Rhett Lashlee feels confident about recipe for success against Alabama

Miami’s offensive coordinator, Rhett Lashlee, knows what it’s like to go up against a Nick Saban-led defense at Alabama. Lashlee was the offensive coordinator at Auburn for a few years under former head coach Gus Mahlzahn.

Lashlee coached at Auburn for three years from 2013-16, coaching the quarterbacks and handling the offensive coordinator duties.

Speaking to reporters earlier this the week, Lashlee wasn’t shy about heaping praise on the Alabama defense.

He called the Tide defense a “complete” defense and said he knows why “everybody is considering them the best defense going into the season.”

That being said, there seems to be a rising level of confidence coming from Lashlee about the Hurricanes’ plan to attack the Tide defense on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EST in Atlanta.

“If you look at the history,” Lashlee said entering his second year with Miami. “Not many people give them trouble but the ones who have had a quarterback — with the exception of LSU and Joe Burrow a few years ago — they have a quarterback who can also hurt you with his feet.”

The Sporting News‘s Matt Hayes discussed the theory of dual-threat quarterbacks giving Alabama’s defenses problems and went into detail about why running quarterbacks seem to be a thorn in Nick Saban’s side.

What’s the weak link in the Alabama defense under Saban, according to Hayes?

“It begins and ends with the aggressive man-under defense the Tide play on a majority of passing downs. Alabama believes it can get pressure with its defensive line, then matches up with man coverage on the outside and underneath and leaves two safeties over the top to protect the deep halves of the field.”

Any coach that goes up against Nick Saban knows he better be thoroughly prepared.

Saban is the architect of some of the greatest defenses in college football history; so when a coach starts talking about how confident they are in their game plan, backing it up is easier said than done.

Lashlee does have experience with a coach that gave Saban plenty of problems at Auburn. His old boss, former Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn, went 3-5 against Alabama in their eight Iron Bowl meetings.

3-5 doesn’t sound very good but when one is talking about the empire of dominance that is Alabama football and Nick Saban, that’s about as impressive a record as one will find in a college coach.

Consider this stat. Nick Saban has gone 64-8 in regular-season conference play in his ten seasons at Alabama. Malzahn handed him three of those eight losses. That’s impressive.

D’Eriq King is one of the most dynamic dual-threat quarterbacks in college football, but many analysts and media members are saying this is Alabama’s best defense in years. That’s a scary thought.

SEC Network’s Gene Chizik recently said he thought Alabama’s linebackers could be the best unit in the SEC.

How will D’Eriq King hold up against Alabama’s stacked defense?

Saturday, Sept. 4 at 3:30 p.m. is when college football fans will get their answer to this question and more. The game will be nationally televised on ABC.