Ain't as good as it once was? Alabama football offense seeks CFP reset

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“I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was.”

The lyric from Toby Keith’s country classic neatly captures where Alabama football‘s offense finds itself ahead of the first round of the College Football Playoff against Oklahoma.

After late-season struggles, the Crimson Tide is searching for the version of itself that showed up in wins over Georgia, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Tennessee.

The song even reflects Alabama‘s struggles with injury down the stretch — and the defiance displayed by guys like quarterback Ty Simpson, who insisted his team has the “best offense in the country” despite a one-touchdown performance in the SEC championship.

“Now my body says ‘You can’t do this, boy.’ But my pride says ‘Oh yes, you can.‘”

With the adjustments made since that 28-7 title loss to the Bulldogs, and anchors like tight end Josh Cuevas and running back Jam Miller on the road to healing, not even the confusion that Oklahoma creates defensively makes Alabama think it can’t when returning to Norman on Friday, Dec. 19.

“Obviously, we’ve got to get in rhythm early in the football game. We’re capable of that,” Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said.

Grubb reflected on the 19 plays Alabama ran before taking a knee at halftime in the SEC Championship, noting nine of them were runs. On those rushes, Alabama only picked up 17 yards.

“We just weren’t effective at all,” Grubb continued.

To the former Seahawks OC, success starts with moving chains on third down.

“I think, simply put, those are the things that we did really well early in the season and mid-point when we were on that four-game run against tough opponents, and consistency in that is more than capable,” Grubb said.

In its most recent outing against Georgia, Alabama converted just 3 of 13 third-down opportunities. The Crimson Tide had a little more luck at Auburn, where it went 8 for 19. The 24-21 loss to Oklahoma in November saw Alabama convert 4 of 7 attempts in the first half, but collapse came in the second half as the offense went 1 of 6 on third down.

That four-game stretch Grubb mentioned against UGA, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Tennessee? Alabama converted 50% of third down chances across those matchups, giving itself a clean slate after turning 30 of 60 into first downs.

“For us, whether the ball’s going down the field or running the football, we’ve just got to be more consistent with the ball moving forward. Period,” Grubb said. “Whether it’s an explosive play, 5-yard run, we’ve got to get first downs and be consistent on the early downs.”

Grubb also wants to see “elite communication” from the offensive line, and mentioned that recent sacks on Simpson were the result of a “lack of communication.”

Left tackle Kadyn Proctor didn’t shy away from accountability.

“It’s all about us and how much we take care of the ball. We didn’t take care of the ball. We had some mental errors that led to some sacks, so that’s what we need to clean up at the end of the day,” Proctor said.

The entire offense has to get lined up more quickly, too, and being too slow to set up is “always a concern” for Grubb.

“It wouldn’t matter if they went Mach 4 to the line of scrimmage. It wouldn’t be fast enough,” Grubb said.

For reference, Mach 4 is four times the speed of sound, or approximately 3,000 miles per hour.

“I think if you’re early to the test, you’re helping yourself. Get up there, paint the picture for the center and the quarterback, have the threat of snapping the football at any second when we get up there. That’s really what it should look like on every play, and so we certainly have not been perfect at that,” Grubb said, noting that going back and forth between snapping the ball too early, or waiting too late, created problems for the team against Oklahoma.

Wide receiver Germie Bernard echoed the importance of getting set at a quicker pace in the home of the Sooners.

“We know that they bring a lot of different coverages, so we want (Simpson) to be able to see everything and be able to make the change to get us in the right position,” Bernard said.

Fans have seen what this offense can do when it’s feeling bulletproof, and Alabama is projecting the confidence of a squad ready to call Oklahoma’s bluff.

Alabama and Oklahoma kick off at 7 p.m. CT Friday on ESPN and ABC.

Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for The Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@usatodayco.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Can Alabama football offense be as good as it once was vs Oklahoma?

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