Comparing Alabama and Clemson - A few stats

JDTide · Dec 31, 2018

Greetings,

From NCAA statistics. I’m not cherry picking here. These patterns stood out for me.

Opposing Defenses:

50% of the teams Alabama has played were ranked 49th or higher on total defense.

50% of the teams Clemson has played were ranked 71st or higher on total defense.

The highest ranked teams (defense) Clemson has played are Notre Dame(20th), Texas A&M (35th), Georgia Southern (41st), and Georgia Tech (45th).

The highest ranked teams (defense) Alabama has played Miss State (3rd), Georgia (13th), LSU (29th), and Texas A&M (35th).

Opposing Offenses:

Clemson has played 3 teams ranked in the Top 25 on total offense: NC State (15th), Syracuse (16th), and Texas A&M (19th). FYI: Notre Dame (22nd).

Alabama has played 6 teams ranked in the Top 25 on total offense: Oklahoma (1st), Ole Miss (9th), Georgia (14th), Missouri (16th), Texas A&M (19th), and Arkansas State (20th).

Ultimately, the game will be won or lost on the field, but Alabama has faced significantly tougher competition on both sides of the ball. IMO, the Tide is battle-tested in comparison to Clemson.

JBama_in_PCOLA · Dec 31, 2018

The one team that gave Bama no issue and fits to Clemson is A&M. Transitive property aside, that game, as well as Syracuse and USCEe, tells me a lot about this Clemson team.

Redwood Forrest · Dec 31, 2018

Along with that the 5 year recruiting average is 2.2 for Bama and 11.8 for Clemson. To show how accurate that stat is just look at the Clemson/Notre Dame score and they both had a 5 year recruiting averge of 11.8. :smile: This just illustrates the coaching up of Dabo vs Kelly.

JDTide · Dec 31, 2018

JBama_in_PCOLA said:
The one team that gave Bama no issue and fits to Clemson is A&M. Transitive property aside, that game, as well as Syracuse and USCEe, tells me a lot about this Clemson team.

I might add that Kelly Bryant, not Lawrence, was the QB that Clemson relied on to win the A&M game.

B1GTide · Dec 31, 2018

JDTide said:
I might add that Kelly Bryant, not Lawrence, was the QB that Clemson relied on to win the A&M game.

Yeah, I completely discount that game because of that.

JBama_in_PCOLA · Dec 31, 2018

B1GTide said:
Yeah, I completely discount that game because of that.

JDTide said:
I might add that Kelly Bryant, not Lawrence, was the QB that Clemson relied on to win the A&M game.

I won't, because Lawrence played in that game as well. He struggled even more.

TideEngineer08 · Dec 31, 2018

Yeah Clemson doesn’t beat A&M without Bryant. Lawrence was ultimately the better QB, but they needed steady leadership that night.

Go Bama · Dec 31, 2018

The Clemson that will be playing Bama is a much better team than the one that played aTm. These kind of stats are interesting but they don’t mean much.

JDTide · Dec 31, 2018

Go Bama said:
The Clemson that will be playing Bama is a much better team than the one that played aTm. These kind of stats are interesting but they don’t mean much.

I agree with you. Texas A&M was very early in the season. For me, the stats simply reflect how much each team had to struggle to get where they are now. In terms of competition, Clemson faced 1 top 25 defense in the last 5 games and no Top 25 offenses, whereas Bama faced 3 Top 25 defenses and 2 Top 25 offenses in the last 5 games. It has been a stiffer test. Granted, these are simply another kind of stats.

ClemsonFan89 · Dec 31, 2018

JBama_in_PCOLA said:
The one team that gave Bama no issue and fits to Clemson is A&M. Transitive property aside, that game, as well as Syracuse and USCEe, tells me a lot about this Clemson team.

T&M is a talented football team and nobody knows Clemson better than Jimbo. They were ready for us. Syracuse we had to win with our was 3rd string quarterback. Like Auburn last year we are a completely different team than at the beginning of the year. I would say that those were tough tests for our team and helped them to develop fast. I would agree that Alabama has a more battle tested team and has an edge over Clemson but stats like that aren't going to work with predicting Clemsons ability because the team they have become hasn't been pushed to the limit yet.

JBama_in_PCOLA · Dec 31, 2018

:biggrin2:

CrimsonNagus · Dec 31, 2018

I’m sorry but, every one talks about how great Clemson was at the end of the year but, look at who they played.

