The U-M offensive coordinator was in Tuscaloosa a year ago. That has some built-in advantages, Bama defensive coordinator Pete Golding says.
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ORLANDO, Fla. – While the matchup between Michigan and Alabama seems to hold heavy favor towards the Crimson Tide – a program that’s been in every College Football Playoff until this year – the Wolverines do have one decided advantage.
An offensive coordinator who was in Tuscaloosa for an entire year.
Josh Gattis was the co-offensive coordinator for Alabama in 2018, but now, he leads the offense in Ann Arbor. That comes with a built-in advantage in that he knows most – if not all – of the tenets of the Crimson Tide defense, even though Bama does have a new defensive coordinator this year in Pete Golding.
Like Gattis was a co-offensive coordinator a year ago, so too was Golding the co-defensive coordinator under Tosh Lupoi in 2018. With Lupoi departing for the Cleveland Browns, Golding – the former Southern Louisiana, Delta College and UTSA defensive coordinator – took over the whole defense this offseason. The two are less than one month apart in age, but now are working against each other rather than with each other as they were this time last year.
So what are the advantages that Golding feels Gattis has given his time in Tuscaloosa?
“The unique thing is, anytime you’re playing an opponent, whatever you struggle with on tape you’re gonna see,” Golding said. “Obviously they go through that with things you struggle with throughout the year, normally end up showing back up. The unique thing is, him having been here, regardless of whether it’s been on tape or we’re put in that position this year, he knows, having been here in practice, knows things that make us adjust in certain ways, certain calls and things like that. Obviously that does give him an advantage because we haven’t put everything on tape. Most guys that have played us, ‘What you’ve struggled with on tape, you’re gonna repeat and we’re gonna see again.’ Obviously he knows our system, he knows some of the rules of the system.”
Delving further in how Alabama can counter Michigan’s attack under Gattis, Golding gives a sound-byte that resonates as being quite familiar, sounding as if it came from Gattis himself.
“You gotta execute,” Golding said. “As coaches, you call a play, the players gotta execute the play. It ain’t always perfect. I think we gotta do a good job of disguising some fronts and some coverages. But the bottom line is it’s gonna be about our execution and our players playing extremely hard.”
Naturally, as the Michigan offense continues to round into form after its emergence in mid-October, Gattis is still wary of the challenges ahead.
Alabama has had to make things work despite star linebacker Dylan Moses becoming injured in fall camp, causing him to miss the entire season. While the defense is still statistically among the best in college football, it has shown some weakness compared to some of the recent championship years.
Still, it’s an opportunistic group, and Gattis notes that Michigan’s early-season struggles at handling the football need not return against a unit that’s among college football’s best at creating turnovers.
“This defense is very talented,” Gattis said. “Coach Saban and Coach Golding have done a really good job putting together this defense facing some of the challenges that they’ve had this year as far as injuries.
“But they played pretty good throughout the year. You know, you look at them, one of the things that stands out is they’re second in the country in turnover margin, so obviously creating turnovers but also offensively for them doing a really good job of maintaining the football. So they present a number of different challenges that we have been preparing for and we’re looking forward to the battle.”
The challenge has begun in earnest as Michigan continues to practice for Alabama here in Orlando. The two will square off on Jan. 1 in the VRBO Citrus Bowl at Camping World Stadium at 1PM EST.
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