Alabama's Anemic Third Down Offense Against Missouri: What I Noticed In the Crimson Tide's Homecoming Victory

Alabama's third down offense still has a lot to improve upon if the Crimson Tide wants to make the College Football Playoff.

Oct 26, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe (4) makes a throw during warmups before a game against the Missouri Tigers at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Will McLelland-Imagn Images / Will McLelland-Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala -- The No. 15 Alabama defeated No. 21 Missouri 34-0 in Bryant-Denny Stadium to allow the home crowd to celebrate Homecoming without stress. The Alabama offense mustered 486 yards of offense but still left some to be desired as the Crimson Tide converted on just two of its nine third down attempts on Saturday afternoon.

Two Alabama drives stalled out near the red zone, resulting in field goals, and while the Missouri offense battled its own struggles with Brady Cook leaving the game, finding more consistency offensively has been a theme throughout the season.

Every Alabama Third Down Attempt against Missouri This past weekend.

What do you notice? pic.twitter.com/xUOkIl0v0m

— Joe Gaither (@JoeGaither6) October 28, 2024

Two Alabama drives were killed due to second down penalties putting the Crimson Tide behind the sticks. Two others drives were ended by Missouri sacks, four incompletions with three going off the hands of Alabama wide receivers ended others as Alabama's passing game still has room for improvement.

Let's take each third down attempt and look at the processes to determine why the Alabama offense struggled on the money down on Saturday.

1. 1st Quarter, 9:42, Third-and-Five

Alabama calls a toss to running back Justice Haynes on its first third down of the game but the play is blown up in the backfield for a two-yard loss.

The play call is strong for the situation when looking at the down and distance and Missouri's alignment. Both Tigers' safeties and their slot corner are aligned inside Alabama's slot receiver Kendrick Law, giving the Tide the leverage advantage on the snap.

Unfortunately, two blocks aren't executed well, throwing off Alabama's blocking pattern and resulting in the tackle for loss. Tight end CJ Dippre stalemates the Missouri defender on the edge, but the penetration forces the pulling Jaeden Roberts and Parker Brailsford to run the hump, junking up Haynes' path to the edge. Alabama's Kendrick Law is known as one of the best blockers on the team but he appears to take a strange approach to his assignment, going to his assignment's inside shoulder instead of outside, allowing his defender to easily get outside and add to the negative play.

2. 1st Quarter, 7:03, Third-and-Nine

Alabama wide receiver Kobe Prentice had a challenging day as he couldn't catch any of his four targets in Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday. Prentice motions from one into three from the Crimson Tide's trips right set and runs an out route right at the first down marker. Unfortunately, he can't haul in the pass as it goes off his outstretched hands.

The Alabama offense line handled a unique pressure look well, but Milroe still had to make an adjustment in the pocket based on the rush. The pass falls incomplete but Milroe put it in the only position he could to allow Prentice to make a play on in. A little further would be out of bounds, and a little more inside may have resulted in a disastrous interception.

3. 1st Quarter, 1:37, Third-and-Six

Missouri's Johnny Walker Jr. blows up Alabama's chances at staying on the field by dipping underneath Kadyn Proctor for a sack on third down.

Missouri only rushes three and leaves a spy for a potential scramble but Proctor is beaten before Milroe can get to his second read as Walker Jr. gets to Milroe in 2.6 seconds.

4. 2nd Quarter, 11:25, Third-and-16

Missouri rushes three with two linebackers sitting on the line of scrimmage as a spy in case Jalen Milroe escapes. Unfortunately for Alabama, three is all it took as Johnny Walker Jr. pulls off almost the same exact pass rush move, this time against Elijah Pritchett, for his second sack on consecutive third downs.

Alabama is behind the chains due to a holding call. The route concept reflects the down and distance as three Crimson Tide receivers are running verticals, while the fourth one sits down right at the sticks.

These routes never get a chance as Walker Jr. sacks Milroe three seconds after the snap.

5. 2nd Quarter, 4:48, Third-and-19

The Crimson Tide got down to the 11-yard line but a holding penalty backed them up.

The penalty forced Alabama into another long yardage situation where the percentages to convert are much lower.

Missouri rushes four with a fifth caught in between rushing and covering Jam Miller. Jalen Milroe gets good protection, sets his feet and delivers a ball down field to Germie Bernard. Unfortunately, the pass is a little long for Bernard as it goes off his outstretched hand. While the pass falls incomplete and Alabama has to try a field goal, Milroe's placement is in the only place that gives Bernard a chance to make a play.

6. 3rd Quarter, 8:27, Third-and-10

The Crimson Tide go back to the well and dial up the same play as #2 above just to the opposite side of the field. It's nearly the same result as well.

Kobe Prentice motions from one into three in Alabama's trips right formation. Prentice runs an out route and beats his man but can't haul in quarterback Jalen Milroe's pass as it goes off both hands this time.

Alabama's pocket gave Milroe nice protection and he delivered a solid, catchable pass, unfortunately, Prentice can't reel it in and the Crimson Tide has to punt again.

7. 3rd Quarter, :18, Third-and-11

This play looks like one of one of Jalen Milroe's worst throws of the day, but further context will inform you that Ryan Williams ran the wrong route on the play.

"We can't have someone substitute in a route you run. And sometimes he doesn't make the throw that you want or he wants. But then there's other times too where guys just got to make sure they stay the course and run the routes the way they need to be run," Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said after the game.

The TV broadcast clearly shows DeBoer on the sidelines frustrated with the route that was run.

Alabama's in a two-by-two set and Missouri is rushing five. The Crimson Tide holds up decently on the rush, but a linebacker flashes in front of Milroe's face just before the throw.

Williams was open on his route, but the communication is critical and Milroe expected the freshman to run a different pattern.

8. 4th Quarter, 12:09, Third-and-four

The Alabama starters converted just a singular third down on the day and it came when the Crimson Tide was already up 27-0.

Missouri rushes five and Alabama's protection holds up well, allowing the pass routes to develop. Jalen Milroe finds Ryan Williams underneath who's helped off the line of scrimmage with the releases of Germie Bernard and Kendrick Law.

Williams takes the reception nearly 25 yards as he shows he's one of the most electric players in college football.

9. 4th Quarter, 1:37, Third-and-three

The Crimson Tide backups converted their only third down attempt on what was the game's final live play as Alabama took two knees after to melt the clock.

Ty Simpson finds himself in the shadow of the end zone with an RPO call on his hands. Roq Montgomery blows his block and Simpson wisely pulls the ball looking for a screen to Ty Lockwood. Missouri's defender jump into the passing lane preventing Simpson from pulling the trigger and instead he wisely pulls the ball down to follow running back Daniel Hill through the rushing lane to barely get the first down.

Alabama's third down numbers were not good on Saturday as the Crimson Tide converted just two of its nine attempts and the starters converted just one of eight. Kalen DeBoer's offense averaged needing 9.2 yards on third down against Missouri creating difficult down and distances to overcome throughout the day.

The Crimson Tide has two weeks until its road trip to Baton Rouge in what will virtually be a College Football Playoff eliminator game. If Alabama wants to give itself a chance at postseason success it must focus on creating more manageable down and distances to give itself a better chance at converting and keeping the offense on the field more consistently.