Alabama vs. Miami by the numbers: Tide hot in Atlanta - AL.com

No. 14 Miami (Fla.) vs. No. 1 Alabama

2:30 p.m. CDT Saturday (ABC)

Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta

9 Victories for Miami against the No. 1 team in the AP Poll, tied with Alabama and Notre Dame for the most. Miami has a 9-9 record against the No. 1 team. Alabama is 9-5, and Notre Dame is 9-17-1.

11 Consecutive neutral-site openers have been won by Alabama. The Crimson Tide defeated Ohio State 16-10 to start the 1986 season in East Rutherford, N.J.; Clemson 34-10 to start the 2008 season in Atlanta, Virginia Tech 34-24 to start the 2009 season in Atlanta, Michigan 41-14 to start the 2012 season in Arlington, Texas; Virginia Tech 35-10 to start the 2013 season in Atlanta, West Virginia 33-23 to start the 2014 season in Atlanta, Wisconsin 35-17 to start the 2015 season in Arlington, Southern Cal 52-6 to start the 2016 season in Arlington, Florida State 24-7 to start the 2017 season in Atlanta, Louisville 51-14 to start the 2018 season in Orlando, Florida, and Duke 42-3 to start the 2019 season in Atlanta.

14 Victories for Alabama and three victories for Miami in the Crimson Tide-Hurricanes series. The teams haven’t met since No. 2 Alabama upended No. 1 Miami 34-13 in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 1993, to ascend to the top of the final polls for the 1992 season. Saturday’s game will be the first regular-season meeting for the teams since Alabama posted a 30-0 victory on Nov. 17, 1979, in Tuscaloosa.

14 Consecutive games in Atlanta have been won by Alabama since the Crimson Tide lost to Florida 31-20 on Dec. 6, 2008, in the SEC Championship Game. The victories include seven in the SEC Championship Game, five in season-opening games, one in the Peach Bowl and one in the CFP title game. Alabama has a 5-0 record at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

19 Consecutive season-opening games have been won by Alabama. The 19-game streak is the second-longest in SEC history, but it is not the school record. Alabama opened its season with a victory 30 straight times from 1904 through 1934. (Alabama did not field a team in 1918.) Only the final two of those victories came as an SEC member. The Crimson Tide’s most recent loss in a season-opening game came 20-17 to UCLA on Sept. 1, 2001. Florida holds the SEC record for consecutive season-opening victories with 27 from 1990 through 2016. Alabama’s season-opening streak is the second longest in the nation behind Ohio State’s 22.

20 Consecutive September games have been won by Alabama, the longest current winning streak in the ninth month in the SEC. The Crimson Tide’s most recent September loss came 43-37 to Ole Miss on Sept. 19, 2015.

21 Victories by at least 25 points against ranked opponents for teams coached by Nick Saban, the most in college football history. Bobby Bowden is second on the list with 20.

SEC FOOTBALL BY THE NUMBERS: TOP 10 FOR WEEK 1

26 Victories and five losses for Alabama in games against ACC opponents. The Crimson Tide has won six straight regular-season games against ACC opponents since a 21-14 loss to Florida State on Sept. 29, 2007, in Jacksonville, Florida. Miami has a 59-84-1 record against SEC opponents and has lost the past three games since the Hurricanes’ 21-16 victory over Florida on Sept. 7, 2013.

47.6 Yards per punt were averaged by Miami’s Lou Hedley in 2020, second-best in the nation and the best for any returning player in 2021. Hedley led the nation with a net average of 45.0 yards. Over the past two seasons, Alabama has more punt-return yards than any other program in the nation, totaling 830 on 42 returns.

48 Consecutive non-conference regular-season games have been won by Alabama – the second-longest streak in the NCAA Division I-A/FBS era (since 1978). The Tide’s most recent loss in a non-conference regular-season game came on Nov. 17, 2007, when Alabama fell to Louisiana-Monroe 21-14. LSU had a 52-game streak from Sept. 7, 2002, to Oct. 24, 2015. The Tigers’ streak ended with a 16-14 loss to Wisconsin on Sept. 3, 2016.

73 TD passes, 32 TD runs, three TD receptions and one TD kickoff return for Miami QB D’Eriq King. In his college career, King has 7,611 passing yards, 1,959 rushing yards and 520 receiving yards. King split his playing time between wide receiver and quarterback during his first two seasons at Houston. He set a Miami single-season QB record with 538 rushing yards last season.

102 Victories, 21 losses and three ties for Alabama in season-opening games.

159 Combined starts for Miami’s offensive linemen, making them the second-most experienced O-line in the nation behind Minnesota. The Hurricanes return their offensive-line starters from the 2020 season and 19 of their 22 starters overall.

268 Consecutive games without being shut out for Alabama, a school record and the fourth-longest scoring streak in SEC history. Alabama’s most recent shutout loss came 9-0 to Auburn on Nov. 18, 2000.

916 Receiving yards for Alabama WR John Metchie in 2020, the most for any returning SEC player. The three SEC players who had more receiving yards than Metchie last season – Alabama’s DeVonta Smith, Ole Miss’ Elijah Moore and Florida’s Kadarius Toney – are in the NFL now.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE SEC, GO TO OUR SEC PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

Adblock test (Why?)