Before contemplating what’s next for the University of Alabama football team, consider what it accomplished in 2014.

The Crimson Tide finished the season 12-2 (7-1 Southeastern Conference), and won not only what some believe was the toughest division in college football history, but the league title.

It also did so with only 14 seniors on scholarship.

If you go back and look at Phil Steele’s College Football Preview, the preseason publication included what he calls an experience chart based on a formula that factors in senior starters, seniors on the two-deep depth chart, returning lettermen, percent of returning offensive yards and percent of returning tackles.

Alabama was 107th out 128 teams.

Although the Crimson Tide will almost certainly lose some juniors to the NFL Draft again, Alabama figures to again have a very impressive roster in 2015, when it hopes to make another run at the national championship.

“I think there’s a lot of lessons to be learned from everything that was done here,” Nick Saban said after Thursday’s 42-35 loss to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. “I think some younger players get the opportunity to see what it takes to play well in big games, to prepare well for big games …

“I don’t really think that we’re going to change our philosophy in terms of how we do things. That philosophy has helped us win a lot of games, and hopefully it will continue to do the same thing in the future.”

  • Play of the game: Running back Ezekiel Elliott’s 85-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter came right after Ohio State snapped a stretch of 19-plus minutes of game time in which it didn’t record a first down.
  • Player of the game: For Ohio State it was Elliott, who had 230 rushing yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns. For Alabama it was freshman punter JK Scott, who averaged 55.0 yards on seven attempts and was credited with five inside the 20 and four inside the 10.
  • Hit of the game: After the Crimson Tide went up 21-6 Reuben Foster put a hit on the subsequent kick return that might give Curtis Samuel some nightmares.
  • Statistic of the game: Alabama’s offense led the SEC and was second nationally in third-down efficiency before the bowls started, but converted just 2 of 13 opportunities. Ohio State was 10 of 18.
  • Did you notice? Nether safety Landon Collins nor linebacker Reggie Ragland were on the field due to injuries during Elliott’s 85-yard touchdown.

Here are 10 other things of note and five bonus items in this season’s final edition of “Upon Further Review” (Note: All compiled numbers are unofficial):

1. First downs: If you were one of the fans wondering why Alabama wasn’t trying to run more on first down, after Ohio State went ahead 42-28 the Crimson Tide had run the ball 13 times on first down compared to 14 pass attempts. Senior quarterback Blake Sims only had two incompletions on first down when he was picked off by safety Vonn Bell at the 1-yard line. A more alarming statistic was that UA notched just one first down during the second quarter.

2. Explosive plays: Alabama was dominated in this category. Saban defines explosive plays as a run of 13 or more yards, or a pass of 17 or more yards. Alabama’s goal is nine per game. It had five while Ohio State racked up 11.

Game leaders
Derrick Henry 3
Blake Sims 1
DeAndrew White 1

Season leaders
Amari Cooper 32
T.J. Yeldon 21
Derrick Henry 20
DeAndrew White 11
Christion Jones 8
Blake Sims 7
O.J. Howard 6
Tyren Jones 6

Game-by-game
West Virginia 12
Florida Atlantic 14
Southern Miss 14
Florida 11
Ole Miss 7
Arkansas 3
Texas A&M 13
Alabama 10
LSU 6
Mississippi State 4
Western Carolina 11
Auburn 11
Missouri 11
Ohio State 5

Game-by-game opponents
West Virginia 8
Florida Atlantic 1
Southern Miss 5
Florida 5
Ole Miss 4
Arkansas 7
Texas A&M 1
Tennessee 7
LSU 3
Mississippi State 6
Western Carolina 3
Auburn 14
Missouri 5
Ohio State 11

Season totals
Alabama: 132
Opponents: 80

3. Size matters: Cardale Jones was listed at 6-foot-5, 250 pounds, and looked bigger than linebackers Ryan Anderson (6-2, 258) and Xzavier Dickson (6-3, 268), who both had trouble bringing the big quarterback down. But perhaps thinking that Ohio State wouldn’t risk another quarterback getting hurt Alabama didn’t really spy anyone over Jones in case he ran with the ball. The other part of that equation was that the defensive backs had to respect his arm strength, which made it only tougher to stop the run. Also, when freshman linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton (6-0, 233) was pressed into service following Ragland’s apparent concussion wide receiver Evan Spencer (6-2) blocked him out of the hole on Elliott’s 85-yard touchdown.

4. Mistakes index: Basically, it’s a measure of miscues, but it could arguably also be an indirect indicator of maturity and discipline. The mistakes index is fumbles lost + interceptions + penalties + sacks.

