Alabama Crimson Tide Football

Stat Tracking the 2013 Alabama Football Season

Who would have thought pre-season that Alabama would put up better offensive and defensive stats against Ole Miss and Kentucky than Colorado St and Georgia St? Certainly not this guy.

By Lah-ell Tawd-Bammar@Lyell_Walker Oct 17, 2013, 12:00pm CDT

Offensively, the 2013 numbers are inching towards the balance we saw in 2012 and 2011. Saban and Nussmeier have finally found the one two punch in Yeldon and Drake, the receiving corps (outside of the dropsies against UK) are starting to get in sync with AJ and the offensive line is starting to impose their will on opposing front sevens.

BTW, the 2013 OL is 22nd in the country in sacks allowed at only 7 on the season. In comparison, the vaunted 2012 unit that many consider the greatest Bama offensive line of all time, finished the year ranked 54th.

Oddly enough, the red-zone numbers IMPROVED this week even with the two fumbles inside the 10 against UK (it helps when you have 8 red-zone attempts in a single game).

Along with sacks allowed, the group of stats I've been watching the closest would be rushing yards per game and rushing yards per attempt and in both areas the Alabama offensive line is making considerable gains each week. Note: both Yeldon and Drake are averaging over 6 yards a carry.

Offense	Alabama	Rank	Previous	Rank
Total Offense	448.5 yards a game	43rd	404.6 yards a game	70th
Scoring Offense	38.8	23rd	37	35
Total First Downs	145	28th	101	51
First Downs by Run/Pass/Penalty	60-76-9	NA	44-59-7	NA
Rushing Yards Per Game	188.33	50th	166.20	68th
Rushing Yards Per Attempt	5.38	18th	5.01	36th
Rushing TD's Total	12	44th	7	87^th
Passer Rating	162.10	13th	163.51	14^th
Completion Percentage	69.8	8th	71.9	5^th
Passing Yards Per Game	260.2	46th	238.4	63^rd
Touchdown	13	25th	12	25th
Interception	3	T-14th	3	24th
Passing Yards Per Attempt	8.6	18th	8.2	33rd
3^rd Down Conversion	47.95% (35/73)	25th	42.37% (25/59)	54th
Red-zone Offense	83.33 success rate (24 attempts, 20 scores. 16 TD's, 4 FG)	61st	81.25 success rate (16 attempts, 13 scores. 11 TD's, 2 FG)	75th
Leading Rusher	T.J. Yeldon (569 total yards, 94.83 per game/6.47 per rush, 6 TD	NA	T.J. Yeldon (445 total yards, 89 per game/6.18 per rush, 4 TD	NA
Leading Receiver	DeAndrew White (292 total yards, 48 per game, 3 TD)	NA	Christion Jones (232 total yards, 46.4 per game, 2 TD)	NA
Penalties per game (team)	6	63rd	5.8	50th

Defensively, Alabama has taken advantage of playing against some absolutely horrible offenses and I'm including Ole Miss in that list.

When looking at stats against the offensively inept my opinion is that your attention must go not to the yards per game or even points per game but yards per attempt and 3rd down defense/red-zone defense. In all areas, Alabama is performing admirably.

The 7.3 passing yards per attempt against GSU was a tad disconcerting but the defense showed up against UK allowing only 4.2 yards per attempt. And since the A&M game, were the 'Bama defense yielded 5.13 yards per rush, over the last four games they have averaged only 1.81 per rushing attempt. I'm looking forward to seeing if that number hols up against Arkansas and Tennessee.

What's more impressive is that outside the A&M game the Alabama defense has only ALLOWED four red-zone attempts all year and in fact hasn't allowed a single attempt in the last two games. I don't care who your opponent is, that's playing defense with a chip on your shoulder.

Defense	Alabama	Rank	Previous	Rank
Scoring Defense	11.3	2nd	12.2	4th
Total Defense	278.2 yards per game	8th	299.8 yards per game	12th
Passing Yards Per Game	191	21st	214	44th
Yards Per Attempt	6.5	36th	6.8	50th
Com %	53.1	20th	54.8	32nd
Passer Rating	114.90	30th	117.44	39th
Passing Touchdowns	6	24th	5	20th
INT	4	92nd	4	79th
Rushing Yards Allowed Per Game	87.17	7th	85.80	6th
Rushing Yards Allowed Per Attempt	3.04	13th	3.11	15th
Rushing touchdowns allowed	2	4th	2	5th
Tackles for loss	31 (5.2 per game)	91st	26 (5.2 per game)	90th
Sacks	10 (1.6 per game)	76th	6 (1.20 per game)	104th
Red-zone Defense	70% (10 attempts, 7 scores. 5 TD's, 2 FG's)	15th	70% (10 attempts, 7 scores. 5 TD's, 2 FG's)	18th
3^rd Down Conversions	28.21% (22/78)	25th	30.30% (20/66)	22nd

Special Teams	Alabama	Rank	Alabama	Rank
Kick-off	63 avg yards per kick	43rd	62.55 per kick	59th
Touchbacks	9	90th	4	112th
Kick-off return	24.46 yards per return	27th	24.45 yards per return	25th
Kick- off return allowed	18.61 per return	22nd	17.59 per return	13th
Punting	46.75 per punt	5th	46.74 per punt	5th
Punt Return	14.53	15th	14	21st
Punt Return allowed	7.5 per return	68^th	7.5	63rd