Crimson Tide Rolls Fresno State
 |
| Alabama QB Jalen Hurts walks the tightrope for six Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama - The University of Alabama football team rolled up 497 total yards of offense, 305 of which came via the rush, to totally dominate the Fresno State Bulldogs chaining them to a 41-10 rout. After only 39 seconds and two plays, the No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide was well on its way to rolling over the Dogs. Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts dashed 55-yards eluding three would-be tacklers to the end zone following an 18-yard screen pass to Cam Sims to start the blow-out. It was a 2-play, 73-yard drive to begin the dismemberment of the Dogs in front of 101,127 fans in Bryant-Denny Stadium..
Captains for the Crimson Tide for today's game were Hale Hentges, Calvin Ridley and Shaun Dion Hamilton. Bama won the toss and elected to receive. Honorary captains were Scooter Dyess and Benny Nelson. It was on.
UA sophomore quarter Hurts had a career-best 154 yards rushing for his fourth 100-yard performance since coming to The Capstone and two touchdowns. His previous career high was 146 yards against the Ole Miss Rebels in a 48-43 win. Hurts has now rolled up over 4,000 yards of total offense for the Tide.
The Tide's second score came following a three-and-out by Fresno State. UA began the march with Hurts hitting Hentges on a 23-yard touchdown pass to cap off a 10-play, 62-yard drive that took just 4:25. The Tide was up 14-0.
The Alabama defense got pushed around just a little due to arm tackling and coverage, but Bama was able to keep the Dogs out of the endzone with a touchdown, forcing State to settle for a 27-yard field goal by State kicker Jimmy Camacho and pull just a bit closer 14-3. The score came after a nine-play, 73-yard drive near the end of the first quarter.
The Tide once again began steadily and methodically marching down the field on a mix of passes and runs and quarterback keepers. Bama was nearing the end zone as the first quarter came to a close with the Alabama Crimson Tide leading the Fresno State Bulldogs 14-3.
Jalen Hurts was 10-of-11 in the first quarter in passing for 92 yards. carried the ball four times himself for one touchdown on 78-yards.
The Tide picked up where it left off to start the second quarter, scoring its third touchdown on three possessions to take the lead 21-3 with 14:25 remaining in the half. This was Hurts' 15th rushing touchdown of his career, and the second of this contest.
Following a block-in-the-back call on State, the Dogs began the series on its own six-yard line. Eventually, and mainly due to a high snap losing a country mile, Fresno State was forced to punt.
True freshman Tua Tagovailoa then came in for his first series as an Alabama football player. Several plays look good, but the series resulted in a punt, with JK Scott pinning the Dogs inside their 10. That series, too, resulted in a punt though Fresno State picked up some yardage.
Jalen Hurts then came in again to run the Bama offense and he wasted no time pushing the Tide down the field. Damien Harris ran the ball in from the five-yard line capping the 77-yard drive to push Bama to a 28-3 lead.
The half came to a close, with Hurts accounting for 231-yards and three touchdowns as the the Tide headed to the locker room with that 28-3 lead. Hurts was 12-of-13 in the passing department with 112 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. He carried the ball seven times for 119 yards and two touchdowns.
After stopping State on the first drive of the second half, Alabama's offense took to the field at the Tide 10-yard line. The Bama offense immediately began chewing up yardage on the ground, with Hurts again not hesitant whatsoever to carry the ball. A pair of incomplete passes, however, brought in JK Scott to punt the Dogs back to their own 11-yard line.
The offense stalled out and Fresno State was forced to punt to the Tide, where Alabama began it's next series from their own 41-yard line. A good mix of the run and pass began chewing up offensive yards until the drive stalled and Bama settled for three points supplied by kicker Andy Pappanastos from 24-yards out. That's where the half ended, with Crimson Tide leading the Bulldogs 31-3.
Jalen Hurts passing is now at 3004 career yards with 128 yards today after three quarters. He passed the football to eight different receivers in the first three.
The fourth and final quarter began with Bama going over 250 yards rushing on a great run to make a statement. Tagavailoa was back in at QB and Najee Harris supplied the great run. Despite two consecutive big gainers the drive stalled and Scott was forced to punt. State took over on their own 10.
A first-career interception by Anthony Averett brought the ball down to the Fresno State four-yard line after the big return. Bama was unable to punch it in and once again had to settle for three from Pappanastos making the score 34-3.
Fresno State finally put together a complete drive, however again quite a few second-teamers. The score now reads 34-10 with just over six minutes remaining in the contest.
On the next series Tua was able to connect with receiver Henry Ruggs III for both of the freshmen's first touchdown in the Crimson and White! Alabama now led it 41-10.
Time then expired as State was able to take the final drive down to the red zone, keeping the Dogs from picking up at least another three.
Alabama improves to 2-0 with the 41-10 victory over Fresno State.
