Bama Bashes Kent State 48-0
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| Alabama's Calvin Ridley Photo Credit: USA Today Sports/Marvin Gentry |
The top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide manhandled the Golden Flash of Kent State turning them into more of a blur or blob as Bama celebrated a victory in Bryant-Denny Stadium today. The Crimson Tide rolled up 352 first half yards as opposed to 53 for Kent State. For the entire four quarters the Bama offense rushed for 285 total yards and passed for an additional 217 more. Defensively the Tide held Kent State to just one third down conversion.
"I thought we did a nice job controlling the line of scrimmage and had good balance on offense and did a pretty good job of executing," Saban said. "We have to be more consistent. That was the goal for today. Incomplete can be a habit. And complete can be a habit. We'd like to develop a habit of being a compete team."
Temperatures in Tuscaloosa soared to 95 degrees as the Tide turned up the heat on Kent State early and often.in fact, the Crimson Tide scored on their first six possessions. Alabama's first score came on a 20-yard run by quarterback Jalen Hurts, topping off an eight play 70-yard drive leaving 12:14 on the clock for the first quarter. The kick was good and the Tide led it very early 7-0.
Kent State shocked the Tide early on an 8-play, 70-yard drive that was highlighted by a 47 yard jaunt. The Bama defense did toughen to force a 38-yard field goal attempt which went wide right and was no good.
From that point on it was all Alabama.
The Crimson Tide's next score came on a 1-yard run by Joshua Jacobs which was set up by a Hurts to Cam Sims 31-yard pass to put Alabama on the one. Kick was good and now the Tide led 14-0 with 6:54 remaining in the first.
A second Joshua Jacobs touchdown run, this one for 24 yards, gave the Tide its third touchdown of the contest with 3:39 remaining in the first. At this point Jacobs had racked up 51 yards with two touchdowns on just four carries. Bama led 21-0 after the PAT was good. That's the score at the end of quarter, with the second to begin with the Tide in possession with first and ten on the Kent State 17-yard line.
The Alabama drive stalled at the beginning of the second quarter, forcing an Adam Griffith 28-yard field goal giving the Tide a 24-0 lead with 12:45 remaining in the second.
Ronnie Harrison picked up a Kent State fumble at the State 27-yard line, but Bama was unable to advance the ball under Blake Barnett's first-offensive drive, settling for a 48-yard field goal widening the lead 27-0 with 11:34 remaining in the half.
Blake Barnett then hit O.J. Howard on a 34-yard touchdown pass with 6:47 remaining in the half. After the PAT, Alabama led 34-0.
The Crimson Tide special teams then got into the act just four minutes later. Boom! Xavian Marks returned a Kent State punt the entire way, 75 yards, to notch another touchdown for Alabama in the first half with 2:47 remaining. PAT is good and the Tide led 41-0.
That was the score as the first half ended, with Saban commenting to the sideline reporter that the team had pretty much played a complete game during that first half.
Jalen Hurts, back in as the Alabama quarterback, hit freshman Mack Wilson on a one-yard pass with 6:14 on the clock increasing the Tide's lead 48-0, which was the score as the fourth quarter began.
Barnett got in more playing time, and then the Crimson Tide brought in Cooper Bateman to see some action. David Cornwell was then brought in at QB with about four minutes in the game. Alabama was able to freely substitute throughout the game at all positions.
No other scores during the game, but the Crimson Tide was pleased, mainly Nick Saban, by the shutout victory. In fact, this was Alabama's first shut out win since last September.
Hurts racked up 164 yards passing while rushing for another 54 yards. Another true freshman, running back Joshua Jacobs, picked up 97 yards on 11 carries.
With all the substitutions, Alabama had 12 players catching passes for the Crimson Tide. Another eight players ran the ball.
Kent State finished with 166 total yards. But to be fair, they were less than 100 when defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt began wholesale substitutions.
As far as the injury to Calvin Ridley, Saban said it's a sprained knee and the young man will be day-to-day.
Running back Bo Scarbrough and receiver Calvin Ridley were both injured in the game, but both were able to return.
This was Saban's 200th career win.
