re: Alabama: 5 yards per play/Ole Miss 6.7 yards per play

The CB was running with the wideout until he noticed he was the only one that could keep Kelly from getting the first down on the play. So he drew up which the picture shows. If you just look at the picture, it may appear that the CB was positioned like that at the beginning of the play but that wasn't the case, he was running with the WR and only stopped to turn around and attempt to make a play on the QB. The picture captures the change in momentum of the CB.

At that time, no lineman was even beyond 2 yards past the line of scrimmage and they are all engaged in their original blocks.

Even the Safety is biting and going for the run and there is not a single lineman beyond 2 yards from scrimmage.

So what does it have to do with a lineman being downfield?

Obviously, nothing. Because no defender's action was contingent upon what arbitrary yardage a lineman happened to be downfield. So the rule is moot on this play which make the whole "illegal play" thing laughable.

Isn't the whole argument from the Alabama side "Well, our DBs only let the receiver go because a lineman was illegally downfield and if he wasn't illegally downfield our DBs would've played pass and the TD would've never happened"?

Since that's the argument, it's clear that it's simply false and Saban has just conjured it up as a selling point to shift the blame from himself.

As it stands, the lineman could've stopped right there being 2 yards beyond scrimmage and the result of the play would've been exactly the same. He happened to keep running and was around 4-5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage when Kelly released the ball, but that had no bearing on the outcome of the play. It would've simply been a lucky break for Alabama since a lineman not involved in the play kept running and drew a flag that negated the TD.