Alabama had No Equal in College Football This Season

Last night's college football playoff championship game was pretty telling about the 2020 season.

First off, Alabama was the class of the 2020 season. There was no team even close to how good, prepared and well coached they are. They clearly had the best players, and if they lost players to injury or COVID, they had more than capable replacements. Hell, last night a safety was ejected for targeting in the first half, the commentators made a big deal about it, but even after he was gone, Alabama seemed just fine in the secondary. They more than deserve their rings.

Second, the University of Ohio State proved last week that they may be the second best team in all of college football this past season, but they were clearly not at Alabama's level. I have seen people say they were missing too many important players to COVID, or that losing Trey Sermon on the first drive killed them, but honestly, even at full strength, I do not think they would have kept it that close. I thought prior to the game they would be able to keep it close. I had personally predicted it to be a close game. I think I had Alabama winning by a TD, something like 42-35. I thought that the university of Ohio State would have been able to score with Alabama for a while. That was not the case. They answered the first two scores for Bama, but after that it was a wrap. Alabama had a historic first half. Heisman winner Devonta Smith set three different records in the first half. I think Mac Jones only had three incompletions on twenty plus pass attempts. Najee Harris was ripping off four plus yards a carry, and he had a rushing score and receiving score before halftime. They bulldozed Ohio State in the second quarter. I believe Alabama outscored them 28-10 in the quarter, and took a commanding 35-17 lead into halftime. And while Bama looked unstoppable, after the two TD drives, Ohio State looked kind of lost. It makes sense. They did have key guys out with COVID. They only played eight total games counting last night. Justin Fields did not look like the top 10 pick he has looked like in the past. The offensive line couldn't open holes for the run game. The receivers, when the game was still kind of up for grabs, were being locked down. The University of Ohio State looked like a mess. But, is it because of the shortened season, or because of Alabama? I think it is a little bit of both, but something like 20 percent the shortened season, and 80 percent Alabama. Or maybe more like 95 percent Alabama.

I cannot stress how good Alabama was all year, and how well they played, and were coached last night. LSU's offense last year was seen as this otherworldly, never before seen type thing. Well, Alabama's season stats were almost identical, and Mac Jones beat some of Joe Burrow's records last night. Najee Harris, while not putting up the same rushing numbers as Edwards-Helaire did for LSU, he still had three scores, and could not be tackled by one player. He was also a bigger threat in the pass game. And while I heaped endless praise on Devonta Smith yesterday, he is going to get more right now. He had 12 catches for 215 yards and 3 scores, all in the first half. Alabama schemed ways for him to get open, got him the ball in open space, got him in position to be guarded by linebackers, and he showed why he was the definitive Heisman winner last night. He did all of this in only two quarters by the way. He did play in the third, but he broke his finger, and they pulled him for the rest of the game. That was the correct choice for him, and for Alabama. I also want to point out the coaching last night. Nick Saban is a true prick, but the dude can coach college football. The NFL did not work for him, but he has found a home in Tuscaloosa, and he, I am shocked to be saying this, is the greatest college football coach of all time. I have felt this way for a while now, and last night just hammered that home for me. He had his kids ready to play, he surrounds himself with very good assistants, and his players play for him. They get excited to play for him and they love to play for him. They also go out on the field with a workman's ethic. They, and this truly surprised me, do not do too much celebrating. They act like they've been there before. I respect that. The closest Devonta Smith got to celebrating was when he caught a seam route TD, and pointed at Mac Jones to give him credit. This is what I, and many other people do, when we get a good pass in basketball for an easy bucket. I don't really consider that a "celebration". Alabama's defense was well prepared too. This is supposed to be their "weaker" unit, but they looked awesome last night. Dylan Moses was flying all over the field. The D line was stout. Patrick Surtain shut down whatever side of the field he was on. Even their special teams unit was better because they were barely on the field. I think they punted twice, and kicked one field goal.

On the other side of the field, the university of Ohio State may have been short handed, but they got flat out out coached. Ryan Day had zero answers for what Nick Saban did to him. Day is a great offensive mind, but it felt like he used all of that up on Clemson. He coached scared last night. He punted in plus territory on fourth and nine, down three scores. He ran the ball twice to get off the field before halftime. His defense made zero adjustments. The run game was nonexistent. Justin Fields played timidly. The University of Ohio State is a really, really good team, probably the second best team in the country, but they did belong on the same field with Alabama last night. The game was a blowout, and I probably should have expected that. I would've liked to see the Big Ten win a title, but it was pretty clear early on that Bama was going to run away with this game. And I want to give one more shoutout to Devonta Smith. He is an all time great, and boy was he fun to watch last night.

