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When Cincinnati was invited to play Alabama in the Cotton Bowl Classic, the Bearcats' star corners, Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner and Coby Bryant, were eager to prove they could match up against the Tide's quarterback.
So eager, in fact, that the Bearcats won the coin toss and elected to defer, allowing Alabama to take the ball first.
Things went wrong very quickly as Cincinnati learned a lesson. You don't pick your poison against Alabama.
Alabama ran the ball on 10 of the 11 plays on the first drive, with the only pass being an 8-yard touchdown toss to Slade Bolden. Brian Robinson Jr. had 134 yards in the first half, more than he had in 10 of 12 complete games this season. Young had his lowest passing total of the season. Williams caught seven passes for 62 yards and averaged just 8.9 yards per reception, a season low. It didn't matter. Robinson had a career-high 204 yards by the time Alabama had wrapped up a 27-13 victory.
"I didn't expect the running ball to be that much," he said after the game. I don't know what we could have done. We did what we were supposed to do, as far as the way we ran our defense. Hats off to them. They had great backs. They showed that.
It's a problem when facing the Alabama teams. As good as Cincinnati was against the Tide's stars, others adjusted to set a school rushing record, no small feat in a program with Alabama's history of running backs. Taking on the Tide is a game of whack-a-mole. There are five-star players everywhere who get their chance to make history if the star wideout is held in check.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who was a defensive assistant under Nick Saban at Alabama, is trying to end his alma mater's 41-year title drought when Georgia faces Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship in Indianapolis on Monday. The app is available on the ESPN/ESPN App.
Kevin Steele, a former Alabama staffer and opponent, said that Nick Saban is "really, really good" at saying "OK, this is what we need to do to win the game." "It's a beautiful game that never unfolds like you think it's going to."
Smart knows what to expect against Alabama. He's 0-4 when facing his old boss, the most painful being a 41-24 loss in the SEC championship game.
Tua Tagovailoa came off the bench to lead a second-half Alabama comeback and defeat Georgia in the last game of the College Football Playoff. In the SEC title game, Hurts replaced an injured Tagovailoa in the fourth quarter and led Alabama on a 16-play, 80 yard drive that ended with a 15-yard touchdown run.
Kevin Steele is familiar with life in the SEC from inside and out.
Steele worked for both the Alabama and the Clemson teams before leaving to work for the Dabo Swinney team. He returned to Alabama in an off-field role as the director of player personnel in 2013. He was LSU's defensive coach from 2015 to 2020 and also the DC at auburn from 2016 to 2020.
Steele said that Alabama would instantly attack you with another weapon at your weakness if you tried to take away the weapons. A lot of that is tied to talent acquisition. The coach is really good at saying "OK, this is what we need to do to win the game." A lot of things are affected by it. It's a beautiful game that doesn't happen like you think it will.
Alabama's last New Year's Eve visit to a Cotton Bowl was felt by Michigan State. In that season, Henry broke Herschel Walker's 1981 record of 1,986 yards rushing for the Tide, and his 23 touchdown runs tied a league record shared by Florida's Tim Tebow and Auburn's Tre Mason.
Going into the game, Henry was second in the nation in carries, with 90 in Alabama's previous two games, against Florida and auburn, for 460 yards.
Jon Reschke said the week of the game that Michigan State would have to hit him harder than anyone else. We are accepting the challenge.
It was going to be a fight. Michigan State closed the Big Ten title game with a 22-play, 82-yard drive.
"They had a big physical running back and a physical offensive line, and that's the way we try to play and the way they try to play, and that's the kind of football a lot of people enjoy watching," said Alabama coach Nick Saban before the game. It's going to be a great match up.
The Spartans held Henry to 75 yards, an average of 3.8 yards on his 20 carries. Their reward? The Spartans were soundly beaten in a 38-0 Alabama win. Like what Cincinnati discovered last week, that match up never came close to materializing.
Henry didn't get a touch until the seventh offensive play of the game, when Alabama came out passing. Jake Coker set career highs in completions and yards as he completed 25 of 30 passes. After catching just five touchdown passes in the previous 13 games, Calvin Ridley caught eight passes for 138 yards and two scores.
Alabama didn't have to keep slinging it, as Michigan State didn't have an answer for the Tide's air attack.
Steele said that the game plans of the defense can vary wildly.
Everyone knows the offense. Steele said that everyone knows the screen and draw a post. Most people don't know between a fire zone trap and two-deep zone coverage. It's the same thing on defense. There are games where they try to win. There are games where they didn't have any pressure.
With so many weapons and so many options, Nick Saban is a master of the element of surprise.
The Tide have become even more frightening because of the variety of talent on the field at any moment, and the new offense Lane Kiffin helped to implement by Nick Saban.
"You have to take what the defense gives, sometimes," he said after the Cincinnati game. A lot of the running plays had RPOs attached to them. I thought that Young did a good job of taking advantage of runs when we had them, and throwing advantage throws when we had them. We can run it, but we can also make plays in the passing game.
Young dropped back to pass until protection broke down, it was a perfect example. Robinson ran 23 yards before the first defender got to him.
Brian Robinson picks up 23 yards after being flipped by Bryce Young.
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December 31, 2021.
Young hit freshman Ja'Corey Brooks for a 44-yard touchdown on the next play to give Alabama a 17-3 halftime lead.
"They schemed us up well," Cincinnati's Darrian Beavers said. We tried to slow them down, but they are a really good team.
Georgia won't take much comfort in knowing it has already faced Alabama. LSU also found that out. In Tuscaloosa, Alabama was held to 3.1 yards per carry by the Tigers in a battle of the trenches. In the Bowl Championship Series title game two months later, Alabama held LSU to just over one yard per carry and averaged 4.3 yards per carry in a 21-0 win.
Steele said you can study as much as you want, but you have to be ready to adjust.
He said that every piece of film comes into play. It'll be different. They won't get hit with the right hand again if they were hit in the face with the right hand. You have to be ready for the left hand. The talent level and the coaching are very good.
Steele said that nobody knows what will happen until they get hit in the mouth.
It'll be rare for one of those teams to be beaten by the same team in the same year.
