re: Bama Football Tidings

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One of my best friends has a PhD in statistics. I like to wow him with statistical facts such as:

• Only one in three pigs can build a brick house
• Eight out of nine reindeer do not have very shiny noses
• Three out of three blind mice will have their tails cut off by a carving knife-wielding farmer’s wife
• Only one of seven dwarfs is likely to be Dopey. Or Grumpy. Or Happy.

There also are football statistics of interest.

The Nick Saban Era of Alabama football has been marked by a remarkable balance in offense in almost every season, the view of balance being relatively close totals in rushing yardage and passing yardage.

Just to cut to the bottom line, in the 12 years of Crimson Tide football under Saban, Bama has amassed 34,612 yards of rushing offense and 38,433 yards of passing offense. Of the 73,045 yards, that works out to 47.4 percent rushing, 52.6 percent passing.

An oddity is that the two greatest outliers were strikingly different seasons of success

The fewest yards of total offense in a season under Saban was the first in 2007 when it managed only 4,859 yards and is one of two seasons in which rushing yardage accounted for less than 40 percent of the total, 1,940 yards or 39.9 percent. That team finished 7-6.

The most yards in a season was last year, the 2018 Tide racking up 7,830 yards in offense en route to a 14-1 season. Rushing last year was 2,976 yards, or 38 percent of the total with passing a whopping 4,854 yards for 62 percent.

This year Steve Sarkisian will be Alabama’s offensive coordinator. He will be the seventh in the Saban Era.

The five national championship seasons have been relatively close in balance between rushing yards and passing yards.

In 2009, rushing was 53.4 percent, passing 46.6 percent. In 2011, rushing 49.9 percent, passing 50.1 percent. In 2012, rushing 51.1 percent, passing 48.9 percent. In 2015, rushing 46.8 percent, passing 53.2 percent. In 2017, rushing 56.4 percent, passing 43.6 percent.

Here’s a year-by-year look at Alabama offense under Saban:

2007 (7-6 record), Major Applewhite offensive coordinator, Terry Grant top rusher, John Parker Wilson top passer, 1,940 rushing yards (39.9 percent), 19 rushing touchdowns, 2,919 passing yards (60.1 percent), 19 passing touchdowns, 4,859 yards

2008 (12-2), Jim McElwain OC, Glen Coffee top rusher, Wilson top passer, 2,585 rushing (51.9 percent) 32 TDs, 2,396 passing (48.1 percent) 11 TDs, 4,981 yards

*2009 (14-0), McElwain OC, Mark Ingram top rusher, Greg McElroy top passer, 3,011 rushing (53.4 percent), 31 TDs, 2,631 passing (46.6 percent), 17 TDs, 5642 yards

2010 (10-3), McElwain OC, Ingram top rusher, McElroy top passer, 2,378 rushing (41.2 percent), 30 TDs, 3,395 passing (58.8 percent), 24 TDs, 5,773 yards

*2011 (12-1), McElwaion OC, Trent Richardson top rusher, AJ McCarron top passer, 2,788 rushing (49.9 percent), 34 TDs, 2,797 passing (50.1 percent), 16 TDs, 5,585 yards

*2012 (13-1), Doug Nussmeier OC, Eddie Lacy top rusher, McCarron top passer, 3,185 rushing (51.1 percent), 37 TDs, 3,052 passing (48.9 percent), 31 TDs, 6,237 yards

2013 (11-2), Nussmeier OC, T.J. Yeldon top rusher, McCarron top passer, 2,673 rushing (45.3 percent), 28 TDs, 3,230 passing (54.7 percent), 30 TDs, 5,903 yards

2014 (12-2), Lane Kiffin OC, Derrick Henry top rusher, Blake Sims top passer, 2,893 rushing (42.7 percent), 35 TDs, 3,890 passing (57.3 percent), 32 TDs, 6,783 yards

*2015 (14-1), Kiffin OC, Henry top rusher, Jake Coker top passer, 2,999 rushing (46.8 percent), 33 TDs, 3,407 passing (53.2 percent), 22 TDs, 6,406 yards

2016 (14-1), Kiffin OC, Damien Harris top rusher, Jalen Hurts top passer, 3,675 rushing (53.8 percent), 33 TDs, 3,154 passing (46.2 percent), 26 TDs, 6,829 yards

*2017 (13-1), Brian Daboll OC, Harris top rusher, Hurts top passer, 3,509 rushing (56.4 percent), 36 TDs, 2,708 passing (43.6 percent), 28 TDs, 6,217 yards

2018 (14-1), Mike Locksley OC, Harris top rusher, Tua Tagovailoa top passer, 2,976 rushing (38 percent), 33 TDs, 4,854 passing (62 percent), 52 TDs, 7,830 yards

*National Championship season

These numbers, of course, are not part of the 63.4 percent of statistics that are made up

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