Alabama vs Auburn In-Depth Match-Ups

While stats do not tell the whole story, especially without substantial situational breakdown, I feel like this look into stat rankings and match-ups is quite beneficial in terms of what to expect in style for teams. It is also interesting to see how these styles may potentially interact.

First, I will breakdown Alabama's offense vs Auburn's defense.

Alabama Offense vs Auburn Defense
Yards Per Play 9th vs 4th
Total Offense 15th vs 10th
Points Per Game 7th vs 8th

So far examining total stats, it shows Alabama has quite an effective offense. The offense is especially good at yardage per play; however, Auburn's defense is downright elite in yards per play and claims the advantage here.

Rush YPC 7th vs 9th
Rush YPG 9th vs 16th

As expected, Alabama's run game is the focus of the offense. While technically Alabama gets the italicized ranking here in YPC, the difference is very little. Auburn is not at all an easy team to run against. Their opponents have clearly tried though, deflating their YPG ranking in relation to the more-important YPC stat.

Pass YPA 9th vs 5th
Pass Efficiency 4th vs 11th
Pass YPG 82nd vs 20th

It is surprising here to see that when Alabama does pass, it has been very effective. Alabama does not pass the ball very often though, but possibly will need to more than the team would like. Auburn's pass defense is excellent, ranking even higher than their vaunted run defense. Alabama's efficiency is highly elevated due to the care with the ball, and lack of interceptions. Hurts has shown though that he can turn it on when he needs to, so both fan bases should be holding their breath every time the ball is thrown.

3rd Down Conversions 41st vs 26th
Tackles For Loss Allowed/ Game 5th vs 42nd
Sacks Allowed/ Game 49th vs 15th

There are some surprises here. As efficient and effective as Alabama's offense has been, it is merely average at converting third downs. It could be due to the number of sacks Alabama has allowed, which again is merely average in preventing them. However, able to be determined from these stats is that when Alabama runs the ball, it has been very productive in gaining positive yards and not allowing lost plays. The tackles for loss is a massive, massive upgrade from the 2016 offense. While Auburn's defensive line is fearsome, they do not rank quite as high as expected in sacks nor tackles for loss. Perhaps Auburn's defense is simply highly effective at limiting positive gains.