Greg McElroy goes inside the improvements Alabama has made since Texas loss

Greg McElroy believes Alabama has found their identity and improved by leaps and bounds since their loss to Texas.

The outlook was bleak for the Crimson Tide following their loss to the Longhorns, but McElroy joined The Paul Finebaum Show to explain why he believes that’s all changed for Nick Saban and company in the weeks since.

“I do think Alabama had a bit of an identity crisis early on. They wanted to be a team that imposed their will along the line-of-scrimmage. They wanted to play defense, complimentary football. That was the adjustment that they’ve talked about all offseason. The offensive line just didn’t materialize early on. I think they were kind of trying to figure out their personnel at quarterback. What is Jalen [Milroe] comfortable doing? Here’s what he’s done well in practice, let’s see if he can handle that,” McElroy said. “I think early in the season, I think against Middle Tennessee they probably realized, ‘Hey, let’s drop him back some,’ because we know he can do quarterback-run, let’s drop him back and see how he handles it. Then against Texas, obviously a couple mistakes led to that game being a little more sideways than it was, but at the time, people didn’t really believe in Texas. I mean, they were a good team, a talented team but you know, they’ll blow it. That’s what I think a lot of people thought, and as we’ve moved forward six, seven weeks, people are starting to realize this is a legit, national championship contender.

“Bama played them pretty well, with the exception of about four plays. Two turnovers, and two big plays over the top. But those are the four plays that win and lose championships. So I think Alabama’s doing just fine. This will be a really difficult matchup this weekend against Texas A&M, but I really believe that they’ve improved drastically from where they were just a few weeks ago.”

A couple victories since the Texas loss has people charting out Alabama’s path to the College Football Playoff, and it’s one that makes sense. However, one part of the team many aren’t exactly sold on yet is Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Tommy Rees.

Greg McElroy sounds off on Tommy Rees’ job developing Alabama’s offense

As for McElroy, he explained why Rees has improved at an impressive rate in developing the Alabama offense, and it’s been part of the reason the victories are coming for the Crimson Tide.

“Well, he had to learn his personnel, first and foremost. It took a couple of weeks for him to figure out what that personnel was going to be. I mean look, if Jalen Milroe had gone out in camp and lit it up, then it probably would’ve been easier to design an offense that is exclusively built for his skillset. But knowing that his skillset is so unique, that in the event in which they put everything, every single egg into that basket early on, if he were to get dinged up, well the backup quarterback’s skillset is very different from what Jalen Milroe is going to be. So they wanted to kind of have an offense that could be capable of beating you in several different ways,” said McElroy. “Now, they’ve realized as Jalen’s gotten more comfortable, here’s what he does well. Here’s what we need to do to put him in the best position to be successful. Conversely, how do we get the players around him to play better as well? Who’s our best matchup weapon on the outside? Are we going to make sure that our big left tackle is comfortable, because speed is going to give him some issues at 375 pounds. He’s never seen speed like he’s going to see at this level.

“I think he just needed to have a little bit of this process, this feeling out. He’s a really smart coach. I still strongly believe in his hiring. But every single coordinator in the history of Alabama football, especially on the offensive side, has been heavily scrutinized. … That’s just the way it is. But I think Tommy has a good plan for how to combat what might be some liabilities inside his own offense.”

It won’t be an easy game for Alabama this weekend against Texas A&M, but Greg McElroy believes the Crimson Tide are well-suited for victory. Time will tell if he’s right, or if Nick Saban’s squad suffers their second loss of the season on Saturday.