January 11, 2021 Postseason Neutral site Belt defended

Alabama defends the belt, 52–24, at a neutral site over Ohio State.

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Alabama 52

Away · Challenger

Ohio State 24

AI-Written

Recap

Alabama's defense and Mac Jones's pinpoint passing proved too much for Ohio State to overcome in this College Football Playoff Championship Game. The Crimson Tide struck first with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Jones to DeVonta Smith just over ten minutes into the first quarter, then added another quick score to Jahleel Billingsley four minutes later. Ohio State managed to get on the board with a touchdown run by Master Teague III in the first quarter after a promising drive featuring a 36-yard completion to Jeremy Ruckert, but Alabama's offense never relented. Jones connected with Smith repeatedly throughout the game for scores and first downs, including a 34-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter and a 7-yard score in the third quarter, while Christian Harris's interception of an Ian Book pass in the third quarter short-circuited any Ohio State comeback attempt. The dominant performance gave Alabama the belt as it controlled time of possession by over 15 minutes and held Ohio State to just 341 total yards.

DeVonta Smith's 26-yard touchdown reception in Q1 set the tone for Alabama's offensive dominance early
Christian Harris's interception in Q3 stopped a potential Ohio State drive and shifted momentum back to Alabama
Mac Jones's four touchdown passes, particularly to Smith multiple times, overwhelmed Ohio State's secondary
Alabama's 37:32 time of possession advantage kept Ohio State's offense off the field and unable to establish rhythm

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

AlabamaOhio State

Total yards621341

Rushing yards157147

Passing yards464194

First downs3319

3rd down conv.6/116/14

Turnovers10

Penalties–yards6–444–29

Time of possession37:3222:28

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 10:14	Alabama	+26 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to DeVonta Smith for 26 yds for a TD (Will Reichard KICK)
Q1 4:19	Alabama	+12 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to Jahleel Billingsley for 12 yds for a TD (Will Reichard KICK)
Q1 4:55	Alabama	+53 yd	Najee Harris run for 53 yds to the NDame 12 for a 1ST down
Q1 3:28	Notre Dame	+27 yd	Ian Book pass complete to Chris Tyree for 27 yds to the Alab 45 for a 1ST down
Q2 11:16	Notre Dame	+1 yd	Kyren Williams run for 1 yd for a TD (Jonathan Doerer KICK)
Q2 8:49	Alabama	+34 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to DeVonta Smith for 34 yds for a TD (Will Reichard KICK)
Q2 9:45	Alabama	+24 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to DeVonta Smith for 24 yds to the NDame 49 for a 1ST down
Q2 0:06	Notre Dame	+51 yd	Jonathan Doerer 51 yd FG MISSED
Q2 0:23	Notre Dame	+20 yd	Ian Book pass complete to Ben Skowronek for 20 yds to the Alab 40 for a 1ST down
Q2 0:34	Notre Dame	+20 yd	Ian Book run for 20 yds to the NDame 40 for a 1ST down
Q3 14:15	Alabama	+22 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to DeVonta Smith for 22 yds to the Alab 49 for a 1ST down
Q3 7:27	Notre Dame	+0 yd	Ian Book pass intercepted Christian Harris return for no gain to the Alab 38
Q3 7:15	Alabama	+40 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to John Metchie III for 40 yds to the NDame 22 for a 1ST down
Q3 4:58	Alabama	+7 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to DeVonta Smith for 7 yds for a TD (Will Reichard KICK)
Q3 2:05	Notre Dame	+20 yd	Jay Bramblett punt for 52 yds , DeVonta Smith returns for 20 yds to the Alab 30
Q4 12:45	Alabama	+41 yd	Will Reichard 41 yd FG GOOD
Q4 4:59	Notre Dame	+20 yd	Ian Book pass complete to Lawrence Keys III for 20 yds to the NDame 43 for a 1ST down
Q4 0:56	Notre Dame	+1 yd	Ian Book run for 1 yd for a TD (Jonathan Doerer KICK)
Q1 13:39	Ohio State	+49 yd	Drue Chrisman punt for 49 yds , DeVonta Smith returns for a loss of 1 yard to the Alab 22
Q1 13:27	Alabama	+22 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to DeVonta Smith for 22 yds to the Alab 44 for a 1ST down
Q1 8:07	Alabama	+1 yd	Najee Harris run for 1 yd for a TD (Will Reichard KICK)
Q1 6:40	Ohio State	+20 yd	Justin Fields pass complete to Chris Olave for 20 yds to the Alab 44 for a 1ST down
Q1 5:25	Ohio State	+36 yd	Justin Fields pass complete to Jeremy Ruckert for 36 yds to the Alab 8 for a 1ST down
Q1 4:55	Ohio State	+8 yd	Master Teague III run for 8 yds for a TD (Jake Seibert KICK)
Q2 14:53	Alabama	+5 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to DeVonta Smith for 5 yds for a TD (Will Reichard KICK)
Q1 4:43	Alabama	+32 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to DeVonta Smith for 32 yds to the OhSt 43 for a 1ST down
Q2 11:43	Ohio State	+4 yd	Master Teague III run for 4 yds for a TD (Jake Seibert KICK)
Q2 9:00	Alabama	+26 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to Najee Harris for 26 yds for a TD (Will Reichard KICK)
Q2 8:09	Ohio State	+29 yd	Master Teague III run for 29 yds to the Alab 15 for a 1ST down
Q2 5:21	Ohio State	+23 yd	Jake Seibert 23 yd FG GOOD
Q2 8:22	Ohio State	+28 yd	Justin Fields run for 28 yds to the Alab 44 for a 1ST down
Q2 3:53	Alabama	+44 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to DeVonta Smith for 44 yds to the OhSt 14 for a 1ST down
Q2 3:19	Alabama	+5 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to DeVonta Smith for 5 yds for a TD (Will Reichard KICK)
Q2 1:48	Alabama	+42 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to DeVonta Smith for 42 yds for a TD (Will Reichard KICK)
Q3 7:47	Alabama	+20 yd	Will Reichard 20 yd FG GOOD
Q3 6:45	Ohio State	+20 yd	Justin Fields pass complete to Garrett Wilson for 20 yds for a TD (Jake Seibert KICK)
Q3 7:03	Ohio State	+33 yd	Justin Fields run for 33 yds to the Alab 20 for a 1ST down
Q3 5:24	Alabama	+22 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to Jahleel Billingsley for 22 yds to the OhSt 45 for a 1ST down
Q3 2:52	Alabama	+5 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to Slade Bolden for 5 yds for a TD (Will Reichard KICK)
Q3 4:02	Alabama	+21 yd	Brian Robinson Jr. run for 21 yds to the OhSt 10 for a 1ST down
Q4 13:15	Alabama	+1 yd	Najee Harris run for 1 yd for a TD (Will Reichard KICK)
Q3 0:00	Alabama	+27 yd	Mac Jones pass complete to John Metchie III for 27 yds to the OhSt 16 for a 1ST down

