re: Bama Football Tidings

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Alabama won its fifth game of the season Saturday with a 59-31 victory over Ole Miss. The Crimson Tide produced 573 yards of offense, while its defense allowed 476 yards to the Rebels. Here, we hand out game balls to the best individual player performances in Alabama’s win.

Tua Tagovailoa
Tagovailoa scored seven touchdowns (6 passing, 1 rushing) and is now Alabama’s all-time leader in career touchdowns with 86, passing AJ McCarron (80). His six passing touchdowns and seven total touchdowns were also single-game school records. The junior quarterback threw for 418 yards against Ole Miss on 26-of-36 passing, but three of those incompletions can be blamed on the sun, Tagovailoa said, when the offense was driving toward the north end zone.

DeVonta Smith
Tagovailoa had a spectacular day, but the quarterback was overshadowed by the recipient of five of his six touchdown passes. Smith had a record-breaking day as he caught 11 passes for 274 yards and five touchdowns. All three of those totals were career-highs, and the yards and touchdowns were single-game records at Alabama. His five touchdown receptions tied the SEC record for touchdowns in a game, while Smith’s 274 yards ranks sixth in a game in SEC annals.

Miller Forristall
The other player to catch a touchdown from Tagovailoa was Forristall, who crossed the goal line at the 7:57 mark of the fourth quarter on a 19-yard reception. It was his second score of the season -- and his career -- and only the third touchdown of 2019 for a Crimson Tide tight end. Forristall’s day ended with two catches, 40 yards and the touchdown, but he also played a big part in the running game as a blocker, putting together what was his best game of the season.

Running game
Najee Harris, Brian Robinson, the offensive line, Kendall Randolph. All of them deserve a game ball for a second straight strong showing on the ground and against an Ole Miss team that had only allowed one 100-yard game this year. On 25 designed runs, the Crimson Tide rushed for 156 yards for an average of 6.24 yards. Harris ran for 71 yards on nine attempts (7.9) and Robinson carried the ball 10 times for 60 yards. The offensive line blocked well, including when Deonte Brown entered the game for a couple of series at left guard and then at right guard.

Xavier McKinney
Alabama’s defense didn’t have its best game, giving up 476 total yards of offense and 279 yards on the ground. Keeping contain on Rebel quarterback John Rhys Plumlee and the running backs was an issue, but when they broke free, McKinney was typically there to force them out of bounds. The junior safety paced the Crimson Tide defense with a career-high 13 tackles and a quarterback hurry. He was also vocal following the game about improving during the bye week.

Ale Kaho
Kaho scored his first career touchdown off of a blocked punt in the third quarter. He blocked the punt and fell on it in the end zone to give Alabama a 52-17 lead. It marked the Crimson Tide’s 69th non-offensive touchdown of the Nick Saban era and was the first such score this season. It was one of a few explosive plays on special teams for UA on Saturday. Kaho, a sophomore linebacker, also registered four combined tackles in action on both special teams and defense.

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With only six games in the Southeastern Conference, two of them non-conference games, there were only 10 league teams in football action Saturday. There were six SEC winners and four conference losers.

In the grading system of ‘B’ for a win and ‘D’ for a loss with only special circumstances resulting in an ‘A’ or an ‘F’ here are grades from Saturday, the fifth week of football.

Six week exams coming up will have six teams with bye weeks – Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, South Carolina, and Texas A&M – and only five games.

As for last Saturday, beginning with the two non-conference games:

Vanderbilt picked up its first win of the year, a non-conference, 24-18 nail-biter over Northern Illinois, earning the Commodores a B.

Florida’s 38-0 win over Towson gets the Gators a B, although perhaps they should get an A for being able to find so many obscure and soft cupcakes year after year.

As for the league games:
Texas A&M did everything it could to lose the game except lose it. Arkansas had the best chance it has had in two years to post an SEC victory, but came up just short in front of ex-Razorback Jerry Jones in his Arlington dome. With the Hogs losing starting quarterback Nick Starkel, there is a temptation to give Arkansas at least a D-plus, while marking down the Aggies to a B-minus for their 31-27 win.

As Auburn approaches the mid-point of the season, the Tigers certainly deserve an A for being 5-0, and a very strong B for the 56-23 beatdown they put on Mississippi State Saturday. The Bulldogs get a D, one of many to be expected this season.

