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Alabama won their game against the Mississippi State on Saturday, 24-0, but in that win, we saw the Bulldogs do something against the Tide that no other team had done yet. at this point of the season.
The state of Mississippi – its defense in particular – repeatedly hit the tide in the mouth, and the tide could not do anything about it.
MORE: Tide playing at an entirely new level after LSU
"We did not have much pace today in attack," said Alabama coach Nick Saban at the end of the match broadcast live on CBS. . "They have a lot of pressure on the quarterback … Tua (Tagovailoa) has had a bit of a beating, we had difficulties, and this is the first time we have adversities on the offensive all year long. You have to learn to react and it will be a good … lesson for us. "
More than anything, this may have been a lesson for future opponents of Alabama. You can bet that Auburn, Georgia and potential opponents of the College Football playoffs, such as Clemson, Notre Dame and Michigan, will play this game over rehearsal over the next few weeks. It's not every day, after all, that they see the tide being hurt, and each of these teams will badyze every image of Saturday's film to see how it can tap the tide like the Bulldogs.
Alabama has awarded four sacks of the season against Mississippi State, a peak in the season, while finishing with low points of the season (24), a total attack (305 yards) and a pbad attack (164 yards). Its 141 yards were the second lowest in the year. Of the 305 yards of the tide, 156 came in their first two races of the day, resulting in touchdowns.
How did the state of Mississippi force such a performance from Alabama?
MORE: Bama's low score denies a more complete team
The answer begins with the injury of left-hander Deonte Brown, who was the victim of the first two orders of the Tide. During his stay, Alabama totaled 73 and 83 yards, respectively. Without him, the state of Mississippi – led by Jeffrey Simmons and Montez Sweat, hopes in the first round of the NFL – pinned his ears and quickly became too difficult to handle for the tide.
The Bulldogs took advantage of the rush to not only remove deep Alabama games and turn the Tide into one-dimensional – they rushed to 2 yards or less to open six of their last 10 practices – but they also hit Tagovailoa like no other team has ever done season. It was a huge problem, considering how he was beaten. The last drop came when MSU's Cameron Dantzler was shot in Tagovailoa's right knee in the third quarter, forcing Alabama to take it as a precaution (Saban later said Tagovailoa was dealing with a quad and that he could have come back).
Even if Tagovailoa had returned, it probably would not have made any difference. In the absence of a threat of recessed pbades, State liquidated to stop the race and also dared Alabama to prevent it from overthrowing Tagovailoa. After his departure, the Bulldogs continued to sell to stop the race and quickly spotted everything that Mac Jones had spent on the screen trying to catch him.
If the Alabama defense had not achieved a superb performance – which was also dominant in forcing a second consecutive shutout and sacking quarterback Nick Fitzgerald – the match could have been much tighter. Indeed, Alabama's defense kept the game comfortably out of reach (despite the controversial inversion of the touchdown).
MORE: The power of Tagovailoa, the superstar of Alabama
In other words, it was not the Alabama night in the attack and things will not get any easier for the Tide at the end of the season.
Consider this: Auburn, which plays Alabama to end the regular season, was tied for ninth place nationally with 29 bags entered for Saturday. That's two more than the MSU total even after the four Bulldogs against Alabama. Michigan (29) and Clemson (32) also had more before Saturday.
Do not get me wrong, Alabama 's offensive crosses Tagovailoa. As talented as the receivers, the offensive line and the team's halfbacks, it would be almost impossible for the Tide to replicate his offensive success without him. Jalen Hurts is a more than capable replacement but he is far from 100% healthy after suffering an ankle injury against Tennessee in October. The teams will not respect Jones' ability to throw the ball.
Alabama must use next week's game against the Citadel not only to regain an offensive pace, but also to recover for a final decisive stage of the season. If it means that Tagovailoa, Brown and other key offensive players do not play against the Bulldogs, remains to be seen.
If Alabama is to maintain that momentum and maintain its hopes in the playoffs, it will have to stay healthy and prove that it can withstand more frequent and varied blitz packages.
If not, what will prevent Auburn, Michigan, Clemson – no matter who – to try exactly the same game plan as Mississippi State? More importantly, what prevents them from achieving the same result?
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