PREDICTABLE: Alabama Football Offense EXPOSED—Is Ryan Grubb the Problem After Loss to Tennessee?

This is the Locked On Podcast Network, celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Hey, sports fans, it's JD, the host of Locked On Cardinals. And did you know with the Discover Cashback Card, it's payback time when you earn cash back on everyday purchases. Activate and earn 5% cash back at different categories each quarter on up to $1,500 in purchases. That's 5% cash back at different places each quarter, like grocery stores, on gas, and at restaurants. It pays to Discover. Terms apply. See discover.com/five for details. There are a lot of problems with Alabama right now, but is Grubb the main one? You are Locked On Bama, your daily podcast on the Alabama Crimson Tide. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team, every day. I'm Luke Robinson. That's Alabama Internet legend, Jimmy Stein. This is Locked On Bama. Thanks for making Locked On the number one sports podcast network there is. You guys are the best, and FanDuel is the best, as they are the sponsor of this particular episode of Locked On Bama. So, thank you guys so much. Jimmy, lots to get into today. Ryan Grubb, chances are, if he were to go to City Cafe, he wouldn't be able to get even a meeting too. Because he, you know, if anybody ever went to City Cafe, he had the meeting three, he probably wouldn't give him the extra three. Anybody got Tuscaloosa memories? That's good. That's bad. Okay, but it doesn't matter. So Grubb has taken a lot of heat, and he should. Have you seen the film review from that Landon Tengwell or whatever his name is, and then also just some other things that are out there, like the way that we're kind of tipping plays with the Tennessee linebacker knew we were going to run that dead gum tight in screen, which by the way, it doesn't seem to be working anymore, period. But he was just jumping up and down, pointing at Marshall Pritchett, like his tight in screen, and he, I mean, he was right there. Are we just that predictable? Well, the same film guys were praising us, you know, earlier this season, they were praising Alabama. Now, now it's, you know, now it's the Keystone Cops. So, I mean, to me, I don't discount the work. Those guys do, I watch it, and I think it's really good. I'm just, you know, noticing that when things are going well, they're showing film and they're like, look, how good this is. And Alabama was really good. And then reach an eight day stretch to where they're sort of not. But the thing about football, and this is true in the NFL college, it always feels like the team is whatever you saw them last. The last time we saw the team, that's what you are. And I get that. And it's largely true, right? But this St. Malabama team played hard, and played well enough to beat Georgia just nine days ago. Just nine days ago from right now, they played well enough to beat Georgia. Before that, they were 5-0, and averaging 45 points a game. I am not saying what happened in Tennessee is an overreaction. No, it deserves all of this reaction. All I'm saying is, I'm not throwing the baby out of the bathwater just yet. I don't think what you saw on Saturday is going to be what you see these last five Saturdays. I don't believe that. I'm ready to be proven wrong for all of you going, saying, oh yes, it will be. That's exactly what they're gonna look like against A&M and LSU and Chattanooga and Auburn. That's exactly what they're gonna look like. I doubt it, but we'll see. Well, first of all, I think that we will get into Tech's A&M as the week goes on, obviously, but I do think we'll look better. Tech's A&M is, I mean, I went to their message board and it's like a funeral over there. And it's bad. And they also didn't, I mean, they beat Citadel 41 to nothing. And I know they were probably as vanilla as vanilla could be. But they also, I mean, Marcel Reed was something like 8 of 13 passing for 130 yards. I mean, again, he only played two quarters, I know. And they weren't going to tip their cap a lot. And they probably wanted to rest as many people as they could because they catch a schedule break, which is something else I want to get into. But I'm just very concerned about Grubbs being so predictable. And the latest tweet that was out there about how Alabama has looked in their first drives over the last several games, it is abysmal. And look, I know the same people were praising Alabama a couple of weeks ago. Sure, they were. But this is a week-to-week game. And you're judged on what you just did lately. And that's what people do. And what he's done lately, even things like Florida State, I guess as a positive, Florida State really did beat Miami. They beat Miami and they just didn't get credit for it. Well, I shouldn't say they beat them. They would have still had to get the two-point conversion, whatever. They should have at least had a chance. And Miami didn't score nearly as many points as we did. And they went to overtime. So, I mean, that should count for something. I think it should. I think it should. Again, I get that it is a what have you done for me lately sport and by what have you done for me lately? It means what have you done for me in the last 15 minutes? It's that sport. So, that's why this is the react that it is what it is. But Alabama is still the same team. It's done a lot of very offensive things offensively. I think that tweet that you just brought up or that stat you just brought up, I think the last 14 games and showed what