The good, the bad, and the ugly from Alabama Football's win over USF

It was far from pretty, but Alabama Football improved to 2-0 with a 42-16 win over USF on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa with former head coach Nick Saban in attendance for the re-naming of "Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium."

It took 53-and-a-half minutes for the Crimson Tide to finally gain separation from their pesky American Athletic Conference counterparts, with three touchdowns in quick succession in the fourth quarter allowing the Tide to come away with what would look at a quick glance like a comfortable victory.

It was anything but comfortable, however, as Alabama led by just a single point in the fourth quarter. Lots will need to be cleaned up as the easy part of the schedule has ended. With a trip to Wisconsin on tap next week and the bulk of the SEC schedule coming after a bye-week, the Crimson Tide has little time to get right or it will get beat.

Let's examine the good, the bad, and the ugly from last night's win:

The Good: Alabama's redzone defense

It wasn’t always pretty for the Alabama defense on Saturday night. The unit allowed 206-rushing yards on a 4.5 YPC clip, a number that will have to get better against the better teams on the schedule moving forward. QB Byrum Brown did the bulk of the damage with 108 yards on 23 attempts - a number that you sometimes have to accept when you are facing a mobile QB, especially when that QB only produces 103 passing yards on 35-attempts. 

Perhaps more concerning, however, was RB Nay’Quan Wright rushing for 64 yards on 11 carries, netting a 5.8 YPC clip. Alabama was worried about their young secondary holding up against Alex Golesh’s prolific passing offense, which will be something to monitor when the Tide faces better quarterbacks and receivers in the coming weeks. 

However, when the chips were down, the Tide defense made plays when they had to be made, particularly in the redzone. USF produced four drives that reached the redzone, and Alabama allowed only one touchdown on those drives. The lone TD drive came on a short-field, where USF needed just 39-yards to reach the endzone following a fumble by junior RB Jam Miller. 

Alabama forced field goals on the three other drives by the Bulls, perhaps none bigger than the final drive into the redzone by the Bulls in the fourth quarter of an 8-point game. USF produced a 71-yard drive on 8-plays following a Tide touchdown, and looked to potentially tie the game. 

Alabama’s defense stiffened once more, forcing USF into a controversial field goal decision with just 6:45 to play in the game. The Bulls hit to cut the Alabama lead to just 21-16, but the Tide’s offense finally found its footing, producing three consecutive touchdown drives to salt the game away. 

The Bad: Turnovers

A recipe for an upset loss or just playing in a closer game than you should against an inferior opponent typically starts with losing the turnover battle.

Alabama was -3 in turnovers against USF, losing three fumbles and not forcing any on defense. All three fumbles were in the second quarter, and could have ultimately been a lot more costly if it wasn’t for tremendous effort on the defensive side of the ball.

USF only produced a single touchdown off of Alabama’s three turnovers. Kendrick Law got the turnover party started by fumbling the opening kickoff of the 2nd half after an explosive 50-yard return.

Jam Miller put the ball on the ground on Alabama’s 2nd possession of the 2nd half, which USF turned into a touchdown on a short field. The Tide’s third fumble happened early in the 4th quarter after the offense had finally moved the ball and had a chance to put points on the board. Milroe fumbled an exchange from center Parker Brailsford on third-and-goal from the 2-yard-line.

Alabama will have trouble beating better teams on their schedule if they are -3 in the turnover battle. They have to take better care of the football, and I’m sure Kane Wommack will not be pleased with his defense’s inability to force turnovers and put the offense in fortuitous situations.

The Ugly: The Offensive Line

Similarly to the start of last season, Alabama’s offensive line looked like a complete mess against South Florida. The obvious caveat is that star LT Kadyn Proctor has missed the first two weeks with a shoulder injury he suffered in pre-game warmups ahead of the season opener. 

Proctor’s injury along with redshirt sophomore Elijah Pritchett being limited throughout the week, led to Kalen DeBoer shuffling the deck up-front. Tyler Booker kicked out to left tackle, making his first career start at the blindside. Michigan State transfer Geno VanDeMark slotted into the left guard spot, and redshirt freshman Wilkin Formby started at right tackle for the 2nd straight week. 

The results were a disaster for three-and-a-half quarters. Jalen Milroe was sacked three times, hurried several others, and there were holding and procedural penalties left and right. Two holding penalties negated touchdowns, with Justice Haynes having an early touchdown called back, and most critically, Jalen Milroe had a 74-yard touchdown run taken off the board late in the second quarter that would have allowed the Tide to take a 21-6 lead into the locker room, likely completely changing the rest of the game. 

VanDeMark struggled in his first start with the Tide, but it was Formby who drew the most ire. Formby was whistled for four holding penalties, and looked overmatched against USF rushers all night long. A lot of football is mental, and a young player has trouble with the old play the next play verbiage - it was obvious that it was in Formby’s head throughout the game. 

DeBoer made the call for the final 6:45 of action to sub-in a banged up Elijah Pritchett, who promptly anchored three straight touchdowns for the Tide offense. Alabama’s offense produced 42% of their total output for the game in the six snaps Pritchett played. Both long touchdown runs were called runs to the right that he helped spring. 

Pritchett’s performance, and the impending return of Proctor, should give Tide fans plenty of hope that the line will be one of the best in the country moving forward. We know the strength of the interior of the line with Booker, Brailsford, and Jaedan Roberts, so if the tackle situation comes together, Alabama’s offense will become a whole new animal to deal with. 

More Alabama-USF post-game coverage: