Alabama Football: It was a game in Oxford – for 11 seconds
By Ronald Evans
It took Ole Miss only 11 seconds to lead Alabama football Saturday night. Vaught-Hemingway exploded into celebration after one-play, a 75-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Ta’amu to D. K. Metcalf.
The celebration did not last long. Alabama football roared back with a three-play touchdown drive. The score came from a 43-yard run by Damien Harris. The play stunned the Ole Miss faithful into silence. They had nothing to cheer about for the rest of the game.
Ole Miss has a very good quarterback and at least three future NFL receivers. And little else. What Ole Miss does not have is a SEC defense. Had Nick Saban so chosen, and played Tua for more than a half, Alabama football could have easily broken 80 points.
Instead, Alabama football settled for setting an SEC record – the first SEC team to ever score 50 or more points in its first three games.
It was 49-7 at halftime and there was little reason to even play the second half. Alabama football gained 418 yards in the first half. Ole Miss had some first-half success, mostly from Jordan Ta’amu’s arm and gained 200 yards.
Other than Saivion Smith getting beat by D.K. Metcalf in bump-and-run for the Ole Miss TD, the Tide first half was near flawless. The only other major errors were a lost fumble and a missed 38-yard field goal by Joseph Bulovas.
Tua completed all of his third-down passes, moving him to 13-13 in that stat for the season. In his first road start, Tua was 11-15 for 191 yards and two touchdowns. Jalen Hurts also played well. Hurts was 7-10 for 85 yards and also for two touchdowns.
Eight Crimson Tide receivers caught passes, led by Jerry Jeudy with 136 yards and two touchdowns. Six Alabama football running backs had carries. Damien Harris gained the most, with 64 yards on just five carries. He also had four pass receptions.
The leading Crimson Tide defenders were Quinnen Williams and Christian Miller. Quinnen had six tackles. Miller had five tackles with 2.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for a loss. The defensive unit got quarterback pressure mainly rushing four and totaled four sacks and four QB hurries. The defense had six pass-breakups and two interceptions. Deionte Thompson and Xavier McKinney had the interceptions.
The highly respected Ole Miss ‘NWO’ Nasty Wide Outs group of Metcalf, A.J.Brown and DaMarkus Lodge managed a total of only seven receptions.
Alabama football fans were concerned about Tua when it was first reported he might have had leg cramps. Fans worried the problem might be worse than cramps. Nick Saban was clear after the game that Tua was not injured.
Next up for Alabama football is Jimbo Fisher bringing the Aggies to T-Town. There is a chance the Tide will finally have a worthy opponent.