re: Bama Football Tidings

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He also saw the field on special teams on kickoff returns early in the game.

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There’s always something to learn coming out of a Saturday afternoon of college football. The 62-10 Alabama win over New Mexico State followed the script, for the most part on a hot afternoon in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

A day later, we reviewed the footage from the SEC Network broadcast for a second helping before SEC play begins this week at South Carolina.

A few observations with some context coming out of Week 2 of Alabama’s football season:

-- On that first-play touchdown, it was a matter of making one block and Henry Ruggs III turning on the afterburners. DeVonta Smith had the block in space and Ruggs took off. Head athletic trainer Jeff Allen on Sunday said on Twitter that Ruggs was clocked at 23 miles per hour on that run, according to the tracking device in his pads.

-- Jaylen Waddle had his second punt return TD until it was called back for the first block thrown. Defensive back Josh Jobe dove at an already-falling gunner and hit him in the back as he flew past Waddle. From there, he went practically untouched with DeVonta Smith, Brian Robinson and Tyrell Shavers leading a path down the New Mexico State sideline. Waddle showed a few times he could be a problem for opposing punt teams who dare kick his direction.

-- Landon Dickerson made his first start at center and his second shotgun snap was high to Tua Tagovailoa. It messed with the timing of a run play that went for three yards from Najee Harris.

-- On the first touchdown pass to Jerry Jeudy, it looked like two defenders went with DeVonta Smith and two more with Ruggs leaving No. 4 with single coverage. Alabama’s brought receivers in motion, bending them back into the backfield to give defenses a different look. It worked on the first play since Ruggs was that motion man who continued to the field side for the backward pass and 75-yard touchdown. On this play, it was a decoy.

-- The kicking has seen an improvement this season but Alabama’s punting has lagged behind. In two games, the 40.3-yard average ranks 87th nationally in six combined attempts. Skyler DeLong has the longest punt of the year at 44 yards.

-- It looked like Alabama was running mostly behind the left side of the line. Najee Harris broke through with a 19-yard run late in the first quarter with tackle Alex Leatherwood and guard Evan Neal opening a perfect hole with linebackers lost in the wash. It was the longest run of the day for Alabama’s top running tandem of Harris and Brian Robinson.

-- Tagovailoa had nearly four seconds of a clean pocket to find Jeudy for the 23-yard touchdown on the first quarter’s final snap to make it 21-0. It was a four-man rush with some stunts up front but the quarterback kept his eyes downfield and let the play develop.

-- It’s worth noting Tagovailoa hasn’t been sacked since the second passing play of the season. Duke and New Mexico State combined for two quarterback hurries in two games.

-- As pointed out on the SEC Network broadcast, the fourth touchdown (a slant to Ruggs) could have gone to any of three receivers. All three ran slants and each were wide open for an easy pitch and catch.

-- Speaking of the red zone, Alabama is 6-for-6 with six touchdowns on drives with snaps originating from inside the 20-yard line.

-- Will Reichard is punishing the ball on kickoffs. He’s regularly kicking them well out of the back of the end zone, nearly hitting the back wall on the fly. He has 16 touchbacks in 18 attempts, though he booted one out of bounds Saturday for what amounts to a 10-yard penalty from a touchback.

-- Patrick Surtain II got the interception in the second quarter and the assist should go to Xavier McKinney. The safety disguised his blitz to run untouched into the face of the QB who rushed the throw that almost looked like it was intended for the cornerback.

-- Speaking of turnovers, Alabama’s taken six in two games for an eighth-place tie in the national rankings. The first-quarter fumble against Duke is the only giveaway for a +5 margin that’s tied for No. 4.

-- For Tagovailoa’s 25-yard touchdown run, it was a numbers game. Two of the five pass rushers over-ran the play, one was on the ground and the QB just outran the others. With the rest of the defense appearing to be in man coverage, backs were turned to the ball and Tagovailoa went seemingly untouched into the end zone. It adds another dimension to his game that was missing most of last year when lower-leg injuries slowed that mobility.

-- As somebody pointed out on Twitter, I believe, there’s just a different sound when Reichard kicks a field goal. It’s loud. Maybe that’s because all four of his attempts have been from 48 or 49 yards but there’s nothing lacking about the force he puts into those kicks. The two he made Saturday had the distance from at least another 10 yards. They might have drawn the loudest cheers of the day as well.

-- For as hot as it was, it’s surprising there weren’t more issues with cramping. The only clear example was Trevon Diggs midway through the third quarter on the 44-yard passing play that set up NMSU’s touchdown.

-- On that scoring play, it looked like freshman LB Shane Lee over ran the pursuit to allow Jason Huntley to hit the brakes and slip past Shyheim Carter and beat Surtain to the goal line.

-- A few times it was painfully clear how mismatched New Mexico State’s offensive tackles looked. Speed rush moves from Anfernee Jennings, Terrell Lewis and Christopher Allen had no shot at even being slowed on the way to the QB.

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Fans aren't the only ones getting frustrated with the lack of nighttime games

The University of Alabama's frustration with the kickoff times of its September home games continued to rise when the school issued a statement Monday afternoon.

The statement was from both president Stuart R. Bell and athletic director Greg Byrne:

“We are disappointed that our game against Southern Miss has been selected as a daytime kickoff at home. We realize we’ve played more non-conference day games at home in September than any other SEC team since 2014. There have been a number of conversations with our conference office, and they also recognize the challenges these kick times present for our student-athletes and fans.”

Specifically, Alabama has had one September home evening kickoff since 2014.

Per contract, kickoff times are determined by the television networks broadcasting the games in conjunction with the league office. However, Alabama has regularly opened with a neutral-site game, and faced weaker opponents at home during the first month of the season.

The heat index for last Saturday's game against New Mexico State was 105 at kickoff.

Earlier Monday, the SEC office announced that Alabama's next home game against Southern Miss on Sept. 21 will start at 11 a.m. and be shown on either ESPN and ESPN2.

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