4. Bryce Young was fine, but …
Bryce Young threw three touchdown passes. He only made the one mistake with a misfire for an interception, and he ran a wee bit just to loosen things up a bit.
But he also didn’t take any big chances and didn’t try anything spectacular, mainly because he didn’t have to.
That wasn’t exactly a Heisman-caliber performance, but connecting on 17-of-28 passes for 181 yards and three touchdowns was good enough.
That’s not going to fly, though, in Indianapolis.
Bama isn’t going to get the running game going like it did against the Bearcats, and it’s going to need Young to hit a few throws under stress. That’s what he’s best at, that’s what got the team to this point through the ups-and-downs, and that’s going to have to come with a few deep shots and a bigger performance.
There’s no reason to worry about 9. He’ll be fine. It helped though, that …
Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff 5 Thoughts
5. Alabama played like it knew Cincinnati wasn’t going to score
3. That’s the Brian Robinson Bama needed
2. Cincinnati lost, but it was just fine
1. Alabama is still great, and it’s okay