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Here is a closer look at Alabama’s defensive stats as the Tide heads into the BYE week.
Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide currently sit ranked at No. 3 with a 7-1 overall record and a 4-1 record in the SEC.
Now that the Tide has entered into its BYE week, I thought it was a good time to take a closer look at some of the team and individual stats on both sides of the football.
Today we look at the defensive side of the football!
Taking a deeper look at how Alabama graded out in its win over Tennessee
Alabama’s 52-24 victory over Tennessee might be the most unusual 28 point win that I can remember. There were times when the offense seemed unstoppable, but there were also times they couldn’t get out of their own way. The defense was great other than about three or four plays. The special teams unit was really responsible for about 10 points that the Volunteers scored in the contest. So this really is a strange game to dissect.
Nevertheless, we are back for our weekly final grade post for the Tide’s performance. Let’s see how things turned out this week.
Let’s take a look at a few things we learned from Alabama’s imposing win over the Tennesse Volunteers.
It wasn’t perfect, but No. 4 Alabama was able to gain a convincing 52-24 victory over the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday night.
At the end of the third quarter, Alabama held just a 24-17 lead but outscored the Vols 28-7 in the fourth.
After each contest, we take a look at a few things we learned from the Alabama performance. Let’s take a peek at what we learned this week.
What we learned from Alabama’s emphatic win over Mississippi State
The question all week leading up to Alabama’s matchup with Mississippi State was how the Tide would respond following last week’s loss to Texas A&M. To say Alabama answered the bell would be an understatement.
Alabama just completely dominated the Bulldogs 49-9 in Starkville. In a game in which the Tide never trailed, it reminded the Alabama faithful of what this team can and should be. The offense was balanced and the defense forced turnovers and did not allow a single touchdown.
Each week we look at a few of the things we learned from the Tide’s performance, let’s see what we learned this week!
Alabama set the tone early and never looked back. Here is our final grade for the Tide after their dominating victory over Ole Miss.
In one of the most anticipated matchups of the college football weekend, No. 1 Alabama completely dominated the Ole Miss Rebels 42-21. Many experts thought Lane Kiffin and the Rebels could upset the Tide, but Alabama set the tone early and never looked back.
The offense went back in time and delivered a crushing running game and the defense played assignment football to limit the explosive Rebels offense.
Let’s get to the grades, shall we?
Offense: A+
The Alabama offense but the game in the hands of running back Brian Robinson Jr. and he delivered a career performance. Behind a great showing by the Tide offensive line, Robinson rushed for 171 yards and four touchdowns on 36 carries.
Bryce Young continued his success going 20-26 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Young did throw his second interception of the season and was also sacked three times in the contest. Darrian Dalcourt had issues throughout the game with shotgun snaps and is something to monitor moving forward.
If Alabama can continue to have a balanced attack, the offense will be tough t stop for opposing defenses.
Defense: A-
The Alabama defense set the tone early in the contest with a fourth-down stop in the red zone. The Ole Miss offense could not muster much in the first half. The defensive line, led by Phidarian Mathis and Will Anderson, disrupted Matt Corral for the majority of the contest.
Pete Golding put together a great game plan for the high-powered Rebel offense and the players executed the plan.
The defense did relax a little bit late in the game and allowed Ole Miss to score a couple of cheap touchdowns.
If the defense can continue to play with great intensity and execution, they will be among the nation’s best.
Special teams: A-
It’s hard to really go in-depth on the special teams unit because the only person busy was placekicker Will Reichard. Reichard connected on all six of his extra points and remains perfect on the season in that category.
The Tide special teams unit did commit a couple of mistakes and that is the only reason they did not receive an A+. On the opening kickoff, Reichard kicked it out of bounds, and in the second half freshman linebacker, Kendrick Blackshire was charged with a targeting call on a kickoff.
All in all, it was a solid performance from the Tide special teams unit.
Overall: A-
In a contest that the team would need to perform well, they did just that. Alabama owned the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and leaned on punishing running game to wear down the Ole Miss defense.
The defense had its best performance of the season shutting down the Ole Miss running game and limiting big plays.
The team continues to improve every week and still has plenty of room to grow. This team is nowhere near a finished product and that has to be scary to other teams around the SEC.
Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for all the latest on the Crimson Tide!
Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Stacey Blackwood on Twitter @Blackwood89.
