National Championship game notes: OSU vs Bama

OSU vs Bama

First, congrats to the Bama players and coaches for the National Championship victory. Honestly, I think this may have been Sark’s best called game of the year. Also, I think this team displayed a chemistry that many people don’t understand how important this is when you have a championship run. Let us also give a shout out to the new strength and conditioning coach for keeping the players ready to go.

OFFFENSE: The offense put together 621 yards of total offense which includes 464 passing and 157 rushing. The total offense breaks down to 389 in the first half and 232 in the second half. For negative plays, I have Bama with 3 tackles for losses, 2 sacks, and a lost fumble. On the fumble, Billingsley was supposed to block the edge, but the OSU player timed the blitz well and Billingsley didn’t adjust his angle to get to him well enough to get a chip on him. Bama had 1 three and out and it didn’t come until late in the 2nd half. There was 1 other, but it was a 3-play touchdown scoring drive. For plays that covered 10+ yards, I have Bama with 20 pass plays and 7 running plays. Fourteen of the pass plays came in the first half and there were 6 in the second half. For the running plays, 2 were in the first half and 5 were in the second half. Bama got into the red zone 6 time and scored each time. They scored 5 touchdowns and kicked 1 field goal. They also scored 2 touchdowns from outside the red zone. Bama also ran 83 plays during the game.

QB: Jones had an outstanding game by going 36 for 45 for 464 yards which equates to an 80% completion rate. He averaged 12.88 yards per competition. He also scrambled at the appropriate time. His only negative play was his fumble, which as I stated above was due to a well time blitz and a missed block. If my stats are correct, he only had 2 what I consider bad passes. Young got to come in and finish up the game, which hopefully fuels a fire to add his name to the quarterbacks that have won a National Championship. I will say right here, there were many people who didn’t give Jones a chance to be the starting QB this year as they anointed Young to be the starter coming in. Jones not only started but had a banner record breaking year. This includes national records, SEC, and Bama records. Congrats to him and good luck in your future.

RB: Again, Harris had an outstanding game. His rushing average may not have been his best, but he ran hard and was hit hard. He had 22 rushed for 79 yards and 7 catches for 79 yards. This totals up to be 158 yards on 29 touches. One thing I did notice was he was telling Jones to get down when he scrambled once. Robinson came in and also had a good game. He only carried the ball 10 times for 69 yards which breaks down to 6.9 yards per carry. Again, this was a tough game when it comes to hitting, however, the RB’s looked like they gave just as much as they received.

Rec: As we know, Smith had an outstanding game. He caught 12 passes in basically a half for 215 yards. His total yards were more than the combined yards for all OSU receivers. Metchie had 8 catches for 81 yards. He also was credited with a pass interference call against him that help move the ball closer in the goal line on one touchdown drive. Waddle had 3 catches for 34 yards. Billingsley only had 2 catches for 27 yards, but one was huge as he performed the scramble drill to perfection and allowed Jones to complete a pass on third down and kept a touchdown drive alive. Bolden had 3 catches for 16 yards and scored his first touchdown for the year. William, who should be a force next year had 1 catch for 12 yards. The only knock I had about the receivers, was they got blown up a couple of times on blocks. I spoke about Harris’s catches above.

OL: I will be honest here, after watching Clemson/OSU, I was worried about OSU’s DL. They had an outstanding game as you can see by the negative plays above, 6 negative plays out of 83 plays. This means there was positive plays or at least a stalemate on 99.928 offensive plays. They were playing against 7 to 8 men in the box a lot of the night which allowed for blitzes from different angles and positions. They handled them most of the time. It was outstanding that Saban allowed Dickerson into the game to get the last couple of snaps. Don’t know if you noticed, but the first snapped looked like it was dropped by the Young.

DL. They had an outstanding game as you can see by the negative plays above, 6 negative plays out of 83 plays. This means there was positive plays or at least a stalemate on 99.928 offensive plays. They were playing against 7 to 8 men in the box a lot of the night which allowed for blitzes from different angles and positions. They handled them most of the time. It was outstanding that Saban allowed Dickerson into the game to get the last couple of snaps. Don’t know if you noticed, but the first snapped looked like it was dropped by the Young.

