NEW ORLEANS – It was Blake Sims’ fault Alabama lost to Ohio State 42-35 in Thursday night’s Allstate Sugar Bowl. At least that’s the way he saw it.

Sims placed the blame of Thursday's loss solely on himself.

Sims threw for 237 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions on 22-of-36 passing. He was also sacked three times in the game. It wasn’t that the Buckeyes defense was creating issues with his reads, Sims just said he didn’t have a good game.

“We weren’t having any problems. It was all me,” Sims said. “I take full responsibility for everything that happened tonight. It was no other person’s fault but mine.”

Sims and the Crimson Tide missed out on an opportunity to make it to the national championship. Now, Ohio State will face Oregon in Arlington, Texas, on Jan. 12 as the final step in the first-ever College Football Playoff.

The thought that Alabama was that close to playing for its 16th national title is what stings the most for Sims, who spoke to reporters in the locker room after the game.

“It hurts. It hurts a lot,” Sims said. “Not for myself, but for my teammates because I know how hard they work in practice. I know how they worked in the offseason. To have a game like I did, I take full responsibility for this.”

His teammates, however, do not agree with their quarterback. He got them to this point, according to tight end O.J. Howard, and the Crimson Tide players were not going to stop believing in Sims because of one poor performance.

“I told him, ‘Don’t worry about it, man. Your story is great, itself,”” Howard said. “He had a great year, and he should be proud.”

Tide breaks offensive records

The Alabama offense entered this evening’s contest having run 948 total plays through 13 games. With the 70 offensive plays this evening the 2014 offense moved into first place all-time for plays in a season with 1,018. The previous high was 962 offensive plays by the 2007 Crimson Tide offense.

With senior quarterback Blake Sims’ 15-yard connection to junior Amari Cooper for a score in the first half, the 2014 Crimson Tide recorded 31 passing touchdowns on the season to tie the all-time mark. Alabama added one more passing touchdown in the second half to boost its total to 32 for the season and move into first place all-time for scores through the air. The previous high was 31 by the 2012 team.

Scott sets Sugar Bowl records

True freshman punter JK Scott finished tonight’s game with 385 yards on seven punts to finish with a 55-yard average. The 55 yards per punt average is the highest total in a bowl game by an Alabama punter. The previous high was 49.2 (4 for 197) by Cody Mandell in the 2013 BCS National Championship Game against Notre Dame. His 385 total yards are fourth all-time in Alabama bowl game history.

Alabama's scoring streak continues With the 25-yard touchdown run by Derrick Henry on the Crimson Tide’s third drive of the first quarter, Alabama has scored in the first half in 103 straight games, the longest active streak in the nation.

With that same Henry’s 25-yard rush into the end zone, Alabama has scored in 183 consecutive games – the longest streak in program history