The Stats bomb is back to discuss:
- Christian Barmore's debut
- Where Alabama's offense ranks nationally (hint: it's pretty good)
- Alabama's goal-line game plan
- Player grades from Saturday
But first let's start with:
Mac Jones' Heisman candidacy
To make a serious run at the Heisman Trophy these days, you have to be in the College Football Playoff picture. In fact, since the sport moved to that format, five of the six Heisman Trophy winners (excluding only Lamar Jackson in 2016) have participated in the playoffs.
No. 2 Alabama certainly checks that box after two weeks, but it’s tough to determine who might have the best shot at representing the Crimson Tide in New York for the award.
Running back Najee Harris put us all on notice with his preseason Campaign series on Youtube.
Then receiver Jaylen Waddle issued his own sort of Heisman statement last week against Missouri when he caught eight receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns.
Still, history tells us that a quarterback will probably win the trophy. Nine of the last 10 went to quarterbacks (Alabama running back Derrick Henry waves hello), and Jones might have thrown his hat into the ring on Saturday.
So how does the Alabama quarterback stack up to recent winners?
| Completion % | Passing TDs | Passing Yards | INTs | Rushing TDs | Rushing Yards | YPC | |
| Mac Jones (2020) | 75 | 30 | 3420 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 1.3 |
| Joe Burrow (2019) | 77.9 | 37 | 3627 | 4.6 | 2.3 | 222 | 3 |
| Kyler Murray (2018) | 70.9 | 31.0 | 3118 | 5.4 | 8.5 | 686 | 7.3 |
| Baker Mayfield (2017) | 71 | 32 | 3339 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 238 | 3.6 |
Based on the chart above, Jones is right where he needs to be across the board with respect to his passing numbers.
The rushing numbers will look better as the weeks go by, but Jones uses his mobility to buy time in the pocket. He’s rarely, if ever, going to tuck the ball and just take off.
That will likely hurt the Alabama quarterback with Heisman voters unless he can make up for it with his arm. The best way he can do that is by maximizing total touchdowns scored (35-40 would put him on pace with recent winners) while minimizing his interceptions (his current rate of five might be good enough).
Make no mistake, this award is driven by numbers first and Heisman moments second. When voters prepare their ballots at the end of the season, many of them won’t remember the context surrounding every touchdown or interception, but those totals will help them compare players.
Barmore is Back
On Saturday, Christian Barmore made his 2020 debut, but it wasn't as a starter.
Instead, the once-hyped defensive tackle came off the bench. Still, Barmore managed to earn the team's third-highest defensive grade from Pro Football Focus (75.4) while playing 37 of 79 snaps.
It's worth noting that starters LaBryan Ray and DJ Dale only played 33 and 32 snaps, respectively.
Barmore finished 2019 playing at least 34 snaps in each of his last four games, so Saturday's workload mirrored that role.
Surprise, surprise Barmore was particularly effective rushing the passer. His pass-rushing grade of 74.9 was the second-best mark on the team as Barmore recorded two quarterback hurries and one hit.
He recorded his three total pressures on only 27 attempts. Freshman linebacker Will Anderson was the only player to record more pressures (five), but Anderson did charge after Mond 37 times on Saturday, so their success rate was somewhat similar.
Despite all of this, Barmore failed to record a single tackle. It will be interesting to see if his role continues to increase or if Alabama views him as more of a rotational player on the line this season.
The Big Picture
After two weeks, the Crimson Tide’s offense ranks among the nation’s best in just about every way possible. Also worth noting, Alabama’s next opponent, Ole Miss, pops up twice, suggesting we could be in for a bit of a track meet in Oxford, Mississippi.
Points per game scored in regulation:
1. BYU- 49.3
2. Texas- 48.7
3. Alabama- 45
4. Florida- 44.5
5. Coast Car.- 44.3
Perspective: Alabama ranked second in the nation last season, scoring 47.2 points on average. Fourth-place Clemson only averaged 43.9.
