Bored on a Football-less Weekend: Some stats about Alabama’s national title

Nothing crazy deep but some things of interest.

Mid-season defensive turnaround
To put it bluntly, the defense through the first five game was not going to cut it. Through five games, Alabama’s defense was sitting at 26.4 points allowed per game. The worst national champion team defense over the last decade was ‘14 Ohio State at 22 ppg but ‘19 LSU was close at 21.9 ppg.

Over the last 8 games, Alabama gave up 15 ppg. It wasn’t dominant, especially against the postseason opponents (28 ppg) but it was clearly more than sufficient given the results. The big difference appears to be QB pressure. In the first 5 games Alabama averaged 1.4 sacks per game. Over the last 8 games Alabama averaged 3.6 sacks per game.

Alabama had a lot of problems on defense. Inside backers were just not great this year and the safeties had their lapses at time too. Still, the outside corners and improved pass rush gave Alabama just enough defense to make it through the season without it costing them. Florida, the only team to really torch them over the last 8 games, did it by relentlessly attacking the safeties, nickel DB, and inside backers in the pass game.

Devonta Smith Big Step Up
Smith was not having a bad season through the first five games paired w/ Waddle. 111.2 receiving yards per game and 1 total TD per game would’ve been a fantastic season for anybody. In the final 8 games without Waddle (besides the CFPCG), Smith put the peddle to the floor with 162.5 rec. ypg and 2.5 total TD/game. In the postseason he averaged 176.3 rec. ypg and 2.667 total TD/game.

You had to figure that for the offensive backfield hegemony over the Heisman to be broken that it would take a special kind of season from a non-QB+RB. No surprise that Smith’s 2020 season was the one to do it. The numbers were great but also the context for the numbers spoke to his meaning to his squad.