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Alabama and Washington will not only be representing the SEC and Pac-12, respectively, in their College Football Playoff semifinal matchup. They’ll also be representing the best offense and defense from their conferences.
The Crimson Tide averaged 40.5 points per game and only allowed 11.8, while the Huskies scored 44.5 and surrendered just 17.2. No team in their leagues were even close in any of those regards.
That’s a bigger accomplishment than you may think based on a recent trend that speaks to growing parity in college football.
Being the best at impacting the scoreboard on both sides of the ball in your conference was going the way of the dinosaur before this season. That’s evidenced by 2013 national champion Florida State being the only team since 2009 to do it before Alabama and Washington joined them this season.
To say it was a common occurrence at the start of the century would be an understatement. At least one team did it in each of the first nine seasons, and multiple teams did it in five of those nine.
Here’s the full list from 2000-08.
| SEASON | SCHOOL | CONFERENCE | END OF YEAR ACCOMPLISHMENT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Oregon State | Pac-10 | Won Fiesta Bowl |
| 2000 | Florida State | ACC | Lost Orange Bowl |
| 2001 | Florida | SEC | Won Orange Bowl |
| 2001 | Maryland | ACC | Lost Orange Bowl |
| 2001 | Texas | Big 12 | Won Holiday Bowl |
| 2002 | Georgia | SEC | Won Sugar Bowl |
| 2002 | Kansas State | Big 12 | Won Holiday Bowl |
| 2002 | USC | Pac-10 | Won Orange Bowl |
| 2003 | USC | Pac-10 | Won national title (AP) |
| 2004 | Auburn | SEC | Undefeated, won Sugar Bowl |
| 2004 | USC | Pac-10 | Won national title (AP) |
| 2005 | Texas | Big 12 | Won national title |
| 2005 | Virginia Tech | ACC | Won Gator Bowl |
| 2006 | LSU | SEC | Won Sugar Bowl |
| 2007 | Kansas | Big 12 | Won Orange Bowl |
| 2008 | Florida | SEC | Won national title |
As you’d expect, all those teams were pretty successful as 13 of the 16 reached a major bowl, and 11 of those 13 won on those big stages. The only two that lost were 2000 Florida State, which lost to Oklahoma in the national title game. The other was 2001 Maryland, which lost to Florida, also its conference’s leader in scoring offense and defense that same season.
While the averages for the Tide and Huskies could change based on their meeting in Atlanta, it isn’t likely based on how comfortably their marks sit in each of the four departments.
2016 SCORING OFFENSE
| LEADER | PPG | NEXT-BEST | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 40.5 | Tennessee | 36.3 |
| Washington | 44.5 | Washington State | 40.3 |
2016 SCORING DEFENSE
| LEADER | OPP PPG | NEXT-BEST | OPP PPG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 11.8 | Auburn | 15.6 |
| Washington | 17.2 | Stanford | 20.2 |
For Alabama, it’s the first time the school has led the SEC in both categories since 1980, two years before Paul “Bear” Bryant would call it a career — an unmatched one — with the Tide.
The “scoring offense” statistic involves all touchdowns scored, so that means Alabama’s 14 non-offensive touchdowns are thrown into that total, even though it doesn’t really adhere to the name of the stat.
However, even if we take out all of Bama’s non-offensive TDs and let every other SEC team keep all TDs scored, the Tide still have an average of 34.1 and rank third in the SEC, so let’s not attempt to discredit their offense.
As we get set to watch Alabama and Washington square off for a spot in the national championship game in nine days, we can appreciate how rarely complete both teams are.
There’s many who question the Huskies’ ability to hang with the Tide as a two-touchdown underdog, but there’s no questioning who the best teams in their conferences were in 2016.
Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.