Cole Cubelic of the SEC Network spoke to head coach Nick Saban immediately following the game and asked him if he was pleased with the effort of the team for four quarters. Saban replied, "I sure was. I was really proud of the way our guys came out, and sort of tried to play to a standard. That's what we've been trying to get all year, and we got to play a lot of players in the second half which was good, and I'm sure they'll learn a lot from their experience."
Cubelic then asked what it meant for the program to get guys some experience that usually don't get into games very often. Saban replied, "Well we have a lot of guys that we really need to sort of work so that we can use them down the road. Hopefully this experience that they gained today will be helpful to them. We like to play a lot of players, and we probably played as many freshmen this year as anybody in the country."
Alabama Crimson Tide 48 Kent State 0
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| Damien Harris goes down with an injury Photo Credit: AL.com/Vasha Hunt |
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Tide Women's Tennis Looking Good At Rice Invitational
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| Alabama's Danielle Spielmann Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
In singles play for the Crimson Tide, freshman Juliana Valero defeated Mareen Slattery of Denver 6-2, 1-6, 7-5. Freshman Maddie Pothoff downed SMU's Ana Perez, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, and junior Smith Hinton defeated Julia Navajo Melendez of Texas State in scores of 6-0, 6-1. The final singles win for came from senior Danielle Spielmann 6-4, 6-3 decision over McNeese State's Sarah Jurakova, 6-4, 6-3.
Valero was partnered with Pothoff to defeat Wagland and Granic of Texas, 6-4, before Hinton and Joanna Saava overcame UTSA's Rossell and Kato, 6-3.
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Alabama Fall Softball Practice Is Underway
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| UA Head Softball Coach Patrick Murphey Photo Credit: ABC33/40 |
The team worked on throwing and fielding drills and other fundamentals yesterday afternoon. Practice is scheduled to continue through the rest of the fall semester, and will include eight exhibition games at Rhoads Stadium during the month of October.
Alabama Softball Head Coach Patrick Murphy is entering his 19th season leading the Alabama Crimson Tide. The head man is emphasizing fundamentals early in practice. "We're going to do everything from bunting to team defense and base running and try and get through everything so that when the spring rolls around, it's just reviewing," Murphy said. "I want to make sure everyone knows what they need to do on a specific play so when it happens in a game, everyone will be covered."
Alabama is loaded and returning 14 players from last year's team, including All-American pitcher Sydney Littlejohn and SEC All-Freshman catcher Reagan Dykes. There are some great new additions to the team as well this season, including freshmen Elissa Brown (Eclectic, Alabama), Gabby Callaway (San Diego, Califfornia), Bailey Hemphill (Lafayette, Louisiana) and Claire Jenkins (Cullman, Alabama).
The Crimson Tide ladies softballers made their 11th Women's College World Series appearance last season, finishing sixth nationally with a 51-14 record. The Bama coaching staff was named the NFCA South Region Coaching Staff of the Year for the 10th time in program history.
Alabama will play eight exhibition games during the month of October at Rhoads Stadium. Tickets to each of the four doubleheaders are only $5.
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Alabama Volleyball Opens SEC Play With Win
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| University Of Alabama Volleyball Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
The victory is the seventh over a ranked opponent in Alabama volleyball history. Incidentally, this is also the first win over a ranked opponent for the Crimson Tide *12-2) since defeating Texas A&M (6-6) back on October 31, 2014 in Foster Auditorium. The two teams have gone to five sets in three of their last four meetings, with Bama coming away victorious in two of those contests.
Offensively, the Crimson Tide was led by Krystal Rivers with 29 kills (2 aces & 2 blocks). Hayley McSparin posted 16 kills (3 blocks) with a .414 hitting percentage. Shannon Mikesky finished with 59 assists and 10 digs, her sixth double-double of the year.
