Nick Saban predicts major shift in college football offenses: 'I'm gonna run downhill at you'

The advent of pass-heavy, spread concepts revolutionized college football offenses over the past two decades, creating a high-scoring approach to the game that has fans on the edge of their seats all game.

That offensive-friendly approach forced defenses to adjust with the development of the EDGE pass rusher, generally a lighter, faster linebacker-type whose sole purpose is to pressure quarterbacks as quickly as possible. That gave way to defensive coordinators scheming up stunts and simulated pressure techniques that made life difficult for quarterbacks and offensive lines trying to set pre-play protections.

Given those difficulties, as well as the cyclical nature of the sport, there’s a growing belief that college football offenses could return to the traditional smash-mouth, run-heavy offensive approach of years past. That includes one of the game’s original objectors to spread offenses — former Alabama coach Nick Saban, whose “Joyless Murderball” offenses of the early 2010s dominated the college football landscape.

“I think (offenses) are gonna come back to saying, ‘OK, you’re smaller, you’re faster, you’re quicker, you’re going to use this speed to pressure me and play in space — I’m gonna run downhill at you and see if you can take on blockers and defend the run,” Saban said Wednesday on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning from the Regions Tradition Pro-Am in Birmingham. “Everything sort of goes through a cycle, and I think you’re going to see some of football cycle back to that.

“There’s a lot of things that have progressed through the way people are trying to defend spread out teams,” Saban continued. “Now, what’s going to happen in my opinion? You’re going to start seeing the squeeze come back, tighter formations, run the ball, get a hat on a hat, so that you can minimize people’s ability to pressure. It’s obviously easiest to pressure when they’re spread out, and harder to pressure when they’re closed in.”

Alabama’s “Joyless Murderball” offensive approach of the late 2000s and mid-2010s was key to Saban winning the first four of his six NCAA national championships in Tuscaloosa. That run of dominance defined Saban’s legacy in the game as the Crimson Tide went 86-10 overall and 48-8 in SEC play while winning four SEC titles between 2009-15.

In fact, Alabama won its 2015 College Football Playoff national championship behind a physical, run-it-down-your-throat offensive approach powered by 245-pound running back Derrick Henry, who set multiple SEC rushing records with 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns in his Heisman Trophy-winning season.

Could college football be poised to see a revival of “Joyless Murderball” in the not-too-distant future? Only time will tell, but Nick Saban can already see it coming.