NEW ORLEANS -- The script A on Calvin Ridley's crimson pullover could have stood for angst.
Ridley didn't play the blame game at media sessions for the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Thursday morning. If anything, the Alabama star wide receiver went out of his way to express confidence in his coaches and teammates. But Ridley also seems surprised and frustrated by the team's receiving stats. He leads with 55 receptions, and no other Alabama player has more than 14.
"It's a weird feeling I get when those charts come up," he said.
Ridley knows Alabama's offense can do more and, moreover, must do more to beat No. 1 Clemson on Monday night (8:45 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN App).
"I definitely don't think we should play the way we've been playing if we want to improve," said Ridley, who leads Alabama with 896 receiving yards, 652 more than any other player. "I feel like if we can just get going, there's no one that can stop us, really, because we've got the players, we've got the confidence, and we can go. [Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll] calls good plays. We've just got to execute them."
Alabama's offense enters this playoff with less drama than it did a year ago. Coordinator Lane Kiffin had been hired as Florida Atlantic's head coach, and would leave Alabama after a semifinal win over Washington, ceding playcalling duties to Steve Sarkisian, who left for the Atlanta Falcons after the national title game.
Daboll, arriving from the New England Patriots, has brought stability to the unit. Alabama's offense is "a lot more organized," Ridley said Thursday, and excels in scoring (39.1 points per game, 12th nationally), rushing (265.3 yards per game, 10th nationally), passing efficiency (161.1 rating, seventh nationally) and ball security (eight turnovers, tied for first nationally). Clemson gushed about Alabama's powerful running game Thursday, as defensive coordinator Brent Venables jokingly called the Tide's running back talent "sickening" and "not fair."
Still, it's fair to question whether something is missing. Alabama often put up big points and yards totals this season, showing great balance in wins over Colorado State, Tennessee and Mississippi State. But against the three most talented defenses it faced -- Auburn, LSU and Florida State -- Alabama averaged just 294 yards (127.3 passing yards per game) and 20.7 points. Two of those performances occurred during the final four regular-season games, when Alabama completed 48 total passes. Ridley is the only Tide player to record more than two receptions in any of those games.
Asked Thursday about defending Alabama's passing game, Clemson cornerback Ryan Carter said, "Just take care of Ridley, and we'll be fine."
Sitting in the same seat less than an hour later, Ridley said, "Teams could cloud me and take me out the game. It's hard, I mean, we've tried to get guys involved. It's not like guys aren't open. Sometimes, it doesn't happen."
"It's frustrating," he said later, "because we definitely can go out there and sling the ball around. We've got the guys to do it."
So what is it, exactly? Maybe Alabama has too much faith in its dangerous and diverse running game. Maybe quarterback Jalen Hurts, who has clearly improved under Daboll's watch, locks into Ridley too often (Hurts said he "just executes the play that's called").
Or maybe, in swapping sizzle for steadiness, Alabama lost its creative edge.
"Alabama really misses Lane Kiffin," a SEC defensive coordinator said. "It's not the same. They miss the creativity and the big plays. Toward the end of that Auburn game, they just continued to run their core plays and Auburn's just sitting on it because it's all they've ever repped.
"It's more of a defensive coordinator's offense."
It makes sense, given Saban's background, and probably contributed to why he and Kiffin clashed at times. But Kiffin's gift, according to opposing coaches, was identifying a defense's weaknesses and calling plays that Alabama hadn't run often or at all, which caught defenses by surprise. This year's Tide offense is likelier to stick with safe, successful plays and force the opponent to stop them.
The problem occurs when the opponent matches up. Hurts is an elite running quarterback (768 yards, 5.6 yards per carry, eight touchdowns), and rushed for 63 yards and the go-ahead touchdown against Clemson in last year's national championship. But Clemson this fall limited running quarterbacks such as Louisville's Lamar Jackson, Miami's Malik Rosier, Georgia Tech's TaQuon Marshall and Virginia Tech's Joshua Jackson.
"The only thing they can fall back to, Alabama, in watching them, was designed quarterback runs," a Power 5 defensive coordinator said. "That's their baby. If they go to the quarterback run early in the [Clemson] game, that's it. Nothing else. That's their trump card."
Unless, that is, Alabama expands its play package for Monday night. The extended break before the semifinal allows teams to incorporate elements or even mini packages that their opponents haven't seen.
"We don't feel like we have to do anything special against any specific team," running back Damien Harris said.
"I don't think we're going to change much," Hurts said. "We're going to try to execute what we have called."
Maybe that's enough. Ridley likes how Daboll calls games. He said when the unit struggles, "it's our fault, not the coaches' fault." Although Alabama misses O.J. Howard, who stood out in past playoffs and terrified defensive coordinators, Ridley is bullish on the current tight ends. Irv Smith Jr. and Hale Hentges have combined for only 19 receptions, but each has three touchdowns, tying Ridley for the team lead.
Receivers such as Jerry Jeudy (18.8 yards per catch), Cam Sims (14.9) and Henry Ruggs III (25.0) have showed big-play potential, and any of them could rise up Monday night.
"You'd like to get your best playmaker the ball and put him in different spots, but everyone has a role," Daboll said. "So if he's getting doubled or they're rolling to him, there's other parts to the pattern that goes to the progression. He's not always the first progression on a read."
Alabama can't count on Ridley alone to beat Clemson. It can't count only on Hurts or even on its collective strength at running back. The Tide needs all of them, and most likely a bit more schematic creativity from Daboll, to crack a Clemson defense that looks better than the previous two versions.
If not, the script A will soon turn from angst to anguish.