By MIKE HERNDON
The college football national championship is Monday night and for the first time since the very first year of the playoff, an SEC team will not be in it.
That’s made some people deliriously happy (has anyone checked to make sure Danny Kanell’s head hasn’t exploded with joy?), but it was bound to happen sometime. The fact that it was Alabama that fell short makes it even sweeter for SEC-haters.
Enjoy it while you can.
If we’re looking at it objectively, this Alabama team might have overachieved – but any Alabama team that doesn’t at least play for a national title fell short of expectations in the Nick Saban era. This Bama team is not as strong up front on either side of the line as past Crimson Tide teams and it doesn’t have the same level of weapons either. Jalen Milroe didn’t even fully win the quarterback job until four games into the season, and he developed from there into a headache for defenses.
It was the deficiencies up front that were exposed against Michigan. The Tide couldn’t execute out of empty sets at all – it was open season on Milroe if the offensive line didn’t have some kind of help. The consistent pressure meant Milroe rarely had time to allow any downfield routes to develop, and Michigan was sitting all over the short routes, particularly the flats.
That’s why I find it funny that some seem to think Bama would have scored easily if Milroe had just thrown the ball to the back in motion on the final play. Michigan had a linebacker closing in that direction and two defensive backs covering receivers on that side of the field. The back was at the 10 when Milroe took off. Unless both those receivers held their blocks longer than receivers typically can, he’d have had to beat three defenders to get to the end zone.
The back was window dressing anyway. Saban said in postgame the play was a designed quarterback run. It was likely designed, however, to go off left tackle behind the pulling guard, and Milroe instead ran straight ahead into the arms of the waiting defense. Why? It might have been because the snap was low and at his feet. It might have also been because the Michigan defensive end had rushed upfield to contain and might have been close enough to corral him before he got to the line.
Michigan defended the play well. Having watched it several times, I don’t think it would’ve worked no matter what Milroe did.
Center Seth McLaughlin has caught more than his share of grief, and has since left the program through the transfer portal. It’s curious why he was still having so much trouble executing a shotgun snap, but that’s as much on the coaches as it is him.
As a former center and long-snapper I can tell you: Snap accuracy issues are corrected through repetition. My first year snapping, they were all over the place. The next fall, our coach made me snap 100 balls before every practice. Through my last three years of high school, I never messed up another one.
All that said, predictions of Saban’s demise after the Texas loss were laughably premature. Every time Alabama loses a game, engagement farming pundits fall all over themselves claiming the game has passed Saban by, and every time Alabama bounces back from the loss and either makes or at least contends for the playoff.
IF you’ve watched Alabama throughout Saban’s tenure, you’ve seen how much the man has adapted to meet the challenges of an evolving college game. Alabama will remain a national contender for at least as long as Saban is there – the only question is, with Saban now 72, how long that’ll be.
On Monday night, however, Alabama will watch from home while Michigan plays Washington for a national title. The Wolverine defense that did such a good job containing Alabama will get a different challenge – slowing down a potent Washington passing attack led by Heisman finalist Michael Penix, Jr.
The old adage is true, though – the best defense is a good offense. And Washington hasn’t seen a running game in the Pac-12 like Michigan’s. The Huskies will score some points, but I think Michigan keeps them off the field enough to pull out a 35-31 victory for its first national title since 1997.
Categories: College football
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