SEC Football by the Numbers: Alabama’s Top 10 for 2020

Alabama posted a 10-0 regular season record during the 2020 campaign, all 10 games against SEC opponents in a schedule altered by the coronavirus pandemic. The Crimson Tide went on to defeat Florida 52-46 in the SEC Championship game, beat Notre Dame 31-14 in the Rose Bowl, and beat Ohio State 52-24 in the title game. National PSC. Ten numbers on Alabama’s 2020 season:

0 Teams in SEC history have scored points at Alabama’s pace this season. The Crimson Tide led the country with an average of 48.46 points per game in 2020, surpassing LSU’s SEC record of 48.40 points per game set in 2019. While racking up the points, the Alabama scored a streak of at least 35 points in 24 games – the longest in major college football history with nine games – before their 31-14 win over Notre Dame at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. The Tide ended the 2020 season with a 26-game streak with at least 30 points intact, which ranks second in big college history behind a 31-game UCF streak that ended in 2019. The Tide Alabama’s big college record for scoring in double digits, which at 130 games is the longest of five games. The Tide have had no less than 30 points in a game since losing 44-16 to Clemson in the CFP National Championship game on Jan. 7, 2019, or less than 10 points in a game since losing 9-6 to LSU on January 7, 2019. November 5, 2011.

1 The SEC team produced six Consensus All-Americans – 2020 Alabama with C Landon Dickerson, RB Najee Harris, QB Mac Jones, OT Alex Leatherwood, WR DeVonta Smith and CB Patrick Surtain. Prior to Alabama, the most recent team with six consensus All-Americans was Yale in 1909. Prior to this season, the most consensus All-Americans on an SEC team had been the five produced by Alabama. in 2009 and 2018. In 2009, the Alabama Consensus All-Americans were DB Javier Arenas, DL Terrence Cody, RB Mark Ingram, OL Mike Johnson and LB Rolando McClain. In 2018, Tide’s All-Americans consensus was WR Jerry Jeudy, QB Tua Tagovailoa, S Deionte Thompson, OT Jonah Williams and NT Quinnen Williams.

3 The Alabama players won the Heisman Trophy after WR DeVonta Smith won the 2020 award. Smith received 447 votes for first place, 221 for second and 73 for third place for 1,856 points – 669 of more than Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence, the finalist. RB Mark Ingram in 2009 and Derrick Henry in 2015 are Alabama’s other Heisman winners. The three Crimson Tide winners make Nick Saban the fifth coach with at least three Heisman Trophy players, and only Notre Dame’s Frank Leahy has more with four. Smith joined Tim Brown of Notre Dame in 1987 and Desmond Howard of Michigan in 1991 as the only wide receivers to win the Heisman and became the sixth player who was not a quarterback or running back to win the trophy, with Michigan CB Charles Woodson in 1997 and finished Larry Kelley of Yale in 1936 and Leon Hart of Notre Dame in 1949. Alabama QB Mac Jones and RB Najee Harris finished third and fifth, respectively, in the vote, making The Tide was the first team since the Army in 1946 to have three players in the top five. Jones joined WR David Palmer in 1993, RB Trent Richardson in 2011 and WR Amari Cooper in 2014 as Alabama players who finished third in the Heisman vote. Harris joined HB Joe Kilgrow in 1937, HB Harry Gilmer in 1945 and 1947, QB Pat Trammell in 1961, QB Terry Davis in 1972 and QB Jay Barker in 1994 as Alabama players who finished fifth.

seven The national championships were won by Alabama coach Nick Saban, the most in polling days (since 1936). Saban guided LSU in 2003 and Alabama in 2009, 2011 and 2012 to the BCS and Crimson Tide titles in 2015, 2017 and 2020 until the CFP Championships. The last title lifted Saban to Paul “Bear” Bryant, who coached the Alabama teams that held first place in the final PA poll, the Coaches poll, or both in 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973. , 1978 and 1979. This season’s national championship gave Alabama 13 in the voting era (with one not won by Saban or Bryant in 1992) – five more than any other schedule in this period. Alabama’s 52-24 victory over Ohio State in the CFP National Championship game on Jan. 11 was the 21st at least 25-point win over a ranked team for a team coached by Saban, breaking the tie between Saban and Bobby Bowden for the most part in college football history. Also in 2020, Saban overtook Joe Paterno for the most wins against ranked opponents. Saban was 90-42 against ranked teams while Paterno was 86-82.