Congrats Alabama, you guys are still the best, and it clearly isn't very close at the moment.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Devonta Smith Was the Right Choice for the Heisman Trophy

I have wanted to write about Devonta Smith winning the Heisman since last week, but then all the madness happened. I'm still angry, upset, unnerved and scared by what happened. Those monsters that incited, and took place in those riots need to be arrested and removed from office. But, with the CFP title game on tonight, what better time than now to finally give my thoughts on Smith winning the Heisman. Oh, and he also won the AP Player of the Year award too.

I have to admit, I was rooting for Smith to win. I am not an Alabama fan by any means. In fact, I do not like any of the four teams that played in the playoff, and I may only watch the title game for a bit tonight because I truly couldn't care less who wins. But of the four guys, and in a season marred by COVID and other random injuries, I figured why not give it to someone other than a running back or QB.

We see the RBs and QBs win all the time. I think there have been very few instances where a non running back or QB has won the Heisman, and that is BS to me. In fact, the last non RB or QB to win was Charles Woodson in 1997, the GOAT by the way. Some names that have won it since then, Eric Crouch, Jason White, Troy Smith, Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, Jameis Winston, Johnny Manziel and Marcus Mariota. Some guys that were up for it in those seasons, Manti Teo, Rocket Ismail, Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald and Amari Cooper. I'd take the guys that did not win it over the others if we just look at career success. But when I dug a little further into this season, when I looked at the finalists and decided to watch each one play, it was clear that Smith was the best, and most deserving player. Kyle Trask had a fine season for Florida, but without Kyle Pitts he was a mess, and he looked real bad in their bowl game. Mac Jones is an okay QB, but he is a system guy. He didn't change the position like Tua did when he was at Alabama. Jones is a lot like Jalen Hurts was when he was at Alabama, just not as athletic. He ran the system. He got the ball to Smith, and then Smith did great things with it. And Trevor Lawrence, he did not deserve to win just because of his career. This is a season award, not a college career award. He also missed two games because he got COVID. The people stumping for Lawrence are the same that claimed Peyton Manning deserved the award when Charles Woodson won it because Manning had a "better college career" than Woodson. I don't see any championship rings on Manning's fingers. I saw one on Woodson's. The only season Lawrence could have won it, in my opinion, would have been for his freshman season.

When I watched Smith I came away most impressed. The separation he was able to get, the speed in the open field, it was unmatched. When Jaylen Waddle went down early in the year a lot of people thought Bama's offense would slide. They got better, and that was because of Smith. Sure it helps to have Najee Harris in the backfield, but the way Smith took over a secondary, made the defense have to constantly game plan for him, it helped Alabama stay great on offense. He was the unsolvable problem for opposing defenses. He was the one that opened things up for Harris and Jones and the rest of that offense. But that wasn't the only thing he did. Smith put up gaudy numbers this year. In 12 games, not counting tonight obviously, he had 105 catches, 1,641 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns. He averaged 15.6 yards a catch. He averaged almost 9 catches a game and 136 receiving yards a game. In the semifinal game he had 7 catches, 130 yards and 3 TD's. In the SEC title game he had 15 catches, 184 yards and 2 scores. Against LSU he had 8 catches, 231 yards and 3 scores. He averaged 28.9 yards a catch in that game. And against their biggest rival, Auburn, he had 7 catches, 171 yards and 2 scores. The kid put up video game numbers. It is unreal. I would have been happy if a Michigan receiver did anything close to half of what Smith was able to accomplish. And when you compare his stats to the other finalists, it isn't even really close. Trask threw for 4,200 plus yards and 43 TD's, but struggled against top flight teams, especially Alabama and Oklahoma. Mac Jones just barely threw for 4,000 yards, had 36 TD passes, but almost half of that wouldn't have been possible without Smith. And Trevor Lawrence only threw for 3,100 plus yards, 24 TD's and missed those 2 games. He also did not look great in their last game.

Devonta Smith was, far and away, the best player in college football this year. He more than deserved this award. It is kind of crazy he is the first wideout since Desmond Howard to win the award. I assume he will have a good game tonight, but we will see. He is going up against a solid secondary, but every other secondary, good and bad, he has faced, he has torched. Congrats to Devonta Smith, a much deserved Heisman win for a non QB or running back.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.