Alabama football's offense is broken: Why it expects a fix for playoff
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ATLANTA — Germie Bernard looked straight ahead.
The Alabama football wide receiver just left the field. He accounted for the Crimson Tide’s only score of the SEC Championship Game on Saturday, Dec. 6, a game Alabama lost to Georgia 28-7.
There was nothing for Bernard to deny. The Alabama offense needs to improve.
“As an offense, we have to make the plays when it comes,” Bernard said. “And we have to protect. We just have to make the plays, man. We have to execute better. All of us, all 11 have to do their job to get the job done.”
Against Georgia, Alabama had seven points and 209 yards of offense. The Crimson Tide had minus-3 rushing yards, the fewest of any game since at least 2000. Alabama spent about 23 minutes without a first down.
It was a performance that can be explained. It came against a “great defense,” Bernard said, one that had a “great scheme” and a roster that “out-executed us.”
Bernard was representing an offense that had scored more than 30 points only once since Oct. 25: a 56-0 win against Eastern Illinois.
Parker Brailsford remains confident, though. And Alabama has evidence, its center said.
“We’ve already done it,” Brailsford said. “I just feel like it’s a matter of going back to the drawing board and getting little things that we need to get right, right.”
Bernard knows what the Alabama offense could be.
It’s something he said he’s seen since January. He sees the hard work. He sees how bad Alabama wants to be successful offensively, to move the ball downfield.
If Alabama is able to make the 12-team College Football Playoff, Bernard is confident, expectant even, that its offense will live up to the stage.
“If we get our shot, we’re going to continue to work how we do and we’re going to get things fixed,” Bernard said.
Alabama will find out its CFP fate at 11 a.m CT Sunday, Dec. 6 on ESPN.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football expects offense to be fixed ahead of potential CFP run
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