The Stats Bomb is back to discus:
- Najee Harris' Heisman campaign
- Records from Saturday (both good and not so good)
- Player Grades
Last week I tackled Mac Jones’ Heisman chances, and he looked the part again on Saturday against Ole Miss.
At one point, I even considered abandoning my pre-season Heisman pick of Najee Harris to back Mac Jones since it is a quarterback award first, after all.
Just as my faith wavered, Harris reminded me why I spent the last eight months writing, podcasting and wandering around on street corners yelling about his Heisman chances.
Just in case anyone missed Saturday’s game: Harris carried the ball 23 times for 206 yards and five (Yes, FIVE) rushing touchdowns. He also caught three passes for 42 yards.
Najee vs Notable RBs in Heisman race (2015-19)
| Name | Heisman finish | Rushing yds per game* | Receiving yds per game | TD scored per game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Najee Harris (2020) | TBD | 116 | 25 | 3.3 |
| Derrick Henry (2015) | 1st | 153 | 7 | 1.8 |
| Jonathan Taylor (2019) | 5th | 147 | 16 | 2 |
| Bryce Love (2017) | 2nd | 164 | 3 | 1.4 |
| Saquon Barkley (2017) | 4th | 95 | 50 | 1.6 |
While 116 rushing yards sounds like a lot, it’s a low number for the Heisman. Yeah, Barkley made (a little) noise getting less, but he was doing twice as much work in the passing game.
Speaking of the passing game, Harris has yet to score a receiving touchdown this season after finishing 2019 with seven. So he’s probably got a few coming.
With that in mind, I’d argue Harris’ touchdown-rate might not be entirely as unsustainable as it looks at first glance. No, I don’t expect him to score three per game moving forward, but I could easily imagine him finding the end zone more than 14 times in the next seven weeks.
As I wrote last week for our premium subscribers, Harris is Alabama’s first and second option once the team gets inside the opponent’s 9-yard line. Alabama has given the ball to No. 22 on 11 of the team’s 19 plays run down there.
Harris is also extremely efficient. He has only failed to score on four of 11 such attempts this season.
On Saturday, Harris converted two of four attempts inside the opposing 9-yard line for touchdowns, and he might have made that three of six if not for the first fumble in his entire career, which came on his 467th career touch.
Oh and one more thing, for those keeping track at home Harris only needs 868 yards to take Alabama's all-time rushing record from Derrick Henry. That's just 109 yards per game, or 96 if Alabama makes it to the SEC Championship game.
First time for everything
Saturday’s game set records. Some were good, while others. … well y’all saw that defense.
First-time ever
- Mac Jones passed for 400-plus yards in consecutive games. Tua Tagovailoa came close when he threw for 418 and 444 yards, respectively, on Sept. 14th and Sept. 28th last season. Alabama players have only topped the 400-yard mark eight times, counting what Jones has done this season.
- No team has recorded more yards of offense against Alabama than Ole Miss did on Saturday (647 yards). The previous record was set by Auburn (630 yards) in 2014.
- Alabama and Ole Miss combined to score a conference-record 111 points in regulation. Auburn and Arkansas set the previous record of 108 back in 2010.
- Forty-eight points is the most Alabama has given up to an unranked opponent in the AP Poll era (1936). The previous record under the Saban era was 31 points allowed twice.
First time under Saban
- Alabama recorded 723 yards of offense. The only time the Crimson Tide gained more was against Virginia Tech in 1973 (833 yards).
- Najee Harris rushed for five touchdowns. Santonio Beard last accomplished this in 2002 against Ole Miss. Shaun Alexander is the only other former Alabama player to achieve this feat.
- Both Conner Snoop (128) and Jerrion Ealy (120) topped 100 rushing yards for Ole Miss on Saturday night’s thriller. Minnesota’s Marion Barber and Laurence Maroney were the last duo to accomplish that against the Crimson Tide back in 2004.
- Alabama’s offense averaged 10.2 yards per play. A high mark for the Saban era.
Progress Report- Ole Miss
Alabama's offense line seemed to take a huge step forward this week according to Pro Football Focus.
The line received an average run-blocking grade of 72.5 after grading out at 65 and 61.2 in recent weeks.
Best starting run-blocker: Alex Leatherwood- 84.6
Worst starting run-blocker: Landon Dickerson- 61.7
The pass-blocking average dipped down to 66.7 from 69.9 last week, but that's still a huge improvement from week one's average grade of 57.6.
Best starting pass-blocker: Dickerson- 82.9
Worst starting pass-blocker: Leatherwood- 49.8
Daniel Wright's time as Alabama's top defender was short-lived. He was one of eight defensive players (not all featured here) to receive a sub-50 tackle rating. Yikes.
Christian Barmore remains a bright spot for the team. He received the highest grade on Saturday, after ranking third last week.
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