The 2014 Alabama Crimson Tide football team represented the University of Alabama in the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It marked the Crimson Tide's 120th overall season, 81st as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and its 23rd within the SEC Western Division. The team was led by head coach Nick Saban, in his eighth year, and played its home games at Bryant–Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The Alabama Crimson Tide were 12–2 overall and 7–1 in SEC regular season. The Crimson Tide won the SEC Western Division title for the tenth time, advancing to their ninth SEC Championship Game, where they defeated Missouri 42–13. The Crimson Tide played in the inaugural College Football Playoff as the #1 seed, netting a berth in the CFP semifinal 2015 Sugar Bowl, where they were defeated by the #4 seed Ohio State Buckeyes 42–35.
Before the season
Fall camp At the start of fall camp on August 1, coach Saban announced Jarran Reed, Brandon Ivory and Tim Williams were suspended indefinitely for violations of team rules. Reed and Ivory returned from suspension on August 4 and Williams returned on August 20. The camp featured several positional battles with incoming freshmen competing for starting spots. Of note were true freshmen Cameron Robinson who landed the starting spot at left tackle over Dominick Jackson and both Tony Brown and Marlon Humphrey who secured back-up roles at defensive back. The most anticipated positional battle of camp was for quarterback. Both Blake Sims and Jacob Coker played themselves into position to be named starter through the end of camp when Sims was selected as the starter for the opening game against West Virginia.
By mid-August, Alabama had a combined 26 players on 12 different preseason award watch lists. Landon Collins, Trey DePriest and A'Shawn Robinson for the Chuck Bednarik Award; Amari Cooper for the Fred Biletnikoff Award; Collins, DePriest and Robinson for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy; DePriest and Reggie Ragland for the Butkus Award; Collins, Cooper and T. J. Yeldon for the Walter Camp Award; Arie Kouandjio and Robinson for the Lombardi Award; O. J. Howard for the John Mackey Award; Jacob Coker, Cooper, Derrick Henry and Yeldon for the Maxwell Award; Ryan Kelly, Kouandjio and Robinson for the Outland Trophy; Kelly for the Rimington Trophy; Collins for the Jim Thorpe Award; and Henry and Yeldon for the Doak Walker Award.
Coaching staff Alabama head coach Nick Saban entered his eighth year as the Crimson Tide's head coach for the 2014 season. During his previous seven years with Alabama, he led the Crimson Tide to an overall record of 74 wins and 15 losses (74–15) and the 2009, 2011 and 2012 national championships. On January 10, 2014, former Oakland Raiders, Tennessee and USC head coach Lane Kiffin was hired as the replacement for Doug Nussmeier as offensive coordinator. Nussmeier resigned from Alabama on January 9 to become offensive coordinator at Michigan. Kiffin was working with Alabama in some capacity before the team's 2014 Sugar Bowl game and before taking the offensive coordinator position.
On January 11, defensive line coach Chris Rumph resigned and took a position on the Texas staff under new head coach Charlie Strong to replace former defensive line coach Bo Davis. At that time, Davis had accepted a job at USC. After Rumph left Alabama, Davis resigned as defensive line coach at USC after one week on the job to take Rumph's job at Alabama. Davis previously coached defensive line at Alabama from 2007 to 2010.
On February 12, Greg Brown resigned after only one season at Alabama to become the safeties coach at Louisville. Two days later, Kevin Steele was promoted from Alabama's director of player personnel to inside linebackers coach. Steele previously served as a defensive assistant for Saban at Alabama in 2007 and 2008.
Nick Saban Head coach 8th Burton Burns Associate head coach, running backs coach 8th Lane Kiffin Offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach 1st Kevin Steele Linebackers 1st Bo Davis Defensive line coach 1st Kirby Smart Defensive coordinator, Defensive backs 8th Mario Cristobal Offensive line coach 2nd Billy Napier Wide receivers 2nd Lance Thompson Outside linebackers 5th Bobby Williams Tight ends coach, special teams 7th Scott Cochran Strength and conditioning 8thReference:2014 Alabama Crimson Tide Football Media Guide, p. 2
Players 2014 recruiting class
Prior to National Signing Day on February 5, 2014, eight players enrolled for the spring semester in order to participate in spring practice and included six former high school seniors and two junior college transfers. The early enrollments from high school included top-ranked offensive tackle Cameron Robinson, wide receiver Cameron Sims, safety Laurence "Hootie" Jones, cornerback Tony Brown, quarterback David Cornwell and linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton. The junior college transfers enrolled early included defensive end D. J. Pettway and defensive tackle Jarran Reed. All of the players will take part in Alabama's "fourth-quarter" strength and conditioning program in February before spring practice starts in March.
On National Signing Day, Alabama signed 18 additional players out of high school that completed the 2014 recruiting class. The class was highlighted by 19 players from the "ESPN 300": No. 3 Cameron Robinson; No. 6 Da'Shawn Hand; No. 8 Tony Brown; No. 12 Bo Scarbrough; No. 15 Marlon Humphrey; No. 27 Laurence Jones; No. 48 Christian Miller; No. 49 Cameron Sims; No. 52 Rashaan Evans; No. 57 David Cornwell; No. 64 Ross Pierschbacher; No. 71 Ronnie Clark; No. 102 Shaun Dion Hamilton; No. 160 Joshua Frazier; No. 168 Josh Casher; No. 190 J. C. Hassenauer; No. 199 Derek Kief; No. 215 O. J. Smith; and No. 281 Keith Holcombe. Alabama signed the No. 1 recruiting class according to Rivals.com, Scout.com and 247Sports.com. Of the 26 players signed only two failed to qualify to compete in 2014: Montel McBride and Bo Scarbrough. McBride played for Iowa Western Community College in 2014 and Scarbrough is expected to enroll at Alabama in January 2015.
