OSU thought they could do the same to Bama that they did to Clemson- stop the run and make them somewhat one dimensional. They did “ limit” Harris to 79 yards on 22 carries (3.6 per).
When I read the stats I really did a double-take on this. It sure didn't feel like Harris only had 3.6 ypc. I also noticed what you pointed out here:
Teague is a gasher , straight ahead. He did fairly well too- more YPC than Najee in fact.
The way it felt watching the game I would never have guessed that Teague had more ypc than Harris, never but there it is:
- Teague: 15 carries, 65 yards, 4.3 ypc, 2TD, 29 long
- Harris: 22 carries, 79 yards, 3.6 ypc, 2TD, 13 long
The difference though, and where Sermon would have done much better is in receptions out of the backfield:
- Teague: 1 catch, 1 yard, 1 ypc, 0TD, 1 long
- Harris: 7 catches, 79 yards, 11.3 ypc, 1TD, 26 long
Teague had as many rushing TD's, almost as many rushing yards, and more yards per carry than Harris but Harris did as much damage on receptions as he did on carries. Teague had one catch for one yard.
Another thing I'll point out is the difference one carry makes. To their credit, the Buckeye Defense prevented long runs. As noted above, Harris' long was only 13 yards. Take away Teague's and Harris' longest run and here is what is left:
- Teague: 14 carries, 36 yards, 2.6ypc
- Harris: 21 carries, 66 yards, 3.1 ypc
Teague had one nice long run and the rest of his carries were pretty unimpressive. Harris was super consistent. He didn't gash tOSU with long runs but he hit right about 3 yards almost every time they gave him the ball.
Not that any of the above mattered. Really, Ohio State ran better than Bama. Bama had 10 more yards (157-147) but it took them nine more attempts. Ohio State had and equal number of rushing TD's (2 each), more ypc (5.1 vs 4.1), and two runs longer than anything Bama had (Fields' 33 and Teague's 29). It didn't matter because Bama's passing attack was unstoppable. Mac Jones was 36/45 for 464 yards. DeVonta Smith had more yards receiving than the entire Ohio State team (215-194) and he did it all in the first half. Ohio State's leading receiver had 69 yards, that was only fourth best in the game behind:
- 215 Smith
- 81 Metchie
- 79 Harris
With Sermon in the game, I think the Buckeyes might have been able to keep up a little longer. As it was, it didn't get out of hand until right before halftime when Bama took at 18 point lead. Maybe with Sermon the Buckeyes score a couple more TD's and it is 35-31 at halftime instead of 35-17 (and basically over) but I don't think it would matter. As unstoppable as Bama's offense was, eventually that dam was going to break.