Outside of maybe 2 or 3 games, their schedule isn’t much better then ND’s. They haven’t really been test this year and haven’t seen anything near as talented as Bama.

Bama has face a few of the top defenses in the country and just faced the best offense (maybe second best now). Bama is ready and Clemson won’t know what hit them.

This Clemson team just doesn’t make me as nervous as the last one we faced in a title game. It won’t be as lopsided as last years semi but, I think Bama puts it away with plenty of time remaining.

Toddrn · Dec 31, 2018

If you look at the top 25 after week 15 Clemson played 2 teams in the top 25.
They beat #19 A&M by 2 and #20 Syracuse by 3.

Bama beat #5 UGA by 7, #11 LSU by 29, #18 MSU by 24, #19 A&M by 22 and #22 Missouri by 29.

If you look at numbers we played the tougher schedule.
Clemson beat top 25 teams by 2.5 PPG, we beat them by 22.2 PPG.

You can play with numbers, strength of schedule, etc. I think we are better prepared to play this game based on the teams we played. We have proven just how good we are. Yes, Clemson has a very good team. But have they proved just how good they are? We will find out Jan 9th. I believe we will win by 20. RTR

Jkl0802 · Dec 31, 2018

I think Clemson built a stout defense to stop the run, and now they will face an Alabam team that has high end players running RPOs and throwing deep. And I don’t think Clemson sees this type of football as much in the ACC as Bama does in the SEC. I’m not sure how well Clemson’s QB will function after being knocked down several times...Bama is battle tested and Clemson walked through s Sissy ACC schedule, I think the could very well be a Bama domination game.

81usaf92 · Dec 31, 2018

JBama_in_PCOLA said:
I won't, because Lawrence played in that game as well. He struggled even more.

Like 5 plays

dWarriors88 · Dec 31, 2018

Any stats on trick plays? Clemson’s going to through everything including the sink at us.

TideFan in AU · Dec 31, 2018

Why? Kelly Bryant was clutch in that game. They struggled when Lawrence came in. That's why they ended up going with the Bryant the rest of the way.

In fact, I doubt they win that game without Bryant.

TideFan in AU · Dec 31, 2018

TideFan in AU said:
Why? Kelly Bryant was clutch in that game. They struggled when Lawrence came in. That's why they ended up going with the Bryant the rest of the way.

In fact, I doubt they win that game without Bryant.

Just checked - Bryant went 12-17 205 yds (12.1 AVG) and a TD no INT. Also had 15 carries for 54 yards and another TD rushing.

If you think Bryant was a detriment to that game, you didn’t watch it.

TideEngineer08 · Dec 31, 2018

Jkl0802 said:
I think Clemson built a stout defense to stop the run, and now they will face an Alabam team that has high end players running RPOs and throwing deep. And I don’t think Clemson sees this type of football as much in the ACC as Bama does in the SEC. I’m not sure how well Clemson’s QB will function after being knocked down several times...Bama is battle tested and Clemson walked through s Sissy ACC schedule, I think the could very well be a Bama domination game.

I remember feeling this way leading up to the 2016 championship game. I thought we'd handle Watson. He hadn't seen a defense as talented and tough as Alabama's. Well, that didn't go so well. Then the next year, our defense was faster, better, and scored points on its own. I had a helluva lot more respect for Watson leading up to that game, but still I thought our defensive prowess would be too much to overcome. But then we kept going three and out on offense...

My point is, I think it is folly to disrespect Clemson based upon their schedule. Yes, they haven't been tested by the same kind of tough schedule that Alabama has. But, what matters more is how talented Clemson is across the board. They are not every bit our equal, but they are damn close. Much like Georgia. And, they've beaten us before. Their schedule strength isn't going to matter as much as it normally would otherwise.

I think if you dropped Clemson into the SEC East this year, they'd probably be 12-0 going into the SEC championship against us.

selmaborntidefan · Dec 31, 2018

TideFan in AU said:
Just checked - Bryant went 12-17 205 yds (12.1 AVG) and a TD no INT. Also had 15 carries for 54 yards and another TD rushing.

If you think Bryant was a detriment to that game, you didn’t watch it.

I think you misread what he said.

Comparing Alabama and Clemson - A few stats

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