The stage is now set. The two best college football teams in America will play each other on January 9. Those two teams are Alabama and Clemson. Washington and Ohio State have been ritually sacrificed. The Buckeye's and Huskies-the best team from the Big 10, and the PAC 12 Champion-combined to score a mere seven points against Alabama and a team coached by a beloved Tide alum.
This dominance of the college football world by southern teams, which arguably began more than fifty years ago with Coach Bryant's first national title, is the realization of the future foreshadowed by Alabama's victory in the 1926 Rose Bowl over-who else?-the Washington Huskies. Bama's 24-7 win in its final appearance in the Georgia Dome, did not come easy. And the offense left fans nursing more headaches on New Years Day than did strong drink on New Year's Eve. During one particularly dreadful stretch in the second quarter, Washington was held to three consecutive possessions of three-and-out, advantageous field position allowed the Tide to start drives near mid-field, and the offense was unable to score any points.
Fans watching at home were not alone in their criticism of Coach Kiffin's play selection. Hugh Freeze, Booger McFarland, and Jordan Rogers, from the SEC Network, were saying the same things as the people gathered in my TV room. At the half, even Kirk Herbstreet called in to pile on. McFarland said it best as he watched Bo Scarbrough run 68 yards for the clinching touchdown: "Coaches make football too complicated. Just give the ball to 9. Nobody on Washington's team wants to touch that man."
Play calling was not the only cause of Bama's offensive woes. Alabama suffered 11 penalties for 66 yards. Eight were against the offense, and most were drive killers. Add to those miscues a dropped pass by OJ Howard, and a Jalen Hurts' fumble recovered after losing a dozen yards. The result was a dismal offensive performance.
Special teams were inconsistent. Kick coverage was excellent. Adam Griffith was good from 41 on his lone field goal attempt. JK Scott had an excellent game punting the ball, but the Tide had no answer for the Huskies' roll-out punter and surrendered a ghastly total of yards in lost field position.
It is easy to get caught up in complaining about what went wrong. Fans should not lose sight of what went right, and there was a great deal that went right. Because the purpose of this blog is to evaluate the whole contest, here is how I grade the game:
Offense: C The running game was nothing short of splendid. Bo Scarbrough gained 180 net yards rushing; more than any Alabama running back has achieved in any bowl game in history. Bama gained 326 yards of total offense against a good Washington defense. The Tide earned 16 first downs but converted only 4 of 14 third downs.
Jalen completed 7 of his 14 pass attempts for only 57 yards. He added 50 yards net rushing. He was sacked 3 times for a loss of 20 yards. OJ Howard led all receivers with 4 catches for 44 yards. Gehrig, Stewart and Ridley each made a single catch.
The offense only mounted two drives that gained 40 or more yards [78, 98] both produced touchdowns. Four Alabama drives ended with a three-and-out.
Defense: A+ Washington managed a single drive that gained 40 or more yards [64]. The Tide defense forced six three-and-outs, and forced three turnovers.
Reuben Foster led all tacklers with 9, Anthony Averett was credited with 8 and Rashaan Evans recorded 7. Tide defenders made 7 tackles for lost yardage including 5 sacks. Averett forced a fumble that Jonathan Allen recovered. Ryan Anderson intercepted a pass, knocked the intended receiver to the ground and returned the ball 26 yards to record Alabama's 15th non-offensive TD of the season. Minkah Fitzpatrick made a fourth quarter interception in the end zone that he returned 28 yards.
Washington led the nation in defensive turnover margin. On the night, Alabama took the ball away from the Huskies three times while the offense did not surrender a single turnover.
Special Teams:
Place Kicking: A Griff was good on his lone FG attempt and perfect on 3 PATs.
Kickoffs: A Griff averaged 65 yards on 5 kicks, two of which were touchbacks. The coverage team did an outstanding job bottling up the UW return game. The Huskies returned 3 kicks for an average of only 15 yards. Their longest return was 18 yards.
Punting: B JK Scott averaged 46 yards on 8 punts. He kept UW in bad field position with 3 kicks inside the Huskie' 20 yard line. The Tide return game, however, was non-existent. Trevon Diggs returned only 1 of UW's 9 punts for only 3 yards. The Washington punter would roll to his right and his kicking motion was sort of outside-in across his body with his right leg. This produced long, low trajectory kicks with a difficult spin. The bottom line is that it neutralized the Tide return game. A fix needs to be found before Jan. 9. One other comment: in the third quarter, the UW punter was kicking out of his own end zone. After kicking the ball, he stepped on a Tide player who was lying face down on the turf. Rather than helping the Tide player up and apologizing for walking on him, the punter executed a flop to the ground so theatrical it would have drawn a yellow card in the Premier League.
Coaching: B- It is hard to grade the coaching in this game. On the one hand, the defense played an outstanding game. The offense ran the ball effectively. The passing game was not good, and the play calling was beyond my understanding. Penalties were unacceptably high, even taking into account the no-calls on Washington, and the unwarranted personal fouls called in the final minute.
Alabama's rematch with Clemson is set. The Tigers are an outstanding football team with a quarterback who, in my opinion, is the nation's best at his position. Last year, I wrote that tackling DeShawn Watson was like trying to tackle smoke. If anything, the Clemson QB has become even more elusive with another season's experience. Clemson is on a mission. Players who lost to Alabama in last year's final, believe they have something to prove.
On the other hand, Alabama's defense believe they have something to prove as well. Don't forget the Tigers scored late, cutting a 12 point deficit to only 5. The Tigers believe if they had recovered their attempted on-side kick, they would have won last year's championship; they have been saying as much in the press.
Unlike last year, when the Clemson players celebrated their semi-final victory as if it were an end in itself, this year, they resemble the Tide; focused on the game ahead.
It will be one heck of a college football game!
Against Ole Miss, this team proved it had character. Against Tennessee, Alabama proved they could overcome self-inflicted mistakes and win impressively. Against TAMU, the Tide showed they could come from behind in the second half and dominate the 4th quarter. Against LSU, they displayed unmatched physical toughness and a refusal to lose in a hostile setting. Against Auburn, they imposed a relentless will and not only won, but closed out the month of November without surrendering a touchdown. Against Florida in the SEC CG, the Tide proved they could score in every phase of the game, deny an opponent on four plays inside the five, then march the length of the field to score a touchdown.
Alabama has the best record in the country. The longest active winning streak. A roster of elite athletes at every position. The best coach in the game. And, The Process.
But who makes history? Who wins five national championships in 8 seasons? Who goes wire-to-wire as the undisputed number one in this age of parity? Who wins a consecutive national title with a freshman quarterback? Who does that?
Alabama does.
Roll Tide, Y'all.....
The Commissioner
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