Rolling On: Alabama tops Florida for SEC title, 52-46
Records fall, Bama pushed to the limit, and yet Tide prevails in a classic.
By: Dave in Tuscaloosa
Photo: Adam Hagy, USA TODAY Sports
It was, perhaps, the biggest punt of his career. Alabama senior Charlie Scott, #85 from Colorado, stood at the Tide’s 31 yard line. It was 4th and 11, 26 seconds remained, and Bama led the Gators by a mere 6 points. Florida’s Kyle Trask and the Gator offense had racked up 430 yards and had a tired Tide defense on the ropes. Numerous images were coming to the minds of Bama fans...Michigan’s botched punt against Michigan State in 2015...Trask’s pair of 4 play, 75ish-yard drives earlier in the game that seemed to take seconds rather than minutes ...perhaps a fleeting image of the disaster known as “Kick-Six” from way back in 2013. No matter, the anxiety of Bama fans all weighed on the shoulders of the punter, Mr. Scott (for those “Office” fans out there, we all should have collectively chanted “Hey Mr. Scott...what ya gonna do? What ya gonna do, make our dreams come true!”). To make things a bit more dramatic, the Gators return man, Kadarius Toney, is as dangerous a return man as you could find. No pressure at all.
As has been the case for the Tide in 2020, ultimately there was nothing to fear for Bama fans. Scott calmly delivered what may go down as the best punt of his career...a perfect 44-yard high hanger directed towards the Gator sidelines that pinned Toney on his own 12-yard line. With 16 seconds left and no timeouts left for the Gators, sophomore linebacker Christian Harris would deliver Alabama’s 5th sack of the night, the clock ran out, and Bama’s 28th SEC title, it’s 6th in the last nine years, was in the books. The 52-46 win over the gritty Gators left no question who the #1 seed in the college football playoffs would be.
The path to get to the end result featured a terrific SEC final, a true classic...two heavyweights, titans of the gridiron, doing honorable battle in front of a small, but vocal crowd. Although they never trailed, the Tide was pushed to the brink. Florida’s offense proved to be as good as advertised and had the boys in Crimson and White on their heels for much of the night. In a game that reminded Tide fans of the 2017 National Championship game, a 45-40 win over the Clemson Tigers that saw Deshawn Watson wear down a talented Tide D, the Alabama offense once again delivered in heroic fashion. The Tide racked up 605 total yards, 33 first downs, and punted just twice. Simply put, the contest came down to two simple facts: the Gator defense could not stop the balanced Bama offense, and the Bama defense did just enough to slow down the potent Gator offense.
The 46 points given up by the Bama defense was more the result of Gator offensive brilliance than Alabama deficiency. Quarterback Kyle Trask had a terrific evening, completing 26 of 40 passes for 408 yards and three touchdowns. His receiving corps had the upper hand on the Bama secondary all game, as Kadarius Toney (8 catches, 153 yards, 1 touchdown), Kyle Pitts (7/129/1), and Trevon Grimes (4/78/1) had monster nights and reminded the Bama nation of the night in October when Ole Miss rolled over the Tide defense to the tune of 48 points and 647 yards. Alabama’s defense has improved a lot since getting torched by the Rebel attack, yet couldn’t consistently slow down the Gator attack. The Bama secondary and linebacking corps was forced into coverage much of the night and committed five pass interference penalties. Despite the struggles, the Tide D registered 5 sacks and forced two key turnovers that turned into 10 points.
On the other side of the ball, the Crimson Tide offensive juggernaut marched on, scoring on all but three possessions (2 punts and a stop on 4th down). On the backs of the machine known as the offensive line, the three-headed monster of Jones, Harris, and Smith rolled on and all had Heisman worthy nights. The Gator defensive unit had no answer. Quarterback Mac “Daddy” Jones had another brilliant night, completing 33 of 43 passes for 418 yards (an SEC Championship game record) and 5 touchdowns. He threw one interception, as Gator corner Trey Dean wrestled a pass away from Tide tight end Miller Forristall in the first quarter. As Dean turned upfield, he was literally trucked (as in a hockey player getting nailed into the boards style) by Tide sophomore wideout John ”Oh Canada” Metchie. The hit caused Dean to cough up the ball, which was recovered by DeVonta Smith.
Metchie laid a vicious hit on Gator DB Trey Dean.
