Get ready for scoring bonanza in Alabama-Ohio State title game

There will be points.

Many of them.

That’s the easiest prediction to make for what to expect when Alabama meets Ohio State in Miami with a national championship on the line. The early over/under number is already the second-highest in College Football Playoff history. Get ready for two top 10 offenses full of playmakers capable of scoring at any moment. First team to get two or three defensive stops wins.

It’s no surprise Alabama is back in the national championship. The best team all season, Alabama easily handled Notre Dame, 31-14, in a Rose Bowl played in Texas. Despite still winning by 17 points, those 31 points are the least Alabama has scored since the 2018 national championship. The Crimson Tide offense has only improved since then and features the best offensive trio in the game in quarterback Mac Jones, wide receiver DeVonta Smith and running back Najee Harris. Smith is the likely Heisman Trophy winner, the first wide receiver to do so since Desmond Howard in 1991, while Jones and Harris both finished top five in the voting. Oh, and offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian just won the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach.

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Ohio State was more of a question mark headed into the Sugar Bowl after only playing six games but looked more than capable of keeping up with Alabama after a dominating 49-28 win over Clemson. Quarterback Justin Fields had the performance of a lifetime, throwing for six touchdowns to power the Buckeyes after taking a huge shot to the ribs in the first half. Trevor Lawrence might have entered the night as the obvious No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft but Fields showed he shouldn’t have to wait long to hear his name called after the Clemson QB. Alabama’s defensive secondary struggled against Ole Miss and Florida, and will face its toughest test by far against Fields.

He’s not Ohio State’s only offensive weapon, either. If Alabama fans watched this year’s Sugar Bowl, they may have experienced flashbacks to the last time both teams met, coincidentally also in the Sugar Bowl. Running back Trey Sermon did his best Ezekiel Elliott impression Friday night, rushing for 193 yards and a touchdown. Alabama couldn’t stop Elliott late in the 2015 Sugar Bowl and will have its hands full slowing down Sermon in Miami. Sermon has rushed for 524 yards combined in his last two games, and is doing everything he can to make a late case as one of the nation’s top running backs.

That honor still goes to Harris, though, who flawlessly hurdled a Notre Dame defender and kept running in a jaw-dropping play. Harris made a very smart decision to return to Alabama for one more season as he improved every facet of his game and now looks like a first-round pick. He had 125 yards on 15 carries against a good Notre Dame defense, and should get plenty of opportunities against the Buckeyes.

The most opportunities should go to Devonta Smith who put together another brilliant performance with three touchdowns against Notre Dame. Can anyone on Ohio State slow down Smith? If you watched the Sugar Bowl, you know Shaun Wade can’t. Smith has somehow only gotten better since Jaylen Waddle went down with an injury, and has solidified himself as the greatest Alabama receiver of the Nick Saban era. He might not be the physical freak that Julio Jones was in Tuscaloosa, but he makes very difficult plays look so easy. Just watch the play below for proof.

Alabama-Ohio State won’t have the built-in storylines that would have come with another Alabama-Clemson rematch. Those two teams had already met in three national championship games since 2015 and looked destined for a fourth for most of the 2020 season. Everyone is well aware of the ties Dabo Swinney has back to his alma mater, and remembers the blowout win the Tigers dispatched over Alabama in 2018.

But Alabama-Ohio State is the sexier match-up. It’s Jones versus Fields. Harris versus Sermon. One of the top offensive-minded head coaches in the game (Ryan Day) versus the GOAT defensive-head coach (Nick Saban). It’s the last two undefeated teams left fittingly meeting in the title game even if one team played nearly double the amount of games. It’s SEC powerhouse versus Big Ten royalty to cap an unprecedented season that almost didn’t happen.

Alabama-Ohio State is going to be a rollicking, point-scoring bonanza that everyone not named Pete Golding should enjoy.

John Talty is the sports editor and SEC Insider for Alabama Media Group. You can follow him on Twitter @JTalty.

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