Cotton Bowl confidential: Coach feedback on Alabama-Cincinnati

The three-week buildup is almost over. We’re a day away from the College Football Playoff semifinals — No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Cincinnati and No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 3 Georgia. To help you prepare for the games, On3 gathered feedback from coaches whose teams have faced the four Playoff squads this season; they were promised anonymity so they would be more forthcoming.

Today, we’ll share coaches’ thoughts on the two Cotton Bowl participants, Alabama and Cincinnati. Friday, we’ll delve into the Orange Bowl matchup between Georgia and Michigan.

Alabama (12-1) is favored by 13.5 points over the Bearcats (13-0).

Alabama offense

Led by coordinator Bill O’Brien and Heisman-winning quarterback Bryce Young, Alabama is fourth nationally in scoring (42.5 points per game), sixth in total offense (495.5 yards per game) and 10^th in yards per play (6.72).

The Tide has scored at least 40 points in five of its past seven games, including 41 against a Georgia defense that had held each of the Bulldogs’ previous 12 opponents to 17 or fewer points.

“It’s more of an NFL-style offense, so they’re looking for the matchups,” an SEC secondary coach said. “They do a good job of putting their best players in position to go make plays, regardless of what you do defensively.”

In Alabama’s past six games against Power 5 opponents, Young has averaged 386.0 passing yards per game, with 21 touchdowns (18 passing, three rushing) and only one interception. That includes a school-record 559 passing yards and five touchdown passes during a 42-35 win over Arkansas on November 20 and an SEC title game-record 421 passing yards to go along with four total touchdowns during the Tide’s win over Georgia.

“The maturity, the composure — he’s never rattled,” another SEC defensive coach said. “Good or bad, if you ever look at him, he’s the same throughout the game. When we played him, we got off the field a few times and thought, ‘OK, maybe we might have them.’ And next thing you know, it’s boom, boom, boom. Then you watch the SEC Championship Game and you watch the Auburn game, he’s just composed. That’s who he is. A coach can’t coach that. A coach can’t teach that. That’s something you have to have to be able to believe that no matter the circumstance, I’m going to win the game. That’s something that like Tom Brady and all those guys have, that when the game’s on the line he wants the ball. He has that.”

The Tide offense hasn’t been perfect, though. Alabama managed just 308 yards in a 20-14 win over LSU on November 6 and was held scoreless through three quarters of a 24-22 overtime victory against Auburn on November 27. Now, the offense will have to move forward without standout wide receiver John Metchie, who suffered a season-ending knee injury during the SEC Championship Game.

The loss of Metchie (96 receptions, 1,142 yards, eight TDs) will make Young and the offense even more dependent on Jameson Williams, who ranks third nationally with 15 receiving touchdowns and fifth with 1,445 receiving yards.

One of the other potential issues for the Tide will be the right side of its line, which has been a problem area at different points this season. Auburn and Texas A&M posted a combined 11 sacks against Alabama; Cincinnati has 37 sacks this season. In addition, issues along the line contributed to Alabama finishing with just 6 rushing yards against LSU.

“The biggest thing for us was just apply pressure to the quarterback,” one coach said. “You’ve got to try to move him off his spot a little bit. That’s what we wanted to do, just find a way to attack him because he’s young. When you watch the tape, a lot of people play so much zone and he’ll pick you apart in zone. But our mentality was just to … force these receivers to make contested catches, and we felt good about our guys to be able to run with them other than No. 1 (Williams). Obviously, they had multiple guys, but we had a plan to put our best guy on their best guy and turn our pass rushers loose up front, and it worked for us early.”

Alabama opponents throughout the season identified that right side of the line — center to right tackle — as the weak link of the Tide offense.

“One of the things for us was just attacking the right side of the line when we played them because we felt like (right tackle) Chris Owens and even (Emil) Ekiyor (the right guard), we didn’t feel like Ekiyor was as good as he was last year,” an SEC team official said.

“Between Ekiyor and Chris Owens, we thought we could expose those guys. (Left guard) Javion Cohen and (left tackle) Evan Neal are like a brick wall on the other side, so it did us no good to try to expose them, but we did want to try to create pressure on the right side and I’m sure Cincinnati will try to do stuff. Especially if Seth McLaughlin’s in at center, too. From the center to the right tackle, they’re going to do what they can to expose that, and I think Cincinnati’s got some edge guys to be able to do that, too.”

Alabama defense

Since a few lackluster performances during the first half of the season — specifically during a 31-29 win over Florida and a 41-38 loss to Texas A&M — the Tide defense has been mostly solid.

Led by All-America outside linebacker Will Anderson, Alabama has limited six of its past seven opponents to 24 or fewer points and ranks eighth nationally in total defense (306.1 yards per game).

Anderson, who finished fifth in the Heisman voting, is one of only two Power 5 players in the past 20 years with at least 90 tackles, at least 20 tackles for loss and at least 12 sacks in a season. His current numbers: 91 tackles, 31.5 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks. The NCAA single-season record for TFL is 32, by USF’s George Selvie in 2007.

“He’s just athletically gifted, twitchy, fast, powerful and experienced,” an SEC offensive coach said. “You kind of combine all those things, he’s just at another level. He’s just different.”

In addition to total defense, Alabama also ranks in the top-20 nationally in sacks (third), rush defense (fourth) and third down defense (eighth).

The Tide have limited opponents to only 40 total plays of 20 or more yards, which is tied for sixth-best nationally.

