Game Preview: No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide vs Mercer Bears
By Matt Melton
Game Preview: No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide vs Mercer Bears
When: Saturday, September 11 at 4:00 pm ET on SEC Network
Location: Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, AL
The Alabama Crimson Tide season officially began last Saturday with a dominant performance to open the 2021 campaign. Now with the highly-anticipated season-opener fully out of the way, the attention now turns to Week 2, as well as an opponent who had an impressive showing a week ago.
Alabama began the 2021 season last week with a dominant 44-13 victory over then No. 14 ranked Miami. This was an overall impressive showing from the Crimson Tide as they out-gained the Hurricanes in total yardage 501-266, even carrying a 27-3 lead into halftime.
The defending national champions certainly appear to have not skipped a beat in their season-opener, even despite the turnover to both the roster and coaching staff. One thing to monitor however for the Crimson Tide in this matchup is how Alabama replaces Christopher Allen on defense who was injured last week against Miami.
Mercer opened up the 2021 season a week ago with an impressive 69-0 home victory over Point University. While the Bears did lose a few notable players off last season’s team, Mercer has a talented roster that could potentially contend in the Southern Conference this season.
The Bears finished the 2020 season at 5-6 overall, their fourth consecutive season finishing with an under-.500 record. Mercer’s last travel to Tuscaloosa back in 2017 where the Bears lost 56-0 to the then top-ranked Crimson Tide.