Alabama Football: Tide’s report card from National Championship

Alabama football’s report card vs. Ohio State

Inside Linebackers: B

While filling in the run gaps was going to be important, we knew that the biggest key for the inside linebackers was stopping Trey Sermon as a receiving back. Dylan Moses has struggled with this all season, and he faced his toughest test in what is likely the last college football game of his career.

However, Trey Sermon went down with an injury on the first play. That wasn’t ideal for the Buckeyes, and it simplified what Moses had to do. He and Christian Harris filled gaps in the run game, and that impacted what the Buckeyes could do in the first half.

Christian Harris played will in coverage as well. With a history as a safety, it makes sense that his coverage skills are solid.

Outside Linebackers: B+

Freshman Will Anderson has seen more production as the season has progressed, and you can see why he was highly recruited. With Justin Fields being a mobile threat, Alabama football fans knew that the Tide needed to get pressure from the outside.

We are used to these players rushing the passer, but we saw Will Anderson drop back into coverage to cover running backs a few times. This isn’t normal for an outside linebacker, but Will Anderson is definitely a versatile defender.

Justin Fields had a few solid scrambles, but he didn’t have nearly the day he needed to for Ohio State to keep this close. The outside linebackers did a great job of containing Fields even if they failed to get a ton of sack production.