Lou Holtz picking Ohio State to beat Alabama, explains the issues he sees in the Crimson Tide
For college football legend Lou Holtz, there are too many issues surrounding the Alabama program to pick the Crimson Tide to win the national championship tonight against Ohio State.
On “The Crowd’s Line,” Holtz and Mark May shared their keys to the game and predictions.
“Remember this with (Steve) Sarkisian, is his heart in Alabama? Or is it at the University of Texas,” Holtz said. “Every time a coach takes another job, Mark, it has a profound effect on your team. Alabama is an outstanding football team, we understand that, but they got beat on the line of scrimmage by Notre Dame on both sides. Bama’s secondary is somewhat questionable. Their talent is outstanding, as you mentioned, three people in the Heisman (running), and they had DeVonta Smith win it. But Mark, nobody that wins the Heisman plays particularly well in the bowl game, that’s history.”
Holtz added that Ohio State QB Justin Fields is hot and cold, and if he’s hot, he’s as good as anybody in the country.
“(Trey) Sermon is really doing a tremendous job at running back. Ohio State, against the vaunted Clemson defense, had 639 yards and they held Clemson to two yards per rush,” Holtz said.
Holtz also noted that Ohio State’s pass defense is also “very, very questionable.” He said the key for Ohio State is to prevent Alabama from getting yards after the catch.
May said Alabama will take control in this game and it “won’t be close.” His prediction was Alabama wins 45-31. Holtz recalled that he picked Ohio State to beat Clemson, and he also picked the Buckeyes to win tonight, 34-27.
“I think they are going to corral the football,” Holtz said. “They have very good talent, they haven’t played well in pass defense, not because of a lack of speed and quickness, but I think if they corral the ball, they win.”
Holtz, who admitted he’s been on Field’s bandwagon for a while, said the Ohio State quarterback’s game against Clemson is typical, and he will have a similar one against Alabama.
Two names that were not mentioned in this article:
– Saban
– Waddle
I remember when Holtz was coaching at SCar and tried to mount a comeback in a game against UGA, a game that really wasn’t that close.
Holtz attempted an on-sides kick and the kick was a line drive straight to a UGA player, the UGA player scored a TD.
After the game Holtz complained about UGA and Mark Richt running up the score.
Listening to Holtz is on par with listening to Uncle Joe.
Yep, like Uncle Joe. I certainly bleed Crimson but did have season tickets for “them chickens”, during Coach Holtz’s years in Columbia (getting my SEC fix). Lots of fun but Coach seems to always pick the Irish and the Bucknuts. I hope May May is correct as he often is. RTR and fAU.
ND won the line of scrimmage? Bama had more sacks, more yards per play rushing and passing.
In “Holtz vs. May” facts are irrelevant.
Coach Holtz is kinda like a poor man’s Lee Corso, without the really cool house and pool, and mascot head.
LOL he is wrong as much as LC though.
Agreed, but come on, Corso’s kinda cool. He’s the old guy you’d like to have a margarita with.
Remember when on ESPN before the 2012 National Championship how you (Holtz)said Bama shouldn’t be on the same field as Notre Dame? How did that work out? Then you didn’t come back on ESPN for a long time.
Actually, he was right. Bama should have been on the field with some NFL team that night. I respect ND, but the Tide just toyed with them that night. The most entertaining part of that game was Mushburger constantly talking about AJ’s mom and girlfriend. Probably gave a boost to Alabama’s recruiting. Surprised the NCAA didn’t investigate.
Mark May is a smart man. I agree with him. Bama 45-21! Roll Tide
Of course he does. He picked against Bama most every game when he was with ESPN. This is a good thing. He probably picked ND over the Tide.
Maybe it will just be a few days before they put Holtz in a “Ole Folks Home”. He could sure use it
I wonder what game he was watching where Notre Dame dominated Bama on both sides of the line of scrimmage. It couldn’t have been the game played 10 days ago. If the Tide had wanted to they could’ve scored 50 with ease. There was no need do that. The game was over before the half. ND was overmatched and it was obvious. Ohio State may win but if they do the deciding factor will more likely be the 4 fewer games they played.
Holtz should stick to violating NCAA rules. He had much more success at that than he has had at predicting winners.
I wish they’d take that slur-speaking moron off the air! He has no clue what he’s talking about, picking Ohio St to win, and his 46.9% win rate as a college coach shows proof of that! And that was over a 33 year period. Now compare that to Nick Saban’s 74.6% in 23 year period. And Alabama didn’t get beat on the line of scrimmage by Notre Dame on both sides. The ONLY thing Notre Dame “beat” Alabama on was time of possession, and that’s only because in the first three quarters Alabama’s avg time to score was only 2 minutes and 26 seconds! Sarkisian going to Texas didn’t seem to have any effect on Alabama, just like it didn’t have any effect when Kirby Smart was going to Georgia (wrong again Lou). And “nobody that wins the Heisman plays particularly well in the bowl game, that’s history.”??? Except for Mark Ingram in 2009, and Derrick Henry in 2015… Lou needs to find another profession cause he obviously doesn’t know anything about football!