Instead of the Spread, Alabama's Real Kryptonite Could Be Chad Kelly

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — This is the test for the University of Alabama defense.

With Ole Miss coming to town on Saturday (8:15 p.m. CT, ESPN), this is when the Crimson Tide will find out if their numerous offseason moves to improve, especially against hurry-up spread offenses they now often see, will pay off.

This is when they hope to begin killing the growing notion that Alabama struggles against spread offenses.

“Last year I felt like we did, but this year I think we’re making a different statement about the spread offenses and the fastball offenses,” junior defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson said.

Although the 2014 defense was considered subpar by Alabama’s standards—finishing 12th in the nation in total defense and 30th in pass-efficiency defense—on average, it yielded 102.4 rushing yards and 226.1 passing yards per game.

Among the eight predominately spread offenses it faced, three had above-average showings in rushing, while six did in the air. 

Opponent	Rushing	Passing	Final
West Virginia	24-28	29-45-0, 365	W 33-23
Southern Miss	18-56	19-37-0, 207	W 52-12
Ole Miss	32-72	18-31-0, 251	L 23-17
Texas A&M	24-31	19-31-1, 141	W 59-0
Miss. State	40-138	27-48-3, 290	W 25-20
Auburn	47-174	27-43-1, 456	W 55-44
Missouri	23-41	16-34-0, 272	W 42-13
Ohio State	41-281	19-36-1, 256	L 42-35

Two areas that were especially problematic were third downs and big plays allowed, which along with creating more turnovers became offseason focus points.

“Any time you can kind of bend but not break on a drive is definitely big, especially when you get down into the red area,” senior cornerback Cyrus Jones said. “Not letting teams score touchdowns and hold them to field goals definitely plays a big part in the game, especially in the end when it gets to crunch time. Limiting big plays is definitely important.”

However, for the most part, Alabama did that during last season’s 23-17 loss at Ole Miss.

The Rebels had 14 possessions, and only three went more than 32 yards. Their best drive, 11 plays for 55 yards, resulted in a missed field goal, and the game-winning points were scored after recovering a fumble on a kickoff return. 

If you go by Saban’s definition of an explosive play (a run of 13 yards or more or a pass of 17 yards or more), Alabama only gave up four, but three resulted or led to the touchdowns.

What was different from the previous matchups against the Rebels was quarterback Bo Wallace, who in his previous two starts against the Crimson Tide had yet to have a touchdown pass.

This time he showed poise and had three touchdowns without any turnovers, which demonstrated an even stronger trend against the Crimson Tide in their losses, quarterback play.

Since 2008, Alabama has been beaten just 11 times, and most of the opposing quarterbacks it faced in those games generally fall into one of two categories: Three were Heisman Trophy winners and at least four had career/breakthrough games. 

Year	Team	Quarterback	C-A-I	Yards	TDs	Rating
2008	Florida	Tim Tebow	14-22-0	216	3	191.1
2008	Utah	Brian Johnson	27-41-0	336	3	158.8
2010	S. Carolina	Stephen Garci	17-20-1	201	3	208.9
2010	LSU	Jefferson/Lee	14-20-0	208	0	173.9
2010	Auburn	Cam Newton	13-20-0	216	3	205.2
2011	LSU	Jefferson/Lee	9-17-2	91	0	74.4
2012	Texas A&M	Johnny Manziel	24-31-0	253	0	167.3
2013	Oklahoma	Trevor Knight	32-44-1	348	4	164.6
2014	Ole Miss	Bo Wallace	18-31-0	251	3	158.0
2014	Ohio State	Cardale Jones	18-35-1	243	1	113.46

Subtract the 9-6 overtime defeat to LSU in 2011, and the combined touchdown-to-interception ratio in the other 10 games was 25-to-3.

Last season’s loss to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl was also unusual and not just because Cardale Jones came in with a third-string reputation that he squashed on national television.

Buckeyes running back Ezekiel Elliott had 20 carries for 230 rushing yards and scored two touchdowns. He was the only opposing player to top 100 rushing yards against Alabama last season.

Nevertheless, combined with giving up 44 points to Auburn, Nick Saban and the Alabama coaching staff spent a good part of the offseason searching for ways to improve defensively.

Former NFL defensive coordinator Mel Tucker was brought in to be the defensive backs coach. The look of the secondary changed dramatically by having converted cornerbacks at the safety positions. Many of the defensive front seven players shed a few pounds to be quicker and stay on the field longer. 

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“I feel like the defensive front that we rotate better, that we know when to rotate, that we don’t get tired as quickly because we all went through a whole, intense conditioning practice during the offseason so we could be prepared for the fastball offense this year,” Tomlinson said.

A year ago, Hugh Freeze actually slowed things down a little for Wallace against Alabama, but he might not to do the same for Chad Kelly, who has been more than a spark for the Ole Miss offense.

Through the first two games, he’s completed 29 of 40 passes for 346 yards and six touchdowns, and he led the Rebels to touchdowns on all seven of his possessions. Despite sharing time with two other quarterbacks, he leads the NCAA in pass efficiency (234.0) and yards per pass attempt (13.9).

While this too will be the first big test for the junior college transfer who once played for Clemson—and his first road game with the Rebels—there’s only one Alabama defensive back in the same spot from last year’s nickel package, Jones.

Eddie Jackson is the new strong safety. Geno Matias-Smith won the free safety job during the offseason. Redshirt freshman Marlon Humphrey took over at right cornerback. True freshman Minkah Fitzpatrick is the star or extra defensive back in the nickel package.

Not surprisingly Wisconsin attacked Fitzpatrick and Humphrey the most while passing for 228 yards and two touchdowns two weeks ago. The Crimson Tide also committed three pass-interference penalties. 

“He’s improved a lot,” senior linebacker Reggie Ragland said about Fitzpatrick. “You can tell he’s very disciplined about what he does on the field and off the field. So if coach has him in the game, he’s doing something right.”

Regardless, this will be the first strong indication to not only the state of Alabama’s defense, but how realistic the Crimson Tide’s chances are of repeating in the Southeastern Conference and possibly returning to the playoffs. It’s that important of a game.

"Just going to be a big game for us establishing a new identity for us as a defense and the secondary especially with the season we had last year,” Matias-Smith said. “We're just looking forward to the challenge."

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.