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Pass, fail, incomplete: Grading QBs in SEC Championship Game
By Chris Wright
Published:
Jacob Coker led Alabama past Treon Harris and Florida to win the SEC championship.
But Harris did something that few QBs have done this season: set his feet in the pocket and throw a deep TD pass against Alabama’s vaunted secondary.
Neither reminded viewers of Chad Kelly, but both had their moments.
The report card is in.
Jacob Coker (Alabama) 18-26 for 204 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs
My take: The game plan wasn’t risky, but it was effective enough. Coker’s 9-yard dart into double coverage that Richard Mullaney caught for a TD was his most impressive throw in weeks.
Alabama fed Derrick Henry 44 more times Saturday — running his total to 90 in his past two games. At some point, logic dictates that Alabama will need more from Coker, more third-down completions.
He completed two huge ones Saturday — a 32-yard TD strike to ArDarius Stewart on 3rd-and-4, and the 9-yard TD strike to Mullaney on 3rd-and-8.
But he also took several third-down sacks, threw short of the sticks and missed on other throws that all ended drives.
Grade: B+
Treon Harris (Florida) 9-24 for 165 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
My take: Florida coaches didn’t help Harris enough. We did a piece during the week on where to attack Alabama and how Florida would have to take chances downfield. The Gators took very few, not nearly enough.
Interestingly, the Gators had just five plays longer than 8 yards. Four were pass plays. Two were 46-yard completions. Harris hit Antonio Callaway in the first half, and hit C.J. Worton for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
It was too little, too late, but it was a risk worth taking, a risk Jim Elwain should have taken more often.
Florida had to know it had little chance to run effectively against Alabama. The Gators averaged 3 yards per carry in its loss to Florida State.
Those numbers look impressive compared to their output Saturday night: 21 carries, 15 yards.
Alabama’s front four in particular seemed intent early on setting the edges and turning Harris into a pocket passer. Obviously that’s not his strength, but he made a couple of nice throws, in particular the deep ball to Callaway.
He also had several Harris-like throws, where he threw one way, the receiver went another. He missed a wide open tight end DeAndre Goolsby, on a play that could have gone for big yards.
Alabama’s game plan was straight forward: Make Harris, who hadn’t thrown for more than 170 yards or completed more than 50 percent of his passes in four of his previous five games, beat them. He couldn’t.
Grade: D
Managing Editor
A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.
