NO STEMMING THIS TIDAL WAVE
Led by Smith, relentless offense carries Saban to 7th title
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — As a jalopy of a college football season in a pandemic managed to lumber to a finish Monday night, it also managed to showcase a player so dazzling and precise he looks like he never spent a moment lumbering, not even in practice — no, especially not in practice.
Somehow, with the football kingdom of Alabama claiming a sixth national championship in the past 12 seasons by 52-24 over Ohio State, and with coach Nick Saban claiming a record seventh within the same lifetime, one player shone. Somehow, with Alabamian excellence stretching as usual from the players to the coordinators to probably the water staff and surely back to the coach, one slender marvel of a 175pound player radiated.
Wide receiver Devonta Smith did not act alone in the Alabama symphony at Hard Rock Stadium in the College Football Playoff national championship game before a scattered 14,926, but he did epitomize a mastery of detail and standard that helps mark the Saban era. The first receiver to win the Heisman Trophy in 29 years did run his clever, pinpoint routes and flash his frightening speed as the top-ranked Crimson Tide proved confounding to the
Ohio State defense and to anyone trying to keep stats.
Smith kept lining up on this side of the line or that side, turning up on this side of the field or that side. It began to look like there might be three of him.
Even while missing almost the entire second half and going to the locker room and returning with a bandage on his right hand, he had 12 catches for 215 yards on his way to the record books and the NFL.
As offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian called his last mad, maddening designs before making off for the coaching job at Texas, and as quarterback Mac Jones ended a season of dreams with 36-for-45 passing for 464 yards and five touchdowns, and as running back Najee Harris continued to look merely formidable, Smith caught three touchdowns by halftime.
“We just finished writing our story,” Smith said. “That was the whole thing of us coming back, just finishing the story that we wanted to write. And we did that.”
Smith caught a 5-yarder that he carted inside the pylon after a nifty plot in which he edged toward the backfield early in the play, then floated quickly out to the left to field Jones' flip. That gave Alabama a 14-7 lead.
He caught another 5-yarder that he carted inside the pylon after a presnap bit of candy during which he motioned right, then motioned left, then motioned back right to catch the quick pass. That gave Alabama a 28-17 lead, and that's not to be confused with the beauty just before that, 44 yards to Smith from Jones up the sideline.
And he caught a 42-yard touchdown on which he lined up left, then wound up lost to the Buckeyes on the deep right hash mark, blazing behind linebacker Tuf Borland to take a flawless throw from Jones. That gave Alabama a 35-17 halftime lead.
So the game ratified Smith's Heisman Trophy, and it upheld the Alabama offense as a starship that hovered over all its games, and it furthered a season in which Alabama fans felt barely a palpitation. During 13 wins, the Crimson Tide trailed in just two games — against Mississippi (before winning 63-48 and against Georgia be
fore winning 41-24.
“To me this is the ultimate team,” Saban said. “There is more togetherness on this team than on almost any team we've ever had. They've had to overcome and to persevere so much through this season, and they have done it magnificently.
“To me this team accomplished more than almost any team. No disrespect to other teams we had, but this team won 11 SEC games. No other team has done that. They won the SEC and went undefeated in the SEC and then they beat two great teams in the playoffs with no break. I think there's going to be quite a bit to write about the legacy of this team.”
he events of Monday night also exemplified a misshapen season in which depth charts kept getting jostled moments before kickoffs. That happened to Ohio State (7-1), which had to type out a 13-strong list of unavailable players, including two starters along the defensive line, nose tackle Tommy Togiai and end Tyreke Smith.
Not only had those players helped cook up the pressure that inconvenienced quarterback Trevor Lawrence in Ohio State's 49-28 win over Clemson in the Sugar Bowl of Jan. 1 but full strength re
mains a good policy when coping with an award-winning Alabama offensive line and the Smith-harris-jones (and others) beast it protects.
Ohio State's offense did OK but could not keep up. It got help early in the second quarter on a fantastic defensive play by blitzing Buckeye Baron Browning, who hugged Jones briefly, popped out the ball, and hopped onto it himself at the Alabama19 to set up a touchdown. Running back Trey Sermon, with 524 rushing yards in his previous two games, exited after one carry for 2 yards with an injury, but previous starter Master Teague returned and performed credibly.
Quarterback Justin Fields, so smashing with six touchdown passes in the Sugar Bowl, passed for 194 yards and rushed for 67 while operating with a heartless margin of error. Any stall of any possession seemed lethal given the opposition ready to take the football and dazzle.
“I think there's a feeling of, if you don't score you're going to get behind and then the pressure mounts,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said. “We couldn't quite keep up.”
Late Monday night, the Associated Press voters confirmed Alabama's national championship, with Ohio State and Clemson following. Texas A&M, which thought it had a case to make the playoff ahead of Notre Dame, did leapfrog the Fighting Irish to finish fourth in the final balloting.