South Carolina and Kentucky both were in desperate need of an SEC victory, the Gamecocks and Wildcats both 0-2 in league play going into the game in Columbia. South Carolina pulled out a convincing 24-7 win and the B, while the Wildcats are putting together a bad report card with yet another D this season.

Alabama would get an A for offense against Ole Miss, but would be hard-pressed to expect more than a D for defense against the Rebels. The result is a B for the 59-31 Crimson Tide win in the SEC home opener. Mississippi gets its D.

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Linebacker Terrell Lewis and nose tackle DJ Dale return for Crimson Tide, Henry Ruggs suffers painful hip pointer
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama football team saw a lot of players return to action from injuries Saturday against Ole Miss, as well as several players leave the game with injuries.

Among the returners was redshirt-junior linebacker Terrell Lewis, who missed all of last season with an ACL injury and sat out last week against Southern Miss after a hyperextension.

Redshirt-sophomore Christopher Allen made the start at linebacker in Lewis’ place, but Lewis still saw action as a pass0-rusher.

Freshman defensive lineman D.J. Dale also returned and started after suffering a patellar tendon strain.

One final returner for Alabama was redshirt-junior offensive lineman Deonte Brown.

Brown saw first action since last season’s SEC Championship Game against Georgia. He missed both of the College Football Playoff games as well as the first four games of this season for an NCAA-related suspension.

According to Alabama head coach Nick Saban, Brown was also injured, but few noticed due to his suspension (BamaCentral reported last week he was in the concussion protocol).

“He was injured for a couple weeks and people didn’t realize that because he was suspended, so nobody was really paying attention,” Saban said Thursday. “So, he missed a couple weeks in this first four weeks of the season, but he’s fine now."

Brown saw significant playing time against Ole Miss at both guard spots, first on the left side and then the right. He also stayed in the game with the reserves at left guard.
Ruggs suffers hip-pointer

Regarding injuries sustained in Alabama’s 59-31 win over Ole Miss, chief among them was junior wide receiver Henry Ruggs III, who went down halfway through the first quarter with what appeared to be a hip injury.

Ruggs spent about 15 minutes in the medical tent before coming out and jumping on the exercise bike. Ruggs entered the tent a couple of more times, but eventually returned to the game.

“Henry Ruggs has a hip pointer,” Saban said. “He’ll probably be sore for a few days, but we don’t think it’s an issue long-term.”

The only other injury for Alabama was senior defensive back Shyheim Carter. Carter left the game with 5:46 to go in the first half, hobbling on his ankle.

However, he returned after only missing a couple of plays.

Special teams bounces back after rough start

Alabama’s special teams unit did some things right and one thing wrong on Saturday.

Starting with the wrong, after Alabama forced Ole Miss to punt on its first drive, sophomore wide receiver Jaylen Waddle muffed the punt, with Ole Miss recovering the ball on the Alabama 30-yard line. It gave Ole Miss the ball in great field position, and eventually led to a touchdown.

“You have to get possession of the ball when they’re punting the ball to us,” Saban said. “I mean that’s the number one thing. You have to get possession of the ball. That’s a big field position change when you muff a punt, and that’s something that we’ll continue to work on.”

However, Waddle came close to breaking more than one return. He finished with 52 return yards, with his longest being 29 yards.

Freshman place kicker/punter Will Reichard was out with a hip flexor injury, and didn't dress for the game.

Sophomore Skler DeLong had two punts, averaging 30 yards. His longest was 37 yards.

Regarding field goals, redshirt-sophomore Joseph Bulovas was 1-2, making one from 36 yards out. He was also 8-for-8 on extra point attempts.

“I think special teams is really really critical,” Saban said. “We’ve been really good about not turning the ball over, but we did make some big plays on special teams today. I thought we were a little concerned about kickoff coverage, you know we did a good job early in the game and then they started fair catching the ball.”

Meanwhile, sophomore Ale Kaho blocked a punt late in the game, and recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown.

The score was Alabama’s only non-offensive score of the game.

“Blocking a punt was big,” Saban said. “The score. All-in-all I was really pleased with the way we played on teams.”

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Saban is currently 2-4 against AU when they are ranked and 0-3 when ranked playing at the Barn.

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