🏈 Tale of the tape: Alabama vs. Ohio State

[BAMANEWSBOT]

Alabama and Ohio State meet in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) with a spot in the College Football Playoff national championship game on the line. So how do the two teams match up? Let's go to the tale of the tape:










ESPN's SEC Blog—Continue reading...

 

[TerryP]

OK, now I'm starting to getting tired of the hyperbole.

The scariest part of Joey Bosa's game is that he still hasn't tapped all of its potential. The sophomore is steadily becoming more complete and committing to stopping the rush as well as he rushes the passer, and nobody in the country does the latter any better than Bosa. It helps that he has a pair of tenacious defensive tackles to take some heat off him, with bothMichael Bennett and Adolphus Washington playing like high-round draft picks late in the season.

Top tackles for FBS play in 2014— Bosa isn't even ranked in the top 100 or so players.

Now, he does have 13.5 sacks on the season which ranks him in fourth place among defensive players. Shane Ray (MO,) Myles Garrett (A&M,) and Curt Maggitt (UT,) are all in the top ten. As you can tell, we've faced each of these guys. We gave up a combined 1.5 sacks in those three games.

 

[UAgrad93]

I know what you mean @TerryP. Bosa has had a good season but we faced better D linemen on a weekly basis. Our guys went against some pretty damn good ones everyday in practice as well.

 

[TerryP]

I know what you mean @TerryP. Bosa has had a good season but we faced better D linemen on a weekly basis. Our guys went against some pretty damn good ones everyday in practice as well.

I've got different sites I look at for things like this. One thing I don't know where to find is a game by game breakdown of how many sacks and versus whom. OSU's official athletic site may have it broken down...I'll go look.

 

[TerryP]

Out of 128 teams:

VT ranks 99th in sacks allowed (31,)
Cincy 16th (16,)
Maryland 95th (30,)
Rutgers 28th (19,)
Penn State 122nd (42,)
Illinois 99th (31,)
Minn 28th (19,)
Mich T70th (26.)

Bama 11th with 13 allowed.

*Not surprising Tubs has another decent offensive line in spite of him being in Cincy.

 

[TerryP]

@planomateo

First we have Herman and his Mensa. This should make you shake a little in your shoes: offensive line.

Position coach Ed Warinner is a secret weapon,

 

[UAgrad93]

So does Warriner have some eligibility remaining? Shit! Cristobal still looks like he could play!

 

[planomateo]

LOL. Secret weapon, we'll find out in 8 days.

 

[TerryP]

So does Warriner have some eligibility remaining? Shit! Cristobal still looks like he could play!

Here's a bit of irony for you considering the conversations we've been having.

He joined the Ohio State staff in 2012 after spending the previous two seasons at...

Notre Dame.

 

[planomateo]

Red-zone offense vs defense numbers along with Ohio State's.

Alabama's 37.5% on Red-Zone TD defense vs Ohio State's 70.3% (last in the SEC).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Think back to the University of Alabama’s biggest defensive plays this season and many of them had something in common, where they occurred.

Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott having two passes picked off in the red zone. Auburn had the ball eight times within the 20, but notched just one touchdown until the final moments when Alabama was more concerned about the clock than anything else.

Tennessee also scored a late touchdown but at the expense of valuable time … and so on.

“I wouldn’t say the coaches have to say anything,” sophomore defensive end Jonathan Allen said. “The players know how important it is to have good red-zone defense.

“We feel like that’s saved us in a lot of games this year. That’s something we pride ourselves on as a defense.”

Perhaps the worst statistics that the NCAA keeps track of are red-zone offense and defense, because the numbers don’t tell half of the story.

For example, this season LSU has had the fewest defensive possessions in the red zone (27), Auburn created the most turnovers inside the 20 (six), and supposedly Mississippi State has been the stingiest defensively both in the Southeastern Conference and nationally.