Alabama's done on its initial possession and it's really, really abysmally terrible. It flat out is, no doubt. But I would point out that Alabama won most of those games and in several of those games, Alabama scored a lot of points. So, that's what I mean by, we, you know, I think when things go bad, everybody tends to see to go, gosh, things are really awful right now. Maybe they are, but I think there's a little bit of a bounce back. One word of warning about A&M, though. Yes, A&M has been bad. They've been a bad football team, but two points. Auburn had been a bad football team. They just went and beat number one Georgia on their home field. So, don't think that can't happen. After a bye week, by the way, which A&M essentially had. Which A&M essentially had. They had what I think is better than a bye week, because they actually got to feel good about themselves. Instead of just wondering if they're still terrible. Secondly, A&M's problems have mostly been the offensive side of the ball. Luke pointed out some of their iffy stats, even against Citadel. That's on offense. Defensively, that pitch just shut out. They're pretty good defensively. In fact, I think they're in the top four in the league in scoring defense, which is pretty crazy considering how bad their season has been. But who are those four defenses that are at the very top? Georgia, Tennessee, Texas A&M, LSU. That's your four best defenses in this league. Alabama's playing them all in a row. And don't think for one second that what happened on Saturday isn't at least partially due to the fact that Tennessee is very, very good defensively. They just are. So that's a factor as well. A&M is also pretty good defensively. They've been a mess on offense. And I do think that we're going to spend all week talking about Grubb. I think the onus is on Kane Womack this week. Dude, you got to hold them to seven or ten points to give the offense a chance to find itself again. That means holding the opposition to seven or ten points. And A&M has not been good on offense. There's no reason to think they should be able to have a scorefest against Alabama. There's no reason to believe that. So I really think there's a lot of pressure on the defense this week. They need to come close to pitching a shutout here. And I'll question whether they have that in them. I mean, because there was some disappointments defensively against Tennessee as well, particularly in the second half. And we'll talk about the D more in the second segment. But one other thing I want to throw out there, I need people to read between the lines here. Because I can't divulge too terribly much without potentially getting somebody in trouble. But I can tell you this. There are some folks that have serious connections to the Bama program that have messaged me secretly and said, I certainly would like to see Derrick Nicks call in plays. Now, maybe that's an overreaction. Maybe it is. I know that some fans have said it. Trust me, this guy is more than a fan. And it does beg the question, would we have been better off? Because you look at these last two games, we've scored 13 points in the last six quarters. Seven of those came on a gift of a turnover on about, what, the 13-yard line or something. I can't remember exactly where it was. And I famously don't watch losses again, so I'm not going to watch this loss again, so I may never know. But yeah, it's, there's some very, very big problems right now with the offense. And I just can't, I mean, if somebody will say, well, Rayson Agathe's out and Ryan Coleman Williams out, I just can't believe that those two would have made, I don't know that they would have made any different. You said yesterday, you think with the score still 26-10, I believe you. The way we played with such a lack of enthusiasm. Yeah, I don't know if it's Georgia hangover. What I do question the competitive fire they had against Tennessee, I would question that. But I didn't question it the week before against Georgia, nor in the first five games before that. So maybe there was some Georgia hangover. Did Georgia beat you twice? That's a good question. Did Georgia beat you twice? DeBoer warned us about that. Don't let Georgia beat you twice. I don't think it's that simple because it's not giving Tennessee enough credit. So I don't think it's that simple. But I do think that I'd not question the competitive fire on the team until this past Saturday. And DeBoer's teams have done this at least once a year since he's been here where there's been some performance that just has everyone scratching their heads going, what was that? It was Vanderbilt two years ago. It was Florida State last year. Now it's Tennessee this year. But in most of those instances, Alabama was able to bounce back and play extremely well or really well after the embarrassment. So I believe that's what's going to happen again. And I will remind everyone that at one point, not in the past, this season, the offense looked pretty good, even shockingly good, considering how young the offense is. I think maybe there was some market correction going on when you play the elite defenses like Georgia and Tennessee, that it's a reminder that the quarterback's a redshirt freshman. The offense is so young, it can return every single starter. All 11 starters could be back next year. So it's a shockingly young group. You're on the road in the SEC. And again, they've been pretty good this season. So I don't believe what you saw at Tennessee. You're going to see an exact replica of this