Managing editor Kyle Henderson of BamaInsider.com provides 10 takeaways following Alabama's 49-7 victory over Southern Mississippi.
1. Tua Tagovailoa has another field day
It was another brilliant performance by Alabama junior quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on Saturday as Tagovailoa threw four first-half touchdowns to lead the Crimson Tide to a 42 point victory over Southern Mississippi. On the day, Tagovailoa finished 17 of 21 for 293-yards with 5 touchdowns and ended with a rating of 276.7.
Tagovailoa has accumulated 5,902 passing yards in 28 career games to rank fifth all-time at Alabama and his five touchdown passes against Southern Miss, not only tied his career-high but also marked the ninth time he has thrown for four or more touchdowns in a game during his career. On the season, Tagovailoa has thrown for 1,300-yards with 17 touchdowns and zero interceptions.
The thought process of Tagovailoa
2. Henry Ruggs III is on fire
Which Alabama receiver is not on fire? Maybe, that’s the better question, but in the last two games, Ruggs has not only turned heads with his incredible 4.2 40-time speed, he’s also racked up some serious yardage. In the last two games of the season, Ruggs has caught for 10 receptions for 270-yards for three touchdowns. His per catch average in the last two games is 27.0 with touchdowns from 81 and 74-yards out.
Add to this, Ruggs racked up 141 total yards with two additional touchdowns against New Mexico State, which includes an electrifying pass behind the line of scrimmage that he took 75-yards to the house on the first play of the game. Everyone knows about Jerry Jeudy and rightfully so, but Ruggs is another future NFL first-round draft pick that will be an exceptional addition to any NFL roster in 2020.
Quotable
“Coach Saban always says ‘Get downhill’ so that’s the first thing I’m thinking – when I grab it I have to get downhill. When I see space, I trust my speed.” - Henry Ruggs III
Leading receivers
Jerry Jeudy - 30 receptions for 404-yards with 6 touchdowns
DeVonta Smith - 20 receptions for 263-yards with 3 touchdowns
Henry Ruggs - 16 receptions for 350-yards with 4 touchdowns
ICYMI: Final Game Stats vs. Southern Miss.
3. Najee Harris posts first 100-yard game of the season
Following the game against Southern Mississippi, Nick Saban commented on the running game. “I felt we ran the football ok,” said Saban. For the first time of the season, the Crimson Tide had a back hit the 100-yard mark as Najee Harris rushed the football 14 times for 110-yards which is a 7.9-yard average.
“I thought that Najee really sort of rolled up in there, ran with a lot of toughness and BRob did as well, so I thought it was better today.”
On the season, Harris has rushed the football 45 times for 266-yards with one-touchdown, which is an average of 5.9-yards per carry compared to Robinson’s 3.8 per carry average. Harris has also caught seven receptions for 104-yards with three touchdowns.
4. Alabama’s offense through four games
Statistically speaking Alabama’s offense is straight rolling. The Crimson Tide is averaging 50.0 points per game, averaging 25.5 first downs per game, averaging 550-yards per game, 371.1-yards passing per game, and 178.8-yards rushing per game.
When we dig a little bit more inside the numbers, we see that Alabama is averaging 8.2-yards per play, has turned the football over just twice (1 fumble/1 interception), has a 3rd down conversion percentage of 52.0, is 6 for 6 on 4th down conversions, and one of the most impressive stats this season through four games is the fact the offense is 15 of 16 inside the red-zone which is a scoring percentage of 94%.
5. Improved play by the defense
While Southern Mississippi is far from a top 25 team on offense, they present some challenges as they have a ton of speed on the field, but the Crimson Tide was able to limit big plays and surrendered one touchdown on the day. It felt like there was improved play from the defense in the three categories: Defensive line, linebackers, and in the secondary.
As you know, two freshmen started on the defensive line: DJ Dale at tackle and Justin Eboigbe at defensive end. Dale fared well early on but suffered what Saban referred to as a patellar tendon injury in the first half, an injury that does not look to be serious. Eboigbe who started for the first time this season in place of injured LaBryan Ray recorded three tackles on the day.
The inside linebackers continue to show progress, Shane Lee and Christian Harris combined for 11 tackles on the day, and Anfernee Jennings recorded his third sack of the season. The secondary was led by Jared Mayden at safety who recorded 8 tackles which led the team and Trevon Diggs recorded his second interception of the season.
Did You Know
i - The Crimson Tide has held opponents to 10 points or less and the 32nd time in the last 63 games dating to the start of the 2015 season.