Alabama will close out its eight-match home stand tomorrow against the No. 6 Florida Gators (10-1) at Noon CT, and can be seen live on the SEC Network.
| Game Stats | TAMU | UA |
|---|---|---|
| Kills | 68 | 68 |
| Errors | 23 | 29 |
| Hitting % | .266 | .235 |
| Points | 87.0 | 82.0 |
| Aces | 6 | 6 |
| Blocks | 13.0 | 8.0 |
| TA | 169 | 166 |
| Assists | 62 | 65 |
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Bama Men's Tennis Shows Strength In Opener
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
Bama's 26th-nationally ranked doubles pair sophomore of Mazen Osama and junior Matthew Rossouw were victorious over Memphis's Andrew Watson and Kai Lemke 8-4. Freshmen Thibault Cancel and Alexey Nesterov beat back Memphis's Sakeel Manji and Matt Story 8-7(8), and Nestrov and senior Ritchie Kruunenberg defeated Tulane's Chi-Shan Jao and Jonathan Star, 8-5. Senior Hayes Brewer and sophomore Langford Hills captured Alabama's final doubles victory in an 8-7(2) decision over Memphis's Turner Voges and Chris Patzanovsky.
In singles play, Rossouw defeated Chris Patzanovsky of Memphis, 6-4, 6-0, and Hills came out the winner over Memphis's Shakeel Manji, 7-5, 6-4. Both of the Crimson Tide's singles wins came in just two sets.
Singles matches today begin at 8 a.m. CT.
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Consultants Bring Tide Football Experience & Fresh Eyes
People have continued to talk and ask questions about Alabama head coach Nick Saban's hiring of former USC head coach Steve Sarkisian. Sarkisian, if you recall, was hired as an offensive consultant only by Saban. He will not be doing any recruiting, nor will he be doing any actual coaching. Consultant. That is what he does.
However, it should also be stated that his job description isn't really clear.
Saban now has five former head football coaches on his staff. This now makes two former Southern Cal head coaches on staff with the hiring of Sarkisian. Offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin is the other, who recently received a new contract from the University of Alabama. (Contract is only good for the next five months, however.)
Come to find out, Saban has actually an "unlimited budget" when it comes to doing things like this. Alabama alum like to win. Not too much they'd ever not back what Nick Saban wants as long as it keeps winning national championships.
There are anywhere from 10 to 15 of these so-called consultants at any given time doing work for the Alabama Crimson Tide football staff and team, according to Eric Kiesau, a college football assistant hired by Saban a over a year ago to install no-huddle concepts for the team. He did the same thing previously at Kansas and Washington.
Kiesau said, "How they've set it up is unbelievable."
Of Saban, Kiesau said, "He knows the game is changing. He knows the tempo, high-octane offenses, that's where the game is going. He wanted to do just the tempo part of it, but he didn't want to change the brand."
Concerning this small group of tacticians Saban and his staff have at their disposal, Kiesau said they have their own little domain. "It's a whole other section of the building," Kiesau said. "There are guys, like students, who played football in high school and love Alabama. They watch recruiting film all day long. Then you have your top guys. They start making cut-ups so the assistant coaches are more efficient with their time."
These "consultants" are older experienced football minds. Sarkisian joins Mike Locksley on the offensive side side of things. Locksley the offensive coordinator for the Maryland Terrapins as well as interim head coach recently. Alabama is able to pay him, and others like him, a much smaller amount of money because their salaries are offset by any money they are owed by the head coaches former employers, much like the Kiffin situation with USC. Locksley is reportedly making $45,000 a year from Alabama. But he is actually making much more because of his contract with Maryland, as is Sarkisian and other consultants.
What will Sarkisian's duties at Alabama actually be? Probably not really going to know all that. What is known, however, is that Sarkisian is supposed to help reduce play calls from seven to nine words down to two to three words in Alabama's hurry-up-no-huddle offense.
So, Lane Kiffin you already know is one of the former head coaches, most recently at USC but also for Tennessee and before that the Oakland Raiders of the NFL. Who are the other three?
- Tight ends and special teams coach Bobby Williams was head coach at Michigan State after replacing Saban in 1999.
- Offensive line assistant Mario Cristobal was the main man at Florida International and considered a front-runner for the Miami Hurricanes job before Mark Richt took over.
- Locksley coached at New Mexico from 2009-11.
Kiesau has now left Alabama to become the offensive coordinator at Fresno State, so obviously spending some time with the main guru, Saban, can do a lot for you. Kiesau was with the Tide for only a year.
