Alabama vs. Southern Miss: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Third ranked Alabama (3-0) dominated Southern Miss (1-2) on Saturday night with quarterback Blake Sims taking yet another step in grabbing the quarterback job at Alabama. After a slow start defensively, the Tide pounded on the Golden Eagles and it resulted in a 52-12 win.

Alabama didn’t come out unscathed however, as a trio of starters did not play in the second half due to injuries. T.J. Yeldon (hamstring), Eddie Jackson (quadriceps), and Denzel Devall (shoulder) all suffered minor injuries in the first half and were held out in the second half.

All three are likely to be okay for the big showdown with Florida in Saturday’s game.

The Good
Blake Sims was once again effective, accurate, and poised, leading to another efficient day under center. Sims continues to show off his running ability more and more each week as he ran for 46 yards and his second rushing TD of the year.

Probably one of the more encouraging things about the game for Sims was the shots he took down the field, including a beautiful 27 yard pass down the left sideline to Amari Cooper. He still seemed to have a little trouble at times getting the play called and everyone set in a timely fashion, but he is getting more comfortable each and every week.

Jacob Coker played just a couple of drives in the second half and at one point drove Alabama all the way down to the one yard line. Coker then took a horrible sack on third down leading to a field goal, showing his decision making still has a lot to be desired. There is no question that the talent and potential are there with Coker, but he needs more time while Sims just gets more and more comfortable leading the Tide offense.

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Amari Cooper continues his incredible season with his third straight 100 yard receiving effort, but it was a 9 yard run on a reverse that may have been the most dazzling play of the game. He dodged tacklers left and right before running behind the line of scrimmage where he picked up a couple of wicked blocks from T.J. Yeldon and Blake Sims to spring him for the 9 yard gain.

Cooper may very well be the best receiver in the entire country and Alabama is taking full advantage of his skills early in the year, but more playmakers on the outside must step up as the defenses get tougher and more and more attention will be paid to Cooper.

Despite a slow start and allowing a couple of 10-plus play drives, the Alabama defense has still allowed just one touchdown all season. It has been a “bend but don’t break” type of defense at times this year but one aspect of the defense that is improving each week is the pass rush. Though the defense only recorded one sack in the game, Alabama defenders were in the Southern Miss backfield all game and laid some pretty intense blows to Southern Miss quarterback Nick Mullens.

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The best thing about it was that most of the pressure came from the front four on the defensive line with very few blitzes coming during the game. Xzavier Dickson and Ryan Anderson combined for a sack and 5 quarterback hurries in the game. In total, Alabama’s defense was credited with 9 quarterback hurries. Thus far this season, the team has recorded 7 sacks. That is the most an Alabama defense has had through three games since 2009 (10 sacks).

Alabama didn’t have a rusher go over 100 yards this week but again no back had more than 11 carries either. Alabama used five running backs for the second straight week and all five averaged over 6 yards per carry. As a whole, the Alabama rushing attack compiled 333 yards on the ground averaging almost 7 yards per touch.

The Bad
Alabama is still not creating turnovers this year and that has GOT to be a point of emphasis in the coming weeks. That can surely come back to hurt you as the opponents get stronger in the coming weeks. None of the Tide defenders have an interception and though there have been several forced fumbles, Alabama has recovered just one.

Giving a new quarterback like Blake Sims a short field to work with due to forcing turnovers would be huge in big games coming up, so this is something that can not be ignored.

The Ugly
Nick Perry’s targeting penalty in the second half was horrendous. It wasn’t for the hit, but for the fact that he will now have to sit out the first half of the Florida game. Players have to be much more aware of these types of hits for this very reason and as it happened right in front of Nick Saban, the look on the head coaches face said it all.

Perry is working in conjunction with Geno Smith to try and replace starter Jarrick Williams in the secondary so losing him for the entire first half next week is a major blow that Alabama did not need heading into the first conference game of the year.

PASSING
Blake Sims: 12/17, 168 yards, 2 TD; 5 carries, 46 yards, 1 TD
Jacob Coker: 5/7, 46 yards

RUSHING
Derrick Henry: 11 carries, 74 yards
Kenyan Drake: 9 carries, 59 yards; 1 catch, 9 yards
Tyren Jones: 7 carries, 57 yards, 1 TD
TJ Yeldon: 9 carries, 56 yards
Altee Tenpenny: 5 carries, 39 yards

RECEIVING
Amari Cooper: 8 catches, 135 yards, 1 TD; 1 carry, 9 yards
Christion Jones: 4 catches, 50 yards
Michael Nysewander: 1 catch, 9 yards
Chris Black: 1 catch, 5 yards
Brian Vogler: 1 catch, 5 yards, 1 TD
Robert Foster: 1 catch, 1 yard

DEFENSE
Landon Collins: 12 tackles, 0.5 tackle for loss, 1 quarterback hurry
Trey DePriest: 6 tackles, 0.5 tackle for loss, 1 quarterback hurry
Geno Smith: 4 tackles
Maurice Smith: 3 tackles
Xzavier Dickson: 3 tackles, 1.0 tackle for loss, 1 pass breakups, 3 quarterback hurries
Kenyan Drake: 2 tackles
Rashaan Evans: 2 tackles
Jabriel Washington: 2 tackles
Jonathan Allen: 2 tackles, 1.0 tackle for loss, 2 quarterback hurries
De’Shawn Hand: 1 tackle
Cameron Sims: 1 tackle
Ryan Anderson: 1 tackle, 1.0 tackle for loss, 1.0 sack, 2 quarterback hurries
Dalvin Tomlinson: 1 tackle, 1 quarterback hurry
DJ Pettway: 1 tackle
Jarran Reed: 1 tackle
Nick Perry: 1 tackle
Cyrus Jones: 1 tackle
Eddie Jackson: 1 tackle
Christion Jones: 1 tackle
A’Shawn Robinson: 1 tackle, 1 pass breakup
Hootie Jones: 1 tackle
Reuben Foster: 1 tackle

SPECIAL TEAMS
Adam Griffith: 1/1 FGs (long: 30 yards)
JK Scott: 1 punt, 34 yards
Christion Jones: 1 kickoff return, 111 yards; 1 punt return, 14 yards

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