Joel Klatt compares Alabama to 'a Big 12 team from 2017'
Monday has brought more takes on Vanderbilt‘s historic win against Alabama, taking down the Crimson Tide in Nashville. A lot of praise for Clark Lea‘s program has come but most of the conversation surrounds Kalen DeBoer just five games into his tenure. FOX’s Joel Klatt is going a step further and criticizing the structure of Kane Wommack‘s defense.
Many are piling on Wommack and his unit following the Vanderbilt loss but Klatt has noticed issues since Alabama faced USF earlier in the season. Problems on Saturday and even in the second half against Georgia only reassured him that defensive issues would be a season-long struggle.
And with how prolific Jalen Milroe and the offense have been under DeBoer/OC Nick Sheridan, there is an easy comparison for Klatt.
“This Bama team is just another version of the Lincoln Riley OU teams,” Klatt said. “Incredible explosive offense, and they’re gonna be in shootouts the rest of the way. I told you that after the South Florida game and that’s what they are.
“We’ve had four straight games of this. To think, all of a sudden, it’s going to get better — Alabama, right now, is just a Big 12 team from 2017. Bama is gonna have to score 45 PPG in conference to win the rest of their games.”
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Now, the 2017 Oklahoma did have some success thanks to the incredible offensive output. Baker Mayfield wound up winning the Heisman Trophy and the Sooners made the College Football Playoff. An overtime loss to Georgia in the Rose Bowl ended hopes of a national championship.
But all of this was done despite a horrific defensive output in Norman. Oklahoma ranked No. 82 in average yards allowed per game and tied for 68th in scoring defense at 28.8 points per game. In the loss to Georgia, 54 points were scored — 19 more than the Bulldogs’ season average.
Alabama has yet to get that low from a statistical standpoint but is certainly not trending in the right direction. Klatt believes if DeBoer is going to win through the final seven games of the regular season — and potentially in the postseason — his offense will have to carry the load.