Alabama secured its first win of the season on Saturday by beating Louisiana-Monroe 73-0, the Crimson Tide’s largest shutout since 1951.
“I liked that I really didn’t feel like they looked at the scoreboard, ever,” head coach Kalen DeBoer said. “They just focused on being their best and bringing it.”
There were three major areas of improvement that led to Alabama’s success this week.
Spreading the ball out
One thing that allowed the Crimson Tide to be as successful as it was on Saturday was its ability to spread the ball out.
From using the ground game in every direction to attacking every level and area of the field through the pass game, Alabama’s ability to strike anywhere on the field contributed to a performance completely unlike the one against Florida State.
Spreading the ball all over the field isn’t just what led to Alabama’s success, though. It was also the ability to spread the ball to plenty of players who did not see much action the week prior.
Against Florida State, the Crimson Tide had six players, including quarterback Ty Simpson and wide receiver Germie Bernard, record rushes. Those six tallied 87 total rushing yards and no touchdowns.
The inability to run the ball was also partially due to the poor offensive line performance, but there was also the need to run the ball more with other running backs since starting running back Jam Miller was out. Richard Young assumed his role, taking the majority of the carries.
Freshman running back Kevin Riley also got some carries and did so while looking like the most dominant back on the field. Yet he went underused by the coaching staff, only recording five rushing attempts.
That changed this week, though, as Riley recorded the most rushing attempts, even though five running backs saw action while there were nine players in total that attempted at least one rush.
“[Riley’s] done a good job here the last two or three weeks really elevating, elevating, elevating his game and understanding what it takes,” DeBoer said. “You can see there’s a violence he has.”
The same thing happened in the receiving game, too. Against ULM, the Crimson Tide had 11 players record at least one reception, and six record at least one touchdown. Meanwhile against FSU, eight recorded at least one reception, while only two recorded a touchdown.
Some of that may be due to Ryan Williams’ injury, but it allowed younger players to see action, like Lotzier Brooks, who made the most of his time on the field.
Brooks, a freshman, had four receptions for 58 yards, which was second most on the team. Similarly to Williams, he showcased his ability as a fast and extremely shifty athlete.
DeBoer said that he loved what he saw offensively, partially because of things that Brooks was doing.
Offensive line performance
Throughout the game against the Seminoles, Simpson was consistently under pressure, resulting in attempts to improve, which didn’t always work out.
This week, the offensive line’s performance was much better, rarely allowing pressure on any of the three quarterbacks that saw the field against the Warhawks.
In fact, ULM did not record a single sack throughout the game, and the Warhawks were only able to record two tackles for a loss.
“Just competition, we did that last year, too. It’s just something I think brings out the best in you,” DeBoer said about the offensive lineman. “I think that was something that was the case throughout the week of practice, and that’s — I think that led to better execution.”
Alabama’s rotation and competition of the offensive line is breeding a healthy battle, one that will lead to continued success in the future.
The details
The little things, like flags and playing with passion, actually make up a big part of a team’s success, and they are things that Alabama was able to improve upon from last week.
In Tallahassee, the Crimson Tide recorded eight penalties for 70 yards, which hurt Alabama plenty of times throughout the game. But this week, Alabama kept it at five penalties for 55 yards.
There was one targeting call in the mix that didn’t quite hurt the Crimson Tide considering the score of the game, but it will mean that Alabama will be without cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. for the first half of the game against Wisconsin next week.
There was also a question of the effort and passion that some players had after the Florida State game, where it seemed as though some players were jogging at times.
That was a question that could not be asked this week as the defense played with fire and a desire to win, and that is exactly what it did.
The defense played better overall, and that was a mix of what seemed like more effort from the week prior along with a better defensive game plan. The quality of ULM compared to Florida State also has to be taken into consideration, though.
Overall, the Crimson Tide saw success in every aspect of the game, and it will look to do so next week when it plays Wisconsin. The game will kick off at 11 a.m. CT and air on ABC.
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