Yards gained per play:
1. BYU- 8.10
2. Florida- 7.80
3. Alabama- 7.79
4. SMU- 7.43
5. Ole Miss- 7.43
Perspective: In 2019, Alabama and LSU tied for second in the nation averaging 7.89 yards per play. Fourth-place Clemson averaged only 7.38.
3rd down conversion percentage:
1. Kentucky- 60.0
2. Coast Car.- 59.5
3. Alabama- 58.3
4. Ole Miss- 57.7
5. N. Texas- 56.6
Perspective: Alabama and Ole Miss led the nation in this stat last week after converting 64.3 percent of the time on third down. The Crimson Tide seemed destined to improve upon that after converting five of seven times (71 percent) in the first half on Saturday.
Then Mac Jones just overthrew John Metchie III on third-and-8.
Alabama finished the second half 0-for-3 as Jones missed Forristall in the fourth quarter before running back Trey Sanders ran the ball on third-and-10 to kill the final remaining seconds on the clock.
Najee Harris cementing himself as Alabama's goal-line guy
When Alabama gets within nine yards of the end zone, offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian doesn’t get cute. The Crimson Tide have run the ball on nine of 11 (or 81.8 percent) such opportunities this season.
Last year, Alabama kept opposing teams guessing a bit more, with the Crimson Tide running on 40 of 61 (65.6 percent) plays within the opposing team’s 9-yard line.
Alabama’s also leaning on its lead back a bit more. Last season running back Najee Harris carried the ball 23 times inside the 9-yard line while the rest of the Crimson Tide got 17 such attempts. That gives Harris 57.5 percent of those carries for those keeping track.
Through the first two games in 2020, Harris has received seven of Alabama’s nine carries (77.8 percent) near the opposing end zone, and he’s been quite an effective.
Alabama’s top back has scored on five of those seven attempts (71.4 percent). Last year, Harris only found the end zone on 11 of his 23 carries inside the opposing 9-yard line for a scoring rate of only 47.8 percent).
It’s hard to imagine Harris sustaining that touchdown rate. It also seems likely that the Crimson Tide will work to get more people involved in those situations, but for now, the job clearly belongs to Harris, and maybe it should stay that way.
The four plays that went to other teammates resulted in one touchdown (a success rate of only 25 percent).
To sum up:
- Alabama is running the ball more near the end zone.
- Harris is getting the ball more often in that situation than he did in 2019.
- Harris is converting those carries into points better than he did last season.
Progress Report- Texas A&M
Offense
- John Metchie III’s grade of 84.3 completely shatters his previous best grade of 72.
- On Saturday, Metchie ran 28 routes and was targeted six times.
- Prior to that breakout performance, Metchie ran 87 total routes (including 30 last week) and saw only 10 targets.
- Landon Dickerson was the top offensive lineman this week, receiving his overall grade of 80.2 thanks in large part to his team-best run-blocking grade of 84.
- Last week’s top performer, Alex Leatherwood, finished with an overall grade of 45.8, just above Evan Neal’s team-worst grade of 43.1, so it’s clear Alabama’s offensive line has work to do.
| D. Brown | 86.4 |
| L. Dickerson | 67 |
| E. Ekiyor Jr. | 66.9 |
| A. Leatherwood | 66.9 |
| E. Neal | 62.5 |
| Average | 69.94 |
| Last week's avg | 57.6 |
Run-blocking
| L. Dickerson | 84 |
| Ekiyor Jr. | 71.8 |
| D. Brown | 71.4 |
| E. Neal | 42.4 |
| A. Leatherwood | 37.8 |
| Average | 61.48 |
| Last week's avg | 65 |
Defense
Daniel Wright had an uneven performance on Saturday accounting for possibly the single-worst defensive play when he failed to push the Texas A&M player out of bounds, but he made plenty of great plays as well including a 47-yard pick-six. The graders at Pro Football Focus clearly thought he did far more than make up for his miscue.
Malachi Moore, Alabama's freshman Star, is the other defensive player who stands out. Despite being targeted a team-high 14 times, the freshman allowed only seven completions for 65 yards. He also managed to record two pass breakups and an interception.
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