Alabama Football: Buckeyes biggest threat to Tide not Justin Fields
By Ronald Evans
Alabama Football Rushing Defense Improved During the Season
Early in the season, the Alabama football team defense was a work-in-progress in every position group. Crimson Tide fans can thank Cole Cubelic for this reminder,
Only 2 individual players have rushed for over 100 yards vs @AlabamaFTBL this season...
— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) January 6, 2021
They did it in the same game,
Snoop Connor went 21-128 yards &
Jerrion Ealy went 19- 120 yards for Ole Miss.
No other individual player has rushed for 80 yards vs Bama this fall.
It is an understatement to say the Crimson Tide defense has improved since the Ole Miss game. Jump forward to the National Championship game and an immediate question is can the Buckeyes run on the Crimson Tide. More specifically, can Trey Sermon be controlled as other opposing runners have been since the Ole Miss game?
Sermon’s rushing stats are gaudy. Starting during the Buckeyes’ game versus Michigan State, Sermon has gone from little-used to a mainstay of the Ohio State offense. He rushed for an 11.2 yard average against Michigan State and 11.4 yards against Northwestern in the Big Ten title game. Add in the Clemson game and Sermon has rushed for 636 yards in his last three games. He is a powerful runner and more importantly, he is fresh. In a normal season, lead backs can wear down. Sermon has only carried the football 115 times this season. Compare that to Najee Harris who has 229 rushing carries this season.
Sermon is No. 7 in the FBS with a per-carry average of 7.55 yards. Najee Harris has also had a great season but the Buckeyes have a credible claim Sermon has been more productive on the ground. Najee is certainly the better receiver between the pair, though Sermon has caught 12 passes, along with his 115 carries.