Game-by-game
West Virginia 0+1+7+0 = 8
Florida Atlantic 0+0+6+1=7
Southern Miss 1+0+3+1=5
Florida 3+1+11+1=16
Ole Miss 1+1+8+1=11
Arkansas 2+0+4+2=8
Texas A&M 0+0+0+1=1
Tennessee 2+0+6+1=9
LSU 1+0+3+1= 5
Mississippi State 0+0+7+1=8
Western Carolina 1+1+5+0=7
Auburn 0+3+3+1=7
Missouri 0+0+2+2=4
Ohio State 0+3+4+3=10

Game-by-game opponents
West Virginia 0+0+6+3 = 9
Florida Atlantic 1+0+3+3=7
Southern Miss 0+0+6+1=7
Florida 1+2+5+0=8
Ole Miss 1+0+3+2+7
Arkansas 2+1+4+4=11
Texas A&M 0+1+2+6=9
Tennessee 1+1+4+2=8
LSU 0+1+2+2=5
Mississippi State 0+3+4+1=8
Western Carolina 0+0+5+2=7
Auburn 0+1+7+2=10
Missouri 1+0+6+0=7
Ohio State 1+1+4+3=9

5. Kick returns: In part due to injuries Alabama used more reserves on special teams including walk-ons Parker Barrineau and Michael Nysewander. Some other notable names included freshmen Hootie Jones and Cam Sims, safety Jonathan Cook was a fixture on punt returns along with Robert Foster and Tyren Jones, and Rashaan Evans was one of the special-teams replacements for junior linebacker Dillon Lee after he sustained a shoulder injury (possibly on the opening kickoff). Regardless, Alabama averaged 14.6 yards per kick return, its worst showing of the season.

6. Yards after the catch: Alabama unofficially had 137 yards after the catch, but 53 came on the screen pass to sophomore running back Derrick Henry. However, that was good enough to put him in the top five of season leaders.

Game leaders
Derrick Henry 55
Amari Cooper 35
DeAndrew White 26
Jalston Fowler 9
Chris Black 6
Brian Vogler 4
O.J. Howard 3

Season leaders
Amari Cooper 874
DeAndrew White 224
T.J. Yeldon 175
Derrick Henry 131
Christion Jones 111
O.J. Howard 107
Kenyan Drake 102
Total: 2,017 of 3,890 (51.8 percent)

Per game
Opponent, YAC, Receptions, Average
West Virginia 116/24 = 4.83
Florida Atlantic 246/26= 9.46
Southern Miss 101/17= 5.94
Florida 246/24 =10.3
Ole Miss 117/18 = 6.5
Arkansas 101/11 = 9.2
Texas A&M 173/21 = 8.23
Tennessee 167/14 = 11.9
LSU 100/20 = 5.0
Mississippi State 90/19 = 4.73
Western Carolina 131/29=4.52
Auburn 133/20=6.65
Missouri 159/23=6.9
Ohio State 137/22=6.2

7. Running outside of the tackles: Alabama had significant success running outside of the tackles, with five carries for 56 yards going to the left – which doesn’t include Henry’s 25-yard touchdown run — and three attempts for 17 yards to the right. Ohio State, meanwhile, had its two longest gains while attacking the edges, for 85 and 54 yards, the two biggest rushing plays against the Crimson Tide this season. It led to a total of 18 attempts for 187 rushing yards outside of the tackles.

8. Most around the ball: Defensive “touches” is found by adding together tackles, assists, sacks, passes broken up (interceptions are included in that statistic), hurries, forced fumbles and fumble recoveries. Despite his shoulder problems Collins still topped the Tide by a wide margin.

Game leaders
Landon Collins 15
Reggie Ragland 9
Trey DePriest 7
Xzavier Dickson 7
Nick Perry 7

Season leaders
Landon Collins 122.5
Reggie Ragland 114.5
Trey DePriest 98.5
Nick Perry 93.5
Cyrus Jones 67.0

9. Third-down passing: Coming in Sims had completed 71.8 percent of his passes on third downs, without having any intercepted. He was 3 of 8 against Ohio State, with two picks, and gained just one first down through the air.

