How Alabama's Offense Can Get Back on Track vs. Texas A&M

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A major reason for Alabama’s overall woes the last two games, one in a late loss to Ole Miss and the other in a tight win over Arkansas, has been the sudden ineffectiveness of the offense.

The Crimson Tide put up 396 yards of offense against Ole Miss and just 227 against Arkansas. That two-game total of 623 is lower than Alabama's offensive output against Florida alone and just three more yards than it put up in a game against Southern Miss.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what is wrong with the offense. That’s probably because it’s not just one or two things specifically that have gone wrong.

This will be a good week to get back on track, facing a Texas A&M defense that is giving up almost 400 yards per game.

Here are a couple of ways Alabama can do just that.

Control the line of scrimmage

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This is the Crimson Tide’s biggest key to winning on Saturday. And it’s something Alabama hasn’t done much of lately, especially in the run game. It rushed for just 66 yards against Arkansas.

Alabama’s offensive line just hasn’t been able to get the push it’s been accustomed to over the last few years, and it is severely affecting its ability to run the ball, especially between the tackles.

The Crimson Tide will likely be without center Ryan Kelly once again. And it looks like Leon Brown will be back at right guard.

“Maybe with healthier players and more continuity we’ll continue to make progress,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “And I also think that we have to do a better job of executing all the way around. I don’t think we’ve blocked people on the perimeter like we could have, or should have, or have. And I think it’s important that at the quarterback position we execute and do the things, and take what the defense gives us.”

Teams have been putting more focus on stopping Amari Cooper and giving Alabama more room to run the ball. The Crimson Tide just haven’t capitalized. That needs to change this week.

“I think people in the first three or four games of the year, we had a lot of easy, fast, quick throws,” Saban said. “Some of them turned into very big plays. People now take those things away regardless with who is there. They are basically challenging you to run the ball, which is something we have to do better.”

Get Blake Sims into a rhythm

Alabama’s first-year quarterback hasn’t been his cool, calm self that we saw over the first four games of this season.

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He’s had his two lowest completion percentages of the year against Ole Miss and Arkansas. And there were two plays in both games where he hit defenders right in the hands only to have it dropped.

Those games were also his first two road starts. Saban thinks Sims needs to get “re-centered” this week, and having that home-field advantage back might help him, per Andrew Gribble of AL.com.

"He needs to do to take what the defense gives, read his reads, make the throws," Saban said on his radio show Thursday, per Gribble. "Don't worry about making too many big plays and have a little more patience as a player, and I think he'll be right back to where he was."

Saban and offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin can set him up for success with short, low-risk throws to build Sims’ confidence. Then he can start opening it up more and hit the big plays we were accustomed to seeing during the beginning of the season.

Get receivers not named Amari Cooper involved

Cooper currently leads Alabama in catches with 54. The next receiver on that list is DeAndrew White, who’s missed two games to injury, with 16, then Christion Jones with 11.

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The passing game has largely been Cooper, Cooper and more Cooper.

Arkansas sold out on him, and he only had two catches. That led to Alabama’s worst passing output and overall offensive output of the season.

White can be a weapon in the passing game. His speed gives him some big-play ability. Jones has had a down year all around, from returning kicks to receiving, but he was a favorite target of AJ McCarron in the past.

“We also have to throw the ball more effective in other ways. And utilize as many people as we need to,” Saban said. “Because we have confidence in all of our receivers and our tight ends and our backs that they can be effective in the passing game.

"I just think it's more important for us to go back to the basics of what we need to do to execute and make better judgments, choices and decisions of how we distribute the ball, and we'll be just fine.”

Receiver is Alabama’s deepest position group right now. There is no shortage of weapons. Behind those starting three is Chris Black, a former 4-star. And then there’s O.J. Howard, the uber-talented tight end, who’s sitting at just six catches for 150 yards so far this year.

So the Crimson Tide have the tools and pieces needed to really open up the offense. It could be just what Alabama needs to get it back on track as well.

Marc Torrence is the Alabama lead writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats come from CFBStats.com.

Follow on Twitter @marctorrence.