Alabama Football: Tide Tua-much for a game South Carolina

Alabama football opened its SEC regular season Saturday afternoon on the road against South Carolina and came away with a 47-23 victory.

Alabama football did many things well Saturday afternoon in Columbia, SC. The Gamecocks earned their name by being ready for a fight. Will Muschamp gambled on multiple occasions and mostly came up short.

South Carolina, behind true freshman quarterback, Ryan Hilinski moved the ball against the Crimson Tide defense to the tune of 459 net yards. Missed alignments, missed tackles and poor tackling angles hurt the Crimson Tide defense. The Gamecocks did most of their damage through the air but also rushed for a 4.7-yard average. Even the Alabama football secondary showed some vulnerability. Also hampering the Crimson Tide were 11 penalties for 92 yards.

The Tide’s weaknesses were eclipsed by an excellent Steve Sarkisian game plan. Sark’s plan was masterfully executed by Tua Tagovailoa. Tua finished 28-for-36 for 444 yards and five touchdown passes. Had Nick Saban left Tua in for the final drive he could have easily set a new, Crimson Tide single-game record for passing yards.

Tua connected with six Crimson Tide receivers and two running backs on his 28 completions. DeVonta Smith led the way with eight catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns. Henry Ruggs III and Jerry Jeudy had six catches each. Najee Harris had five catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns.

The Crimson Tide rushing attack only netted 76 yards but Tua was so efficient it didn’t much matter. The Tide offensive line did give up two sacks and two QB hurries but was mostly solid giving Tua time to throw.

Alabama football fans will not be fully satisfied but a 24-point SEC road win is always a reason to celebrate. In his post-game comments, Nick Saban said,

"The goal was to play a complete game today. I thought we did that offensively. I thought we ran out of gas on defense."

The worst post-game news was LaBryan Ray may have re-injured his foot and will get an MRI. There appeared to be no other serious injury problems.

The win Saturday took Nick Saban to 17-0 in games against his former assistant coaches. Check back with Bama Hammer as we provide more insight into the Crimson Tide win over South Carolina.