Inside the Numbers: Sugar Bowl
The first College Football Playoff is nearly here. On Thursday night, No. 1 Alabama will march onto the field at the Superdome in New Orleans to take on the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes and old Alabama nemesis Urban Meyer with a trip to the College Football Playoff Championship on the line.
What are some of the interesting statistics that could play into the matchup?
The good
- 88.7: Ohio State comes in with the No. 11 rushing attack in the country, averaging more than 260 yards per game on the ground. They’ll be in for some tough sledding against the Crimson Tide, who have the best rush defense in the nation, allowing just 88.7 yards per game. The Tide given up fewer than six first downs via the run per game all season and could force Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones into some tough situations if they stuff the Buckeyes’ running game.
- 0: Ohio State has a monster on defense in Joey Bosa, a 6-foot-5 sophomore defensive end. Bosa led the Big Ten in sacks by a wide margin with 13.5. He moves all around the line and is a beast against the run as well, with 20 tackles for loss. The good news: Bosa had zero combined sacks in Ohio State’s two games against ranked opponents. He’ll be the focus of left tackle Cam Robinson’s attention and will likely see plenty of double teams as Alabama tries to make him a non-factor.
- 3.4: Alabama was one of the best team’s in the country at keeping its quarterback upright. The offensive line allowed sacks on just 3.4 percent of the team’s pass attempts, 11th in the country. They’ll need a strong performance against an Ohio State defense that dropped the quarterback on 8.7 percent of pass plays.
the bad
- 0: Nick Saban has yet to win the Sugar Bowl while at Alabama. The coach is 0-2 in two appearances, including last year’s ugly loss to Oklahoma. The Crimson Tide did get a win in their season opener in New Orleans, but the two Sugar Bowl losses Alabama has suffered — the only two bowl losses of Saban’s Alabama tenure — stand as one of the few things Saban has been unable to accomplish in Tuscaloosa.
- 2.9: Ohio State only allowed 3.9 yards per carry in the regular season, but limited Melvin Gordon, the best back in the country, to 2.9 yards per carry in the Big Ten title game. Alabama has struggled when held below 4.0 yards per carry this year, suffering its only loss and fighting out three other narrow victories when being held under that mark
- 26: Cardale Jones made his first career start in the Buckeye’s 59-0 Big Ten Championship win, and Urban Meyer and offensive coordinator Tom Herman will have had 26 days to get the sophomore ready for Alabama’s defense. Herman is a coaching star, having won the Broyles Award before being named Houston’s head coach. The Sugar Bowl could be his last game with Ohio State, and he’ll surely have Jones ready to fire on all cylinders against Kirby Smart’s defense.