Alabama Football: Biggest takeaways as Crimson Tide enters the Bye

The pass rush has found its groove.

After losing a player as talented as Will Anderson Jr. to the draft it’s easy to expect the pass rush to take a step back in 2023. The pass rush has sacked the quarterback 29 times through eight games averaging out to 3.63 sacks per game. Replacing a player of Anderson’s caliber doesn’t seem as daunting when a player produces at the level of Dallas Turner. Dallas Turner’s 8 sacks rank second in the power 5 behind Jonah Ellis of Utah. Rushing opposite Turner, Chris Braswell has burst onto the scene recording 6.5 sacks through eight games. Braswell’s strip sack of Tennessee Quarterback Joe Milton sealed the game for the Alabama football team on Saturday giving them a 14-point lead with seven minutes to go. The interior defensive linemen have added 7.5 sacks of their own but, the duo of Braswell and Turner has provided Alabama a top-tier edge rush duo that they had with Will Anderson.

Heading into the bye Alabama Football controls its destiny

With the only loss for Alabama Football coming to an out-of-conference opponent in the Texas Longhorns the Crimson Tide control their own destiny. Should Alabama win out the rest of the regular season they’ll find themselves in Atlanta for the SEC championship game just as the fans and team hoped. After its 8th game, the Crimson Tide sits ninth in the AP poll with two one-loss teams ranked ahead of them. Should they win a potential SEC championship game they’d find themselves back in the College Football Playoff after a year hiatus.

Note: All stats via ESPN