Game-by-game numbers
West Virginia 8-9-0 0 TD, 90 yards, six first downs
Florida Atlantic 1-1-0 0 TD, 10 yards, one first down
Southern Miss 2-2-0, 0 TD, 26 yards, two first downs
Florida 6-8-0, 1 TD, 89 yards, five first downs
Ole Miss 5-7-0, 0 TD, 36 yards, five first downs
Arkansas 5-9-0, 2 TD, 72 yards, three first downs
Texas A&M 6-8-0, 1 TD, 98 yards, six first downs
Tennessee 3-5-0, 0 TD, 42 yards, three first downs
LSU 7-15, 83 yards, four first downs
Mississippi State 7-10, 60 yards, two first downs
Western Carolina 3-3, 58 yards, three first downs
Auburn 3-3, 35 yards, two first downs
Missouri 5-5, 82 yards, five first downs
Ohio State 3-8-2, 22 yards, one first down
Total 64-93-2 (68.8 percent), 4 TD, 803 yards, 48 first downs

Team totals: 74-107-2 (69.2 percent), 5 TDs, 961 yards
Last season: 50-76-3 (66.14 percent), 6 TDs, 582 yards
2012 season: 56-90-2 (62.2 percent), 8 TDS, 724 yards

10. Leading third-down targets: It won’t shock anyone to learn that Sims looked to Cooper the most on third downs, when they surprisingly connected just twice for a touchdown this season. Cooper’s final touchdown came on a fourth-down pass, though.

Player, C-A-I, Yards, TDs
Amari Cooper 31-42-1, 362 yards, 2 TDs
DeAndrew White 10-18-1, 154, 1 TD
T.J. Yeldon 6-9, 67, 1 TD
Chris Black 5-5, 61
Christion Jones 5-8, 48
O.J. Howard 4-6, 40
ArDarius Stewart 3-4, 66
Derrick Henry 3-3, 72, 1 TD

11. Red-zone passing: Coaches obviously became more comfortable with Sims passing inside the 20 as the season progressed.

Opponent, C-A-I, TDs
West Virginia 1-2-0, 19 yards
Florida Atlantic 3-4-0, 21 yards
Southern Miss 3-5, 1 TD, 20 yards
Florida 2-4, 2 TDs, 8 yards
Ole Miss 0-1
Arkansas 1-1, 1 TD 6 yards
Texas A&M 1-5, 11 yards
Tennessee 0-0
LSU 2-4, 1 TD, 11 yards
Mississippi State 5-5, 1 TD, 22 yards
Western Carolina 2-3, 2 TD, 13 yards
Auburn 2-3, 1 TD, 10 yards
Missouri 5-5, 1 TD, 40 yards
Ohio State 5-8, 2 TDs, 38 yards
Total 32-50 (64.0 percent), 12 TDs, 227 yards

Team total: 41-64-0 (64.1 percent), 16 TDs, 273 yards
2013: 20-31-0 (64.5 percent), 11 TDs, 182 yards

12. Whom was thrown at? Ohio State threw at sophomore cornerback Eddie Jackson six times, not including his pass-interference penalty in the red zone or the successful two-point conversion. The result was four completions for 104 yards and one 47-yard touchdown when he fell in man coverage. The Buckeyes also threw twice under his coverage with one completion for seven yards. Junior cornerback Cyrus Jones had nine passes thrown his way, with four catches for 49 yards, one touchdown and one interception. One 26-yard completion appeared to be against botched coverage and another split the seams in a zone.

13. Red-zone reception leaders: Cooper’s numbers may surprise you, not the number of completions, but incompletions. Also of note from the Sugar Bowl, he didn’t have a pass thrown his way during Alabama’s final possession with the game on the line.

Player, catches-yards, TDs
Amari Cooper 13-25, 74 yards, 5 TD
DeAndrew White 5-6 38 yards, 3 TD
Christion Jones 4-6, 38, 1 TD
T.J. Yeldon 3-3, 24
Brian Vogler 3-5, 14, 1 TD
Ty Flournoy-Smith 2-3, 18, 1TD
Jalston Fowler 2-3, 5, 2 TD

14. Dropped passes: Alabama had just one in the Sugar Bowl, but it came on a big third-down play when senior DeAndrew White couldn’t make the sideline reception.

Season leaders
Amari Cooper 4
DeAndrew White 4
Christion Jones 3
T.J. Yeldon 3
O.J. Howard 2

Game-by-game
West Virginia 3
Florida Atlantic 1
Southern Miss 1
Florida 2
Ole Miss 1
Arkansas 0
Texas A&M 1
Tennessee 2
LSU 4
Mississippi State 2
Western Carolina 5
Auburn 1
Missouri 1
Ohio State 1

15. Sacks allowed: Ohio State’s three sacks were the most Alabama gave up in a game this season. Overall it finished with 16 allowed (compared to 32 notched), the fewest since 2004 when the Crimson Tide only played 12 games, and matched 1986 when it had a 13-game schedule. The program record for fewest sacks allowed is 14 in 1984 (11 games).

Finally, for those looking for the records chase, the numbers were updated for a Saturday Down South story after the game.