Ohio State Football: 3 Takeaways from title game loss to Alabama

Ohio State football fell short of winning the national championship on Monday night and here are three takeaways for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State football proved once again its an elite program, but it didn’t matter Monday night as Alabama was dominant in a 52-24 win over the Buckeyes.

Certainly, losing to Alabama is nothing to be ashamed of. Devonta Smith was on another level as was his quarterback Mac Jones and the two of them shredded Ohio State’s defense, which was without multiple starters in the trenches.

Then, to make matters worse for the Buckeyes, Trey Sermon, who has been out of this world lately for Ohio State football, got hurt after one carry and managed just two yards before leaving the game due to injury.

Master Teague was solid, carrying the ball 16 times for 65 yards. He actually averaged more yards per rushing attempt than Najee Harris.

However, good wasn’t going to be good enough. Ohio State needed Sermon to be great and the running game to help keep Smith and Jones on the sideline.

That didn’t happen and after keeping the game close for much of the first half, the Crimson Tide started to pull away. An 18-point advantage at halftime was trimmed to 14 late in the third quarter on a touchdown pass by Justin Fields but the Tide wouldn’t be stopped.

The Buckeyes couldn’t generate pressure and they also couldn’t hang with Bama’s receivers, but in all fairness who could this year? Alabama was a juggernaut and here are three takeaways from the loss of Ohio State football.