Here are 5 players who will play crucial roles in the outcome of Alabama vs. Ole Miss.
The anticipation continues to grow the closer we get to Saturday. No. 12 Ole Miss will travel to Tuscaloosa to take on No. 1 Alabama inside of Bryant-Denny Stadium in what is expected to be a fierce battle.
A lot will be made throughout the week about the matchup between Lane Kiffin and his old boss Nick Saban. But when it comes down to it, the players on the field will decide the out of the game.
Here are five players for the Tide that I believe will be crucial to the outcome of the game.
NEW episode of The Bama Beat podcast, discussing OLBs and NIL!
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Clint Lamb and Nick Kelly, the new beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News and TideSports.com, kick off the position breakdowns for Alabama, starting with the outside linebackers.
Before diving into that discussion, the two share their thoughts on the recent passing of the new law allowing college athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness.
RELATED: Bama Beat mailbag 6.24.21
Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion.
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Roll Tide Wire takes a look into projecting the Alabama Crimson Tide’s defensive depth chart for the 2021 college football season.
We continue to work our way through the college football offseason, but spring practice is just around the corner. Alabama’s annual A-Day Game is tentatively set for April 17, so practices should start in a few weeks.
We wanted to go ahead and dive into a pre-spring depth chart for the Crimson Tide. First, it was the offensive side of the football, but now we shift focus towards the defense. It wasn’t as effective of a unit as the offense, but it returns a large majority of its starters.
Enjoy!
*Note: True freshmen are listed at the bottom of their respective position groups. Once we start to get an idea of where they could land on the depth chart in Year 1, we will make adjustments.
The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide rolled over the LSU Tigers on Saturday, 55-17, to move to 9-0 on the season. The win featured another Heisman-caliber performance from quarterback Mac Jones, who completed 20 of 28 passes for 385 yards and four …
The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide rolled over the LSU Tigers on Saturday, 55-17, to move to 9-0 on the season.
The win featured another Heisman-caliber performance from quarterback Mac Jones, who completed 20 of 28 passes for 385 yards and four touchdowns. Jones has nine touchdown passes in the last two weeks in wins over Auburn and LSU.
Wide receiver DeVonta Smith had another outstanding performance, hauling in eight passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns. Smith had one of the best catches you’ll see all year.
DEVONTA SMITH IS RIDICULOUS pic.twitter.com/NhCkPJAccB
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 6, 2020
Smith had over 200 yards receiving and three touchdowns before halftime.
Alabama faces Arkansas next week in the regular-season finale and will play Florida in the SEC championship on Dec. 19.
Here are the top performers from Alabama’s easy win over LSU on Saturday.
Freshman OLB Will Anderson Jr. is the next man up on Alabama football’s player snapshot, which highlights each scholarship player.
As we continue through the offseason, Roll Tide Wire has decided to bring fans a quick snapshot of each scholarship player listed on Alabama’s 2020 football roster.
Each day, we’ll release two player profiles giving fans a glimpse into the players who will be available this upcoming season. Whether that’s size, classification, hometowns or recruiting rankings coming out of high school, we’ve got you covered.
Also included in each article is a quick recap letting you know what to expect from that player for the upcoming 2020 season and beyond.
Next up on the list is freshman outside linebacker Will Anderson Jr. out of Hampton (Ga.).
Height: 6-4 / Weight: 230
Class: Freshman
Hometown: Hampton (Ga.)
High School: Dutchtown High School
HS ranking (247Sports): 5-star / No. 17 overall / No. 1 WDE / No. 4 GA
HS ranking (Rivals): 5-star / No. 22 overall / No. 1 WDE / No. 5 GA
Analysis: It’s almost a forgone conclusion at this point that Will Anderson Jr. is going to contribute to Alabama’s pass rush in 2020. The edge player out of Georgia is one of the best pure pass-rushing prospects in the country, and the Tide have a glaring hole at outside linebacker.
Will he start right out of the gate? More than likely not, as he’ll have to compete with several other impressive freshmen on top of players such as King Mwikuta, Kevin Harris II and Jarez Parks. But expect contributions early and often in passing situations.
Anderson still has some work to do getting stronger at the point of attack if he wants to be a complete, every-down edge player, but with his known willingness to learn and grow, there’s no reason to believe he won’t be able to do just that.
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