i'll rebuff some on saban being a "3 yrds and cloud of dust" guy. he always liked to pass.
but first, no doubt he changed philosophy. at least some. and the one to really convince him was kiffin. after first season with saban, we had lost our "game manager qb", and had no obvious replacement. kiffin came to saban and said we can go with a freshman that's our typical style, or let me take this rb that was a qb in hs, and run a wide open style offense. saban let him put together a plan, and went with it.
but saban was never against a high powered offense. his offenses were always pretty potent in the air, he just let off gas to close out games. but his qb's hold records at both bama and lsu. 3 of top 5 single season pass yds and tds are his qbs at lsu. at bama, ALL of the top 10 for pass yrds and tds are his qbs. and it includes aj mccarron, greg mcelroy, and john parker wilson, so its not just the recent qb's.
Yeah, I'm no Alabama fan, but I really disagree here.
Saban was obsessed with having a risk-avoidance offense when he knew his defense was only allowing 10 points a game.
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When it comes to his Alabama teams passing more often, pre-Tua, it's because those teams weren't as good. If there's one certainty I've found in seeing the pass-run ratios of almost 2,000 college football teams, it's that shitty teams pass more and really good teams run more. That's why you have to toss out the idea of a 50/50 ratio being a balanced offense. That's a very pass-happy offense.
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Here's Saban's record, points per game, pass/run ratio, and QB at Alabama:
2007: 7-6...27...49/51...Wilson
2008: 12-2...30...37/63...Wilson....why pass less with an experienced QB? Because you're not behind a lot like you were last year.
2009: 14-0...32....37/63...McElroy
2010: 10-3...36....44/56...McElroy...same here - worse team passes more
2011: 12-1....35....41/59...McCarron
2012: 13-1....39....37/63...McCarron
2013: 11-2....38....44/56...McCarron
2014: 12-2....37....44/56....Sims
2015: 14-1....35....41/59....Coker.....better team, less passing.....it's a fact
2016: 14-1....39....39/61....Hurts
2017: 13-1....37....35/65....Hurts
2018: 14-1....46....43/57....Tua2019: 11-2....47....48/52....Tua2020: 13-0....49....47/53....Jones2021: 13-2....40....51/49....Young....again, the same.
What I see here is more passing when he had 2+ losses and less passing when it was an undefeated or 1-loss season, except for 2017-2018. What makes that offseason different or special? Special arm talent. THAT is what finally got Saban to reluctantly start passing first. The Kiffin years (2014-2016) doesn't show anything revealing. I do assume Kiffin's ideas and suggestions may have played a role, but without any elite arm talent in his seasons,
Saban didn't cave in until Tua's talent made him. .
The past 3 years, Alabama has passed more than they previously had. The only exception was 2007 when they stunk - and stinky teams are often playing catch-up.
A truly balanced team passes about 42-43% of the time. If you want to say anything, it's that Saban valued a balanced offense in the past, which is what most every OC strives for in a perfect world. But I don't think there's any universe in which Saban is willing to throw the ball 48-50% with a great team if the QB is a Jake Coker or Jalen Hurts. On a shitty team? The sky is the limit, lol...but he doesn't have to worry about that.
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And as for all of Alabama's top historical QBs being Saban QBs.....frankly, Alabama's passing history is crap salad. Their career leader in TD passes pre-Saban had 41 (Croyle). Pre-2007, the leader at OSU had 57. At Florida, 114. At USC, 99. Auburn, 54. Alabama has traditionally had the better team, including the better line play, and would run people over because they could.
That's why their top all-time statistical QBs have been under Saban.
