Week 1 of the 2021 CFB season starts off with some great games. First up is the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff game here in Atlanta, GA featuring the Miami Hurricanes against the defending champions, Alabama Crimson Tide.
In this preview we’re going to take a look at keys to success for each team and give you my prediction at the end.
Keys For Miami Upset
Start Fast!
Miami has the more experienced offense in this game. D’Eriq King has played a lot of football and will get a chance to show that he is full healthy after the knee injury that ended his season. Alabama is breaking in new starters at QB, RB, WR and 3 new O-Linemen and may be a bit shaky to start.
Bring the Pressure
This will be the first start for 5 Star QB Bryce Young. Not only that, but this will also be the first game for new OC Bill O’Brien. If Miami wants to take advantage of that, they will need to speed up Young’s clock in the pocket and see if they can force him into some mistakes. Now Miami is replacing their top 3 pass rushers after losing them to the NFL but they feel confident in a very experienced front.
Steal a Couple of Possessions
This will tie in to my last key. To keep this game close Miami will need to not only play mistake free football, but they need to get some extra possessions. Whether that is from turnovers or onside kicks, they need to limit the amount of time they give Bill O’Brien and Bryce Young to get in a rhythm. Keeping the Bama O on the bench while letting Rhett Lashley and D’Eriq King get going will be a huge key.
Keys for Alabama to Keep Rolling
Rule the Trenches
An inexperienced quarterback’s best friend is a running game. Thats what Alabama will want to do to set up the play action for Bryce Young. To do that they will need to win at the line of scrimmage. Alex Leatherwood, Landon Dickerson and Deonte Brown are now in the NFL so that will be 3 new faces in that unit. Luckily they are not short of players that have actually seen game action in the past. Chris Owens and Kendall Randolph both have big game experience and are slotted to pick up 2 of the 3 empty spots in the O-Line. Alabama has arguably the deepest running back room in the country and Miami has to expect to find out why.
Wash the Second Level
Miami has an experiences D-Line like I said before and they also have a very aggressive secondary. The one area that they may need to be worried about is their linebackers. They start two young players in the second level and with Alabama’s likely game plan being to establish the run first, their linebackers better be ready to react fast. If they hesitate they could get engaged with an O-Lineman and that could be all she wrote. They also can’t be too aggressive because if they get sucked in on a run fake that could leave the middle wide open for easy completions. Miami better learn to read their keys before they end up in a shootout without the adequate guns.
Control the Edges
D’Eriq King is an incredible athlete that puts your defense in conflict. Most programs have to pick something they want to take away from his game and hope that they can. This will be a different animal in this game. Alabama has arguably the best set of edge rushers in the country with Chris Allen and Will Anderson. On top of that they also have the most athletic set of Middle Linebackers who can chase down King. Alabama will have to play disciplined football and force King to play in from the pocket primarily.
Prediction
Alabama 38 Miami 17
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