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No matter what he did against Southern Miss on Saturday night, Alabama was going to face questions as he entered next week’s reunion with Ole Miss.
But the nation’s No.1 team generally played like this in a non-conference tune-up game that risked deepening doubts as they entered the most important game of the season to date.
With a few blunders, Alabama’s 63-14 win featured more consistency in all three phases than the first three games of the season. The starting offense scored touchdowns on each of its first four discs, the starting defense only allowed points at the end of the first half, and the special teams created their own points.
The victory was Alabama’s 100th in a row against unranked opponents and the 18th in a row.
Scoring a 19th consecutive victory, which would tie a 2010-11 streak as the second-longest in the Nick Saban era, will require slowing down the country’s most effective offense next week.
The Rebels, who were on leave this weekend, will arrive in Tuscaloosa averaging 635 yards per game after racking up 647 on the Tide last season – the most cleared in Alabama school history. .
The offense shows an explosion
With the exception of a 94-yard touchdown by Williams in Game 1 against Miami, Alabama’s offense has been lacking in explosive plays this season, something Saban mentioned on his radio show this week.
“We have players at [wide receiver] and I think we need to put them in places to play games, ”he said. “I think it will be important that we can create more explosive games, like we have done in the past.”
That kind of play came in to kick off Alabama’s fourth offensive practice on Saturday night – an 81-yard touchdown by Williams in which he burned a Southern Miss defense allowing for the 12th under-yards in FBS.
Williams opened the game with a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and added an 83-yard return for a fourth quarter score, the first time in school history that a player has scored twice on kick returns. Williams’ 59-yard average over his three returns set an academic record.
Overall, Alabama seemed to focus more on their offensive athletic players on Saturday night. Freshman JoJo Earle started wide receiver against Slade Bolden, while Jahleel Billingsley saw a rise in first-half playing time against Cameron Latu.
The result for Billingsley was five catches for 105 yards, which eclipsed his career high of 78 yards set last season against Kentucky. Son provided some big chunks in the passing game that Alabama had missed, including catches from 25, 33 and 23 yards, as well as a touchdown from 16 yards.
In the running game, Brian Robinson was in uniform but did not play as he was treating bruised ribs. That meant sophomores Jase McClellan and Roydell Williams split from runs in the first half, with the duo combining to average 9.5 yards per carry in the first half, including a gain of 55 yards per carry. Williams. Southern Miss entered Saturday’s game allowing just 43 rushing yards per game, second behind Wisconsin.
Bryce Young played the first three quarters and completed 20 of 22 passes for 313 yards, five touchdowns. He threw an interception in the third quarter on a pass that hit Williams, ending a no-choice 143-attempt streak that was the 10th longest in school history. Young’s 276.3 efficiency rating was the best since at least 2000 for an Alabama quarterback with at least 22 attempts.
Overall, Tide’s offense amassed 377 total yards before halftime and 607 total. Saturday’s game was the 10th time under Saban that Alabama have reached 60 points.
Defense loses grip, again
The Southern Miss offense came on Saturday averaging 284 yards per game, ranking 122nd out of 130 FBS teams. A pair of Golden Eagles first-half records made him more formidable.
In the first quarter, Southern Miss traveled 45 yards in nine games, giving up the ball on a deflected pass, an interception on fourth base by defenseman DeMarcco Hellams – the junior’s first of his career.
Three consecutive three-and-out practices followed, but the starting Alabama defense lost its grip on a late second-quarter practice that began with an 18-yard punt return. The Golden Eagles converted a third and 13, then scored in the next play when Chandler Pittman escaped Hellams for a 14-yard touchdown.
Southern Miss gained just 109 yards in the first half, including eight rushing, and got 2 of 7 in the third downs before half time. But in the context of Saturday’s opponent and what lies ahead for Alabama, all mistakes are magnified.
With a few defensive starters still on the field, the Alabama defense gave the Golden Eagles their second touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Penalties remain a problem
Alabama entered Saturday with an average of more than nine penalties in its first three games, tied for ninth among FBS schools.
But three first-half penalties were sure to get under Saban’s skin, starting with a retainer appeal against first-year wide receiver Ja’Corey Brooks on what would have been a 48-yard punt return. by Earle. Saban looked for Brooks on the way out of the field and was not happy.
In the second quarter, Bryce Young committed an intentional stranding and the starting attack was called for illegal formation after having too many players in the backfield.
And early in the third quarter, Saban was upset after Trey Sanders was called up for a block in the back on a 27-yard punt return by Earle. Later in the quarter, right tackle Chris Owens was called up for being held up to clear a catch on Latu’s first down.
Starting cornerback Josh Jobe added a pass interference penalty on Southern Miss’s touchdown in the fourth quarter, extending the streak on a third game down.
Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on twitter @mikerodak.
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