I want you to know one great truth in football sports writing. No sportswriter knows it all. Ten sportswriters can all see the same game and interpret it 10 different ways. So a great sportswriter sees the games, listens to the players, coaches and fans and then determines to take all that information and then re-examine the game once more using what you saw and what you learned from others.

This happened to me as I struggled to understand why the Alabama defense was so absolutely terrible against several teams this season. I got help from listening to all the above mentioned sources, but want to give a special shout out to two “fans” whose comments sparked me finally understand the problem and be able to share with you what may be the answer I came up with concerning the 2020 defensive troubles in Tuscaloosa.

Ralph Ekonen posted a comment to my story, “Comparing the first three weeks to last year’s Alabama defensive stats that was very insightful. Here’s his comment…

Ralph D. Ekonen: I read an interesting analysis of the game the other day by a former Alabama Safety (intimately familiar with Saban defense). Essentially, the bullet points are: Complicated defense hard for younger players especially given Covid-shortened pre season; Lane Kiffin’s extraordinary understanding of Saban defense and how to exploit it by creating mismatches and misreads via early movement/formations. Young players not reading keys correctly. Specifically some adjustments to tweak #3; #9; #29; #4 and #13 (to some degree). Remember, Saban said it was execution not scheme. Article said #32 (Moses) played out of his mind but was done in by errors of players not handing off responsibility, wrong reads, reacting incorrectly to reads (he did have the PI, however.). Analysis was long and went play by play and showed what error was made / by who. Went on to contrast Ole Miss and Georgia (much more traditional offense). Said we have actually played the two toughest offenses in regular season we will face. My hat is off to Kiffen for calling excellent game to take advantage of Saban’s defense (weakness re complication for new players vs RPO offenses with, of course, dual threat QB). Final point is the Golding (like Kirby) is a little slow on getting play out there vs fast paced offenses. I look forward to our defense redeeming themselves vs Georgia. (end of comment)

This makes more sense than Golding not being able to call correct defenses. Saban himself later said that it was not the play calling that was bad, it was the execution. So while folks in Crimson want to hang out Golding as the scapegoat in the defensive troubles, perhaps Ralph’s comment shows us the real reason for the problems.

Another great fan, Antoine Caldwell, pointed me to the same belief by texting me saying:

“Hey Larry, don’t fret, these kids are just young. Talented but young. There’s just too much to digest in one of the most complicated defensive playbooks in college football without spring ball and time. But they will learn from being thrown to to wolves and Kiffen may be the biggest wolf we have to face. He understands offenses better than Kirby ever will and knew how to exploit us better. You should read this article by Ted Nguyen that explains just how complicated Saban’s defensive secondary is.”

It is a fine article and worth the time to read it, it is underlined in the above paragraph.

Now I went to college, own a business that bills millions of dollars a year and I’ve done this sports writing thing for about 15 years. I’m only saying this not to impress you, but to let you know I have a fairly clear and sound mind. And after reading that article and trying to grasp it all quickly and then interpret it on the field in real time with disguises thrown in that I don’t know if I could make the correct play either without months of prep time and several games of experience. (Well, if I had the athletic ability to do it as well which I obviously don’t) I’d need months of mental muscle memory and tons of coaching and film study to get it all down.

So what I’m coming to realize now, after letting my emotions cool off, after also educating myself from the insight and wisdom of coaches, players and most all great fans who I really thank and admire for taking time to comment, is that we may just have a good defense after all, just after the learning curve takes effect. We have the 4 and 5 star players, great coaches and facilities, but hey, we also have a lot of youth. And that is both a good and bad thing for a team to have.

In yesterday’s win over Georgia, we saw a lot of those youngsters grow up in the second half of that game. They shut out the legitimate #3 team in the country and forced their quarterback, who had not thrown an interception, into making three. They limited the Georgia offense into rushing for only 56 yards and 71 yards passing in that second half. That was a very big step in their growth and maybe the biggest clue that this defense in finally gelling, finally understanding their assignments and on track to right that defense into a recognizable Alabama type defense.

While Georgia didn’t have the RPO, dual threat quarterback that causes Bama fits, they did have a great well balanced attack. Once Bama shuts down a team with an up tempo, dual threat quarterback and an RPO attack, we’ll know they’re their. Until then, we at least are getting some good clues that this could happen.

Larry Burton is the senior writer at Touchdown Alabama Magazine and has been published in almost every media outlet for college sports. He was Bleacher Report’s #1 college football writer in reads and comments and now has slowed down his writing from that hectic pace. Follow Larry on Twitter for inside thoughts and game time comments on Twitter at twitter.com/LBSportswriter