Consistent presence: Alabama's pass rush makes an impact despite zero sacks

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Prior to every play Will Anderson and Chris Braswell would say to each other that they would “meet each other in the backfield.”

While it served as an added motivation to beat their teammate to the spot, it’s one thing to say it, but a whole other thing to actually do it.

The five-star duo both tallied a tackle for loss, while the defensive unit tallied four quarterback hurries in the win, but despite getting very acquainted with the Utah State quarterbacks, Alabama did not record a sack in the 55-0 win over the Aggies.

“It’s very frustrating,” Anderson said. “But at the same time, we go out and play the next play. We can’t get down before we play the next play. Before we line up or anything like that we’d say, ‘We’re going to meet in the backfield and we’re going to be back there.’ As soon as the Utah State quarterback threw the ball we were both back there.”

The Crimson Tide’s trio of pass rushers in Anderson, Braswell and Dallas Turners combined for 12 total tackles in the win, while the constant pass rush made moving the ball down the field a tall order for Utah State as they tallied 136 total yards against Alabama, after recording more than 500 in Week 0.

The Aggies had chances to record more big plays through the air as Utah State's Brian Cobbs and Justin McGriff were able to get enough separation from their matchups. However, the Alabama pass rush could not be contained as Logan Bonner and company were allotted just two seconds to make a throw on each dropback, according to Pro Football Focus.

Last season, Alabama allowed opposing quarterbacks around 2.5 seconds to throw the ball, with the fastest average time coming against Cincinnatti where the Crimson Tide gave Desmond Ridder 2.4 seconds in the pocket.

Despite not getting the reward the defense wanted against Utah State Nick Saban said the Aggies limited the Crimson Tide pass rush by completing short passes or just throwing the ball away.

“We did affect the quarterback in the game, pushing the pocket,” Saban said. “We had some free runners in space which affected his throws. But typical drop back, hold the ball, see it develop, and throw it, they didn’t do much of that. The ball was catch and throw all the time so we didn’t have a lot of opportunities to get the proverbial sack, but I think we affected the quarterback pretty well in the game.”

Alabama’s pass rush will look to accumulate opportunities for sacks against Texas who tallied 383 yards of total offense against the University of Louisiana-Monroe in Week 1.

However, when the Warhawks were able to get pressure on Longhorns starter Quinn Ewers, the freshman struggled, recording an average passing grade of 38 when he was under pressure and when he was blitzed according to Pro Football Focus.

It’s an aspect Anderson said the team will look to exploit when Alabama travels to Austin.

“It’s very important because they haven’t seen a team like this before that will go out there and try to get them riled up,” Anderson said. “We’re going to get pressure on them early on and I think it’s very beneficial to what we have to do to slow the team down.”