Game notes: ND vs Bama

ND vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches on this big win that puts them in the National Championship game once again. I will say, I thought ND gave them a tougher game than many expected.

OFFFENSE: The offense put together 437 yards of total offense which included 297 passing and 140 rushing. For negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses and 1 sack, which really was an intentional grounding call. For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 12 passing plays, 6 in each half and 4 running plays, 3 in the first half and 1 in the second half. For scoring, Bama got into the red zone twice and scored touchdowns both times, while from outside the red zone they scored 2 touchdowns and kicked 1 field goal. The ND defensive line put up a good fight and did pressure the QB. However, out of 55 plays there were only 4 negative plays.

QB: Jones played a good game as he connected on 25 out of 30 passes for 297 yards and an 83% completion rate. He could have gone 27 for 30 but there were 2 drops. This would have been a 90% completion rate. I thought he did a good job finding secondary receivers when he had too. This is where one of the drops came from. The biggest mistake he made was when he was called for grounding. He averaged 11.88 yards per completion while averaging 9.9 yards per pass.

RB: Harris had a good game as he rushed for 125 yards on 15 carries which averages out to 8.3 yards per carry. The biggest run was the 53-yard run where he hurdled a ND play in route to Bama’s second touchdown. He also added 4 catches for 30 yards. Putting the 2 together he had a total of 155 yards and averaged 8.1 yards per touch. He did have one of the drops as he took his eyes off the ball and was looking up field to see who was closing on him. Robinson in very limited duty had 3 carries for 10 yards.

Rec: Six different receivers had catches not counting Harris. Smith led all receivers 7 catches for 130 yards. He was targeted 8 times and had a drop. This drop was big as it would have given Bama a first down, which they got on a roughing the passer penalty, but the penalty would have been added on to the catch which would have put the ball in ND territory. This may have allowed Bama to either score or take enough time off the clock and not allowing ND enough time to score their last touchdown. Metchie had 3 catches for 53 yards, Billingsley 4 for 39 (he had one of the best catches of the day with a defender draped all over him), Forristall had 3 for 31, Bolden had 2 for 22, and Williams had 1 for 0 yards. Again, the did a good job blocking downfield especially on the wide receiver screens.

OL: The OL played well against a quality DL. As I stated above there were only 4 negative plays all day. They were challenged all day and was called for only 2 penalties. I thought Owens did a good job filling in at center and hopefully it will be even better next game.

Def: As they showed on TV, ND had the edge in the time of possession. They also had an edge in plays as they ran 80 while Bama ran 55. For negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses, 2 sack, and a forced fumble, with pressure when the ND quarterback threw the ball behind the receiver and it went out of bounds. For plays that covered 10+ yards, they had 9 passing plays and 4 running plays. A couple of these plays were scrambles by the QB when he was pressured. ND got into the red zone 3 times and scored 2 touchdowns and turned it over on downs once. They missed a field goal from outside the red zone.

DL: A lot of what I judge the DL on is the yards per average on rushing plays. ND averaged 3.7 yards per rush. They didn’t always get to the QB, but they put pressure on him several times. I also judge this group on allowing the offensive play to escape on the edge which happened a few times in this game. It is also where they had their big running plays. They didn’t read the screen well the one-time ND really ran it. If I had to select one guy that stood out as a DL, I thought Barmore had a good game as well as Anderson who in reality is an outside backer.

LB: They played well and made some big open field tackles. The only interception came from the LB spot as Harris made the interception.

DB: I thought they had a pretty good game. They were a times they must have had coverage, TV didn’t show downfield angle very well, because the QB had to take off or throw it away. There QB was 27 for 39 which is about a 69% completion rate. He averaged 5.6 yards per pass attempt and 8.7 yards per completion. These guys were the leading tacklers again, Hellams was in on 12 tackles and 6 of those were solos.

Special teams: Specials teams were solid except for 1 play. The tone was set on the opening kickoff where Jobe hammered the returner who fumbled. ND got on the fumble but made them start the drive on the opening drive. After that they decided to fair catch the rest of the kickoffs. The biggest mistake was the inability to handle the onside kick. I also thought Smith was close to breaking another punt return.

Penalties: Bama had 6 penalties for 59 yards. The biggest on, in my opinion, was the unsportsmanlike conduct which came on ND’s second touchdown drive. Instead of the ball being on the 40 with a 2nd and 10 it was first and 10 at the 25 going in. With that being said, I also thought it was a terrible call. Saban was, according to what I read, was yelling at a LB about the wrong drop he took and not at any official. He did take a couple of steps on the field, but what coach hasn’t.

Finally, Bama won and gets another shot at a NC. It is not going to be an easy game if OSU can put together another performance like they did last night. If they lose the edge on the OSU backs and QB, they have the ability to make big plays. Their DL posed problems for the Clemson OL. They looked like they were more physical than Clemson. It will take a great performance by both the offense and defense.
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