Alabama took care of business in its SEC opener on Saturday, defeating Kentucky 45-17 in Lexington.
Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from the Crimson Tide’s first road win of 2026.
The good
Second-half run game. After managing just five rushing yards in the first 30 minutes, Alabama’s ground attack came alive and looked like the unit that showed promise a week earlier against East Carolina.
The Crimson Tide finished the contest with 155 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns from three different players. Daniel Hill carried the load and showed impressive strength and surprising burst for a 240-pound player, finishing with a career-high 104 yards and a 3-yard touchdown on 18 attempts.
Freshman EJ Crowell punched in a 3-yard score that gave Alabama its first lead and had an impressive 17-yard run, and fellow freshman Trae’shawn Brown added a 4-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Alabama’s four running backs combined for 161 yards and three scores on 30 carries.
The second-half physicality took pressure off quarterback Keelon Russell after a not-so-pretty first half, keeping the Crimson Tide offense ahead of the chains after a sloppy opening 30 minutes.
“I felt like the ability to run the ball was there,” head coach Kalen DeBoer said. “As the second half went along, I think they helped take some pressure off Keelon.”
Questions will remain once the team sees some better defensive fronts, but the second-half surge was a welcome sight after last season’s extended collapses on the ground.
Defensive front. Once again, it was Kane Wommack’s unit that set the tone and never let Kentucky run away with things early and get back into the game late.
The Crimson Tide allowed just 209 total yards and held the Wildcats to a whopping 1-of-14 on third down, and allowed just 62 total yards and two rushing yards after halftime. The defense also forced two big turnovers that helped swing things Alabama’s way.
Sophomore linebacker Luke Metz intercepted Kenny Minchey and returned it 34 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, and USC transfer Devan Thompkins strip-sacked Minchey in the third quarter, which led to Crowell’s go-ahead score. The Crimson Tide front also recorded four sacks, two from Thompkins and two from Virginia Tech transfer Caleb Woodson.
“I thought our defense did a good job of continuing to evolve throughout the game,” DeBoer said. “When we started getting the lead, they can’t play their game. They’re forced to throw it a little bit more, and then our pass rush gets home.”
The mass and physicality along the defensive front that Wommack preached all offseason has been showing up, and its third-down defense, with only one conversion allowed in two games, has been downright dominant.
Special teams. An underrated aspect of the Crimson Tide’s first two games is how consistently solid the special teams unit has been.
Conor Talty stayed perfect, converting field goals of 25, 34 and 41 yards to notch his total 5-for-5 in the first two games of the season and has made his last 10 attempts dating back to last season.
The unit also delivered a critical stop when Kentucky tried a fake punt on fourth-and-3 from its own 32. Alabama stuffed tight end Henry Boyer a yard short, setting up a Hill touchdown two plays later.
This was a unit that was bad enough for extended stretches last season that special teams coordinator Jay Nunez’ job was in jeopardy, but it’s been anything but an issue this season.
The bad
Keelon’s mistakes. Russell’s first career road start can best be described as a mixed bag, as he had both highlight and lowlight plays, as it essentially was a tale of two halves for Alabama’s signal caller.
He finished 16-of-23 for 188 yards and a 5-yard touchdown pass to Rico Scott, but the first half included three turnovers, one of which was a pick-six. He had a brutal lost fumble on a busted play and a bad decision on a throw before the end of the half that resulted in three Kentucky points and a 17-13 halftime deficit for the Crimson Tide.
Russell also occasionally took too long in the pocket and would take sacks that contributed to minus-9 rushing yards on eight carries, and he struggled at times to find clean passing lanes on screens and RPOs. Russell owned it afterward.
“Just can’t make sloppy mistakes,” Russell said. “I got to do better quarterback play going into next week. There’s no excuses on my end.”
The second half was much cleaner for Russell, which included the touchdown pass to Scott and no turnovers. But the early turnovers and decision-making remain the biggest area that has to tighten before bigger games arrive.
The ugly
Recurring road game themes. Concerns about whether DeBoer could handle an unranked opponent on the road after previous ghastly losses on the road in his first two seasons weren’t exactly alleviated right away in Saturday’s contest.
The first-half script felt familiar, with several pre-snap issues, discipline problems with eight penalties, plays, a quarterback forcing things and an offense that could not establish any rhythm. The communication between the booth and the sideline going out during the third quarter and a sellout crowd of 61,820 at Kroger Field only amplified it.
“Far from a perfect game,” DeBoer said. “It wasn’t this crazy energy that we had to have. I felt like it was kind of almost just getting locked in, getting refocused, and just knowing the game was going to be ours. We’ve just got to go out and execute.”
Despite everything, the Crimson Tide still won its ninth straight over Kentucky and improved to 2-0, and the second-half response did show resiliency.
The first-half version of this team, however, is the one that may get exposed if it keeps showing up in SEC road environments, and it’s a theme that has been all too familiar for the Crimson Tide.
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