TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Survive and advance is normally a motto more fitting for postseason play in the NCAA basketball tournament, but it feels pretty fitting for No. 13 Alabama's 31-20 win over Texas A&M at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Crimson Tide (6-2, 4-2 SEC) outscored the Aggies (4-4, 1-4 SEC) by 14 in the fourth quarter to come away with the victory on homecoming. It definitely wasn't always pretty, but Alabama made enough plays on both sides of the ball to beat a talented Texas A&M team in a game it had to have.
Despite the chaos around college football and the SEC, Alabama's title hopes survived to see another week. Here are five of my biggest takeaways from Saturday's win for the latest edition of Tide Takeaways:
Fourth-quarter redemption
After last week's loss to Tennessee, linebacker Luke Metz had some pretty strong words, calling Alabama's performance "unacceptable" for a team that considers itself a fourth-quarter team. Alabama was shut out in the fourth quarter and gave up a backbreaking 72-yard, 9:32 drive that sealed the victory for the Vols. The Crimson Tide flipped that on its head Saturday against the Aggies.
The first three quarters weren't great for either side of the ball against a Texas A&M team that had really struggled this season, especially on offense. Yet, the Aggies held a 20-17 lead going into the fourth quarter of Saturday's contest. The fourth quarter was all Crimson Tide.
Alabama outscored the Aggies 14-0 in the fourth quarter. The defense forced three straight three-and-outs and only allowed 15 total yards.
"Proud of the guys and the way they fought for four quarters, and the way they finished especially," Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said after the game. "Just continued to stay with it. Guys coming in and out of the game, they wanted to finish and wanted to be out there coming off the sideline and going out there and giving everything they got."
The Crimson Tide scored on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Keelon Russell to Marshall Pritchett on the opening play of the fourth quarter to give Alabama a lead it wouldn't relinquish. Good teams find a way to finish in the fourth quarter, even when the rest of the game hasn't gone as planned.
For as bad as things looked for Alabama for the first 40ish minutes, it played its best ball at the end of the game to take some momentum into the bye week. The way the game finished leaves a little better taste in the mouth of fans than the way the game was trending for three quarters.
"We just know, we do fourth quarter all summer, so that was our emphasis coming out of halftime just attacking, attacking, attacking," Alabama linebacker Caleb Woodson said.
"Disappointed" in run game
Early in the season, it seemed like Alabama might have found its rushing attack again. But the ground game has all but disappeared for the Crimson Tide the last two weeks. Alabama finished with 28 carries for 68 yards, an average of 2.8 yards per carry.
"Disappointed, disappointed in the stats," DeBoer said. "That's all you've got to really look at. We needed more in the run game to open up some things for us, and so we've got to get back to work and make sure we're continuing to execute, first of all, and stack some plays on top of each other.
"When we get some negative yards and have guys that are unblocked at the point of attack or are falling off blocks, those are things that we've got to get back to the basics, and we've got to get better at."
Alabama was without freshman running back EJ Crowell and starting center Racin Delgatty. In addition to that, left guard William Sanders exited in the first half with a lower body injury. While the Tide didn't have its peak personnel for running the ball, it should have fared better against a Texas A&M defense that came into the matchup ranked No. 69 in the country in run defense.
The inability to establish a consistent run game is the main reason the Alabama offense struggled through the first three quarters. When the opponent knows you can't run the ball, it completely takes away half the threat of a run-pass option play. It also puts a lot more pressure on Russell's shoulders to make all the plays through the air when the Crimson Tide can't get anything going on the ground.
If Alabama can get Crowell back in two weeks for LSU, that should help, but the bye week will be a good time for the staff to do some self-scouting on the Crimson Tide's run game.
Keelon keeps climbing
Despite not having his best performance, Alabama's quarterback still threw for over 300 yards. Russell started the game 10-for-20 and then completed nine of his last 10 passes, finishing with 311 passing yards and three touchdowns. It was his first multi-touchdown performance since Week 5 against Mississippi State.
