TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – Power. Finesse. Technique. It's a feeling. One hand here, another hand there. Repetition.

Read. React. Release. It’s a vision. One eye here, another eye there. Repetition.

Discipline. Double teams. Communication. It’s a song and a dance. Listen here. Move the feet there. Repetition.

Did we say repetition?

It’s the inside zone.

It’s one of the blocking schemes that Alabama’s celebrated offensive line has mastered.

It’s nothing new in football, but it’s something the Crimson Tide has turned into an art form.

"That's the bread and butter there," said William Vlachos, who started three years (2009-11) at center for the Crimson Tide.

But what is it?

It starts with determining who is covered and who is uncovered. That is, which offensive linemen are lined up nose to nose with a defensive player.

No, it starts with the center as the maestro, identifying the middle linebacker.

Wait. "Proper footwork," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "It starts with that."

When it is carried out well from there, it’s something to behold. Just ask Georgia’s defense. Alabama ran inside zone running plays repeatedly in the SEC Championship Game, and 350 rushing yards later, the Crimson Tide was off and running to another BCS Championship Game.

Now it will be Notre Dame’s challenge to stop something it knows is coming. The top-ranked Fighting Irish (12-0) will meet the second-ranked Tide (12-1) at 7:30 p.m. CST Monday at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

Good luck, Fighting Irish.

"They just use power and discipline and repetition over and over," CBS commentator Gary Danielson said of Alabama. "It's the equivalent of a back-shoulder throw on the bump-and-run. Nick says all the time that there's no defense for that if it's executed properly. The inside zone is the same thing. It's the Lew Alcindor skyhook. Once he got the ball on his spot and then turned to shoot, you just hoped he missed."

Danielson helped broadcast Alabama’s 32-28 victory over Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. Alabama ran for 350 yards, and Danielson came away saying there are more ways to control tempo.

“Tempo football doesn’t have to be hurry-up, trick-’em football,” he said. “Tempo football can be continue to mash them. …

“You can depend on these plays that they’re running over and over again. When you’re a Georgia player and you get to the sideline and you look at a coach, the coach looks back and says, ‘I got nothing for you. They’re knocking your ass off the ball.’ There is no tweak to stop that. You might have a tweak to stop the spread, but there is no tweak for the inside zone.”

William Vlachos started three seasons at center for Alabama (2009-2011). (The Birmingham News/Mark Almond)

Vlachos is only one season removed from moving big bodies around on the field. Who better to ask for the inside story on the inside zone?

Q. Let's start with the basics. What is the inside zone?

A. The name is what it is. You have a zone to block instead of having a man. If every scheme was just a man scheme and a defense started slanting and blitzing and doing all kinds of stuff, it'd be very difficult to execute your blocks. The zone takes the guess work out of it and solves your problems with technique and footwork and hand placement and all of that working in unison with the guy working next to you. You've got to have two people working together. Their footwork's got to be very much in sync. Typically, two people will be responsible for two players. Usually a down lineman and a linebacker. You train your eyes and go through a progression full speed. Whoever the free hitter is after the footwork's been taken, typically their responsibility will be the linebacker.

Q. Georgia ran a 3-4 defense. Notre Dame runs a 3-4 defense. How well-suited is the inside zone scheme to attack a defense with three linemen and four linebackers?

A. There are some very natural running lanes whenever a defense runs a 3-4. The way to beat a 3-4 is to have a center that can block the nose without any help, and the guards are free to go to the linebackers. That opens up a lot of natural lanes there. But when you have these mammoth, run-stuffing nose guards, you have to commit a guard and center to get him blocked. Then the linebackers have a big lane to get through. The block there in the middle is very important. … Some teams came up with what they call a zone beater. Typically it's a kind of stunt. It's designed to confuse offensive linemen.

Q. How do you explain Alabama running this scheme so well?

A. On the first day of spring practice, the first day of training camp, the first play we install is the inside zone play. That's kind of what everything else in the playbook evolves from. They get a lot of reps every single day. When it comes to those crucial moments when it's something to lean on, those guys are very well prepared to execute it, no matter how good the front seven is or how big the nose guard is. They repeat it and take a lot of pride in it. There's certainly an asterisk on it in Tuscaloosa.

