Alabama Football
What A Night!
Alabama Humbles Ole Miss At Bryant-Denny
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – In the words of a song sung by The Four Seasons a number of years ago, oh what a night! The top-ranked University of Alabama football team beat down the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday night 66-3 in the friendly confines of Bryant-Denny Stadium on the beautiful UA campus. The Crimson Tide has now scored over 50 points in consecutive Southeastern Conference games for the first time since all the way back to 1945. Last week against the Vanderbilt Commodores the Tide rolled up 59 points, then hung 66 on the Rebels last night.
To put into perspective how well the Bama offense is clicking, the 66 points scored by the Tide last night is the most since 1979 when Bama crushed Vanderbilt by last night's identical score, 66-3, in Nashville, Tennessee. These 66 points are also the most points scored in school history against Johnny Reb.
It was utter domination by the Crimson Tide (5-0, 2-0 SEC) over the Rebels (2-2, 0-1 SEC) last night, both offensively and defensively. UA outgained UM 613-253, as well as forcing two Rebel turnovers and sacking the quarterback five times in Saturday's contest.
Alabama sophomore quarterback Jalen Hurts turned in his seventh career 100-yard rushing game and the third of this season. He finished the game 12-of-19 in passing for 197 yards and two scores, as well as a team-high 101 rushing yards and one touchdown on just 10 carries to lead the Bama offense. Get this, five different rushers scored on the ground for the UA, including Hurts, freshman running back Najee Harris, freshman quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and junior running backs Ronnie Clark and Bo Scarbrough.
Tide defensive back Levi Wallace led the Bama D with a career-high two interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown in the first quarter. The leading tackler on the night was junior safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, with a career-high eight tackles to go along with his first sack of the season.
Under head coach Nick Saban, the Crimson Tide defensive has now scored its 60th non-offensive touchdown, and last night's was also the first non-offensive score of the 2017 season.
Concerning last night's win Saban said, "I thought this was a good team win, and we played pretty well on both sides of the ball. We have a tremendous amount of respect for Ole Miss, their offense, their firepower and their skill guys. Their quarterback made some good plays on us, but all in all, I thought the defense did a good job, especially on third down. Ole Miss didn't have the opportunity to extend drives, so that was really good for us. We kept the ball on offense, had a great time of possession and we got to play a lot of players. There were a lot of good things tonight, but also a lot of things we need to correct."
Commenting on the play of his two quarterbacks against Ole Miss, Saban said, "I'm glad (Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa) had the opportunity to play, and we'll evaluate the execution about how they did. The experience Tua is getting is very, very helpful. He made mistakes just like we all made that he can learn from. He executes very well; he's smart; he understands the plan. You can't really fully evaluate player when the other team is tired and has played a lot in the game and these guys go in and play. Both quarterbacks moved the ball. They did a good job, and I'm pleased with the opportunity they got because they were playing in the game, and I thought they executed fairly well. "
Ole Miss interim head coach Matt Luke commented, "Credit to Alabama – they're a really good football team, No. 1 in the country for a reason. They beat us soundly in all three phases: offense, defense, kicking game. I thought the biggest difference for us in the first half was we had a turnover for a touchdown. They were able to stay on the field, and we weren't. A lot of credit to those guys though. They're a very good team in all phases. The most important thing for us moving forward is to watch this tape and flush it and move on to the next one. We've still got eight games to go and eight chances to win, and I think that's the most important thing."
