Fresh off a 24-7 win over Florida State, No. 1 Alabama returns to Bryant-Denny Stadium for its home opener Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT. While last week’s performance proved the road to the College Football Playoff will still go through Tuscaloosa, the victory left the Crimson Tide in serious injury trouble as it lost four of its linebackers.
This week, No. 1 Alabama faces a Fresno State team coming off of a 66-0 win over FCS opponent Incarnate Word. While the game will not draw as much attention as last week’s top-five matchup, it will still provide some interesting storylines. Here are five questions to consider heading into the rest of the week:
Will the passing game improve?
Jalen Hurts took care of the ball and did enough to get Alabama the win last week, but the starting quarterback still left plenty of room for improvement. Hurts completed 10 of 18 passes for 96 yards and a touchdown against the Seminoles, marking his fourth straight sub-150 yard passing performance.
Coming into the game, there was concern about the sophomore’s ability to connect in the downfield passing game. Hurts answered that by hitting receiver Calvin Ridley in stride for a 53-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.
Read: The 3-2-1, What we learned about Alabama Football following week 1
Still, there were times when the 6-foot-2, 218-pound quarterback reverted back to his bad habits of last season. Hurts was quick to tuck the ball and run on some occasions rather than remain in the pocket and go through his progressions. That caused Alabama to miss out on a few possible big plays.
“I think there were times where he did a good job, he stepped up and made some really good throws,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said Monday. “There were other times where he instinctively maybe took off a little sooner than we like. We're going to review those things with him on film. In fact, we already have. Hopefully just get him to trust and believe in doing the things that he needs to do to technically execute the plays. Although I thought his overall performance for the first game was very good.”
Saban said some of Hurts’ issues were caused by a lack of protection from the offensive line as Alabama went up against an aggressive pass rush from Florida State. It will be interesting to see how Hurts fares if he gets more time to work this weekend.