weekend against A&M. But I do think the offense has to find itself a little bit. I'm not expecting to score 40, not against A&M. I think they might be too good defensively for that to happen. But I do believe you will see a much better performance from the offense than what we saw in Knoxville. Let me tell everybody about FanDuel. Welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever. Only on FanDuel, of course. How rewarding are we talking? You're asking. Jimmy asked me. He didn't say it, but I knew he was thinking it. How rewarding are we talking? Yeah. More rewarding than a touchdown with time expiring, Jimmy. More rewarding than an 18-point comeback, Jimmy. Maybe even more rewarding than an offensive lineman catching a touchdown. All season, FanDuel is making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all-new FanDuel Rewards Club, featuring exclusive offers, surprises and more. Every week, check the FanDuel app to see what is waiting for you. This Rewards Club is so much fun. And then if it gives you something new to watch every week, and now FanDuel is giving fans something new to check for every week too in the Rewards Club. Make this your most rewarding season ever, ever, ever with FanDuel. Visit FanDuel right now, to fanduel.com. Or you can get the app. That's great too. Either way, go to fanduel.com or get the app and get started with FanDuel. Want to remind everybody to check out our EARTH Dayer Club. We appreciate you guys so much. You're already members and we want more of you. lockedonbama.supercast.com. Man, this place is hopping, baby. $5 a month. I mean, you're giving it away over here. I got to check with accounting to be sure that's right. Yep, that's right. So yeah, check that out. We would love for you to be a member of the EARTH Dayer Club. You guys are the best. So Jimmy, first of all, because you sort of brought it up earlier, I'll go here first. The schedule. And look, I don't want people to come in and say, y'all making excuses. I don't want that because the schedule is what the schedule is. But think about this for a second. What if we played A&M this past weekend instead of Tennessee and then played Tennessee? Or what if, what if we had an off week and then played Tennessee and Texas A&M? What if, something like that? I think you may have seen something different because I do, I don't think it's a coincidence at all. Both Alabama and Georgia looked flat as fritters and had some very unusual mistakes against opponents they should have beaten. I don't think that's a coincidence at all. Alabama and Georgia beat each other up pretty good and it's not an excuse. The SEC is the SEC. It is what it is. I'm just saying, if you want to say that, if you want to try and find something to excuse the performance, and I'm trying really hard here for the Sunshine Pumpers, then that could be it. That said, it's not like it's going to ever change. I mean, next year we have Ohio State Week 3 or Week 4, anyway. And we also are going to play Florida. They're going to come on the schedule. We're going to play Tennessee again. We're going to play at Auburn. I mean, these things are going to be back to back from here into infinity now because of the way the schedule is set up. So you got to get used to it. But I'm just saying, it's not a coincidence that Auburn had an off week, was able to really prepare. It's not going to shock me at all if LSU buries Auburn this weekend because Auburn is coming off of such a high. It's not going to shock me. Listen, here's an perfect example. Tennessee who just buried Alabama. I got to find a better, because I just said buried twice. It was a bludgeoned Alabama. They go to play a South Carolina team that Alabama hammered. That is, we believe, I mean, okay, but not great. South Carolina is a two and a half point favorite. How did Tennessee, a two and a half point favorite, switch to South Carolina? Unranked South Carolina is a two and a half point favorite against a team that just beat a top 10 Alabama team. What that means is, I know Danny Cannell gets his panties all wadded up about this, but the SEC is really tough and week to week is always going to be a bitch. I think the gamblers have caught on to the theme here. And that's why South Carolina's favorite is the SEC this season has been very consistent in this. If you have a huge emotional big win at home and then go on the road next week, you're going to get beat. That's what this season has seemed like from start to finish and I couldn't agree more. I anticipate South Carolina winning that game against Tennessee, but here's the thing. I've seen Tennessee and South Carolina both. Tennessee's a better team. Tennessee's a better team. There's nothing about South Carolina that's elite in any way. Tennessee's got an elite defense and they can run the ball and they're a better team in South Carolina. But South Carolina is likely to win the game because this year in the SEC when you have a big win, you follow that up with an embarrassing loss. Now, the thing that sucks about Alabama's situation is you didn't beat Georgia and go up there and that happened in Tennessee. You also lost to Georgia, but I think in some ways, I think you felt like you played really well and it was emotional and you felt like you should have or could have won the game if not for this or that that happened. But for Alabama, it means two loss in a row. The reaction has been exactly what you'd expect, but that's because, Luke, I don't think Alabama's lost back to back games since 