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Deep Dive on Mac Jones through six games

Which team will challenge Alabama the most?

As the saying goes: records were made to be broken. This season, Alabama’s offense has taken that to heart. The Crimson Tide is on pace to rewrite the record books — even despite a shortened, SEC-only schedule. Here’s a look at some of the marks that could fall at the Tide’s current pace.

This one seemed impossible at the start of the season. Even the staunchest of Mac Jones believers didn’t predict the redshirt junior would replicate the school’s best single-season passing performance in a shortened schedule.

Jones currently sits at 2,196 yards through six games, an average of 366 yards per game. At this rate, he would pass Tua Tagovailoa’s mark during the SEC Championship game, assuming Alabama wins the SEC West. Even if Jones was to fall off the pace, the Tide could possibly have two more games in the College Football Playoff.

As pass-happy offenses take over college football, we could see the single-season record for passer efficiency rating eclipsed for a fifth straight year.

Former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield set the record in 2016 with a rating of 196.38 before passing that mark the following year with a rating of 198.92. Tagovailoa posted a 199.44 mark in 2018 but was passed by former LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, who set the current record with a 201.96 rating last season.

Mac Jones is currently on pace to smash the record with a 210.32 passer rating. After posting a passer rating above 200 in three straight games against Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Georgia, the right-hander has seen his rating dip slightly the past two weeks against Tennessee (185.5) and Mississippi State (198.9). Next week, Jones will go up against an LSU defense that ranks No. 104 in the nation, allowing opposing quarterbacks a 168.45 passer rating through five games.

Through six games, Jones has completed 78.5 percent of his passes, nearly two percentage points above former Texas quarterback Colt McCoy’s record of 76.7 set in 2008. Burrow came up just shy of McCoy’s mark last season, completing 76.3 percent of his passes. The former LSU quarterback holds the SEC’s single-season mark.

Completion percentages tend to drop as the season goes on. However, Jones isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. The Alabama quarterback has completed at least 74 percent of his passes in all six of his games. Last week, he completed 77.4 percent of his passes against Mississippi State.

Along with being on pace to set passing records in accuracy and efficiency, Jones could also set a new mark when it comes to yards per attempt. Through six games, he’s currently averaging 12.4 yards per throw, almost a yard more than former Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray’s record of 11.6 set in 2018.

This record might become a bit harder for Jones to reach following the loss of dynamic receiver Jaylen Waddle, who was averaging 22.28 yards per reception before breaking his ankle against Tennessee. However, John Metchie III is averaging 21.54 yards per reception, while DeVonta Smith is also a big-play target.

Najee Harris is a touchdown machine. The senior back currently leads the nation with 14 rushing touchdowns this season and ranks tied for sixth on Alabama’s all-time list with 34 career scores on the ground.

Harris is just nine rushing touchdowns away from passing Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry’s school record of 42. With the senior averaging an eye-popping 2.33 rushing touchdowns per game this season, he’s on pace to pass Ingram’s mark by the end of the regular season.

Even at Harris’ unbelievable pace, this will be a difficult record to break. However, if Alabama advances to both its conference championship game and the national championship game, it would have seven games remaining. If that scenario plays out, Harris would be on pace to pass Henry’s SEC single-season record for rushing touchdowns at 28.

Here’s a more realistic record for Harris. Last week, the senior back moved into eighth place on Alabama’ all-time rushing list with 3,091 career yards. Through six games, Harris is averaging 119 yards per game on the ground. At that rate, he would fall just short of Henry’s school record of 3,591 rushing yards by the end of the regular season. With the possibility of as many as three postseason games, Harris is in a good position to end his college career as the Tide’s all-time rusher, assuming Alabama keeps winning.

Harris has been a model of consistency this season, rushing for 95 or more yards in five of his six games. With Alabama’s passing game humming along nicely, he should still have plenty of open running lanes for the remainder of the season.

This one is simple. DeVonta Smith is already tied with former Alabama receiver Amari Cooper and former Florida receiver Chris Doering for the SEC’s all-time record for receiving touchdowns. It’s hard to imagine Smith not catching another touchdown pass to break the record. In fact, given his success against LSU last season, this record could be broken by next week.

Smith came two touchdowns away from tying this record last season when he pulled in 14 scoring grabs. With eight touchdowns through six games this year, he’ll need to stay hot to have a chance of catching Cooper’s record.

Smith’s pursuit of this record will likely depend on Alabama’s postseason success. Assuming the Tide advances to the SEC Championship Game, it’s guaranteed another six games this season. Considering Smith has eight receiving touchdowns through six games this year, it’s possible he keeps up that pace for the rest of the season.

Through six games, Smith has more than twice as many receptions as any other Alabama receiver. The senior’s 56 catches on the year would have led the Tide in 2016 when it played 15 games. But can Smith turn his hot start into history?

Cooper set the SEC’s single-season receptions record with 124 during his Biletnikoff Award-winning season in 2014. Smith is currently averaging 9.3 catches per game, meaning that he’d need to up his pace if he’s going to catch Cooper by the end of the season.

This record seems unlikely at the moment. However, with Waddle out and Smith could come close depending on how Alabama’s postseason shakes out.

While this will still be a tough milestone to reach, Smith stands a better chance of catching Cooper’s all-time mark than he does his single-season record.

The senior currently sits at fifth on Alabama’s all-time receptions list with 174, 54 behind Cooper’s school record of 228. At Smith’s current average of 9.3 catches per game, he’d need six games to pass Cooper. If Alabama makes the SEC Championship, he’ll get at least that many.

Along with being in a position to end his college career as Alabama’s all-time leader in receptions and receiving touchdowns, Smith could also break the school record for receiving yards. The senior currently ranks third on Alabama’s all-time list with 2,868 yards through the air, 595 yards away from Cooper’s record of 3,463 receiving yards. At Smith’s current pace of 126.5 receiving yards per game, he’d be 89 yards away from the record by the time the Tide opens up postseason play.