Quotable
“I think the plays they made on us today were things that we didn’t execute well. The wheel route that they hit right before the half that set up the score, and the penalty added on to that, that gave them the ball in the red zone. Somebody has the guy man-to-man. You have got to play them. It’s a throwback boot. I think that we played better today. We were simpler in terms of the plan and the adjustments that we wanted to make in the game, which I think helped the young players especially. I thought the players did a pretty good job of adjusting to a lot of stuff and some stuff that we did not practice.” - Nick Saban
6. Tons of true freshmen on the field
You’ve heard it before, “True freshmen do not play at Alabama.” On Saturday against Southern Mississippi, the Crimson Tide started seven, yes seven true freshmen from the Class of 2019. Left guard Evan Neal, defensive tackle DJ Dale, inside linebackers Shane Lee and Christian Harris along with kicker Will Reichard all started for their fourth consecutive game.
Jordan Battle earned his second start of the season at safety in Alabama’s dime package, and making his first start of the season was Justin Eboigbe subbing in for injured LaBryan Ray at the defensive end position. In total this season, 18 true freshmen have earned playing time.
7. Deonte Brown returns in week five
6-foot-4, 342-pound offensive guard Deonte Brown is done serving his four-game suspension and interesting to see if Brown, known as one of Alabama’s top run blockers makes his way onto the starting five against Ole Miss in week five. This is something our staff will keep tabs on during practice starting this coming Monday.
8. Injuries continue to plague the team
Every program in college football is going to deal with key injuries and nagging injuries as the season progresses, however, Alabama seems to be dealing with key injuries faster compared to most teams in college football. Coming into this game the Crimson Tide lost defensive end LaBryan Ray to a foot injury, Saban said he could be out as much as six weeks. Inside linebackers Joshua McMillon and Dylan Moses are out of the season with ACL injuries, five-star freshman Trey Sanders running back is out for the season after suffering a foot injury in fall camp, and on Saturday more injury news developed.
Freshman kicker Will Reichard suffered what Saban said was a pulled hip flexor and is questionable for next week, DJ Dale suffered a patellar tendon injury, and Terrell Lewis who has missed the last two seasons with season-ending injuries hyper-extended his knee last week and was kept out for precautionary reasons.
Did you know
i - Alabama also lost five-star outside linebacker Eyabi Anoma (Class of 2018) in August as Anoma transferred to Houston and also lost five-star Antonio Alfano (Class of 2019) who according to Saban basically quit the team this month.
9. This team is still untested
While the Crimson Tide is a gleaming 4-0 entering week five of the college football season, their strength of schedule has been very weak and while that has allowed for Alabama’s young defense to gain confidence and also allowed for their high powered offense to flex their potency, the truth is: We do not know how this team will respond when they get hit in the mouth. Is a challenger looming on the horizon?
Ole Miss doesn’t fit that bill, Texas A&M looked average if anything against Auburn on Saturday, Tennessee looks like a disaster, Arkansas hasn’t beaten Alabama since 2006, so we might just have to wait until November 9 when LSU heads to Tuscaloosa for what should be an absolute showdown, then again Alabama has blanked LSU in two of their last three meetings, and has not been beaten by LSU since 2011.
10. Which teams could test or challenge Alabama?
Clemson
The case for: The two programs are 2-2 since the 2016 season and Clemson still has Trevor Lawrence.
The case against: Trevor Lawrence has looked less than stellar to start the season.
Georgia
The case for: Kirby Smart has been so close to being the first former assistant under Saban turned head coach to beat the GOAT head to head, but Saban has used a backup quarterback to bounce off the ropes twice to best Smart in the last two seasons. Georgia is physically loaded and looks to be playing angry, plus Jake Fromm is a very underrated quarterback.
The case against: Georgia has choked twice against Alabama as of late and you have to think that Saban is renting space up top in Kirby’s head for free.
LSU
The case for: Joe Burrow and the LSU offense has looked unstoppable.
The case against: LSU has looked like a contender before until Saban and the Crimson Tide flex on their rival the west.
Oklahoma
The case for: Jalen Hurts and the Oklahoma offense
The case against: The Oklahoma defense
Ohio State
The case for: Justin Fields at quarterback with JK Dobbins at running back. The Buckeyes have a wicked offense.
The case against: Wisconsin could be a team that upends the Buckeyes late in the season, stopping the Buckeyes from reaching the CFB playoffs.
Auburn
The case for: Over the last two seasons only Clemson and Auburn has been able to beat Alabama. Each of those teams has had something in common: A superior defensive line, which Auburn has again this season, add to that Gus Malzahn has been able to beat Nick Saban head to head in two out of five tries, and lastly, Alabama has to travel to Jordan-Hare Stadium this season.
The case against: The Tigers currently start a true freshman at quarterback and it’s not clear if they could outscore Alabama in a track meet type game.
Wisconsin
The case for: While Michigan seems once again a disappointment, Wisconsin dominated the Wolverines led by running back Jonathan Taylor who ran for 203-yards and two scores.
The case against: You never know if the Big Ten conference is serious or not.
Next Up
Alabama is back in action next Saturday, Sept. 28, hosting its first home SEC game of the season against Ole Miss. Kickoff between the Crimson Tide and the Rebels is set for 2:30 p.m. CT with the game airing live on CBS.
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