CFP chair slams Alabama’s rushing offense as reason for big fall in rankings
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
College Football Playoff selection committee chair Hunter Yurachek oversaw his first Top 25 rankings reveal on Tuesday, days after Mack Rhoades stepped aside from the role after taking a leave of absence as Baylor’s AD.
One of the matters discussed by the committee was where Alabama should be placed after its Week 12 loss at home to Oklahoma. The Crimson Tide was ranked No. 4 in the first two rankings. In Tuesday’s rankings, they fell to No. 10, still projected to get in as an at-large team if they run the table — including a road Iron Bowl against Auburn.
Part of the Tide’s drop was an inability to get the running game going, Yurachek said in the post-rankings reveal teleconference. They ran the ball 33 times for just 80 yards, with Daniel Hill finishing with 15 carries for 60 yards. Take his longest run (28 yards) out of the equation, though, and that’s 14 attempts for 32 yards.
That’s been consistent theme for the Tide this season, as Yurachek noted.
“You go back and look at Alabama’s game at South Carolina, where they scored two touchdowns late to win that game (and) the next game against LSU … They won both of those but didn’t rush the ball for 100 yards,” Yurachek said, according to AL.com’s Mike Rodak. “Again, against Oklahoma, (Alabama) was not able to move the ball on the ground.”
Alabama, at 108.7 yards per game, has the third-worst rushing offense in the SEC. Only 13 teams in FBS have averaged a lower total. Should the Tide make the College Football Playoff, their inability to consistently run the football could equal a short stay.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
