NEW ORLEANS | When the Alabama defense takes the field in the Superdome for the Sugar Bowl and one of the inaugural College Football Playoff semifinal games, it will face opponents both familiar and unknown.
After injuries to its top two quarterbacks, Ohio State has been forced to start the inexperienced redshirt sophomore Cardale Jones, who got his first and only start for the Buckeyes on Dec. 6, when he led Ohio State to a 59-0 victory over No. 17 Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship. Alabama safety Landon Collins said the lack of film made it difficult for the Crimson Tide to prepare for 6’5” dual-threat.
“Just a little bit, because you haven’t seen him play,” Collins said on Sunday. “You haven’t seen his keys and what he likes to do. He’s played enough snaps to get a feel on what he likes to do, so we’re going to have a little touch.”
While Alabama’s players don’t expect the core concepts of Ohio State’s defense to change, the enigma at quarterback has forced the Crimson Tide to prepare for more possibilities.
“He’s a mystery,” defensive back Nick Perry said. “Really don’t know exactly what all he can do or what kind of offense they’re gonna have come game time, so we’re just preparing for everything and anything. You know they’re gonna come out there with something different on game day and we just have to be able to adjust and go out there and execute.”
The Crimson Tide does expect Ohio State to stick to one of its offensive strengths: deep passes, thrown by a quarterback with exceptional arm strength to one of the deepest receiving corps in the country.
“They have every type of wide receiver,” cornerback Cyrus Jones said. “They have big guys that they put on the perimeter to block well and can run screens. They also have the guys that can stretch the field vertically with their speed. You have to be ready for anything they do, because they have guys all over the field that can do anything.”
The Alabama secondary has notably struggled to defend long passes this season, but Cyrus Jones said the unit is prepared to show its improvement.
“A lot of teams think they can come out and pick on our secondary, but it’s up to us to strap down defensively and hold it down on the back end,” Cyrus Jones said. “It’s expected, but I think we’ll be ready for it.”