Alabama will take to the road for next Saturday's game against Texas A&M. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. CT on Saturday, October 6th College Station, Texas. The game is set to be broadcast on ESPN.
| Game Stats | UM | UA |
|---|---|---|
| Total Yards | 253 | 613 |
| Pass Yards | 165 | 248 |
| Rushing Yards | 88 | 365 |
| Penalty Yards | 3-30 | 7-60 |
| 1st Downs | 11 | 26 |
| 3rd Downs | 0-13 | 7-15 |
| 4th Downs | 0-2 | 3-3 |
| TOP | 23:23 | 36:37 |
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
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Southeastern Conference Football Scores
A total of 13 Southeastern Conference football teams were in action this weekend, including 10 that were playing each other. Outside the SEC, the Arkansas Razorbacks easily handled New Mexico State 42-24, Kentucky downed Eastern Michigan 24-20 but then LSU fell to Troy 24-21 to give the conference a 2-1 record this weekend against non-SEC teams. That LSU loss wasn't just embarrassing for the Tigers, but the entire Southeastern Conference as well. One can be assured that both Mississippi State and LSU will drop out of the Top 25 this week. Me thinks that Butch and Ed might want to start looking around for a new job.
Of course the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide improved to 5-0 on the season with a 66-3 shellacking of the Ole Miss Rebels. It's the second consecutive week that the Tide has shown the rest of the SEC that it has a high-powered offense with which the other teams will have to deal. With two quarterbacks the caliber of Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa, as well as a stable of running backs, Bama will be tough to stop the remainder of this season. And receivers? Oh my, yes, the Tide has not only the gunslingers to get the ball in the air, but the hands and feet of a swift fleet of ball catchers!
1 ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE 66 Ole Miss 3
7 Georgia 41 Tennessee 0
13 Auburn 49 24 Mississippi State 10
21 Florida 38 Vanderbilt 24
25 LSU 21 Troy 24
Kentucky 24 Eastern Michigan 20
Texas A&M 24 South Carolina 17
Arkansas 42 New Mexico State 24
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What Saban Said Concerning The Ole Miss Game
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban spoke to the press last night following Alabama's big 66-3 win over Ole Miss.
Here's Saban's opening statement:
"Da'Shawn Hand will be evaluated in the morning, but he probably has an MCL sprain, and Trevon Diggs has a foot injury, so he will also be evaluated in the morning. Those are the only two injuries we have to be reported.
"I thought this was a good team win, and we played pretty well on both sides of the ball. We have a tremendous amount of respect for Ole Miss, their offense, their firepower and their skill guys. Their quarterback made some good plays on us, but all in all, I thought the defense did a good job, especially on third down. Ole Miss didn't have the opportunity to extend drives, so that was really good for us. We kept the ball on offense, had a great time of possession and we got to play a lot of players. There were a lot of good things tonight, but also a lot of things we need to correct."
When asked about affecting the play of Ole Miss quarterback Shea Patterson, Saban commented,
"We had lots of opportunities. We broke the pocket, but, athletically, he escaped and scrambled, made a couple big plays. I do think we affected him, but the guy is a really good player. He's very instinctive, very athletic, and he extended some plays at times at which it was our goal not to allow him to do that. Our goal in the game was to make him scramble a certain way so that we could then put a spy on him. We succeeded in that a few times but sometimes we didn't. I thought, all in all, they averaged 400 something yards a game, and I guess we got 165. Pretty good job by somebody."
Concerning Bama starting quarterback Jalen Hurts and the Crimson Tide passing game, Saban said, "We missed some throws early first time around, but we had some guys open and we missed them. We made some explosive plays in the passing game. I think Jalen settled down in the game. He seemed a little outsourced in the beginning of the game, but he settled down and played really well. Jalen did a nice job running and passing in the game, and so in all aspects of the game, and he did a good job to utilize all the skill guys that we have so the offense had a lot of production. And I think we need to, and can still improve in those areas."
About quarterback play overall, Saban commented, "I'm glad (Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa) had the opportunity to play, and we'll evaluate the execution about how they did. The experience Tua is getting is very, very helpful. He made mistakes just like we all made that he can learn from. He executes very well; he's smart; he understands the plan. You can't really fully evaluate player when the other team is tired and has played a lot in the game and these guys go in and play. Both quarterbacks moved the ball. They did a good job, and I'm pleased with the opportunity they got because they were playing in the game, and I thought they executed fairly well. "
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