Alabama Football: Six bold predictions for Mercer game

Probably the boldest thing about predictions for Alabama Football versus Mercer, is the idea anything plausible will qualify as ‘bold.’ Before diving in, let’s revisit the bold predictions offered for the Miami game. The results are offered without fear or favor of how such disclosure will define my prediction skills.

Miami Bold Prediction No. 1 – WRONG

The prediction was new Tide punter James Burnip would have one punt longer than any for Miami’s Lou Hedley. Burnip did not come close in his two punts. His best was 36 yards.

Miami Bold Prediction No. 2 – WRONG

The prediction was either Jameson Williams or JoJo Earle would have a return touchdown. Slade Bolden returned all of Miami’s punts. Only one of three Miami kickoffs was returned and that was by Jahleel Billingsley for 17 yards.

Miami Bold Prediction No. 3 – WRONG

The prediction was the Tide would rush for 225 or more yards. The Crimson Tide gained 183 yards rushing.

Miami Bold Prediction No. 4 – CORRECT (mostly)

The prediction was the Tide defense would record four or more sacks and six or more hurries. ‘Hurries’ was used as a measurement instead of QB pressure stats.  The Tide did have four sacks. There were no official QB hurries, but D’Eriq King was ‘pressured’ at least six times.

Miami Bold Prediction No. 5 – CORRECT (mostly)

The prediction was Bill O’Brien would take a conservative, vanilla approach to play-calling. Overall that was true. The Tide was more pass-oriented than expected, but O’Brien put no clamps on Bryce Young throwing the ball upfield. The score prediction of 38-14 was relatively close to the 44-13 outcome.

In defense of the results, the idea of BOLD predictions prevents the use of easy predictions.