Saturday, December 31, 2016

Alabama 0 - 7 Washington (8:01 left in 1st Quarter)

So here's what's happened so far:

1.  Washington took the opening kickoff and went three and out.

2.  Alabama took a punt and went three and out.

3.  Washington took the ball and easily rolled down the field, scoring on a 16 yard pass from Jake Browning (of Folsom H.S. in Folsom, Calif.) to Dante Pettis (of Junipero Serra H.S. in San Clemente, Calif.)

Alabama has famously won four recent national titles:  in 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2014.  But the Tide has been vulnerable to high-scoring offenses in bowl games:

1.  On January 2, 2009, Utah pounded Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl.

2.  On January 2, 2014, Oklahoma whipped Alabama -- and kept the UCFC -- in a 45-31 Sugar Bowl victory.

3.  On January 1, 2015, Ohio State beat Alabama 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl.

And while Alabama beat Clemson in last year's national title game, the final score was 45-40, as the Tide could not stop Clemson's attack.

So Saban's teams -- great though they undoubtedly have been -- have shown a vulnerability to strong passing attacks that have had time to prepare for the Tide.  Could Washington be another example of that trend?

No comments:

Post a Comment