Stats Bomb: Alabama-Ole Miss shatters records, Najee Harris back on track
Every Sunday, I'll take a closer look at the numbers from Saturday's game and provide context that matters.
Think of this as a deep dive where we're not focused so much on what happened, but what it means historically and what it might tell us about the rest of Alabama's season.
The Stats Bomb is back to discuss:
- Najee Harris' Heisman campaign
- Records from Saturday (both good and not so good)
- Player grades from Saturday's thriller
Move over Mac?
Last week I tackled Mac Jones’ Heisman chances, and he looked the part again on Saturday against Ole Miss.
At one point, I even considered abandoning my pre-season Heisman pick of Najee Harris to back Mac Jones since it is a quarterback award first, after all.
Just as my faith wavered, Harris reminded me why I spent the last eight months writing, podcasting and wandering around on street corners yelling about his Heisman chances.
Just in case anyone missed Saturday’s game: Harris carried the ball 23 times for 206 yards and five (Yes, FIVE) rushing touchdowns. He also caught three passes for 42 yards.
| Heisman finish | Rushing yds per gam | Rec. yards per game | TDs scored per game | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Najee Harris (2020) |
TBd |
116 |
25 |
3.3 |
|
Derrick Henry (2015) |
1st |
153 |
7 |
1.8 |
|
Jonathan Taylor (2019) |
5th |
147 |
16 |
2 |
|
Bryce Love (2017) |
2nd |
164 |
3 |
1.4 |
|
Saquon Barkley (2017) |
4th |
95 |
50 |
1.6 |
While 116 rushing yards sounds like a lot, it’s a low number for the Heisman.
Yeah, Barkley made (a little) noise getting less, but he was doing twice as much work in the passing game.Speaking of the passing game, Harris has yet to score a receiving touchdown this season after finishing 2019 with seven.
So he’s probably got a few coming.
With that in mind, I’d argue Harris’ touchdown-rate might not be entirely as unsustainable as it looks at first glance. No, I don’t expect him to score three per game moving forward, but I could easily imagine him finding the end zone more than 14 times in the next seven weeks.
As I wrote last week for our premium subscribers, Harris is Alabama’s first and second option once the team gets inside the opponent’s 9-yard line. Alabama has given the ball to No. 22 on 11 of the team’s 19 plays run down there.
Harris is also extremely efficient. He has only failed to score on four of 11 such attempts this season.
On Saturday, Harris converted two of four attempts inside the opposing 9-yard line for touchdowns, and he might have made that three of six if not for the first fumble in his entire career, which came on his 467th career touch.
Oh and one more thing, for those keeping track at home Harris only needs 868 yards to take Alabama's all-time rushing record from Derrick Henry. That's just 109 yards per game, or 96 if Alabama makes it to the SEC Championship game.
First time for everything
Saturday’s game set records. Some were good, while others. … well y’all saw that defense.
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