Nick Saban identifies difficulty stopping big plays from Texas offense

Nick Saban may know the architect of the Texas offense well in Steve Sarkisian, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t weary regarding slowing them down.

With tremendous talent littered throughout the field, Saban recognizes the Longhorns have the ability to create big plays. On Wednesday, the Alabama leader spoke to that point, and how he’s hoping to slow his opponents down.

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“I think the first thing is they have great balance,” Saban said on Wednesday’s SEC coaches’ teleconference. “They do a really good job of running the ball. A lot of these big plays that they make come off of the run game with really good play action passes that are vertical, down the field type patterns that are not always easy to cover. They do a good job in formation and motion, making you adjust when they’re taking those shots. And they’ve got good players to do it.

“So that combination of those things. But the fact that they have great balance, you just can’t be one-dimensional against them, you’ve got to try to stop the running back. And then they take shots with some really good skill players in a really good scheme.”

Regardless, Alabama will be expected to come out with a victory in Austin — they’re double-digit favorites over the Longhorns. Still, Nick Saban isn’t one to take his opponents lightly, and he’s not doing that with Texas.

Nick Saban reveals what makes Steve Sarkisian such a dangerous, successful play-caller

Continuing, Nick Saban spoke about Steve Sarkisian’s offensive mindset during his press conference on Monday. He said Sarkisian’s preparation as well as his understanding of both sides of the football gives him his edge.

“I think he’s a very bright guy. He’s very well organized and did an outstanding job when he was here. He’s got a good system and he understands defense,” said Saban. “(Sarkisian) like to see what you’re in if he can so that he can run a play that’s gonna be an effective play against that particular look or give his players the best chance to be successful. I think all those things and good preparation make you a very, very good play caller.”

Alabama’s offense ranked 16th at 38.8 points per game in 2016 when Sarkisian was an interim OC and analyst. In 2019 and 2020 when he returned to be the Tide’s OC and QB coach, their offense ranked second in both years. They scored 47.2 points a contest in ’19 and 48.5 points a contest in ’20.

Texas’ offense ranked 18th in the nation in Sarkisian’s first season at 35.2 points per game. They enter this weekend’s matchup against Alabama after scoring 52 points in their opener last week.

Saban continued to put focus on Sarkisian’s understanding of defense as the reason he’s so good offensively. Sarkisian diagnoses the situation, calls the correct play, and adds whatever else he needs to confuse his opponent’s defense.

“He has a really good understanding of defense. He has a really good understanding of what he wants to do on offense against certain things on defense. And he tries to implement those in the game,” said Saban. “Whether it’s formationally, using motions, adjustments, eye candy or whatever you want to call it to sort of get the look that they’d like to have and then run that particular play against it.”