10.33 Yards per game were averaged by Alabama QB Mac Jones in 2020, the best single-season rate in SEC history. With 4,514 yards on 402 assists and 35 rushing attempts, Jones broke the 10.09 mark set by Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa in 2018. Jones barely missed the NCAA FBS mark of 10.37 set by Oklahoma QB Kyler Murray in 2018, but his 77.4 percent completion rate pushed Texas QB Colt McCoy’s 76.7 percent in 2008 off the record books and his passing efficiency rating of 203.06 improved. LSU QB Joe Burrow’s 201.96 after just one year as a record. Jones became the second player in the SEC with five 400-yard passing games in one season and the first to do so in three straight, completing 311 of 402 passes for a school record 4,500 yards with 41 touchdowns and four interceptions this past. season. .

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11 Percentage of Associated Press polls since the rankings began in 1936 have presented Alabama as the No.1 team. The Crimson Tide has topped the last eight polls of the 2020 season to bring its time total to the first up to 130-25 more than any other program. Alabama extended their streak of seasons with a No.1-13 ranking – six more than any other team. Ninety-nine of Alabama’s No.1 appearances have come in the past 201 AP polls after the Tide made 31 appearances at No.1 in the previous 984. Alabama was at the top of the latest poll from this season with a 13-0 record. The 2020 club were the eighth on Tide to post perfect seasons during the SEC era. The Crimson Tide also completed campaigns without a loss or a tie in 1934, 1945, 1961, 1966, 1979, 1992 and 2009.

13 Back-to-back Alabama teams have not allowed their opponents to average 20 points per game. In 2020, Crimson Tide’s 13 opponents averaged 19.4 points per game, the highest average against Alabama since Nick Saban’s first team in Tuscaloosa averaged 22.0 points per game. in 2007. During its streak, Alabama recorded the lowest points in the country. averaged over the 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2017 seasons. Iowa has the next longest active streak to keep its opponents averaging less than 20 points per game in five seasons.

30 The touchdowns – 26 in the race, four in reception – have been scored by Alabama RB Najee Harris this season, the most by a player in a season in SEC history. Harris pushed Alabama RB Derrick Henry’s 28 touchdowns in 2015 out of the top spot in the SEC record books, and the exit also saw Harris equalize the career record of 57 touchdowns by quarterback. Florida Tim Tebow, established from 2006 to 2009. Harris also beat Henry’s Alabama. career rushing yard record with 3,843 – 252 more than Henry accumulated from 2013 to 2015.

2 151 Versatile yards for Alabama WR DeVonta Smith and 1891 scrum yards for Alabama RB Najee Harris in 2020. Both numbers have led the nation this season. Smith’s 1,862 scrum yards and Harris’s 1,891 general-purpose yards ranked second in the country. Smith had 1,856 receiving yards, 237 punt return yards, 52 kickoff yards and 6 rushing yards to reach his all-round total. Harris had 1,466 rushing yards and 425 receiving yards to hit his number.

3 965 Receiving yards and 46 TD receptions for Alabama WR DeVonta Smith to set career records in the SEC. With 215 yards in the first half of Crimson Tide’s victory over Ohio in the CFP National Championship game, Smith broke the SEC career record for receiving yards set by Jordan Matthews of Vanderbilt with 3,759 from 2010 to 2013, and he also became the first SEC player with five receiving games from 200 yards. Smith’s 117 receiving total for 1,856 yards and 23 touchdowns topped the country in every category and set SEC one-season records for TD yards and receptions, beating the marks set last season by LSU WR Ja ‘Marr Chase. Smith smashed the SEC career record for TD receptions, which was set at 31 by Florida WR Chris Doering from 1992 to 1995 and tied by Alabama WR Amari Cooper from 2012 to 2014.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.