Def: Overall, the defense played a good game. It helps when the offense keeps you off the field for most of the night. Bama had the edge in time of possession, 37:26 to 22:34. This means the defense basically had a quarter off during the night. Bama gave up a total of 341 yards which included 194 passing and 147 rushing. For negative plays, Bama is credited with 4 tackles for losses and 1 sack. I also looked at what I considered pressures and I credit Bama with 10. They may not have gotten the sack, but they had an effect on the play. For 3 and outs, I have OSU with 4 three and outs. OSU had 10 passing plays that covered 10+ yards and 3 running plays that covered that distance. For a breakdown, 4 pass plays were in the first half and 6 in the second half. This could be because Bama looked to be playing more of a two shell to make OSU work the ball down the field and use clock. For the running plays, 2 were in the first half and 1 was in the second half, most on scrambles by the QB, if not all. OSU got into the red zone 5 times and scored 3 touchdowns, 1 field goal, and turned it over on downs once.

DL: The D line had a good game. OSU did average 5.1 yards per rush, but as I mentioned above, they had numerous pressures on the QB. They only averaged 5.9 yards per pass attempt. They did average over 11 yards per completion but remember the 2nd half Bama looked to play the 2 shell which will allow for some completions. Barmore had a very good game and was one of the leading tacklers which is rare when most of the year the safeties were the leading tacklers. The only knock was the couple of times where they lost their lanes and allowed the QB to escape on the scramble. Also, on one of the touchdowns they lost the edge. They may have been misaligned because it looked like there was a tackle and a TE in a wing position and it looked like the end man on the LOS was inside to head up on the tackle, easy to get the edge here. Allen did make a good tackle on a play where Fields broke contain and tackled him for a short gain, where he had room to run.

LB: They played well and it looked in the beginning that OSU was going to attack them in the passing game but the success was limited. They did hit one play to the TE for, I think, 36 yards. Now what was good here is that Harris and Moses were among the top 3 tacklers along with Barmore.

DB: Overall, I think they played well. There were a couple of plays where OSU had the right play call for the defense. They gave a high low on the outside where the corner looked to be in zone and the safety would have to overlap the outside deep receiver as the corner has the short receiver. Jobe was called for called for a PI, but it looked to be he thought he had help from the safety and had to play catchup. Also, on one play the safety was looking back and allowed for separation the by the receiver. On the touchdown where Jobe was blocked, I think he was playing an inside technique because of man coverage, which gives the blocker an advantage on plays to the outside, especially when there is a short distance to run. Wright came in for Battle and played well.

Special teams: Special teams were solid. Reichard was again perfect, which made for a perfect year. He also kicked the ball deeper on the kickoff than he has in the past. Scott only punted twice and averaged 38 yards but allowed no returns. Smith did have one punt return for 19 yards to help set Bama up in good field position.

Penalties: Bama had 6 penalties for 44 yards. The first was the PI for Jobe in the end zone and help set OSU in the red zone. Again, I mentioned above, I think he thought he had help over the top. Battle was called for targeting and he was lost for over half the game. Bama did end up holding OSU in the red zone and gave up only a field goal. Ineligible lineman downfield didn’t hurt because Bama still scored on the drive. Owens had a false start and Bama ended up punting on that drive. Offsides by Allen which occurred on the 3-play drive for a touchdown. Finally, Barmore roughing the passer but OSU ended up turning the ball over on downs.

Finally, Bama played an overall good game and won their 18 National Championship. It was a record setting and strange year. There were many doubts early in the year, especially with the defense and the idea that Jones would be the starting QB. However, the coaches knew best. I will say it again, chemistry is extremely important to the success for any championship team. I noticed many times this year the players pulling for each other, especially when the backups went in. Hopefully, this will continue. However, again there are numerous holes to fill by both players and coaches.
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