Q. Is the inside zone a play, or a series of plays?

A. It's a scheme. It's a concept. You can have play-action off the inside zone. You can line up in the same exact formation and run the outside zone. The difference between inside zone and outside zone is just your aiming point and footwork. You're still trying to accomplish the same thing. The backs end up going a little wider. As an offensive lineman, you're aiming for the defender a little wider for leverage. What you're trying to accomplish is the same thing. We run the zone out of several formations, but you can't always tell if it's inside zone or outside zone. You've got to read linemen and read running backs. It's definitely not a play. There are many variations, formations. There's a lot of stuff you can do out of it.

With center Barrett Jones (75) and left tackle Cyrus Kouandjio (71) each blocking the man in his zone, Alabama running back T.J. Yeldon runs through a hole at Tennessee. Where is left guard Chance Warmack? Probably taking on a Tennessee linebacker. (The Birmingham News/Mark Almond)

Q. Is Eddie Lacy watching for a hole to open, or is he running on trust where he expects a hole to open?

A. Our coaches do such a good job of scouting. We're going to run the inside zone against everything a defense has shown that season. Eddie knows if this is the defense I'm getting and this is what my line is doing, your instincts take over for where the hole's going to be. It's not always what you see every time. It's what you're feeling and anticipating.

Q. Does inside zone result in running inside and outside zone result in running wide?

A. No. A lot of times outside zone will cut back. The defense will over-pursue. To get the backside cut off, there are running lanes inside. There isn't a hole that you have to hit, whether it's inside zone or outside zone. On an inside zone play, a lineman has a certain angle, a certain fit relative to their helmet onto the defender, what kind of position they want their body in. On an outside zone play, it's just a little wider.

Q. Left guard Chance Warmack says the second step is most critical. True?

A. Absolutely. That's something Coach (Joe) Pendry and Coach (Jeff) Stoutland have always preached. You've got to get that step down quick. That's where all your power is. If you make contact with a defender and you've only taken your first step and your second step hasn't touched the ground yet, you haven't loaded up with all your power. If that defender gets into you, you're done. You're automatically stalemated, and he's got the advantage.

Q. Do some coaches teach a "bucket step," a backward first step?

A. I ran the zone in (Mountain Brook) high school, and that's what we learned: a 6-inch bucket step, getting depth. Then you bring the second foot with it, and you've got steam going forward and the guy hasn't hit you. You're buying yourself distance in that space to get the second step down. Some coaches preach a lateral jab step. Some are all about staggering your stance where you already have a bucket in your stance. Your outside foot is back.

Q. Textbooks say an offensive lineman's hands should be on a defensive lineman but the eyes should be on a linebacker. True?

A. Yes. If the right guard working with the center on the nose guard or defensive tackle there in the gap, you don't want to commit your outside eye or outside arm to blocking him. You want to keep that free so you're able to get off. But defensive tackles are smart, too. They know what you want to do, so they will try to grab you and keep you from getting off to the linebackers. They'll realize the double-team and say here comes the zone based on the footwork and the departuring of the linemen, and they'll grab you and won't let you get away. You can't keep both of your eyes buried in the chest of a guy, because you have a responsibility to get off. The same thing goes for the center, because that ball can cut back and that linebacker can scrape over the top inside. You work together, and you want one eye on the down lineman and one eye on the linebacker. It's hard to do when you're trying to knock somebody on the ground. You try not to engage all the way and turn your body and just use half of it into the one guy, if that makes sense.

Q. Is this hard to learn?

A. You can't just tell somebody what to do. It takes a lot of repetition of doing it, a lot of getting yelled at, a lot of messing up and a lot of film watching to really feel what it's supposed to be.

Q. What if there's confusion?

A. It's designed to succeed, not make things complicated. You always want to block the most dangerous. There is a count system. Before you know who you're working with, it all comes down to who the Mike (middle) linebacker is. When Barrett (Jones, center) makes that Mike call, Chance knows who he's going to and D.J. (Fluker, right tackle) knows who he's going to, and the tight ends know who they're going to.

Q. Bottom line: Is this power football or finesse football?

A. In theory, it's power football, but there's an element of finesse to it. You've got to be physical or you'll get blown up, but there's technique that doesn't have to be totally overpowering. In my opinion, the reason our running game has been so successful the past couple of years – obviously we have great backs – but we don't miss assignments. We get such good looks in practice, relative to our scout team. Our coaches put so much time into making the calls right, so we get exposed to every single look that we expect to see that we don't make mistakes. How good's a play if your zone technique's perfect and you're driving them back but one guy's not blocked? It's more important to get your assignment down and cover everybody up and let these extremely talented backs do the rest, as opposed to being able to drive someone 20 yards down the field and dump them on their back but there's two guys that weren't blocked on the play. The key is, we don't have these big busted assignments.