Red Tide: Bama Rolls over OSU 52-24

 Heisman Trophy winner Devonte Smith and his Alabama teammates were just too much for the Ohio State defense as Smith and the Crimson Tide defeated the Buckeyes 52-24 in Miami to give Nick Saban another national championship.

Master Teague ran for 65 yards and two touchdowns and Justin Fields threw for another to Garrett Wilsom for the Buckeye offensive highlights.

The Buckeyes next game (assuming we have Covid-19 dusted by then) will be September 2nd in Minneapolis against the Golden Gophers.

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1) Ohio State didn't play a perfect game for sure-BUT Justin Fields wasn't intercepted, no one fumbled the football, and there wasn't any serious breakdown in the special teams, so from that aspect you cannot say that Ohio State handed the game to Alabama.

2) SO what that does mean is this- that Alabama was a much better team and OSU shouldn't have any excuses. 

It's pretty clear that there were four tiers in college football above the field

Bama at the top, Ohio State at tier two, Clemson (with Trevor Lawrence) on tier three, with another handful of schools below them-Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Iowa State, Georgia, Cincinatti and then the rest.

3) Ohio State did make some things easy for the Tide though.

I have written many times about how you play- go for broke or play the perfect game.

Anything else- No good

To paraphrase Mr. Miyagi- Take big chances-Yes, Play tight to the vest- yes. Play so-so- No good.

4) An example of this was the defensive backs against Heisman winner Devonta Smith, who caught 12 passes for over two hundred yards and three touchdowns and he didn't even play in the second half!

Ohio State played Smith and the returning Jaylen Waddle soft in order not to get beaten deep, but instead allowed Smith to catch the ball underneath, get rolling in space and still rip off huge gains.

The end result is the same- so why try to throw Smith's pattern off a bit and rough him up?

I make no claims that would have worked any better, but Ohio State never varied in their coverages.

5) And with Alabama clearly throwing at will with their tremendous speed, why did the Buckeyes never try using an extra defensive back rather than sticking with their base defense?

I'm not saying that would have worked either, but what they were doing was not working, so why not?

6) Ohio State suffered a blow on the first offensive play when Trey Sermon's two yard carry proved to be his last as he injured his collarbone and was taken to a local hospital.

Master Teague is a quality back, but the Sermon of the late season is a completely different animal and his loss removed the home run aspect from the ground game.

7) Then the offensive line took a shot when their best offensive lineman in guard Wyatt Davis's second quarter injury.

When you lose your best back and best lineman, the running game is going to be weakened.

8) Ryan Day was surprisingly timid- Even to the point of comparing to the meekness of Mike Tomlin the night before in Pittsburgh.

Punting on a fourth and nine on Alabama's side of the field is arguable either way, but at that point the game was still an up and down the court scoring game.

I know fourth and nine isn't optimal, but it might have made sense to go for it there.

9) Then the field goal try on fourth and goal from the six.

I'm harsher on this call than the other because you know going into this game that field goals aren't winning it.

You need six- as many times as possible.

Bad call.

10) Remember earlier when yes or no is fine, but so-so doesn't work?

At the end of the half, Ohio State could either be safe or aggressive, but not so-so and so-so is exactly what they selected as they went three and out, giving Bama the ball back and time to score-which is what they did.

11) Ohio State really missed Tommy Togiai and Tyreke Smith on the defensive line and those two missing starters might not have been the difference in the Alabama running game and putting pressure on Mac Jones, but it wouldn't have hurt!

Replacements Jerron Cage and Zack Harrison combined for one solo tackle and one assist, both by Harrison.

12) All of that said- I don't know if changing everything would have made a difference.

This Alabama offense is that good- among the best I've seen and the defense is just good enough to get an occasional stop and that's all that offense needs.

The best team won and even at the top level of any sport, the best team usually wins.

Back later with both the Cavaliers game tonight vs Utah, combined with a mention or two from their Monday loss to Memphis.