re: Saban's comments on the defense post-South Carolina

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If we can do what we did against USCe, which is give up a lot of yards, but not give up points--that's going to be a win for this defense against good teams.

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That worked against USCe because despite the inexperience, when the field was condensed the fact that we are bigger, faster, stronger, and more talented than they are across the board showed up. That will not be the case against LSU, Auburn, UGA, Ohio State, Oklahoma, or Clemson. The defense is going to have to get to a point where they can get stops between the 20s if we don't want to end up in a position where we have to average 45+ppg the 2nd half of the season to win a championship.

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2- Our offense needs to play in a way that protects our defense. Yes, we need to score lots of points, but we also need time consuming drives that keep our defense rested and not on the field for 80-90 plays each game. Not sure how we do that, maybe stop with hurry up stuff? Let the shot clock run more between each play? Does that mess our rhythm up?

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We have taken hardly any downfield shots this season. There is no way to mitigate our receivers running 60 yards after the catch. You can't just tell them to fall down at the 5 so we can run 2 or 3 more plays. Our skill position talent is too explosive for us to have a ton of methodical drives. Those dude are all YAC monsters.