🏈 BUCKEYE SPORTS: Unheralded Sims Leads 'Bama To Playoff

[CollegeFootballNews.com]

Blake Sims entered the season as an unknown, but has led the Crimson Tide to a playoff berth and the country's top ranking.

Like Ohio State, Alabama entered the 2014 season breaking in a new quarterback. While the Buckeyes have been forced to repeat that process with Cardale Jonesstepping in late in the season, Blake Sims now has a full season under his belt as the Crimson Tide quarterback.


The Alabama senior entered the season with plenty of question marks following a lackluster spring, but beat out Florida State transfer Jake Coker and led the Tide to a 12-1 season.

“The first game, I was just trying to get the feel of the first college game,” Sims said. “I tried to make some plays to show that Coach Saban made the right decision. I wanted to let them know I could be a great leader for this team. Each game, I tried to get better each week and pick Coach Saban’s mind, and see what he sees.”

Sims did get better as the season went along, posting two of his highest quarterback ratings of the season in the team’s final two games. The quarterback finished the year with 3,250 passing yards, the 24th best mark in the nation, with 26 touchdowns against just seven interceptions. His season-long quarterback rating of 161.92 is the seventh-best in the country.

Not bad for a player that many expected to be on the bench this season.

“It’s been fantastic watching Blake,” running back T.J. Yeldon said. “Everybody criticized him and how he wasn’t going to be able to start or be a good quarterback. He took that as motivation to keep him going and he turned out to be one of the leaders on the team. He always gets us going and gets the offense going. He does a great job doing that.”

New Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin received much of the credit for the growth of Sims, a player who entered the year with just 244 passing yards on 39 attempts. The coordinator, however, credited the fifth-year senior’s work ethic and demeanor for the progress he has made this season.

“I think Blake has had a great story so far this year and it's been because of the way he's played and worked,” Kiffin said. “From the first day we got here there were a lot of questions about Blake, how he would perform, whether he was even a quarterback.

“Brought in a transfer that the assumption was by a lot of people that the transfer, Jake, would be the starting quarterback. And never once did Blake bring that up. Never once did he question that. All he did was go to work.”

Now, Sims must go to work against Ohio State. The Buckeyes have held opposing passers to the fifth lowest passer rating in the country this season and will be the second-best defense in that regard that Sims has ever faced, trailing only LSU. The Tigers allowed Sims to complete just 44.4 percent of his passes for 209 yards and his lowest passer rating of the season at 98.1. The Tide needed overtime to win that game in Baton Rouge.

“This is a very, very good defense,” Kiffin said of Ohio State. “People aren’t really moving the ball against these guys very much at all.”

On Thursday, Sims will be the one tasked with moving the ball on the Buckeyes.


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[UAgrad93]

Now, Sims must go to work against Ohio State. The Buckeyes have held opposing passers to the fifth lowest passer rating in the country this season and will be the second-best defense in that regard that Sims has ever faced, trailing only LSU. The Tigers allowed Sims to complete just 44.4 percent of his passes for 209 yards and his lowest passer rating of the season at 98.1. The Tide needed overtime to win that game in Baton Rouge.

I hope this guy isn't seriously putting tOSU D on the same level as LSwho.

 

[bcracker]

@uagrad93 Do you believe that stat is inflated because of the competition in the Big10? In other words, if OS played an SEC west schedule would they have fared as well?

 

[TerryP]

@bcracker I suspect he'll agree with me here...

This is just like the hoopla Notre Dame received. That said, I think the OSU defense and special teams are more fundamentally sound than the Domers were in 2012.

I keep asking myself if the 2014 OSU team is as good as the 2013 team and I'm leaning more and more towards no, they're not. Recall, this OSU team lost to Clemson in their bowl game—the same Clemson team that was handled, easily, by UofSC.

 

[planomateo]

@uagrad93 Do you believe that stat is inflated because of the competition in the Big10? In other words, if OS played an SEC west schedule would they have fared as well?

http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/leader/national/team/offense/split01/category02/sort01.html

The first B1G team in the Passing Offense is Michigan State at #39, the next team is Ohio State at #51. I count 5 SEC teams ahead of Michigan State, #12 TAMU, #21 USC, #22 Alabama, #30 Ole Miss, and #37 Miss State.the SEC has 5 teams ahead of them and we played 3 of them.

 

[bcracker]

@TerryP The Domer game keeps cropping up in my mind. That was one game going into it that I was confident Alabama would dominate. I didn't see in Notre Dame what others saw in them. Their front seven was touted as unstoppable, but Pitt took them to three overtimes.

I'm getting the same impressions going into the Sugar Bowl. Is Ohio State better than that Notre Dame team? I would say yes, but still: the VT game, 3 OTs against Penn State--who had a hard time with Boston College--etc.

I'm I wrong here? Am I missing something in OS that I didn't miss in ND?

 

[bcracker]

Saban at practice today. He looks pleased.

 

[TerryP]

@TerryP The Domer game keeps cropping up in my mind. That was one game going into it that I was confident Alabama would dominate. I didn't see in Notre Dame what others saw in them. Their front seven was touted as unstoppable, but Pitt took them to three overtimes.

I'm getting the same impressions going into the Sugar Bowl. Is Ohio State better than that Notre Dame team? I would say yes, but still: the VT game, 3 OTs against Penn State--who had a hard time with Boston College--etc.

I'm I wrong here? Am I missing something in OS that I didn't miss in ND?

The difference I see, as stated earlier, is OSU has better coaching which should lead to better fundamentals.

Before the ND game I kept pointing out they couldn't tackle. And, they couldn't.

The biggest thing in this game I see as the difference is experience. Been there, done that versus they think they are good enough to HAVE been there and done that.

Adding to what you've listed here.

If I were a fan of OSU, I'd be scared to death of having to start Cardale. Based on what I've read over the last few days he's a meltdown waiting to happen.

 

[planomateo]

 

[TerryP]

That was followed by ESPN's Steve Levy saying, "Right."

Shows how little he knows.