Book's poorer games. Bad throws and missed some open receivers.
- continue to find the passing game a head scratcher. Really odd to see multiple receivers running nearly identical routes in the same general vicinity.
- I generally like the run game, but I don't think ND runs enough play action to have the run help set up the deep pass.
- comparing the creativity of the ND offense to Alabama's is like comparing a high school team to a college program
- option into the boundary on a 3rd and long? WTF!
- the RPO game killed the ND defense - why doesn't ND have more of that installed? Most of Bama's RPOs either were a slant behind the LB or a bubble screen. ND had no answer.
- the DB play was awful...bad angles, easy releases off the LOS, too much cushion, bad alignments. There didn't seem to be a real coverage plan
I think the game Monday night will come down to Alabama's DBs ability to play man-to-man coverage. I wasn't all that impressed with Bama's defense, I suspect they'll need to bring a safety into the box to help stop the run. That, in turn, will force man-to-man on the outside. I don't expect to see OSU's defense stop bama's offense. I see a very high-scoring game, especially if OSU is able to score early with a deep pass.