2013. Well, regular season. Yeah, in 2013, Alabama lost to Auburn and the Kicksix, and then followed that up immediately with the Bulls loss. So, but, you know, in the regular season, they had not lost back to back games since 07. So the reaction has been loud, exactly what you'd expect, and a lot of calls for people being fired, and that's what you would expect. But it's up to them to bounce back, and they have in the past. Let's see if they can do it again. The schedule is not doing them any favors. Again, we're going to be talking about A&M a lot this week, and their record will fool you a little bit. They still have dudes, they still do. And defensively, this is a pretty good football team. It's just that they've had a lot of problems on offense, and it's going to be up to Alabama to make sure they continue to have problems on offense. And on defense, Kane Womack, who really should not escape criticism. No, no, no, we shouldn't. Especially since George McIntyre, the UT quarterback, who had, I mean, for the most part, a pedestrian game, but he only needed to be pedestrian. That was the game plan. He basically said, yeah, they were giving us so much cushion. We knew they were going to give us this, so we kept taking it. And see, that goes back to what I said yesterday on the podcast. Where the hell are the adjustments? If they're just taking this, let's make them throw deep. Let's see if they can do it. And we never, ever, ever, ever, ever made them do it. I know why. Now, I don't think it's a good enough answer. But I know why. Now, we're recording this before, right before the coaches do their press conferences, so it'll be interesting to see Grubb and Womack face the heat today from the assembled media and DeBoer. That's coming shortly after Luke and I recorded this. So I didn't get to hear his answer, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be talking about it. And I think that's what he's going to say. Well, I don't know if he'll say it, because sometimes coaches aren't as honest as they could be or should be in these things. But I agree with Luke 100 million percent that we made it too easy for McIntyre with the big cushions outside because we were overly cautious about giving something up over the top. That's why they did it. Overly cautious about it. And to their credit, they didn't they didn't give up anything over the top. It didn't happen because Tennessee just kept on taking what we were offering them. I think the loss of Zabian Brown affected Alabama's ability to adjust here. How hurt is he? We don't know. But the fact that he ended the game in street clothes cannot be a good sign. That can't be a good sign. He didn't, I mean, after he got hurt, he got dressed in civilian clothes. So I'm worried about that. Dijon had struggled when we had played Pressman earlier this year, which is kind of new for Womack, you know, doing some more Pressman. Dijon had struggled. Dijon struggled to the point that we went into this game with the idea that we're going to play Carmelo O'Neal a bunch. And we did. But Carmelo O'Neal is new. He hadn't played that great when he's been given opportunities. And now Zabian, your best corner by a metric mile, he's out. I think with Dijon struggling and Carmelo O'Neal being so new, they were hesitant to play Pressman at the end. And retrospect, I mean, against Jordan McIntyre, they're not playing, you know, I was going to say Arch Manning, they're not playing Peyton Manning. No, I get it. And that's why I disagree. I think they should have at least tried it. But I think he's not going to say it today, but I think he lacks confidence in five and 28. I think he does. And that's why he played as if he didn't have a lot of confidence in those guys. And I sort of get it. But I do think you have to have some situational game awareness. And what Alabama needed was to force the issue and help the offense. And that meant being more aggressive. I think at a time the defense should have been more aggressive. They weren't. And again, I get why. And what they were trying to do, they accomplished. Again, no cheap ones over the top. But gosh, you kind of got death by a thousand cuts. You ended up giving up a nine minute drive that ended the game. Yep, you did. I think we've all been in this predicament before. 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Just go to butcherbox.com/locked On College to get $20 off your first box plus chicken breasts in every box for life or filet or New York strips for a year with free shipping always. That's butcherbox.com/locked On College. Again, that's butcherbox.com/locked On College. Be sure to use our link so they know that we sent you. Now I want to tell you about the pants store, pants store. That's the name, that name again, pants store. You can't beat it. By the way, the Simpsons brought back Apu Nahasapita Pedaline. He had about a 10-year absence and he was back. Pretty nice enunciation there, Vern Lundquist. I'm a huge Simpsons fan. But regardless, I'm also a huge pants store fan. And if you want the best clothes at the best price, you go to the pants store. And you never know. You may run into me and Jimmy serving drinks. You might. It's happened. We are O&2 since we did that. So maybe we need to do it again to undo what we did. That said, I don't know. I think they were offended with me long before that. We've probably been offending them for quite some time. So anyway, pants store, you can go to the website. And this got great. This got all the great stuff. But if you go to