#10 Alabama football: 3 takeaways from close road win against USF

Alabama football’s offense looked terrible at times.

Before the game, Nick Saban, Tommy Rees, and the offensive staff decided to go with Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buchner to start the game. After lightning caused a 55-minute weather delay, play resumed. However, the first quarter was played under mostly sunny skies. The weather or the delay had little bearing on how poor the Crimson Tide offense was this afternoon.

Tyler Buchner was abysmal, completing five passes for 34 yards. Buchner looked uncomfortable, unfamiliar, and unprepared to play today. The rain delay was no excuse for how bad he looked against one of the worst defenses in FBS last year. Ironically, Buchner was so bad since Rees was his offensive coordinator at Notre Dame.

Rees and Saban decided to put in quarterback Ty Simpson. The freshman fared a tad bit better than Buchner. Simpson completed five passes but for 73 yards. Simpson’s ability to throw opened running lanes for the Alabama running backs. It took too long for the running game to get going.

There were too many situations where Alabama could not move South Florida’s defensive front. The offensive line is supposed to be elite; they should have been able to run and force an eight or nine-man box on talent alone.