Why Jalen Milroe should feast on Mississippi State's secondary
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Jalen Milroe should be licking his chops this week. The redshirt sophomore has experienced some growing pains since taking over as Alabama’s starting quarterback this season. However, if there’s one thing he’s done consistently well, it’s deliver the deep ball.
According to Pro Football Focus, Milroe has completed 10 of 15 passes that have traveled 20 or more yards through the air past the line of scrimmage over his three starts this season. Those throws have resulted in 379 yards and five touchdowns without an interception, good enough for a 149.3 NFL passer rating that ranks third among Division I quarterbacks with at least 10 deep-ball attempts. For perspective, a good passer rating is anything over 100 while the max score a quarterback can get is 158.3.
This week, those stats could soar even higher as Milroe goes up against a Mississippi State team that has been abysmal at defending the deep ball this season.
Over four weeks, the Bulldogs have faced nine deep-ball passes. Seven were completed, four resulted in gains over 40 yards, and four went for touchdowns. There was one interception, but that came off of Arizona’s Jayden de Laura, who has been picked off five times over four games, tied for worst among FBS passers.
In fact, the last time Mississippi State successfully defended a deep ball came against de Laura on a batted-down pass in the end zone during the second quarter of its 31-24 overtime win over Arizona on Sept. 9. Since then, the Bulldogs have allowed completions on six straight deep balls for 201 yards and three touchdowns.
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels completed 30 of 34 passes for 361 yards and two touchdowns during the Tigers’ 41-14 victory over Mississippi State two weeks ago. He was 4-for-4 for 152 yards with two touchdowns on deep-ball throws.
Last week, South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler completed 18 of 20 passes for 288 yards and three touchdowns during a 37-30 win over the Bulldogs. He had just one deep-ball throw, but it went for a 75-yard score.
If you’re counting at home, that’s a combined 48-for-54 (88.9%) for 649 yards and five touchdowns between the two starters.
“You can’t win games when defensively you allow people to have that completion percentage,” Mississippi State defensive coordinator Matt Brock told reporters on Monday. “LSU was a more quick-game and challenging those easy-access throws. [South Carolina] was, whether it be we aren’t getting the pressure we need or they get out on the edge and check a ball down, some were more down-the-field routes where we just have to play tighter in our coverage at times. When you give up a big play, naturally guys will sometimes play off a little more, so we have to have confidence in our abilities and play it tighter.”
Milroe is coming off an 80% passing performance of his own last week, going 17 of 21 for 225 yards with a touchdown and an interception during Alabama’s 24-10 victory over Ole Miss. According to PFF that included him completing 3 of 4 deep balls for 117 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Hale.
While Milroe continued his downfield dominance, his big-play threat helped open up the short-passing game as he went 12 of 13 for 65 yards on throws less than 10 yards.
“I think what's key to that is just knowing the system of our offense, knowing what the defense gives on that certain play and trusting in the guys on offense,” Milroe said Monday. “Just building on that factor of just seeing that we have a guy that's in the flat, we can check it down. Then the feedback on the sideline. It comes from just talking to the offensive staff. Hey, just improving on that previous drive and just knowing that there's another outlet to the passing game.”
If recent weeks are any indication, Milroe should have plenty of available outlets Saturday as No. 12 Alabama (3-1, 1-0) travels to Mississippi State (2-2, 0-2) for an 8 p.m. CT kickoff inside Davis Wade Stadium.