Alabama Football: Tide survives Starkville, burns MSU blitz late
By Ronald Evans
Alabama football survived Starkville with two late touchdowns drives. The Tide defense struggled to stop the Bulldogs run game, but Jalen Hurts led his team to victory.
Alabama football survived Starkville Saturday night because of two men. The younger of the two was Tide quarterback Jalen Hurts who carried his team to two touchdowns in the game’s last ten minutes. The other man called defensive plays from the opposing sideline, Todd Grantham.
Grantham brought pressure all night long, holding the Tide offense mostly in check with five sacks and several more quarterback pressures. With the game tied and 35 seconds left in the 4th quarter, Alabama football was at the Bulldogs 26 yard-line. Grantham dialed up heat again and Jalen Hurts punished him and the Bulldogs nation with a slant pass to Devonta Smith for the winning touchdown.
Grantham’s bold play-calling and aggressive defense caused the Tide trouble throughout the game. Big plays had allowed the Tide two first-half scoring drives of 75 yards. But from nine minutes to go in the 2nd quarter until 14 minutes to go in the 4th quarter, the Tide had only generated three points.
At 14:04 left in the 4th, the Tide started at its own 18 yard-line. In the preceding three quarters, Alabama football had only seven possessions, as the Bulldogs offense ground out yards and burned up clock. In its seven possessions, the Tide scored two TD’s, a field goal and had four punts. Three of those punts came after Tide offense three-and-outs.
The 4th Quarter Rally
From that point, the Tide offense rallied with three 4th quarter drives, two for touchdowns, the other a missed field goal. The winning touchdown drive was six plays and 68 yards in 44 seconds. Hurts was calm, measured and precise. When Grantham brought the game’s last blitz, Hurts made him pay. Cutting across the middle, Devonta Smith snagged a dart from Jalen and sprinted into the end zone.
The Bulldogs ran on the Tide too easily – 172 yards gained compared to the Tide season average of 76 yards. State also dominated Time-of-Possession, 38:56 to 21:04. Alabama football fans and Nick Saban will not be satisfied with those numbers. Alabama football will have to play better against Auburn in two weeks.
More important, on a November Saturday night, on the road in the SEC, Alabama football found a way to survive. And surviving is all that really matters in a championship run.
Take a look below and enjoy the winning touchdown.
https://twitter.com/TheHoundztooth/status/929559398296489985
Next: 30 Greatest Games in Alabama Football History
Should the win against Mississippi State be added to our list of the Tide’s greatest games? Probably not, but it was a fine comeback. Maybe for Dan Mullen, had his defensive coordinator not called one last blitz, maybe Dan would not be 0-9 as a head coach against the Tide. We don’t know and frankly, we don’t care. All we care is the Tide survived.