In addition to those signed as part of the 2014 class, on January 26 Florida State quarterback Jacob Coker announced his intention to transfer to Alabama. After he graduated in May 2014, Coker officially enrolled at Alabama on May 5. Based on NCAA transfer rules for student athletes who graduate, Coker had two years of eligibility remaining to compete with the Crimson Tide.
Departed players Notable departures from the 2013 squad included juniors, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Adrian Hubbard, Cyrus Kouandjio, Jeoffrey Pagan, and Vinnie Sunseri who declared their eligibility for the 2014 NFL draft. Senior starters from the 2013 squad who exhausted their eligibility included A. J. McCarron, Kevin Norwood, and Anthony Steen on offense; Deion Belue, C. J. Mosley, and Ed Stinson on defense; and Cody Mandell, McCarron, and Cade Foster on special teams.2014 Alabama Crimson Tide Football Media Guide, p. 92014 Alabama Crimson Tide Football Media Guide, p. 112014 Alabama Crimson Tide Football Media Guide, p. 13 Other notable departures from the 2013 squad included several players who transferred to another school. These transfers included quarterback Luke Del Rio to Oregon State, running back Dee Hart to Colorado State, and center Chad Lindsay to Ohio State.
Returning starters Alabama had seven returning players on offense, five on defense and five on special teams that started games in 2013.
Offense
Player Class Position Amari Cooper Junior Wide receiver Christion Jones Senior Wide receiver Ryan Kelly Junior Center Arie Kouandjio Senior Offensive guard Austin Shepherd Senior Offensive tackle Brian Vogler Senior Tight end T. J. Yeldon Junior Running backReference:
Defense Player Class Position Trey DePriest Senior Linebacker Landon Collins Junior Safety A'Shawn Robinson Sophomore Defensive tackle Brandon Ivory Senior Defensive tackle Jarrick Williams Senior Defensive backReference:
Special teams Player Class Position Christion Jones Senior Kickoff/Punt returner DeAndrew White Senior Kickoff returner Cole Mazza Sophomore Long SnapperReference:
Depth chart The depth chart listed below shows starters and backups as announced in August 2014.
Schedule The 2014 schedule was officially released on August 21, 2013. Alabama faced all six Western Division opponents: Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M. They also faced two Eastern Division opponents: official SEC rival Tennessee and Florida. Alabama was not scheduled to play SEC opponents Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina or Vanderbilt during the regular season. They played four non-conference games: West Virginia of the Big 12 Conference, Florida Atlantic and Southern Miss of Conference USA and Western Carolina of the Southern Conference. On the final weekend of the regular season, a Missouri victory over Arkansas, coupled with a Mississippi State loss set up a SEC Championship Game against the Tigers for the Crimson Tide. On December 7, the selection committee for the College Football Playoff ranked Alabama as the top seed for the inaugural playoff. For their semifinal match-up, Alabama played Ohio State of the Big Ten Conference in the Sugar Bowl.
Sources:
Game summaries
West Virginia
On May 17, 2012, officials from both Alabama and West Virginia announced the Crimson Tide and the Mountaineers would meet for the first time to open the 2014 season in the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff at Atlanta. As they entered their game week preparations, Alabama head coach Nick Saban announced starting linebacker Trey DePriest would be suspended for the game due to an NCAA violation. Although Alabama entered the game as a heavy favorite over the Mountaineers, the Crimson Tide only defeated West Virginia by a score of 33–23 in what was Blake Sims first start at quarterback. After Alabama won the coin toss and deferred until the second half, West Virginia had a 14-play drive that took them as far as the Crimson Tide three-yard line. It was from the three that Josh Lambert gave the Mountaineers a 3–0 lead with his 20-yard field goal. Alabama responded on the next possession after Adam Griffith connected on a 47-yard field goal that tied the game 3–3. After the Crimson Tide defense forced a punt on the Mountaineers possession that followed, Alabama scored their first touchdown on the 95-yard drive that ensued. Behind a strong running attack, T. J. Yeldon gave the Crimson Tide a 10–3 lead with his 15-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter.
West Virginia responded on their next possession with a long touchdown drive of their own. Led by quarterback Clint Trickett, the Mountaineers went 75 yards in nine plays with Trickett throwing a 19-yard touchdown pass to Kevin White that tied the game 10–10. Late in the quarter, Alabama retook a 17–10 lead on a one-yard Yeldon touchdown run. However, on the kickoff that ensued, Mario Alford dodges several Crimson Tide tackles en route to a 100-yard touchdown run that tied the game 17–17. Alabama did respond with a quick, 50-yard drive that ended with a 41-yard Adam Griffith field goal that gave the Crimson Tide a 20–17 halftime lead.