10 things we learned about Alabama after its romp over Texas A&M
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama’s high-powered offense continued to roll in its first game against a ranked opponent as the No. 1 Crimson Tide downed No. 22 Texas A&M 45-23 Saturday. Alabama reached the 500-yard mark for the fourth straight game as sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had a career day through the air. Here are 10 things we learned from the game.
1. This is Alabama’s best offense under Saban
Nick Saban isn’t ready to call this offense the best he’s ever coached. That’s OK, we’ll say it for him. Go ahead and write it down, scream it from the highest hilltop: this year’s offense will go down as the best one Alabama has ever seen.
Through four games, Alabama is averaging 539.5 yards and 53.8 points per game. That comes despite taking its foot off the pedal in each of its four blowout wins this season. Tagovailoa, who holds the nation’s best quarterback rating at 230.47, has yet to see the field in the fourth quarter.
Alabama scored on seven of its first 11 possessions Saturday, piling up 524 yards of offense against Texas A&M. That came despite the Aggies holding the Crimson Tide to a season-low 109 yards on the ground. Saban’s right, this offense still has plenty of room for improvement. That should be enough to keep SEC defensive coordinators up at night for the next few months.
2. Tagovailoa continues his Heisman campaign
Tagovailoa has yet to receive a catchy nickname or record a defining Heisman moment. He hasn’t needed either. The quarterback, simply referred to by his first name, has made easy work of opposing defenses, coasting his way to the top of the Heisman leaderboards.
Tagovailoa completed 22 of 30 passes for a career-high 387 yards and four touchdowns through the air and strolled into the end zone on a 1-yard quarterback keeper against Texas A&M. This season the sophomore has completed 72.5 percent of his passes for 1,033 yards and 12 touchdowns with no interceptions.
What’s been most impressive is Tagovailoa’s ability to find all of Alabama’s weapons across the field. He hit eight different targets Saturday as five receivers recorded three catches or more against the Aggies.
"He understands the field extremely well," tight end Hale Hentges said. "He finds people who are open. And if you're not open, he can make you open. ...That's something that is a God-given natural ability for him. He works really hard at everything. Some people have that crazy innate ability and he's got it. He's got a lot of things."
3. Buggs balls out
Tagovailoa wasn’t the only player to put up career-best numbers Saturday. Defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs made a home in the Texas A&M backfield, tallying three sacks and 3.5 tackles for a loss to go with seven tackles and two quarterback hurries.
“It’s all about affecting the quarterback in many ways, either through sacks, big hits, batted-down balls, pressures, all that stuff,” Buggs said. “We’re accountable for all that stuff to get pressure on the quarterback. The whole defense played hard, and we did our job in and out.”
Alabama recorded a season-high seven sacks on the afternoon and forced Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond into two costly interceptions, including one on the Aggies’ opening drive which set up the Crimson Tide’s first score one play later.
4. Alabama’s defense continues third-down success
While the defense struggled at times giving up several big plays, it was able to come up big when it counted. Alabama allowed Texas A&M to convert just 3 of 12 third-down attempts. On the season, Alabama’s defense ranks No. 8 in the nation, holding opponents to a 24.59 percent success rate on third down. That's an improvement from last year’s total where the Crimson Tide allowed first downs on 34.58 percent of its opponents’ third-down tries.
“Our main thing is getting off the field on third down,” Buggs said. “That’s what we did. We executed, had a good game plan and came out on top.”
5. The offensive line still needs work
It wasn’t all bad. Things rarely are when you rack up 524 yards of offense. Still, following Saturday’s performance, Alabama’s offensive line has plenty of room for improvement.
Despite recording a season-low in rushing yards, Alabama’s offensive line kept things clean for Tagovailoa. The Crimson Tide did not give up a sack on the afternoon and allowed Texas A&M to record just one quarterback hurry.
“If we threw for however many yards we threw for and gained however many yards we gained, they had to do something pretty well,” Saban said. “But if you want to isolate it down, we didn’t have a lot of pressure in the pocket. They did a good job of protection. They did a good job on third down, and that’s why we made a lot of plays in the passing game.
“I’m sure when we look at the run game, we’re not going to be as pleased with the way we finished blocks and the way we blocked them up front. We would have been able to run the ball a little more effectively.”
