Resources: My charting, Alabama game notes (Michigan's not yet available), Alabama roster, CFBstats
The film: The Iron Bowl for all the reasons, including the German one:
Personnel: My diagram:
PDF version, full-size version (or click on the image)
Yes, Alabama has a lot of star players. That's what happens when you go to the playoffs every year and flaunt the rules to such a degree that paying players through your assistants' salaries is called the "Alabama System" in football circles. Tuscaloosa Football Inc. has had first pick of high school talent for a decade; hanging onto it is a challenge because the NFL takes those who are eligible and those who aren't starting can usually transfer somewhere where they will, however, so there are no seniors.
If you pay attention at all to college football outside of the Big Ten, you know that 5-star QB Tua Tagovailoa pipped incumbent star Jalen Hurts, who transferred to Oklahoma. That left QB Mac Jones, a barely top-400 player, the lead backup when Tua's Heisman campaign was cut short with a hip injury this season. Jones is your standard pre-Hurts Alabama quarterback: a stiff "game manager" who wouldn't look out of place at Michigan State. It's a big deal.
Tight end is the other position causing fret. Nominal starter/former Michigan target TE Major Tennison (+3/-3 in this game) hasn't developed into more than just a guy. He's only on the field a third of the time as they make heavy use of specialists. These are a moonlighting offensive lineman, Kendall Randolph (+6/-2, no bad pass pro events) and still-receiver-sized true freshman TE Jahleel Billingsley, who's rather like Devin Funchess was when he was wearing #19. Backup C Chris Owens will occasionally don a #84 jersey and add to the beef. Owens will also snap a few as a sixth OL, pushing the C, RG, RT, and TE one job to the right.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the breakdown.]
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