Overall, Hurts was 14-of-18 passing and a touchdown with a career-best 154 rushing yards rushing and two touchdowns. Tagovailoa picked up 64 yards through the air and one touchdown on six-of-nine completions. Alabama picked up 497 yards of total offense as opposed to 274 for Fresno State.
It was freshman Najee Harris leading all running backs with 70 yards on 13 carries.
Defensively it was sophomore defensive lineman Raekwon Davis and junior defensive back Ronnie Harrison leading the Bama defense with a team-high eight tackles apiece while redshirt senior defensive back Anthony Averett added four tackles to go along with an interception.
Following the contest, Tide head coach Nick Saban said, "The big focus for our team was to improve, pay more attention to detail, play a little bit more disciplined as a team, and I think we probably accomplished that. We did improve; we played better, especially on offense in this game. Now, we still have many things that we need to continue to improve on, and I think that everyone needs to know that we are uninterested in sliding backwards. We need to move forward in terms of what we need to do to continue to improve to become a better team. There was an opportunity out there today to play a lot of players, which we played some early on and not worrying too much about the score, but worry more about how can we develop our team and how we can play more players. I do not think that we played quite as well on defense today. They hit a lot of screens and quarterback draws. They did a really good job of attacking us – sort of nickel-and-diming us – to be able to keep the ball and shrink the game. Our consistency on offense was a lot better. I think Jalen (Hurts) scored the first three or four times he was in there with good drives. We didn't finish one drive in the second half and that was a little disappointing with having the ball down in there close, but all in all I'd say we improved. We had a lot of different guys in there on kickoff coverage, but we let one get out which gave them good field position and led to their only touchdown, so that was little disappointing because we had worked on that play. But all in all I'm pleased with the progress that we made, and we certainly need to stay focused on the things we need to improve and continue to get better."
Concerning being back home and playing in Bryant-Denny Stadium, tight end Hale Hentges said, "The atmosphere last week was phenomenal and you can't ask for any better spot to play in other than Bryant-Denny. Getting to go home and play in Bryant-Denny, our favorite place to play, is something that we look forward to every week. We take a lot of pride in defending our home turf, and hopefully, we can keep that going."
Bama defensive back Anthony Averett commented on being a part of the Alabama defense: "Just like last year, it's a blessing just to be on this defense. Last year was my first year starting. This year I was a returning starter, coming back. It's a blessing to be a part of this defense too. I mean it's the reason I wanted to come here. I just wanted to be in a dominant defense, play well and just do my job. Just you know, play and have fun.
The Crimson Tide will host Colorado State this next Saturday, September 16th. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The game will air live on either ESPN or ESPN2.
| Game Stats | FS | UA |
|---|---|---|
| Total Yards | 274 | 497 |
| Pass Yards | 216 | 192 |
| Rushing Yards | 58 | 305 |
| Penalty Yards | 1-6 | 4-30 |
| 1st Downs | 18 | 28 |
| 3rd Downs | 3-11 | 4-10 |
| 4th Downs | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| TOP | 29:18 | 30:42 |
 |
| Ready to roll! Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
 |
| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
 |
| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
 |
| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nick Saban Press Conference
 |
| Click HERE for press conference via Tide TV |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tide Men's Golf Tied For Second Place After Two Rounds
 |
| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
DALTON, Georgia – The 19th-ranked University of Alabama men's golf team took a big leap up the leaderboard at the Carpet Capital Collegiate on Saturday with a second round total of 11-under par 277. The Crimson Tide will enter today's final round in a tie for second place overall with a 36-hole score of 5-under 571 (294-277).
The Crimson Tide's second round total was merely the low round of the day out of all the teams on the course, but it was also the lowest score by any team after the first two rounds of play. Bama and tournament host 18th-ranked Georgia Tech (571) are tied for second place. Sitting in first is No. 10 Florida (570) by one stroke entering the tournament's final round. Tennessee is in fourth at 4-under par 572, while No. 13 Auburn (575) and No. 7 LSU (575) round out the top five.
Three Tide golfers finished the day under par. It was senior Lee Hodges leading UA by matching his career-low round with a 5-under 67 on Saturday. Hodges enters today's third round in a tie for 11th place with a 36-hole total of 141 (74-67).
Junior Davis Riley picked up a team-best seven birdies to go along with four bogeys to end the second round with a 3-under par 69. Riley warmed up on the back nine, as he recorded five birdies in a six-hole span from holes 11 through 16. He sits in a tie for 15th overall with a 2-under 142 (73-69).
Senior Steven Setterstrom was the third Alabama golfer to shoot below par on Saturday. He carded a 2-under par 70, and sits in a tie for 20th.
Freshman Davis Shore up to a tie for 43rd with a 149 (78-71), followed by senior Jonathan Hardee rounds out the Alabama golfers in 68th place with a 154 (73-81).
The Crimson Tide will tee off the third round this morning at 8:30 a.m. CT.