“Where I think they’re better this year than they were last year is how they attack blocks and how they get off blocks,” an SEC team official said. “The second-level guys, the linebackers, the safeties and the nickels, I felt like they attacked and played blocks better with their hands all year long better than they did last year. They’ve just been so violent attacking blocks in the perimeter and defeating blocks in the perimeter.

“That is what I thought from the Miami game, when I first put on the coach’s tape of the Miami game. I’m like, ‘Man, they’re so much more physical with their DBs and linebackers attacking these perimeter blocks and stuff,’ and it seems like it’s been that way all year. That makes it difficult because if you can’t run up the middle, then you’re going to try to do stuff like try to get outside runs, try to do bubble screens, try to do stuff that’s easy completions and hopefully easy yards. But if they’re blowing that up and you can’t run up the middle, you can feel like there’s nowhere to go in a hurry when that starts happening.”

Cincinnati offense

While quarterback Desmond Ridder has gotten most of the attention the past two seasons among Cincinnati’s offensive players, the best player on the Bearcats’ offense may be running back Jerome Ford, an Alabama transfer.

Ford, who ranks seventh nationally with 17 rushing touchdowns, has been one of the nation’s top big-play threats at running back. He’s tied for third nationally with six runs of at least 40 yards and is one of only two players with three 70-plus-yard runs.

Overall, though, Cincinnati is ranked a modest 46th nationally in total offense.

“I think they’re very efficient,” an AAC defensive coordinator said. “They make very few mistakes to hurt themselves. Quarterback makes them go, extends plays with his legs, has a strong arm and can make throws. If I had one knock on him, I don’t think that he’s extremely accurate. But he is good when he’s on the run and he makes plays, and their receivers do make contested catches.

“I wouldn’t consider them to be extremely explosive on offense, but they are extremely efficient. Jerome Ford is one of the best backs in college football. I think he’s legit because he has great balance and body control. He’s explosive and he has elite long speed. The tight ends are big and athletic. Better in the pass game than in the run game. Could be a liability against Alabama blocking, but they do a good job. I think the offensive line this year is not as good as last year. I think their left tackle [junior James Tunstall, a transfer from FCS member Stony Brook] is a huge liability. Their guards are good. Center’s OK. But I feel like they were better last year (along the line).”

Ridder ranks 36th nationally in passing yards per game at 245.6, but he’s one of just eight FBS quarterbacks with at least 30 touchdown passes and fewer than 10 interceptions. He has also run for 361 yards and six scores.

Bearcats wide receiver Alec Pierce was mentioned by two AAC defensive coordinators as being a tough matchup because of his length, “deceptive speed” and ability to make tough, contested catches. Pierce (6 feet 3, 210 pounds) leads Cincinnati with 50 catches, 867 yards and eight receiving touchdowns.

“I have always equated their scheme to playing the triple option because all the RPO and all the split action from the running backs, the tight ends. … (Ridder) can run it or he can throw it out in the flat, and you’ve got to account for quarterback run game,” an AAC defensive coordinator said. “It’s the No. 1 thing that you’ve got to be able to stop. And there are a lot of shifts and motions within the scheme that make them difficult to defend. So same plays, multiple formations, different looks.”

One of the biggest issues for Cincinnati’s offense likely will be its offensive line vs. Alabama’s defensive front.

“I think that’s going to be the hardest thing for Cincinnati, to just get push at the line of scrimmage,” a personnel official said. “And I think for them being able to establish some type of run game will be huge, especially with the corner situation now with Alabama [starting cornerback Josh Jobe is out with a foot injury]. If they can establish a run game and then take shots, I think they’ll have a chance to have at least some success. But I just can’t picture Cincinnati’s o-line being able to get much push at the line of scrimmage against those guys.

“Even the best team they played, Notre Dame, doesn’t have the front anywhere near like Bama has. Obviously, Will Anderson’s a problem, but having an edge guy that’s a problem, you can find ways around that. But if you can’t get any push between your center and guards, it’s a lot harder. So that’ll be tough.”

Cincinnati defense

Cincinnati’s defense features several projected NFL draft picks, including potential first-round cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner and early-round end prospect Myjai Sanders. In all, the Bearcats have seven first-team All-AAC selections on defense. That includes the cornerback opposite Gardner, senior Coby Bryant, who won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back.

“Man, I thought they were really talented,” an AAC offensive coach said. “Obviously, they have those two corners, ‘Sauce’ and Coby, that are able to really lock up the outside guys. We kind of went into it thinking like, ‘Man, maybe we can beat them on some man’ because they play predominantly man (coverage). They’re a man-free team. And it’s hard to run against them because they’re stout up front and they’ve got great linebackers, they’re big, they’re built like I’m sure [coach Luke] Fickell wants. They’re big, like a Big Ten team. And it’s just hard to move the ball on them. They’re very well-coached. Obviously, they take after their head coach, and they just present a lot of issues for you.”

Cincinnati ranks third nationally in defensive yards per play (4.32). Only Georgia (4.01) and Wisconsin (4.10) are better.

In their 24-13 win over Notre Dame, the Bearcats held the Fighting Irish to 22 points below their season scoring average. Notre Dame has scored at least 27 points in each of its other 11 games.

“You kind of think going in because they’re so — not that they’re so simple, but they don’t have to do a lot to stop people — you’re like, ‘Oh, man, we can hit this on them’ or ‘We can hit this on them.’ But when the game comes, they just kind of swallow you a little bit,” an offensive coach said. “They’re just super-talented. And I think it starts with them being well-coached. And then those two corners are really, really, really solid. Now, the safeties aren’t as good. They’re good. But I would say that’s their weakness, the matchups on the inside.”