Alabama Football: Hats off to the Crimson Tide defense

An Alabama football team, without its offensive leader, Bryce Young made enough mistakes Saturday night to lose a couple of football games. Against a just good opponent, four turnovers and two missed field goals is enough to lose most games.

The Alabama Crimson Tide did not lose Saturday night, because its defense refused to lose. There are many key stats from the game, but the most telling, and the main reason the Crimson Tide won was 14 Quarterback Hurries against Aggies’ QB, Haynes King.

In his post-game review, Nick Saban said,

"The pass rush was really good tonight. Will (Anderson Jr.) did a really, really good job. They really had a tough time blocking him."

Anderson got no sacks against the Aggies, but of the Tide’s 14 QB pressures, Will got eight of them. Texas A&M made one more sack than did the Tide, four to three, but the Aggies had only two ‘hurries.’ Certainly, the difference in passing attempts impacted those stats. Alabama threw the football 19 times while the Aggies attempted 47 passes. Haynes connected on just 25 passes for 53% completions. Jalen Milroe connected on 63% of his passes.

Saban also credited the Bryant-Denny crowd,

"I thought the fans were great. I think the fans had as much to do with us winning as anything."

Saban said Bryce Young wanted to go into the game on the Tide’s last drive. Not allowing him to take that chance was the correct decision. Asked about Young, against Tennessee, Saban did not predict Bryce would be able to return.

Saban’s full post-game review can be seen below.

Alabama Football fans still concerned about Bryce Young

Many Alabama football fans question if the Crimson Tide, without Bryce Young, can score enough points to beat Tennessee. Against Texas A&M, Jalen Milroe made some good plays. He fought hard to overcome his mistakes and did enough for the Crimson Tide to win.

But more than 24 points will be needed against the Vols. Pete Golding’s (and Nick Saban’s) defense is very good. It saved the Crimson Tide on its home field. Asking it to do the same against the Vols, in Knoxville, is a big ask.

Alabama is a different team with Bryce Young. Young is likely to be fine against Tennessee, But if he is not, Jalen Milroe will have to play much better in his second start than he did in his first. Not playing, as Saban described it “winning football” will not work in Knoxville.

In addition to the quarterback hurries, the Alabama defense did an excellent job keeping Devon Achane in check. Achane gained 62 rushing yards on 16 carries, with 15 yards coming on one run. His four pass receptions totaled five yards.