What you need to know for Alabama at Miami game
When: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Where: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
Latest line: Alabama by 19 ½. TV: ABC
Radio: 560-AM, 990-AM (Spanish)
Weather: 85 degrees, 3 percent chance of rain
Online: sunsentinel.com/um; @ khobi_price on Twitter
Stadium safety protocols: The Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s roof will be open during Saturday’s game, so fans won’t be required to wear masks in any open-air areas of the stadium including the seating bowl, concourses and suites with doors to the open air. However, mask wearing remains “strongly encouraged throughout the stadium” and will be required in any enclosed spaces such as club spaces, press box, retail store and other enclosed rooms.
Quick slant: After a 2020 season that started off strong before ending in a disappointing fashion, the Miami Hurricanes have an opportunity to measure themselves against the country’s top-ranked team to kick off 2021. Miami, which is 9-6 against the AP top-ranked teams over the past 40 years, are looking for its first win over a No. 1 team since beating Florida State on Oct. 7, 2000. The Hurricanes lost their last two matchups against the then No. 1-ranked team — both of which were against Clemson (2017 ACC Championship Game and 2020 Week 6). The Crimson Tide have a 14-3 advantage in the all-time series. The last time the two programs played each other was in the 1993 Sugar Bowl, which Alabama won, 34-13.
About No. 14 Miami: The Hurricanes return over 90 percent of their production from a 2020 squad that went 8-3. Quarterback D’Eriq King, who’s eight months removed from surgery to repair a torn ACL and meniscus in his right knee that he sustained at the end of last season, returns for a sixth and final college football season. Coach Manny Diaz has taken the role of defensive coordinator, with the hopes his instruction, along with a revamped defensive coaching staff, will turn around a unit that didn’t produce to the program’s standard last year.
About No. 1 Alabama: The Crimson Tide have been the gold standard of college football since Nick Saban took over the program in 2007, winning six national championships since 2009. Alabama’s starting quarterback from last year’s national-title winning team, Mac Jones, has moved on to the NFL, with sophomore signal caller Bryce Young taking over the role after completing 13 of 22 pass attempts for 156 yards and a touchdown last year.
Three things to watch
1. How does King look in his first game since his knee surgery? By all accounts the 24-year-old quarterback is healthy and just as explosive as he was before the injury, which the Hurricanes will need against an Alabama defense that’s being hyped to be one of the best defensive units in the country.
2. How well will Miami be able to protect King against the Crimson Tide’s elite pass rushers? Second-year linebacker Will Anderson Jr. (seven) and redshirt senior linebacker Christopher Allen (six sacks) combined for 13 sacks in 2020.
3. Alabama outscored opponents 153-44 in the first quarter and 229-92 in the second quarter last year. Will the Crimson Tide be able to get off to a strong start against Miami, or will the Hurricanes keep things close in the first half ?