Just because football the Alabama Crimson Tide football season ended two weeks ago does not mean the party is over. Today, we’ll take another look at the scoring machine that was the Crimson Tide this past season.
Touchdowns Per Game
One of the most amazing stats for Alabama was how many touchdowns per game they scored - not to mention that the opponents were 11 SEC teams and two playoff foes. That number was 84 in 13 games. That total exceeds the next closest team, BYU who had 69 in only one less game by 15 touchdowns.
Rk | Name | G | TD | Points | Points/G |
1 | Alabama | 13 | 84 | 630 | 48.5 |
2 | BYU | 12 | 69 | 522 | 43.5 |
3 | Clemson | 12 | 67 | 522 | 43.5 |
4 | North Carolina | 12 | 66 | 500 | 41.7 |
5 | Florida | 12 | 60 | 478 | 39.8 |
5 | Coastal Carolina | 12 | 60 | 446 | 37.2 |
7 | Oklahoma | 11 | 58 | 473 | 43 |
8 | Tulane | 12 | 56 | 416 | 34.7 |
9 | UCF | 10 | 55 | 422 | 42.2 |
9 | Liberty | 11 | 55 | 420 | 38.2 |
Granted, Bama was one of only two FBS teams to play 13 games this season (Georgia Southern was the other). Even still, when broken down as an average per game, Alabama was still 0.71 touchdown ahead of the next closest Power 5 team, BYU, and 0.88 ahead of Clemson. The sixth place teams are almost a full touchdown per game behind the Tide’s pace.
Below is a list of select FBS teams that played more than four games in the category of TD/G .
Rk | Team | G | TD | Points | Points/G | TD/G |
1 | Alabama | 13 | 84 | 630 | 48.5 | 6.46 |
2 | Buffalo | 7 | 43 | 304 | 43.4 | 6.14 |
3 | BYU | 12 | 69 | 522 | 43.5 | 5.75 |
4 | Western Michigan | 6 | 34 | 250 | 41.7 | 5.67 |
5 | Clemson | 12 | 67 | 522 | 43.5 | 5.58 |
6 | Ohio State | 8 | 44 | 328 | 41.0 | 5.50 |
6 | UCF | 10 | 55 | 422 | 42.2 | 5.50 |
6 | North Carolina | 12 | 66 | 500 | 41.7 | 5.50 |
9 | Texas | 10 | 54 | 427 | 42.7 | 5.40 |
9 | Mississippi | 10 | 54 | 392 | 39.2 | 5.40 |
11 | Oklahoma | 11 | 58 | 473 | 43.0 | 5.27 |
12 | Cincinnati | 10 | 51 | 375 | 37.5 | 5.10 |
13 | Liberty | 11 | 55 | 420 | 38.2 | 5.00 |
13 | Florida | 12 | 60 | 478 | 39.8 | 5.00 |
13 | Coastal Carolina | 12 | 60 | 446 | 37.2 | 5.00 |
16 | SMU | 10 | 48 | 386 | 38.6 | 4.80 |
17 | UCLA | 7 | 33 | 248 | 35.4 | 4.71 |
18 | Tulane | 12 | 56 | 416 | 34.7 | 4.67 |
19 | North Texas | 10 | 46 | 344 | 34.4 | 4.60 |
20 | Toledo | 6 | 27 | 210 | 35.0 | 4.50 |
OTHERS | ||||||
21 | Louisiana-Laf | 11 | 49 | 370 | 33.6 | 4.45 |
28 | Notre Dame | 12 | 51 | 401 | 33.4 | 4.25 |
28 | Iowa State | 12 | 51 | 395 | 32.9 | 4.25 |
30 | Texas A&M | 10 | 42 | 326 | 32.6 | 4.20 |
32 | Southern Cal | 6 | 25 | 200 | 33.3 | 4.17 |
33 | Oregon | 7 | 29 | 219 | 31.3 | 4.14 |
34 | Miami (FL) | 11 | 45 | 374 | 34.0 | 4.09 |
35 | Georgia | 10 | 40 | 323 | 32.3 | 4.00 |
42 | Michigan | 6 | 23 | 170 | 28.3 | 3.83 |
45 | LSU | 10 | 38 | 320 | 32.0 | 3.80 |
58 | Oklahoma State | 11 | 40 | 332 | 30.2 | 3.64 |
64 | Indiana | 8 | 28 | 231 | 28.9 | 3.50 |
66 | Arkansas | 10 | 34 | 257 | 25.7 | 3.40 |
77 | Wisconsin | 7 | 23 | 176 | 25.1 | 3.29 |
82 | Northwestern | 9 | 28 | 222 | 24.7 | 3.11 |
83 | Missouri | 10 | 31 | 267 | 26.7 | 3.10 |
92 | South Carolina | 10 | 29 | 235 | 23.5 | 2.90 |
92 | Tennessee | 10 | 29 | 215 | 21.5 | 2.90 |
98 | Auburn | 11 | 31 | 276 | 25.1 | 2.82 |
99 | Kentucky | 11 | 29 | 240 | 21.8 | 2.64 |
99 | Mississippi State | 11 | 29 | 235 | 21.4 | 2.64 |
117 | Vanderbilt | 9 | 17 | 133 | 14.8 | 1.89 |
By comparison, LSU scored 95 touchdowns in the 2019-20 season in 15 games played for a 6.33 TD per game average - still lower than Alabama’s 2020-21 clip. However, when you eliminate the three cupcake games against Georgia Southern (7 TDs scored), Northwestern State (9 TDs), and Utah State (6 TDs), the Bayou Bengals scored 73 touchdowns against nine SEC teams, Texas, and two playoff games. That average comes to 6.08 touchdowns per game versus those 12 Power-5 foes.
