Imitation has proven to be a very sincere form of flattery in college football.
Several days after getting blown out by Alabama in the 2008 season opener, former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden called Crimson Tide counterpart Nick Saban and asked what he had uncovered about the Tigers in the months leading up to the game. Multiple schools since then have emulated characteristics of Alabama's program, including Georgia and Tennessee, who have raided personnel from the Crimson Tide's athletic staff.
Now, however, there are programs turning to reigning national champion Ohio State, and that includes Alabama.
Following the Crimson Tide's 42-35 loss to the Buckeyes in January's playoff semifinal, Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart talked with then-Buckeyes offensive coordinator Tom Herman. Ohio State shredded Alabama for 537 yards under the guidance of Herman, who is now the head coach at Houston.
"Within the conference, teams know they've got to play us the next year, so it doesn't benefit you a whole lot to call a guy at LSU," Smart said in a recent news conference. "When you play an out-of-conference team, it's pretty commonplace to call. I'll call Wisconsin after we play them, because they've had all summer to look at us and figure out what we want to do.
"Coach Herman was really good to us and very beneficial to us, because he had looked at us for so long and did such a good job against us."
The Crimson Tide also turned to Ohio State this offseason for offensive advice. Alabama went to a more up-tempo attack a year ago with Blake Sims as the starting quarterback, and Crimson Tide coaches have spent the past few months studying the poster-size play cards certain fast-paced programs use for sideline communication.
State rival Auburn uses them with Gus Malzahn's frenzied attack, as do the Buckeyes.
"We met with Ohio State and TCU in the offseason," Saban said. "We studied various methods of how they use their no-huddle, and I'm not saying we are going to be a no-huddle team. We felt like last year that we were kind of learning how to be a no-huddle team on the run because of the personnel we had and because we thought it was best suited for Blake.
"We visited a lot of people in the offseason to try and come up with the best system. Kansas, Washington and a lot of teams go no-huddle, and it's just the methodology of how some people get formations and plays into the game to sort of minimize terminology and how much communication you need to have at the line to call a play."
Alabama used hand signals last season but began experimenting with play cards in the spring.
Coker sidelined
Fifth-year senior quarterback Jake Coker was not spotted at Monday morning's practice, and Saban explained why in the afternoon.
"Jake Coker has a minor foot injury that we think will keep him out of practice for several days," he said in a released statement. "Our physicians anticipate a full recovery."
Tide tidbits
Redshirt sophomore receiver Robert Foster practiced Monday despite spraining his knee in Saturday's scrimmage. Alabama practiced twice Monday, wearing full pads in the morning and helmets and shorts in the evening.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.