Aaron Suttles
TideSports.com Senior Writer
ATLANTA, Ga. | Missouri pressured Blake Sims, even sacked him twice.
As for the battle of the line of scrimmage, though, the five big guys up front in crimson won there, and, in doing so, gave Sims and his backfield mates plenty of room to operate. And to win.
It wasn't Alabama's best offensive performance - that distinction can be split between the Florida, Texas A&M and Auburn games, depending on how you define it. But it was the most important, as it led to a championship, the first of what Alabama hopes is two this season.
The offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, paving the way for 242 yards rushing yards, and it provided the protection, both inside and outside the pocket, for Sims to carve up the Tigers secondary to the tune of 262 yards.
The biggest challenge came in containing Missouri's double-trouble rush ends, Shane Ray and Markus Golden. Ray was credited with half of a sack before a vicious personal foul hit to the chin of Sims got him ejected from the game for targeting. Golden had no tackles, no pressures, but did register six tackles.
"The (game plan) didn't always want to put us one on one with them," right tackle Austin Shepherd said. "Obviously those guys are great D-ends. We were just trying to control the line of scrimmage because they moved every play. We were just trying to control what they were doing."
The passing game worked in the first half - Sims threw for 160 of his 262 in the first two quarters - and the bruising run attack wore down the Tigers in the second half and closed out the game with 62 percent of the rushing yardage coming over the course of the final 30 minutes.
"In the second half we had some more direct runs down hill," center Ryan Kelly said. "Some outside zone stuff. Anytime we can balance that out is when we're most effective.
"To go in there in the third and fourth quarter and impose our will inside, that's what we wanted to do."
Alabama led the time of possession 36:43 to 23:17.
"I saw them wearing down in the third quarter," Shepherd said. "We were able to put a long drive together. Obviously when time of possession was like it was you get tired. You just have to have more will and drive than they do, and that's what we had."
Henry did his work in an 88-yard fourth quarter, including a 45-yard galloping run to set up the game's final score. On that drive Henry rushed five straight times for 62 yards, punctuated by a 1-yard touchdown blast over left guard.
He finished with a game-high 141 yards on 20 carries (7.1 yards per carry) and two touchdowns.
With good protection and a great game plan by offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, Sims set a SEC Championship Game record for completion percentage, going 23 of 27 (85.2 percent).
"We came in and knew they had a great defense," Kelly said. "I think we had some different set ups where if Blake had some looks he had the ability to throw it. We wanted to get him out of the pocket because he can do great things outside of the pocket.
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1712711#sthash.XQR9tjQq.dpuf
TideSports.com Senior Writer
ATLANTA, Ga. | Missouri pressured Blake Sims, even sacked him twice.
As for the battle of the line of scrimmage, though, the five big guys up front in crimson won there, and, in doing so, gave Sims and his backfield mates plenty of room to operate. And to win.
It wasn't Alabama's best offensive performance - that distinction can be split between the Florida, Texas A&M and Auburn games, depending on how you define it. But it was the most important, as it led to a championship, the first of what Alabama hopes is two this season.
The offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, paving the way for 242 yards rushing yards, and it provided the protection, both inside and outside the pocket, for Sims to carve up the Tigers secondary to the tune of 262 yards.
The biggest challenge came in containing Missouri's double-trouble rush ends, Shane Ray and Markus Golden. Ray was credited with half of a sack before a vicious personal foul hit to the chin of Sims got him ejected from the game for targeting. Golden had no tackles, no pressures, but did register six tackles.
"The (game plan) didn't always want to put us one on one with them," right tackle Austin Shepherd said. "Obviously those guys are great D-ends. We were just trying to control the line of scrimmage because they moved every play. We were just trying to control what they were doing."
The passing game worked in the first half - Sims threw for 160 of his 262 in the first two quarters - and the bruising run attack wore down the Tigers in the second half and closed out the game with 62 percent of the rushing yardage coming over the course of the final 30 minutes.
"In the second half we had some more direct runs down hill," center Ryan Kelly said. "Some outside zone stuff. Anytime we can balance that out is when we're most effective.
"To go in there in the third and fourth quarter and impose our will inside, that's what we wanted to do."
Alabama led the time of possession 36:43 to 23:17.
"I saw them wearing down in the third quarter," Shepherd said. "We were able to put a long drive together. Obviously when time of possession was like it was you get tired. You just have to have more will and drive than they do, and that's what we had."
Henry did his work in an 88-yard fourth quarter, including a 45-yard galloping run to set up the game's final score. On that drive Henry rushed five straight times for 62 yards, punctuated by a 1-yard touchdown blast over left guard.
He finished with a game-high 141 yards on 20 carries (7.1 yards per carry) and two touchdowns.
With good protection and a great game plan by offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, Sims set a SEC Championship Game record for completion percentage, going 23 of 27 (85.2 percent).
"We came in and knew they had a great defense," Kelly said. "I think we had some different set ups where if Blake had some looks he had the ability to throw it. We wanted to get him out of the pocket because he can do great things outside of the pocket.
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1712711#sthash.XQR9tjQq.dpuf
