Alabama Football: Will 2017 Be ‘Run-Daboll’ Or ‘Air-Daboll’ Or Something Else?
By Ronald Evans
Key Additional Stats – 2016 Compared to 2015
Moving through this stat analysis, the question in the back of all our minds is what does this data tell us about the failure to win a 2016 national championship. Analyzing full season stats and applying any drawn conclusions to a single-game scenario is not worthwhile.
Gauging why Alabama football failed to beat Clemson should be restricted to the actual championship game stats.
In our full-season analysis, we have seen 2016 passing was a bit sub-par to Alabama’s national championship standards. We have also seen the 2016 rushing was a bit better than Alabama football national championship standards.
Through this analysis, we have learned Total Offense in 2016 met Alabama national championship standards. But we also know that in several key game situations in 2016, the Tide offense struggled to perform. The miscellaneous stats below may provide some answers.
Two stats almost leap off the page (screen), Third Down Conversions and Time of Possession. The deviation is so significant it requires little elaboration. In 2016, the offense was poor in third down conversions and therefore did not maintain possession as effectively as the 2015 offense.
| Miscellaneous | 2016 | 2015 |
| Sacks | 24 | 25 |
| 3rd Down Conversions | 43.75 percent | 52 percent |
| Time Of Possession – Per Game Avg. | 30:56 | 33:35 |
Let’s see if these deficiencies are as glaring in comparison to the three national champion seasons.
Key Additional Stats – 2016 Compared to National Championship Teams in 2011, 2012 and 2015
When comparing 2016 to the three national championship seasons, we see Third Down Conversions and Time of Possession are down to a similar degree.
The other stat that pops up when measuring 2016 against the three national championship seasons is the increased number of sacks. The increase was not big, only 2.4 more sacks above the national championship average.
But burrowing into the actual stats a bit deeper, the 25 Sacks in 2015 drove the three-season national championship average higher. In 2012 and 2011, the sack numbers were only 23 and 17.
| Miscellaneous | 2016 | 2011, 2012, 2015 |
| Sacks | 24 | 21.6 |
| 3rd Down Conversions | 43.75 percent | 49 percent |
| Time Of Possession – Per Game Avg. | 30:56 | 33:01 |
Conclusion No. 5
Alabama was good at generating yards and points in 2016. It was not good enough in Third-Down Conversions and Time of Possession.
Now that we have exhaustively reviewed offensive stats from four of the last six Alabama football seasons, what have we learned?