Washington vs. Alabama: Score and Reaction for 2016 Peach Bowl

The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game for the second consecutive season Saturday, as they defeated the No. 4 Washington Huskies, 24-7, in the Peach Bowl at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. 

Bama improved its undefeated record to 14-0 due largely to its dominant defense, which forced three turnovers and limited the potent Huskies offense to just 194 total yards.

Sophomore running back Bo Scarbrough was the offensive star for the Tide, as he rushed for 180 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries, and wore down Washington's defense over the course of the contest.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, it was a record-breaking performance for Scarbrough in Alabama bowl game history:

Tensions were high leading up to the game when Alabama's captains opted against shaking hands with Washington's following the coin toss, which could conceivably have contributed to the Huskies' hot start.

After a pair of three-and-outs, Washington marched down the field on Alabama to the tune of an eight-play, 64-yard drive that culminated with quarterback Jake Browning finding wide receiver Dante Pettis for a 16-yard touchdown to help seize a 7-0 lead, as seen in this Vine courtesy of ESPN CollegeFootball:

That score continued a trend of Bama falling behind early in games, but as pointed out by ESPN's Brett McMurphy, it hadn't slowed down the Tide during previous instances:

Falling behind appeared to wake Alabama up, which was apparent when the Crimson Tide offense had its way with Washington on the ensuing drive.

Bama made a 78-yard foray down the field look easy, as Scarbrough, running back Damien Harris and freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts primarily moved the ball on the ground.

The bruising Scarbrough is an opposing tackler's worst nightmare, and that was on full display when he bulldozed his way through several Huskies en route to the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown to help tie the contest, as seen in this GIF from SEC Network:

Washington entered the game knowing it needed to play mistake-free football, but it failed in that regard on its next possession, as wide receiver John Ross was stripped of the ball in his own territory. It was recovered by the potential No. 1 overall 2017 NFL draft pick in Bama defensive lineman Jonathan Allen.

That gave the Crimson Tide a short field, and although Washington buckled down to prevent a touchdown, kicker Adam Griffith gave Alabama its first lead at 10-7 with a 41-yard field goal.

The Huskies continued to struggle on offense for the remainder of the first half, but their defense kept them in it by preventing Alabama from adding to its three-point advantage.

Washington took the ball from its own 4-yard line with just two minutes remaining in the second quarter, and while it had an opportunity to tie the game or take the lead with a great drive, overaggressiveness may have been its downfall.

Browning threw a weak pass to the outside while under pressure, and the vaunted Alabama defense took advantage, as senior linebacker Ryan Anderson picked him off and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown with 1:13 left until halftime, via ESPN CollegeFootball:

According to ESPN Stats & Info, that added to Alabama's reputation as one of the most prolific teams in recent history in terms of scoring non-offensive touchdowns:

That backbreaking play put the Huskies down 17-7 entering the locker room, which has oftentimes proved to be an insurmountable deficit against the Crimson Tide.

Per SportsCenter, a double-digit lead through two quarters had essentially meant automatic victory for Alabama over the course of head coach Nick Saban's tenure with the team:

Despite having momentum on its side, Alabama couldn't get out of its own way offensively in the third quarter.

The Tide punted on all three of their drives, committed several penalties and almost fumbled the ball away on a miscue by Hurts, although they were able to recover.

According to Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports, multiple factors contributed to Alabama's inability to get anything going offensively:

While the Huskies defense was in fine form, their offense was also stagnant, as they tallied a total of just 10 yards in the quarter.

Washington pinned Alabama deep at its own 2-yard line to start the fourth quarter and seemed poised to get the ball back in great field position, but the Tide turned to what worked best in the first half by handing the ball to Scarbrough.

After bursting ahead for a 12-yard gain on third down to keep the drive going, Scarbrough went the distance on a 68-yard run that showcased the speed and elusiveness he possesses in addition to his hulking power, via the SEC Network:

Based on Scarbrough's effectiveness, Greg Biggins of Fox Sports suggested Alabama should've provided Washington with an even bigger dose of the beastly back:

That score left Washington in dire straits trailing 24-7, and it remained unable to find a groove offensively for the remainder of the game, as Alabama closed it out in dominant fashion.

Alabama now has more than one week to prepare for the national title game, where it will meet the winner of the Fiesta Bowl between No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Ohio State.

The Crimson Tide have been widely considered college football's best team all season, and while they got the job done against a strong Washington team Saturday, there is plenty to clean up entering the championship game.

Alabama's offense struggled to move the ball consistently under offensive coordinator and new Florida Atlantic head coach Lane Kiffin, while discipline was also an issue with 11 penalties by Saban's team.

Bama did prove once again that it is the most dominant defensive team in the nation, though, and that is the biggest reason it is the favorite to win it all.

Postgame Reaction

Alabama vs. Washington looked like a mismatch on paper, and it played out that way Saturday. Few teams are capable of measuring up to the Tide, but Allen suggested after the game that the Huskies were nowhere near Bama's level, according to McMurphy:

Following the release of McMurphy's tweet, however, Allen insisted that he never called Washington "soft":

Saban was diplomatic in his postgame comments and chose to focus on his team's success rather than Washington's struggles.

He was especially complimentary of Scarbrough and his performance, and he discussed the concerted effort to get the gifted back more involved, per Kevin Cunningham of SaturdayDownSouth.com:

"

Bo's been playing pretty well for us the last three or four games. We wanted to play him more. He's hard to tackle. He's big and powerful. He's playing with a lot of confidence and he did a great job for us today. We got to get ready for another game and take advantage of the opportunities that we have.

"

Arguably the biggest play of the game occurred late in the first half when Anderson intercepted Browning and returned it for a touchdown, and the Washington quarterback took full responsibility for the miscue when addressing the media, according to Christian Caple of the Tacoma News Tribune:

Washington head coach Chris Petersen knew what his team was up against entering the game, and he wasn't surprised that Alabama's defense performed so well, per Charlie Potter of 247Sports:

Although the result was a disappointing one for the Huskies, 2016 represented a step forward with a Pac-12 title and berth in the College Football Playoff.

According to Adam Jude of the Seattle Times, Petersen believes the expectations will be higher for Washington moving forward after making so much progress as a program:

"

I mean, but I think when you step back and look at the big picture, the bar's been moved up, been moved forward. Kids know it. I think we go back to ground—square one, ground zero in a few weeks when we start training again.

That's the thing we noticed last year with these guys is they had a chip on their shoulder and there was a mindset that did not go away all season long from a year ago.

And so I think hopefully they've gained good confidence from this season, but I think there's also some lessons to be learned in this game, you know, what we have to do to truly compete on this elite level.

"

Washington was unable to do anything on offense outside of its second drive of the game and was thoroughly outclassed on against Bama's defense, but Petersen has seemingly put the Huskies in position to be in the national conversation on a regular basis moving forward.

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