Peach Bowl Recap: What we learned from Washington vs Alabama

The Alabama Crimson Tide are championship game bound after dominating the Washington Huskies in the Peach Bowl.

After so much hype heading into the College Football Playoff semifinal, the Alabama Crimson Tide took care of business in the Peach Bowl with a convincing win over the Washington Huskies.

Washington was able to get on the board first after a nice drive from quarterback Jake Browning. The Huskies capped the drive off with a beautiful touchdown pass from Browning to Dante Pettis in the back of the end zone to give them an early 7-0 lead.

The lead didn’t last, however. Alabama’s bruising backup running back Bo Scarbrough showed off his power on the ensuing drive, capping it off with an impressive 18-yard touchdown to tie things up at 7-7.

A John Ross fumble led to a Crimson Tide field goal to give them a 10-7 lead, but both defenses began to settle in after a shaky start. Alabama’s defense came alive just before halftime when Ryan Anderson intercepted a pass from Browning and returned it for a touchdown to go up 17-7.

Both defenses continued to play well in the second half, with neither team able to do much of anything in the third quarter. The fourth quarter started with a surprise punt from Browning that pinned the Crimson Tide inside the five-yard line, and it looked like Alabama would struggle to get much of anything on the drive.

Instead, Scarbrough came back in with a crucial run on third down to move the sticks, followed by one of the best runs in college football this season. The Alabama running back broke some tackles and refused to go down on a wild 68-yard touchdown to put the Crimson Tide up 24-7.

As hard as the Huskies tried, their offense simply couldn’t make any plays, and they were unable to score another point after the opening drive, giving the Crimson Tide the 24-7 victory. They will play either Ohio State or Clemson in the national championship.

What We Learned

-Has Alabama been waiting to unleash Scarbrough until the College Football Playoff? Heading into Saturday’s game, Bo had carried the ball just 90 times with only three games with more than 10 carries. On Saturday, he had a season-high 19 carries for 180 yards and two scores. If he has another game like the one he had today next week, Alabama should be clinching another national title.

-As talented as Washington’s offense had been this year, Alabama’s defense looked even more dominant. Players like Jonathan Allen, Tim Williams and Ryan Anderson regularly made plays throughout the game. There is so much talent across the board on that defense that Clemson or Ohio State are probably going to have just as much trouble scoring in the national championship as the Huskies did in this one.

-Don’t sleep on this Huskies team next season. Browning will return and be a potential Heisman candidate in 2017. Even if players like John Ross, Sidney Jones IV and others go pro, this is still a team with a ton of talent and a great head coach in Chris Petersen.