One play later, Jones would find Smith on a 31-yard pass that gave Bama a 14-7 lead. Smith would finish with an SEC title game record 15 receptions for 184 yards and two touchdowns. In the process, Smith broke the Alabama record for career receiving yards (3,620) and receiving touchdowns in a season with 17. Not to be outdone, Najee Harris garnered game MVP honors for carrying the ball 31 times for 178 yards and a total of 5 touchdowns (runs of 8 and 1, receptions of 7, 23, and 17). Harris set several Alabama records on Saturday night as well, including career rushing touchdowns (44), career rushing yards (3,639), and overall touchdowns scored (54). Not a bad night at all for all three Heisman Trophy candidates.
Alabama broke the game open in the second quarter. Bama entered the quarter up 14-10 courtesy of a nine-play, 70-yard drive that culminated in an 8-yard Harris TD run and the aforementioned 31-yard strike to Smith. Bama’s second quarter scores were the result of a 12 play, 74-yard drive that ended with a 7-yard TD strike to Harris and a 13 play, 70-yard drive that ended with another Harris TD grab, this time from 23 yards out. Both touchdown drives were aided by costly Gator penalties, including an off-side and an illegal hands to the face call, both on 3rd downs that extended Tide drives. A key point of the game occurred after Bama’s second touchdown of the quarter that extended the lead to 28-10. Florida showed their resolve by driving 75-yards on only 4 plays, culminating in a one-yard touchdown run from Trask, closing the gap to 28-17 with just 1:09 left in the half. As Florida found out, that’s an eternity for the Tide offense as they coolly marched right down the field and scored on a Jones to Harris 17-yard catch and run that stretched the halftime lead to 35-17.
The Gators outscored the Tide 14-0 in the third, which included another 4 play, 75-yard drive by Florida that took a total of 1:35 and a 12 play, 80-yard drive that closed the gap to 35-31. The Tide would answer in the 4th with a methodic 10 play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a one-yard touchdown run from Harris. The Gators would give the ball right back to Bama, as on the first play of the next drive, Tide freshman outside backer Will Anderson knocked the ball loose from Trask and Tim Smith recovered at the Florida 10 yard line. The drive would stall, yet ended in a 20-yard Will Reichard field goal that moved Alabama to a 45-31 lead with 9:53 remaining in the contest. The Gators answered with a 9 play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended with a one-yard score from Dameon Pierce to cut the deficit to 45-38 with 6:33 to go. It looked like the Tide had stopped the Gators when Trask coughed up the ball going into the endzone at the one-yard line, a fumble that was recovered by Alabama yet overturned due to a costly mental error by Bama corner Josh Jobe, who lined up offsides.
As it has all year, the Bama offense responded with a 4 play, 66-yard touchdown march that culminated in a 15-yard Jones to Smith strike that extended the lead once again to 52-38 with 4:59 left. It was a beautiful play, as Jones sold a run to the Florida defense and hit Jones on a slant for the easy score. It was a costly one, however, as the Tide lost center Landon Dickerson for the rest of the season to a knee injury on the play. The back and forth classic continued as the Gators marched right down the field and answered with a 10 play, 75-yard drive that ended with Trask hitting Pitts while being double covered for a 22-yard touchdown. After being flagged for a pass interference call on the first two-point conversion attempt, Trask brought it over for a successful conversion that cut the lead to 52-46 with 2:07 remaining. The Tide would recover the onsides kick, Florida drained its final two timeouts but still forced a punt with 26 seconds on the clock, which ushered in Scott’s punting heroics.
Photo: Kevin C. Cox, Getty Images
Hats off to Dan Mullen and the Florida Gators, who bounced back admirably after a brutal loss to LSU a week ago. They showed why they deserve to be SEC East champions, and why, despite the loss to the Tigers, they were still being considered for a College Football Playoff spot leading into the tussle with the Tide. Moving forward, they need to get better on the defensive side of the football.
Hats off as well to the Alabama program, the model of consistency and the most predictable entity during this odd college football season. After 10 weeks of blowout wins, a close victory over the Gators will do nothing but help the Tide as they move towards the semifinal match against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame on New Year's Day. Against Florida, the boys in Crimson and White never flinched, never panicked because the Gators were staying within striking distance, and never doubted they were going to ultimately come out on top. In order to beat this version of the Tide, you need to be close to perfect. So far this year, nobody has had enough to top the Tide.
Now it’s up to Notre Dame, perhaps Clemson, maybe Ohio State, to try to do just that.