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Grading Alabama’s loss to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, which ended the Crimson Tide’s season short of the national championship.
Offense: C
The Crimson Tide simply didn’t have enough Derrick Henry or Amari Cooper. Henry looked like a back-breaking force every time he touched the ball, but only got his hands on the rock 15 times. Meanwhile, Cooper had nine catches yards for 71 and two touchdowns , but was much quieter than his numbers indicated. The screens and short throws that he’d dominated with all year just weren’t there. As a result, quarterback Blake Sims struggled when his first option wasn’t open. The senior threw three interceptions, including one on a last-second Hail Mary, and was inaccurate and indecisive all night. Alabama was brutal on third down, converting just 2-of-13 on the night, by far their worst effort on the season. Their inability to convert had a trickle-down effect, compromising the defense and putting them on the field too much.
Defense: C
Alabama’s third down defense was nearly as bad as its offense, allowing the Buckeyes to pick up 10-of-18 conversions on the night, many of them on third-and-long. While they tightened up for a stretch in the third and fourth quarters, they failed on a third-and-short late that set up Ezekiel Elliott’s back-breaking touchdown run. Cardale Jones found receivers running free in the secondary on third downs in the first half, and then started running the ball when he realized the Tide had little chance of bringing him down. Alabama lost Reggie Ragland to what may have been a concussion and Landon Collins was clearly compromised by an arm injury, which came back to hurt the Tide when Elliott sprinted past everyone late. Alabama was uncharacteristically awful against the run, allowing Elliott to rack up a Sugar Bowl-record 230 yards while Jones picked up 43 yards of his own, much of it on third down. Alabama picked up six sacks on the night, but it didn’t feel like they brought the pressure to confused Jones near often enough. Without two first half takeaways and two red zone stops early in the game, this could have been an Ohio State blowout.
Special teams: A-
Christion Jones’ subpar kick return abilities didn’t help Alabama out in the field position game, but JK Scott more than made up for it. The freshman Ray Guy award finalist hit seven punts for an average of 55 yards, including a long of 73 yards and five downed inside the 20-yard line. Scott flipped field position every time he stepped back to punt, and without him Alabama would have been in serious trouble.
Coaching: C-
Alabama didn’t look ready for the Buckeyes hitting them in the mouth. The Crimson Tide were able to take away the deep ball aside from a few instances, a huge improvement from recent weeks, but Alabama simply couldn’t find an answer on third downs. The offensive play calling was confusing as well; the passes Alabama had been so successful with weren’t dialed up with the same regularity, and the Crimson Tide’s most effective offensive option for the night, Henry, couldn’t buy a touch. Even worse, the clock management cost the Tide a legitimate shot to tie the game in the final minute. Alabama was definitely outcoached by old foe Urban Meyer, the first time you can say that since 2008.
Overall: C
This was not the efficient-offense, physical-defense Alabama we saw all season. The offense was inconsistent, the defense couldn’t get off the field and the coaching staff simply didn’t seem ready for what Ohio State brought.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
