FootballScoop is proud to announce that Steve Sarkisian is the 2020 FootballScoop Offensive Coordinator of the Year presented by AstroTurf as selected by prior winners.
The 2020 Alabama Crimson Tide will be remembered one of the most feared attacks in college football story. The Tide won every award for which they were eligible -- the Davey O'Brien (QB Mac Jones), the Doak Walker (RB Najee Harris), the Biletnikoff (WR DeVonta Smith), the Rimington (C Landon Dickerson), the Outland (OT Alex Leatherwood), the Joe Moore Award for the best offensive line, along with the Heisman and various other player of the year awards for Smith.
So it only makes sense that the man pulling the strings behind college football's most decorated offense would win hardware of his own.
Alabama rolled to the 2020 national title, going largely unchallenged while ranking second in yards per play (7.81) while scoring 48.5 points per game, most among teams that played at least five games.
In 902 snaps over 13 games, Alabama gained 7,041 yards (4,656 passing/2,385 rushing) with 84 touchdowns. The Crimson Tide led the nation with 268 plays of 10-plus yards, 87 plays of 20-plus yards, and 40 plays of at least 30 yards. Roughly one in every 10 Alabama plays went for 20 yards and/or a touchdown.
In addition to being explosive, Alabama's offense was also excellent situationally. Alabama's third down success rate (86-of-146, 58.9 percent) stands as the best since at least 2009, and 53 of their 68 red zone penetrations found the end zone, a 77.9 percent success rate that was first among all teams with at least eight games played.
Smith became the first wide receiver in 30 years to bring home the Heisman by leading the nation with 117 grabs for 1,856 yards and 23 touchdowns. The 1,856 yards and 23 touchdowns are SEC records, and Smith's 117 receptions place him seven below that conference mark despite playing in one fewer game than the record-holder, fellow Tide wideout Amari Cooper (124 in 14 games).
But the Alabama offense was far more than Smith, of course. Mac Jones set the FBS passing efficiency record, hitting 311-of-402 passes (77.4 percent) for 4,500 yards (11.2 per attempt) with 41 touchdowns against just four interceptions, good for a 203.06 rating. John Metchie III recorded 916 receiving yards, and Jaylen Waddle was on his way to a 1,000-yard season before missing seven games due to a high-ankle sprain.
On the ground, Najee Harris finished third in the nation with 1,466 rushing yards on 251 carries. His 5.81 yards per carry were the second most among all players with at least 200 totes, and his 26 touchdowns were the most in FBS -- and the most by any FBS player over the past three seasons.
Jones, Harris, Smith, Leatherwood and Dickerson all took home First Team AP All-America honors, while guard Deonte Brown joined the quintet on the All-SEC first team.
The 2020 campaign marked Sarkisian's second as Alabama's offensive coordinator and his third on Nick Saban's staff. The BYU graduate has also served as the offensive coordinator at USC and for the Atlanta Falcons. He was named Texas's head coach on Jan. 2.
"Sark has done a marvelous job here," Saban said. "He's very well organized. He works very well with all the people in the organization, players and coaches alike. He's a good play caller on game day. He does a really good job of preparing the players game plan wise for each and every game, and he's just done a great job. He's been a real asset to our organization, and I think he'll be very successful as a head coach. And he's taken over a good program, so it's going to be challenging for anybody that plays them in the future."
The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by AstroTurf are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Jeff Grimes/Aaron Roderick [BYU], Andy Kotelnicki [Buffalo], Phil Longo [North Carolina] and Sarkisian) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year's winner.
Sarkisian is the third Alabama coordinator to win this award, and the fifth straight winner from the SEC. He also won the Broyles Award.
Previous winners of the Offensive Coordinator of the Year award are Kevin Wilson (Oklahoma, 2008), Bryan Harsin (Boise State, 2009), Gus Malzahn (Auburn, 2010), Kliff Kingsbury (Houston, 2011 and Texas A&M, 2012), Philip Montgomery (Baylor, 2013), Tom Herman (Ohio State, 2014), Lincoln Riley (Oklahoma, 2015), Lane Kiffin (Alabama, 2016), Josh Heupel (Missouri, 2017), Mike Locksley (Alabama, 2018) and Joe Brady/Steve Ensminger (LSU, 2019).
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