Alabama Football: Early look at Tide vs. Ohio State

What can we expect when Alabama football plays Ohio State?

After a wild college football season with highs and lows, the Crimson Tide are one win away from achieving all of their goals. After acing their test against Notre Dame in the Rose Bowl, Alabama football will face off against the Ohio State Buckeyes in Miami.

While we will analyze this matchup from every angle over the next week, here is an early look at the Tide vs. the Buckeyes.

What to know about Ohio State

The Buckeyes went into the Sugar Bowl with plenty of bulletin-board material from Dabo Swinney. They had the advantage of playing Clemson in last year’s CFP semifinal, and they were motivated to play their best. They certainly did just that against the Tigers.

Ohio State used Trey Sermon as a runner and receiver to lighten the load off of Justin Fields. Fields had a nasty rib injury that was clearly bothering him for most of this game, but he still powered through to make some of the best throws of his season. While Fields was able to power through in this game, it will be interesting to see if that injury affects him in practice over the next week.

The receiving corps is led by Chris Olave, but they have a strong unit behind him. They were also without Master Teague at running back due to a concussion. We’ll have to see if he is available in the CFP National Championship.

How does Alabama stack up?

There is both some good news and bad news about this matchup. The good news is Ohio State’s offensive line is not as good as Notre Dame’s. Still, they are incredibly solid. It will be vital that the defensive line gets pressure to force quick decisions from Fields.

Olave will be hard to handle. My best guess is that Alabama football will put Patrick Surtain on him and hope for the best. While they can double if they need to, the beauty of Surtain is that he can be left on an island. He is the best corner in college football, and he will need to play like it against Ohio State.

Another bit of good news is that Ohio State’s secondary is not as solid as it usually is. Their best defensive back is Shaun Wade, but Wade is not great as an outside corner. He is better left in the slot. Because of this, it will be hard for him to even slow down DeVonta Smith by himself. It will take multiple bodies to stop Smitty, and that might not be enough.

The biggest concern for Alabama is stopping Trey Sermon. He is an underrated running back, and he can truly do it all. Alabama football has a history of struggling with dynamic backs, so look for them to load the box to stop Sermon. Surtain makes this easier to do, but it will still put a strain on the rest of the secondary. This will be a storyline to watch for during the CFP National Championship.

All in all, Alabama football will be favored for a reason. Still, this game could go either way. It will likely turn into a shootout, so watch out for Alabama’s top playmakers to end their careers with all sorts of highlights.