GTT Player Graphs vs. Oklahoma: Josh Jacobs did everything

Metric definitions

A ”successful” play, as defined by Football Outsiders, is when a play gains enough yardage to keep the offense on track, i.e., 50% of needed yardage on 1st down, 70% on 2nd, or 100% on 3rd/4th. A ”big play” (aka “explosive play”) is any play that gains ≥15 yards (run OR pass).

Total Running and Passing

Success by Runner

Don’t see charts? Tap here to load the full article.

Nobody should be surprised to see Josh Jacobs topping this list: it was fun to see him have such a huge game — that’s ten successful rushes — against his old hometown team. That 73% rushing SR on 15 attempts is amazing... easily the biggest game an Alabama rusher has had this season. By the 4th quarter, I felt like something good had to happen every time JJ got the ball.

It’s interesting to see Damien Harris sneak in right behind JJ on this list, though. That 50% SR is good, not spectacular, but Damien tallied only 1 fewer attempt than Jacobs all night. He was an important part of the rushing mix here; hopefully he’ll put up one more performance for the Tide in his final game with us next week.

Najee Harris was great, too! He didn’t get as many touches, but went 5/6 for an 83% (!) rushing SR, and an explosive play, too.

Otherwise, the QBs weren’t very involved in the run game: Tua, in particular, didn’t break any notable runs. As long as he’s not stressing that ankle, I’m good with it.

Success by Passer

Uh, wow. We generally covered the Tide’s success in the game review yesterday, but it really shows up in this QB line: Tua Tagovailoa had a massive 76% SR and a 24% passing XR. That’s just incredible. I have no more adjectives for this: Tua just did whatever he wanted all day.

But the “winner” in overall passing efficiency was Jalen Hurts, who was 1-for-1 (a 10-yarder to Damien Harris in the red zone) for a 100% success rate! LOL.

Success by Receiver

It’s about time we saw DeVonta Smith back on top here: he’s had a few of these games earlier in the season (at Ole Miss, vs. Mizzou), but we haven’t seen him really show out in several weeks. It’s probably injury related, but either way, he’s welcome back.

Don’t forget about Jerry, though: Jerry Jeudy had as many successful plays as (and more explosive plays than) DeVonta, and on one fewer attempt. I love seeing these stat lines where a receiver has an explosive play practically most of the time they get the ball.

The other starting receivers had success here and there; Jaylen Waddle was notably minimized compared to his success lately (likely related to DeVonta’s proud return to full health).

But wouldn’t you know it... Josh Jacobs shows up again as the 3rd leading receiver! And he delivered a 100% SR, going 4 for 4 on all of his receiving touches. Awesome. Also in RB’s: Damien Harris and Najee Harris were involved in the passing game too, and put up 100% SR’s of their own (albeit on fewer carries).

Finally, Jalen Hurts caught a 9-yard pass, to join the 100% receiving SR club. Jalen had a mini-trifecta with 1 rush, 1 pass, and 1 reception... all successful. Let’s get weird and get this guy involved against Clemson, c’mon coach!

Success by Tackler

We only had 16 tacklers this week, which is, I believe, the tightest concentration we’ve seen this season (we’d expect 20+ in a blowout); I guess the coaches kept in our starters given the late peskiness of the Oklahoma offense.

Dylan Moses and Mack Wilson appear in very different places in this chart, and I’m not sure why. Most of Moses’s tackles were on running back Kennedy Brooks or fullback Carson Meier — haven’t seen one of those in a while.

While the inside linebackers were chasing folks around all day — that’s a few handfuls of successful plays between Wilson and Moses — the outside linebackers had some fun: Anfernee Jennings had 3 stops for a perfect 0% SR against him, and Christian Miller had one, too, prior to an unfortunate injury.

The defensive backs are concentrated towards the top of the chart: as Oklahoma spread the ball around, it seems that all of our safeties and CBs had to contribute all over. Heck, even Nigel Knott showed up to tackle somebody!

By and large, the DL are way down on this list — human-soap-bar Quinnen Williams only recorded a half tackle (that is, a shared tackle) in this one. Raekwon Davis, LaBryan Ray, and Phidarian Mathis came in to contribute here and there, but the big defensive lineman on the day was folk hero Isaiah Buggs, who had 3 stops and another tackle, too. Roll Buggs, Roll.

—

Just one more game to go, folks. Here’s to hoping that we see lots of tacklers next week, for lots of unsuccessful plays for the bad guys. And lots of big plays for us! Call it a prophecy. Roll Tide and see you next week.