the store, that's where the genius is. You need to go check them out. Pants store, pants store, pants store, pants store.com. Few odd and in things. First of all, Bama falls to number 13 in the rankings. I'm going to be honest. I would have put them lower. Everybody else lost. I understand. I understand. But everybody else. This is also, again, it's so funny how the, oh, see, this is why we need 24 team playoff crowd was crowing. I was like, this just shows me how much mediocrity there is. Yeah, this is why you don't put 24 in, actually. I mean, there's going to be so many teams. I'll tell you what. I said it before the season. I'd be a little louder about it right now. A three-loss team is getting in. This year, a three-loss team is going to win. A four-loss is next year. Four-loss for next year, for sure. But a three-loss team is going to be not just win their way in through their conference championship. I think a three-loss team is a wild card this year because there's just going to be too many losses. There's still more losses to come. Think about this, Scott. We're not even to November. November, no one's got players left. We're not even to that point yet. LSU and Texas play in a few weeks, assuming they both are undefeated to that point, which means LSU has got to get through us, Texas has got to get through Ole Miss this week and stuff, and I think maybe Mississippi State. That's an elimination game, and who would have thunk it? Because everybody had those two teams in the playoffs. We're going to keep calling two-loss team plays a two-loss team. This is an elimination game. I get calling at that. I'm fine with calling at that, but you know what? I think someone's getting in. For those people out there right now, go, no way that happens. You'll need to remember that two years ago, when there wasn't this much losing, two years ago, Alabama was the first team out with three losses. So Alabama missed making it by one spot with three losses two years ago. Hey, if Clemson hadn't won, they would have gotten in. Yes. Also, Tennessee was fined $500,000 because we have a streak of like 11, or I can't remember how many. Anyway, since like 2013, every time Alabama has been beaten, somebody stormed the field and that's going to stop if we don't quit losing. But we do get $500,000 for that. So that maybe that goes towards a certain person's buyout on the offensive staff. Maybe. For those curious, we don't even have to buyout. For those curious, we don't have to buyout. Ryan Grubb, his contract expires in February, so we wouldn't even have to buy him out. But that said, today, I don't think there's going to be a change. That's my opinion today. I want to tell you what. Barring a complete turnaround, if Grubb is here next year, there's going to be some grumbling or grumbling as it were. Finally- I don't doubt that. I'm just saying that my guess would be no change. Finally, Alabama in the NFL, shout out to Jeremy Barnard. He scored the game-winning touchdown for Pittsburgh. I've got him on my fantasy team, and if I had played him, it would have been brilliant, but he had like 11 catches or something for 80-something yards and a touchdown. I mean, Jeremy's just getting it done. Bryce Young goes to Philadelphia and gets a big win. Devontae Smith had a touchdown in that game. Derrick Henry, unfortunately, I have him on my fantasy team. He fumbled late against Cleveland, which kind of led to Baltimore losing the game, which sucks. A'Shawn Robinson with his second pick of the year. That's crazy. And one thing should be noted, prayers up to Jalen Hurts, who's out for the season. More blood clots after he was examined. And it was just announced right before this podcast. He's out for the year. And that sucks for Philadelphia. The only thing I guess is positive, because at this point, if you're Philadelphia, you're sort of like, you know, they just lost their fourth game, I think. They're done. They're done for the year. So maybe they get a good draft pick. Hopefully, you know, Jalen Hurts is going to be fine and he'll be back next year. Get a good draft pick. You know, you still got a kick-ass defense. Maybe he'll be back. I just hate it for Jalen Hurts. What a good dude. And it would be a shame if this were even more long-term, but prayers up to Jalen Hurts, who is now and forever a Bama, and we appreciate you. Yeah. Good luck to Jalen. In the NFL, it's kind of hard to find teams right now that you're like a big believer, like, who's going to Super Bowl? I don't know. I mean, I think a lot of teams are flawed. The Chiefs look awfully good early, and, you know, of course, the Bills are pretty good, and the 49ers. I mean, the NFC is what, Solly? Who's going to win the NFC? I guess the 49ers. I thought the Rams would before the season started. They lost to the Cardinals. Yeah, that's the Cardinals' first win, wasn't it? Was it their first or second? First or second, but it might have been second. Still, I guess the 49ers are the best team in the NFC, and I'll say that and watch them lose to a pretty bad commander's team tonight. All right, that's going to do it for today, Spide. We'll be back tomorrow morning. Until then, roll tight, everybody. Roll tight. Hey, it's Isaac Shade, your host of Amazon Fire TV's College Football Kickoff. Join Kenyon Barner, Jesse Holley, myself, and the local hosts of the Locked On Podcast Network each week on Fire TV throughout the season to preview the biggest matchups across college football. Search College Football Kickoff on the Fire TV app.