Alabama Offense Sputters Against State

Despite scoring 30 points and earning the win, the Crimson Tide offense put up a season low in yardage and stalled for most of the second half.

Katie Windham | Oct 23, 2022

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Alabama Crimson Tide

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — At the end of the day, Nick Saban's not going to complain about a win. And Alabama did bounce back with a 30-6 win against Mississippi State Saturday night, but it wasn't a pretty one for the Alabama offense.

A week after putting up big numbers in the loss against Tennessee, the Crimson Tide offense struggled to get anything going consistently against Mississippi State Saturday night. And consistency was the key concept for Alabama quarterback Bryce Young after the game.

"We’ve got to be more consistent," Young said. "We did some good things, but there’s some drives that we want back. So I think it’s just that consistency. Making sure that we’re that same team. We stalled a little bit in that second half and were able to lean on our defense that did a great job all game. We want to be the best version, the best unit we can be.”

Alabama jumped out to a three-touchdown lead early in the second quarter, but Young's six-yard connection to Traeshon Holden with 8:19 left in the second quarter would be the last time the Crimson Tide found the end zone against the Bulldogs.

For the first time this season, Alabama was outgained. With Mississippi State's late drive and touchdown, the Bulldogs finished with 293 yards compared to just 290 for the Crimson Tide. The 290 yards was 84 yards less than the previous season low for Alabama against Texas. Alabama got the ball in Bulldog territory multiple times in the second half but could only come up with twp field goals.

The defense was pursuing its first shutout of the season late in the second half. The Crimson Tide got the ball back with a little over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter but could not milk the clock down. Mississippi State got the ball back with 3:58 to go and drove down the field to score its lone touchdown.

"We should be able to take the air out of the ball on offense," Saban said in the postgame. "We couldn’t run the ball very well tonight, that’s something we definitely need to improve on."

Led by Jahmyr Gibbs, Alabama's rushing game had been picking up steam the last several weeks. The Crimson Tide came into the matchup 12th in the country averaging 236.7 rushing yards per game. Alabama had at least 100 rushing yards in every game so far this season.

Against the Bulldogs, Alabama finished with 29 yards on the ground. It was the lowest total put out by the offense since the national championship loss to Georgia in January when Alabama had 30 rushing yards.

Gibbs had a 19-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, his first rushing touchdown at Bryant-Denny Stadium, and that ended up being pretty much the only highlight on the ground.

"We didn’t play very well with any consistency on offense," Saban said. "And that starts with what I said before— couldn’t run the ball very well. That affects play action passes. I thought we had some RPO throws that we should have taken that we didn't take, and we missed a couple."

According to Alabama right tackle JC Latham, Mississippi State's slants and linebacker plugs on defense created a lot of misdirection, which made it difficult to get get guys free on combo blocks and run the ball effectively.

"It means a lot that we had a pretty successful passing game," Latham said. "As far as the run game goes, we gotta do a better job at executing and being more consistent. We’re just focused on handling our business moving forward.”

Young said it doesn't put any extra pressure on his shoulders when the run game is struggling because the offense has to have success as a cohesive unit. According to the quarterback, all 11 guys have to be on the same page. The quarterback finished with 249 yards and two touchdowns in the win.

Fortunately for the offense, it now has a week to get rested and refreshed as the Crimson Tide enters the bye week. It gives the team the opportunity to watch film and improve, but also physically recover their bodies without the strain of a game.

For Saban, this week could be especially important for getting Young back to full health after the shoulder injury he suffered against Arkansas.

"I think Bryce played really well in the game, but I think getting him back 100 percent will really help," Saban said.

Katie Windham is the assistant editor for BamaCentral, primarily covering football, basketball gymnastics and softball. She is a two-time graduate of the University of Alabama and has covered a variety of Crimson Tide athletics since 2019 for outlets like The Tuscaloosa News, The Crimson White and the Associated Press before joining BamaCentral full time in 2021. Windham has covered College Football Playoff games, the Women's College World Series, NCAA March Madness, SEC Tournaments and championships in multiple sports.

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