What surprised me about Alabama football beating Ohio State?
Alabama football just put a bow on the greatest season of all time. They set a new standard for greatness across college football, and they are back on top of the world. They did this with a resounding win against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
While many predicted a win for the Crimson Tide, this was still slightly surprising. Specifically, these things surprised me from the National Championship.
The lack of a plan by Ohio State
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Ohio State defense. Now that the game is over, I’m still not sure what they were trying to do. They moved Shaun Wade around, but nothing worked. They stacked the box to stop Najee Harris, but they gave DeVonta Smith a cushion in coverage. If you’re going to fill all gaps in the trenches, you need to avoid the quick passes.
Ohio State struggled to keep up in all facets of this game, but their inability to put up a fight on defense was surprising.
The defense stepped up without Jordan Battle
I expected the defense to be stretched thin in this game. The loss of Trey Sermon limited what Ohio State could do, but they still struggled more than I expected. It got worse for the Buckeyes when Jordan Battle was ejected for a targeting penalty. After that drive, the Buckeyes only scored one more touchdown all game.
Many Alabama football fans were expecting a boat race. While the Buckeyes had some success, this was a great performance by the defense when you consider the task they were assigned. They severely limited Justin Fields and one of the top receivers in college football.
Landon Dickerson played
The fact that Landon Dickerson even dressed out shocked me. He warmed up, and Alabama fans actually got excited. This man tore his ACL less than a month ago, and he had surgery less than three weeks ago. Most people are still struggling to walk at that phase in rehab.
While Dickerson wasn’t able to play important snaps, he still got his final moment in victory formation with this team. He snapped the ball to Bryce Young twice to end the game, and we witnessed one of the greatest moments of the Alabama football dynasty.