Film Room: 70-Yard Runs Seal the Deal in Fayetteville

Big running plays in the fourth quarter turned a scary game into a surefire Alabama victory.

Blake Byler | Oct 3, 2022

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Alabama Crimson Tide

Razorback Stadium had second-ranked Alabama in a frenzy entering the fourth quarter.

Reigning Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Bryce Young was out of the game with a shoulder injury, Alabama had not consistently moved the football offensively in the second half, and Arkansas was in the midst of scoring 23 unanswered points to cut the Crimson Tide lead down to just five points.

On top of all of that, Alabama faced a 3rd-and-15 from its own 20-yard-line.

From that moment on, the Crimson Tide iced the game thanks to three different runs of over 70 yards: a 77-yard scramble from quarterback Jalen Milroe, and two touchdowns from running back Jahmyr Gibbs that went for 72 and 76 yards, respectively.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban credited Milroe's scramble, which came on that critical 3rd-and-15, as the moment that shifted the momentum of the game.

"It stopped the bleeding for sure," Saban said. "It's a 3rd-and-long in bad field position. If we don't make a first down there they get the ball back down by five with all the momentum in the game. That was a huge momentum swing in the game in my opinion. After that we played better."

Following the run from Milroe that set up a touchdown to make the score 35-23, Gibbs blasted down the right sideline for his first long touchdown, and mirrored the run on the other side a few drives later to put the Razorbacks away for good.

"[Gibbs] does a great job of pressing the hole," Saban said. "He gets the defense to commit, gets the linebacker to commit, makes a quick cut and hits the hole. He's really good at that."

Below are the three big plays in question, and a breakdown of how they happened:

3rd and 15, 14:51 4Q

This is the one that blew everything open.

Milroe had not been a bad passer throughout his time in the game, but it was certain that Alabama missed the zip that Young was able to put on the ball when he torched the Razorbacks for 173 yards before his injury. Milroe had just 65 passing yards in the game, so facing a 3rd-and-long was quite the tall task.

With trips to the right and a tight end lined up out wide to the left, Arkansas did a great job of picking up on the sporadic directions of the routes run by the Alabama receivers. The Arkansas defense even picked up on McClellan as the safety valve, which left Milroe without many options down the field.

The Alabama offensive line did an excellent job of protecting Milroe against a four-man rush, while Arkansas linebacker Bumper Pool, No. 10, acted as a spy on Milroe in case he scrambled.

Pool made the mistake of inching too close to the line of scrimmage, so when Milroe made his initial cut Pool was a split second late to the play.

Tight end Cameron Latu was downfield running his route, but was able to pick up a key block 10 yards downfield, and after Milroe beat the safety with a cut to the right there was no catching him due to his blazing speed.

"The biggest thing was looking at the chains, seeing what the best thing is that I can do for the team," Milroe said. "I was able to use my legs on that play, but the offensive line made a hole to make it possible for me."

1st and 10, 12:29 4Q

Alabama forced a quick stop, which set up a scenario where a touchdown would all but end the game.

Gibbs answered that challenge with a 72-yard touchdown down the right sideline that began with three wide receivers out to the left and one to the right.

Alabama ran an outside zone blocking scheme, where the offensive line looked to seal the edge for Gibbs to take the run to the outside. Arkansas' cornerback read this and aggressively turned upfield to contain Gibbs which forced him back inside.

On the interior of the offensive line, center Seth McLaughlin, who started in place of injured starter Darrian Dalcourt, did an excellent job of kicking out Pool while the left side of the line held their blocks to create a massive hole up the middle that Gibbs exploded through.

From there, Gibbs turned on the burners and told the Razorbacks goodnight.

2nd and 11, 7:08 4Q

Gibbs still had one more in him before it was all said and done.

This time, the offensive line ran to the left side, pulling both McLaughlin and Javion Cohen, the left guard, to the left side to kick out two Razorback defenders.

Arkansas linebacker and former Alabama transfer Drew Sanders could have had a chance to make a play on Gibbs, but instead he was assigned to contain Milroe and stayed on the right side of the field due to the dual-threat quarterback's big-play ability with his legs that had been shown earlier.

Once Gibbs found the seam in the blocking, he burst through the hole and broke one tackle then it was off to the races again.

After the game, Gibbs showed much confidence in his offensive line when facing the scenarios he saw in the fourth quarter.

"The line has been doing a great job all week with their calls and blocking," Gibbs said. "When we ran outside zone against a five-man box it's almost a guaranteed touchdown. We have more people to block than they have in the box."

Alabama fans have been clamoring for the offense to show the big-play ability that they have grown accustomed to in recent years. This year's team has yet to show that from a passing perspective, but the ground game has the potential to be just as much, if not more of a big-play generator than Alabama has seen in a long time.

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