Alabama Football: Six bold predictions for Mercer game

Bold Prediction No. 4

Tide punters will not be called on often. In their few punts, James Burnip or Ty Perrine or Jack Martin will uncork at least a 46-yarder.

Bold Prediction No. 5

Trey Sanders might be the Crimson Tide’s best running back. He is versatile, having both power and elusiveness. He is also an effective pass receiver. Coaches and fellow players admire the hard work it took to return to football after two serious injuries. As a reward, Sanders may get the most carries against Mercer. If he does, Sanders will lead Tide rushers by gaining 100 or more yards.

Bold Prediction No. 6

Going back to a Miami game prediction, either Jameson Williams or JoJo Earle will score a touchdown on a return.

A maybe not bold score prediction

As always against inferior opponents, Nick Saban will not want to run up the score. Bill O’Brien will be mindful of that in play-calling. However, Bryce Young and the receivers need game reps to develop chemistry. The same is true for the offensive line. Even with another vanilla approach, first unit scoring will be little constrained – and certainly not at all by Mercer. If it chose to, the Crimson Tide offense could crank up 70-plus points on the Bears. Nick Saban is usually successful in holding down scores … so,

Alabama Crimson Tide – A lot of points (52 or more) – Mercer Bears 6

Mercer Head Coach, Drew Cronic employs a hybrid option offense designed to create misreads by opposing defenses. If the Alabama Football defense misreads a few plays, it has a speed advantage to make up for the mistakes. As in the kind of speed no Mercer player has ever seen in a game.