SEC Team, Scored-Possessions, Percent
1. Mississippi State 24-40, 60.0
2. Arkansas 22-32, 68.8
3. Ole Miss 23-32, 71.9
4. Auburn 36-50, 72.0
5. LSU 21-27, 77.8
6. Georgia 29-37, 78.4
7. Alabama 33-40, 82.5
8. Florida 25-30, 83.3
9. Texas A&M 34-49, 87.2
10. South Carolina 49-56, 87.5
11. Missouri 31-35, 88.6
12. Vanderbilt 48-52, 92.3
13. Kentucky 41-44, 93.2
14. Tennessee 29-30, 96.7

With that 82.5 percent, Alabama officially ranks 56th in the Football Bowl Subdivision in red-zone defense.

The problem is that those numbers include both touchdowns and field goals.

Which SEC team gave up the most field goals in the red zone? Alabama with 18.

If you only count touchdowns, the numbers are very different.

SEC Team, TDs-Possessions, Percent
1. Alabama 15-40, 37.5
(tie) Ole Miss 12-32, 37.5
3. Mississippi State 15-40, 40.0
4. LSU 13-27, 48.1
5. Florida 16-30, 53.3
6. Auburn 28-50, 56.0
7. Texas A&M 22-39, 56.4
8. Arkansas 19-32, 59.4
9. South Carolina 34-56, 60.7
10. Vanderbilt 34-52, 65.4
11. Georgia 25-37, 65.7
(tie) Missouri 23-35, 65.7
12. Tennessee 20-30, 66.7
14. Kentucky 30-44, 68.1

The only teams in the nation to have given up fewer than Alabama’s 15 red-zone touchdowns are Ole Miss (12), LSU (13), Temple (13), TCU (13), Clemson (14) and Louisville (14). The Crimson Tide also played an extra game on all of them due to the SEC Championship.

But let’s take it to the next level, quality opponents. Here’s how Alabama’s defense fared against its six Top 25 teams this season:

Rank, Opponent, RZ possessions-TDs
No. 11 at Ole Miss 3-2
No. 21 Texas A&M 1-0
No. 16 at LSU 3-1
No. 1 Mississippi State 6-2
No. 15 Auburn 8-2
No. 16 vs. Missouri 3-1

That works out to 24 possessions, resulting in 19 scores and 89 total points …

… but just eight touchdowns in the six games, and only one rushing touchdown.

Junior safety Landon Collins credits the defensive line for a lot of that.

“They get penetration, and once you get penetration, I mean, it messes up the whole scheme of what the offense is trying to do,” he said “ If they read screen and they mess up the pullers, I mean, it starts with them.”

While the overall red-zone scoring percentage against ranked opponents is 79.2 percent, for touchdowns it’s just 30.0.

Thus, Coordinator Kirby Smart’s defense has been actually better at preventing red-zone touchdowns against ranked teams, when it mattered the most.

“We take it very seriously in practice,” junior cornerback Cyrus Jones said. “I guess your mental intensity goes up a lot in the red area because you know it’s going to be a critical stop a lot of the times and any time you can hold a team to three points instead of giving them six, it’s big.”

In comparison, Ohio State’s defense ranks 74th in the red zone, and its numbers are almost the exact opposite of Alabama’s. Of the 37 times opponents had the ball inside the 20 they scored 26 touchdowns (17 rushing), and just five field goals for 83.8 percent.

The touchdown percentage is 70.3 percent, which would have been last in the SEC.

Ohio State’s three ranked opponents (Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin, although the Badgers never got inside the 20), combined to have eight possessions in the red zone. They scored six touchdowns (75.0 percent) and one field goal (87.5).

Consequently, it could be a huge advantage for the Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

“There’s just something about that goal-line that we don’t want nobody scoring on us,” Collins said.

 

[TerryP]

Great find, Matt!

 

[UAgrad93]

GREAT FIND INDEED!!

 

[rick4bama]

Thanks Matt!!