If you want to take it a step further and remove the nine touchdowns from of the equation that LSU scored on godawful Vanderbilt, the average dips to 5.82 TD/G.
Imagine the numbers Bama would’ve put up had they played Georgia State, Kent State, and UT-Martin as originally scheduled.
Points Per Minute
Watching the National Championship game, there were a few times when Bama fans were actually concerned that the offense was TOO prolific. The defense would just get off the field when the Crimson Tide would score again - sending the D right back out there. #BamaProblems
Below is a representation of how fast the Tide was scoring in the form of points scored per time of possession.
Rk | Team | G | Points | Mins | Secs | Pts/Min |
1 | Alabama | 13 | 630 | 401 | 58 | 1.57 |
2 | Texas | 10 | 427 | 277 | 59 | 1.54 |
3 | UCF | 10 | 422 | 275 | 03 | 1.53 |
4 | Western Michigan | 6 | 250 | 169 | 31 | 1.47 |
5 | BYU | 12 | 522 | 359 | 25 | 1.45 |
6 | Clemson | 12 | 522 | 365 | 25 | 1.43 |
7 | Buffalo | 7 | 304 | 215 | 39 | 1.41 |
7 | Ole Miss | 10 | 392 | 278 | 34 | 1.41 |
9 | North Carolina | 12 | 500 | 370 | 16 | 1.35 |
10 | North Texas | 10 | 344 | 256 | 15 | 1.34 |
11 | Oklahoma | 11 | 473 | 355 | 18 | 1.33 |
12 | Florida | 12 | 478 | 366 | 01 | 1.31 |
13 | SMU | 10 | 386 | 295 | 57 | 1.30 |
14 | Wake Forest | 9 | 324 | 250 | 48 | 1.29 |
15 | Ohio State | 8 | 328 | 258 | 34 | 1.27 |
16 | Miami (FL) | 11 | 374 | 304 | 07 | 1.23 |
16 | UCLA | 7 | 248 | 202 | 06 | 1.23 |
18 | Tulane | 12 | 416 | 343 | 38 | 1.21 |
19 | Oregon | 7 | 219 | 183 | 14 | 1.20 |
20 | Louisiana-Laf | 11 | 370 | 313 | 05 | 1.18 |
OTHERS | ||||||
21 | Cincinnati | 10 | 375 | 319 | 59 | 1.17 |
22 | Liberty | 11 | 420 | 362 | 31 | 1.16 |
28 | Southern Cal | 6 | 200 | 180 | 36 | 1.11 |
28 | Michigan | 6 | 170 | 153 | 44 | 1.11 |
30 | Coastal Carolina | 12 | 446 | 405 | 55 | 1.10 |
35 | Georgia | 10 | 323 | 301 | 24 | 1.07 |
42 | LSU | 10 | 320 | 314 | 04 | 1.02 |
42 | Arkansas | 10 | 257 | 252 | 49 | 1.02 |
47 | Oklahoma State | 11 | 332 | 329 | 35 | 1.01 |
48 | Iowa State | 12 | 395 | 396 | 55 | 1.00 |
50 | Notre Dame | 12 | 401 | 407 | 09 | 0.98 |
59 | Texas A&M | 10 | 326 | 348 | 06 | 0.94 |
64 | Indiana | 8 | 231 | 250 | 04 | 0.92 |
71 | Auburn | 11 | 276 | 316 | 00 | 0.87 |
76 | Missouri | 10 | 267 | 307 | 54 | 0.87 |
86 | South Carolina | 10 | 235 | 293 | 27 | 0.80 |
87 | Minnesota | 7 | 191 | 238 | 41 | 0.80 |
93 | Tennessee | 10 | 215 | 279 | 26 | 0.77 |
101 | Kentucky | 11 | 240 | 341 | 40 | 0.70 |
103 | Mississippi State | 11 | 235 | 340 | 35 | 0.69 |
118 | Vanderbilt | 9 | 133 | 267 | 19 | 0.50 |
Alabama’s possession time looks high since they had one more game than all but one other team. Yet, their time of possession per game average was 44th in FBS. Despite playing 12 games each, Army, Notre Dame, and Coastal Carolina all had more total time of possession on the season than the Crimson Tide did.
Numbers You Don’t See
Let’s don’t forget that Nick Saban has a tendency to take the air out of the ball in several games after building a big lead - something LSU rarely did in 2019. This Alabama team could have surely scored several more times in most games if they had so desired.