The major stat category averages came down on offense, but not by too much. Gawking at them is still fun either way.
Alabama dominated LSU in the 29-0 win. By the absurd standard the Tide have set this season, I was interested in seeing how much it would affect their averages. Coming into this game, Bama was averaging 30 points in the first half of its games. They had scored less than 45 points only once (the 39 scored against Missouri). The Tide dominating on defense is never a revelation, what has been is the fact that the offense is at an otherworldly level this season. By these standards the blowout against the Tigers was a modest one.
But make no mistake, it was still a whoopin’. Just consider that this was an achievement for the Tigers.
In the first half, LSU held Alabama to just 6.9 yards/play. That might not sound impressive, but consider that Alabama has been over the 7.0 mark in every full game this season, which consists of a ton of plays in garbage time while running out the clock. Holding this Alabama defense under 7.0 yards per play is solid, especially without Devin White.
A look at the averages show that things didn’t really drop off that much, and the numbers remain eye-popping.
Here I have the major per-game offensive categories, and a couple defensive categories. For comparison purposes, I also have the bests for each category over the last decade which aligns nicely with Saban’s first Tide championship in 2009.
This all confirms what we already knew: This is the most explosive Alabama offense we’ve ever seen, and will be up there one of the best ever when the season’s over. But a look at some of those defensive per-games show that the defense isn’t bad, and despite a “regular” blowout some of the state categories actually showed improvement.
These averages now get a chance to be padded more with the toughest opponent out of the way for about a month. Mississippi State shouldn’t put up much of a fight against the Tide with a limited offense. The Citadel’s an FCS team, and Auburn hasn’t shown an ability to run the ball effectively enough to win consistently.
Georgia will be a stiff test in the conference title game, but even if the Tide blow them out modestly they’ll have their averages fortified enough that it won’t matter much.