Pete Golding describes what he looks for in an elite Alabama defense

Back when Nick Saban began winning national championships with the Alabama Crimson Tide, it was thanks to some of the best defenses in the country. While it’s been the offensive show over the past couple of seasons, there are still not many teams who would want to face the Crimson Tide defense.

Alabama defensive coordinator Pete Golding was asked what his unit’s identity was heading in the College Football Playoff semifinal against Cincinnati. He explained how they are able to cover up some mistakes because of four or five traits.

“Hopefully, we’re getting to the identity of this defense of tough, competitive people that love playing football, that play with passion, play with discipline, and play with great effort,” Golding said. “You can cover up a lot of mistakes in football with speed and effort. We’re not going to be perfect. Those kids aren’t perfect, I am not perfect. There are going to be things during the game where we make a mistake but if we’re playing fast and we’re playing tough and we’re playing physical, I think sometimes you can have those mistakes with effort.

“I think that’s something that has shown up. Obviously, there have been games where it’s been a negative yardage play or we’ve gotten off the field on third down and I can assure you all 11 weren’t on the same page and do everything correctly but one guy made a decision for maximum effort and to do a great job and he beat his guy.

Golding talks about preperation for Alabama Crimson Tide

Golding continued to talk about what he looks in from his defense but on the preparation side. With a tough Cincinnati squad on the way, with quarterback Desmond Ridder leading the way, the defensive coordinator said they have been studying everything the Bearcats have done this year.

“I think a lot of it comes up in the preparation aspect. You got to get 11 guys that feel comfortable with what you’re doing. We see a lot of different things that we don’t prepare for. We prepare for everything they’ve done over history of wherever they’ve been and then we put issues on tape with problems we’ve had throughout the year with other opponents that they feel like they’re going to do versus us because it’s been successful. You try to prepare your guys for everything that they could see.”