Iron Bowl 2016: Auburn vs. Alabama

Alabama head coach Nick Saban takes a moment for instruction at the Iron Bowl win over Auburn.

(Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

From the phones of the Nick Saban Radio Show came a question about a favorite topic of Alabama football fans.

Peewee from Grand Bay, a spokesman of sorts, voiced the thoughts that echo through the interwebs any given Saturday. He asked about the high volume of perimeter plays Lane Kiffin calls early in the game.

Saban said the plan is to force defenses to defend Alabama in space to get the ball to playmakers.

"Some of the plays work, Saban said, sometimes they don't work. I get that. Most of the time when they don't work, it's not the play that was called, it's how we executed it and how the guys blocked the techniques or blocked the right guy. But I think it's much more stressful on the defense when they have to defend perimeter plays."

It's about the cumulative effect that has.

"If you notice in games, the other teams start getting tired in the second half. We had a really high play count -- almost 80 plays in this last game and I think they started getting tired."

Saban said some of the early perimeter plays are complemented by interior runs later in the game.

"I get what you're saying," Saban said about the concerns over the first-half play calling. "But I think there's a method to the madness that is to sort of make people play the perimeter. Make them put enough people on the perimeter and that does open up the inside running to some degree."

That explains the big second half running performances from Bo Scarbrough in recent games with LSU and Auburn. Of is 90 rushing yards in the Iron Bowl, 83 came after halftime when the jet sweeps and screens gave way to inside runs. Alabama finished with more than 40 minutes of possession time, including the final 9:00.