"Didn’t have a great start to the game, obviously didn’t take what the defense was giving me," Russell said. "Then coming out with the poise and confidence in my footwork and the drops, even just with the help of the offense building me up during halftime, telling me that, ‘Hey, we got it. We got this.’ Just really proud of those guys for just battling and fighting with me and just came out in the second half ripping it.”
Ripping it indeed. When Alabama needed Russell to make a play, like on a third-and-8 while trailing at the end of the third quarter, he dropped a dime into the hands of Rico Scott down the sideline for a first down. Alabama scored to take the lead on the next play.
Coming off the two worst games of his young career Russell could have easily folded mentally after a slow start. Instead, the young quarterback keeps growing before our eyes.
"I thought he did a really good job of reeling himself back in, going out there and just to continue to focus on doing his job," DeBoer said. "He made some really nice throws on some conversions there at the end of the game, and we got confidence, and we need him to continue to do that. You know that's why he's out there for us."
Alabama's ceiling is as high as Russell can take it. As he continues to grow more and more comfortable in the offense while also getting some of his weapons back, the Crimson Tide's offense can get back on track.
Conor Talty trips up
It had been almost a full year since Alabama kicker Conor Talty missed a field goal in a game. That streak was snapped when he missed a 36-yard attempt in the first quarter on Saturday. It is unlikely for any kicker to go through an entire college season unscathed, so that miss wasn't that big of a deal. (Although, not great timing after the defense set the offense up with great field position on a second straight interception to open the game.)
It became slightly more concerning when Talty missed another attempt, this time from 42 yards out, on Alabama's first possession of the second half. At the time, the Crimson Tide was trailing 20-17 and every point mattered.
Talty did have one make in the game and is 11-for-13 on the season without any missed extra points. His turnaround from last season has been impressive. The senior kicker should be fine moving forward, and Alabama will need him in a crucial month of November.
It's time for some Jeff Allen magic
As a reporter who only covers Alabama, I don't hear other coaches mention it much, but Crimson Tide coaches and players constantly talk about how special the work is that the Alabama training staff, headed up by Jeff Allen, does each week for the athletes.
Allen and his staff have a tall task ahead during Alabama's lone bye week. The Crimson Tide had 10 players ruled out pregame (one of which was a suspension), and then starting left guard William Sanders exited in the first half with a lower body injury that will likely keep him out for a few weeks at least.
Defensive lineman London Simmons visited the injury tent. Russell looked a little banged up after taking some hard hits. Captain Bray Hubbard showed up to the postgame press conference in a boot that he said was just for precautionary reasons. Everyone has bumps and bruises at this point in the season, but it feels even worse than normal for Alabama this year.
"Getting my body back 100 percent," Woodson said. "We all need a little break."
Even though Rico Scott had a breakout game with six catches for 156 yards, Alabama really needs Ryan Coleman-Williams back out on the field. Coleman-Williams is a dynamic playmaker, but he also opens things up for the rest of the skill players on offense because of the attention he draws from opposing defenses.
Crowell is one of Alabama's best scoring threats in the red zone and provides more depth at running back.
With Sanders likely missing time, getting Racin Delgatty back at center, especially heading into Death Valley against LSU, would be a big deal. This would allow Mal Waldrep Jr. to slide over to left guard, where he played for most of the spring and fall camp.
If Terrance Green and Desmond Umeozulu can get healthy, Alabama's defensive front becomes so much stronger and deeper. It would give Devan Thompkins the option for more positional flexibility.
The Crimson Tide also needs Zabien Brown back to lead the back end of the defense alongside Hubbard. And these are just some of the injuries Alabama has made public.
This week without a game will allow Alabama's top-notch training staff extended time to work with the players to get them back on the field in the best shape possible.
"Good for us to have a bye week right now," DeBoer said. "I know a lot of guys that we'll be optimistic on getting back for the next week game against LSU."
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