Alabama Football: Ohio State’s strategy vs. Clemson won’t work twice

Alabama football will learn from Clemson’s mistakes

Ohio State is looking to upset Alabama football and win the National Championship on Monday. They realize that they are underdogs and that it will take a lot to beat the Tide. The good news for the Buckeyes is that they were underdogs against the Clemson Tigers as well.

The bad news is that their game plan against Clemson won’t translate to the National Championship. Let’s look at how they beat the Tigers and why it won’t work against the Tide.

For starters, they relied heavily on turnovers. Trevor Lawrence had three fumbles and lost one. He also threw an interception. The Buckeyes have relied on takeaways all season, and this game was no different.

They also stopped the running game in its tracks. Travis Etienne only had a handful of carries, and his averages were abysmal. Trevor Lawrence has been known to break free on the outside, but he rushed for negative yards in this game.

Offensively, Ohio State had career days from both Justin Fields and Trey Sermon. Olave feasted on the Clemson secondary, and just about everything went according to plan for the Buckeye offense.

So, why won’t this strategy work against Alabama football? There is no way that they hold Najee Harris to 32 rushing yards like they did Travis Etienne. Harris had 125 yards against the Fighting Irish alone. He will be a focal point of the Tide offense, and that should keep the Buckeyes up at night. The potential loss of some defensive linemen due to COVID-19 exacerbates this point.

Also, Clemson doesn’t have a receiver as talented as DeVonta Smith. No one does. He is a unicorn, and he alone makes it harder to commit defenders to stop the run.

Alabama has also been great at protecting the football all season. They haven’t had more than one turnover in any game this year. Najee Harris only has one career fumble, and Mac Jones can count his 2020 interceptions on one hand.

While Fields and Sermon are elite, it is unrealistic to believe that they will have similar success on Monday. They were career days for a reason. Also, Sermon only scored one touchdown on his 35 touches against the Tigers. That type of production is great, but it has to turn into touchdowns.

Also, Justin Fields isn’t completely healthy. He had adrenaline pumping through his veins to get through a nasty injury, but how will he look after a week? We’ll have to wait and see.

Expect Olave to have a solid game, but he won’t have as much success against Patrick Surtain. Surtain is the best corner in college football. He will enjoy the challenge on college football’s biggest stage.

Add in the difference in motivation and experience, and Alabama has plenty of reasons to be confident about this game. Can the Buckeyes still win? Absolutely. If they do, though, it will be with a different strategy.