Football Focus.
Heisman of week
Could it be anyone other than Jalen Milroe? How else do you contextualize 374 yards through the air, two touchdowns, 117 yards on the ground and two TDs that way as well? He let the naysayers know all night and showed the nation what this offense can be under DeBoer.
Research note of the week
What can’t Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty do running the rock?
It’s his fourth career game with 200-plus yards, which ties a Boise State record. He has five touchdown rushes of 50-plus yards, including two in Week 5 night against Washington State. He had three touchdowns in all, the third game he’s done that this season in the Broncos’ four games.
Meal of the week
Tacos so good The Monday Read forgot to take a picture of them at the Bordertown Brooklyn weekly pop-up. Chef Jorge Aguillar makes tacos with homemade flour tortillas using flour he imports from Mexico and pork lard. The tortillas are the star of the show, but the fillings don’t disappoint. The staple frijoles can’t be topped, but the huevos con chorizo comes in a close second.
The thing TMR is already excited for next week
How’s this for a subplot to Clemson’s trip to Tallahassee: DJ Uiagalelei vs. one of his former teams. However, at this point it’s a bit unclear if he’s going to play. Brock Glenn replaced him in the loss to SMU Saturday night, and Uiagelelei clearly was battling a hand injury. FSU needs a win in the worst way, and Clemson lookis nothing like the team that got blasted by Georgia to start the season.
