Alabama Aims to Repeat Historic Offensive Outing Versus Tennessee

With weapons galore, the Crimson Tide offensive unit hasn't been slowed down at all, so far this season, punishing defenses in every facet of the game

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Against Georgia last weekend, the University of Alabama offense did something that hadn’t been done in 20 years when it defeated the Bulldogs, 41-24.

It was the first time in two decades that an Southeastern Conference offense had a 400-yard passer, 150-yard rusher, and two 160-yard receivers in a single game. 

What's next for this group? 

Crimson Tide senior running back Najee Harris says it's time to rinse and repeat. 

“Well the next progression is to do it every week, again and again and again until the season is over,” Harris said on Monday to reporters via Zoom. “Hopefully we perform at that level every game. I hope that no matter who we’re playing, a not so great team on film to a great team, that we play up to the level of our standard. Mac [Jones] played good, the ‘Rydeouts’ played good, most importantly the line played good. The line, obviously, took care of everything else with me. It was a hard-fought game and hopefully we can keep this up every week.”

With Tennessee up next, the leader of the offensive unit, redshirt-junior signal caller Mac Jones, who leads the nation in yards per attempt, will try to keep playing aa Heisman-Trophy level and look to keep his 400-yard passing streak alive. 

"I think Mac's done a good job," Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said. "Every play the quarterback makes a read in terms of where should I go with the ball and what should I do, relative to what the defense has planned. So Mac has done a really really good job of that there's only been a couple occasions this year where we didn't feel like his eyes were in the right place where he wasn't making the right decision. He's been very consistent with that. And that's really what has made and helped him be very effective in what he does. So he's smart. He understands, he prepares well. And I think those two things are paying off for him.”

Not to mention, senior wide out DeVonta Smith who has been playing his best ball of the season over the last two weeks, combining for 331 yards, 24 catches, and three touchdowns against Georgia and Ole Miss. 

His final score against the Bulldogs was the most impressive, with a defensive back draped all over him and having to go up and adjust to the ball coming down with it in the back of the end zone. 

Just ask junior cornerback Patrick Surtain II how hard it is to cover the Louisiana native as he tries to do it everyday in practice.

“Those are quite the catches we see in practice," Surtain said. "He works on his hands every day but for a defensive back that’s really hard to guard especially when as tight of coverage [is] on him and for him to make that catch is unbelievable.”

Harris agreed with Jones' post-game comments about Smith being a 'Jordan-level' competitor and just how important he is to the offense as a whole. 

“Smitty is always a competitor, ever since we got here together," Harris said. "He’s always been a competitor. Catch in the back end zone was a great catch. Anytime you can make plays like that, we always tell ourselves we’ve got to make as many plays as possible. That play got us up to a higher lead, it got us up. He’s always been a competitor ever since got here in his freshman year.”

When speaking with the media, Harris was also very complimentary of the big men in the trenches, noting that his success is mainly because of what they do up front.

"Yeah, I always tell people that, that I think we have the best O-Line in the country," Harris said. "For them to progress each week, each game, each day in practice, I think they need to have more attention brought to them than what they are, Coach [Kyle] Flood and everyone in that room, doing an amazing job, progressing each week, every day in practice. And they don’t get enough attention, so if y’all can give them more attention, maybe bring them up here for a couple of interviews.”

Harris, Jones, and Smith aren't the only ones to see their games evolve and develop to the next level so far this season as the Crimson Tide have also found a weapon in sophomore placekicker Will Reichard, who is perfect on the year, making all 30 of his kicks, including a 52-yarder against the Bulldogs which was a career long. 

The tailback was one of the first players to run on the field and congratulate Reichard after nailing the long kick since it swung the momentum back in the Crimson Tide's favor. 

"I thought he played good," Harris said. "That’s a position we really worked hard at, and I see the kickers out there really working hard every practice. I was excited for him to hit that, because that was big for us going into the second half."

Reichard was named Special Teams Player of the Week by Saban and the coaching staff. His leg provides just another deadly asset for a Crimson Tide offense that is pulverizing opponents at every turn.  

It was the longest made field goal for the Crimson Tide dating back to the 2015 season.

"He’s done a really good job consistently kicking," Saban said. "Extra points, field goals have been good in practice and games."