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
Mac JonesAlabama	36/45	464	10.3	5	0
Justin FieldsOhio State	17/33	194	5.9	1	0

Rushing

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Najee HarrisAlabama	22	79	3.6	2	13
Brian Robinson Jr.Alabama	10	69	6.9	0	21
Mac JonesAlabama	4	11	2.8	0	10
TeamAlabama	2	-2	-1.0	0	0
Justin FieldsOhio State	6	67	11.2	0	33
Master TeagueOhio State	15	65	4.3	2	29
Marcus CrowleyOhio State	6	14	2.3	0	4
Trey SermonOhio State	1	2	2.0	0	2
TeamOhio State	1	-1	-1.0	0	0

Receiving

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
DeVonta SmithAlabama	12	215	17.9	3	44
John MetchieAlabama	8	81	10.1	0	27
Najee HarrisAlabama	7	79	11.3	1	26
Jaylen WaddleAlabama	3	34	11.3	0	15
Jahleel BillingsleyAlabama	2	27	13.5	0	22
Slade BoldenAlabama	3	16	5.3	1	7
Xavier WilliamsAlabama	1	12	12.0	0	12
Chris OlaveOhio State	8	69	8.6	0	20
Garrett WilsonOhio State	3	50	16.7	1	20
Jeremy RuckertOhio State	1	36	36.0	0	36
Jaxon Smith-NjigbaOhio State	2	20	10.0	0	15
Jameson WilliamsOhio State	1	14	14.0	0	14
Marcus CrowleyOhio State	1	4	4.0	0	4
Master TeagueOhio State	1	1	1.0	0	1

Show more stats (6 more categories)

Defense

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD
Christian HarrisAlabama	6	3	0	0	0
Dylan MosesAlabama	6	2	0	0	0
Christian BarmoreAlabama	5	3	1	2	0
DeMarcco HellamsAlabama	4	3	0	0	0
Brian BranchAlabama	4	3	0	0	3
Chase AllenAlabama	4	2	0	1	0
Josh JobeAlabama	3	3	0	0	0
Jordan BattleAlabama	3	3	0	0	0
Patrick Surtain IIAlabama	3	2	0	1	1
Will Anderson Jr.Alabama	3	2	0	0	0
Daniel WrightAlabama	2	2	0	0	0
Ben DavisAlabama	1	1	0	0	0
Jaylen MoodyAlabama	1	1	0	0	0
LaBryan RayAlabama	1	0	0	0	0
Tuf BorlandOhio State	14	7	0	0	0
Justin HilliardOhio State	8	4	0	2	0
Pete WernerOhio State	8	4	0	0	1
Sevyn BanksOhio State	7	6	0	0	0
Baron BrowningOhio State	5	4	1	1	0
Antwuan JacksonOhio State	5	4	1	1	0
Josh ProctorOhio State	5	4	0	0	0
Shaun WadeOhio State	5	2	0	1	1
Dallas GantOhio State	3	3	0	0	0
Marcus WilliamsonOhio State	2	2	0	0	0
Jonathon CooperOhio State	2	1	0	0	0
Haskell GarrettOhio State	2	1	0	0	0
Tyler FridayOhio State	2	1	0	0	0
Zach HarrisonOhio State	2	1	0	0	0
Taron VincentOhio State	2	0	0	0	0
Jameson WilliamsOhio State	1	1	0	0	0
Cody SimonOhio State	1	1	0	0	0
Lathan RansomOhio State	1	1	0	0	0

Fumbles

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Mac JonesAlabama	1	1	0
Baron BrowningOhio State	0	0	1

Kick Returns

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Jahleel BillingsleyAlabama	1	7	7.0	7	0
DeVonta SmithAlabama	1	6	6.0	6	0

Kicking

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Will ReichardAlabama	1/1	100.0	20	7/7	10
Jake SeibertOhio State	1/1	100.0	23	3/3	6

Punt Returns

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
DeVonta SmithAlabama	2	18	9.0	19	0
Garrett WilsonOhio State	1	3	3.0	3	0

Punting

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Charlie ScottAlabama	2	76	38.0	0	1	40
Drue ChrismanOhio State	5	214	42.8	0	2	50

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back.

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