Forced Fumble Turned the Tide for Alabama against Ole Miss

Byron Young caused a turnover at the end of the first half that swung the momentum in the Crimson Tide's favor for the rest of the game.

Katie Windham | Nov 12, 2022

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Alabama Crimson Tide

OXFORD, Miss. — It's no secret that the Alabama defense has struggled to force turnovers this season. Coming into Saturday night's contest at Ole Miss, it had only caused five turnovers all year through nine games: two fumbles and three interceptions.

But after Alabama had a fumble of its own that led to an Ole Miss score, the defense came up big with a forced fumble towards the end of the second quarter, which gave the offense the ball with good field position.

It had been a rough go for the offense in the first half, but it took advantage of the gift from the defense and scored a touchdown to cut the Rebel lead to three points heading into halftime on the way to the 30-24 win.

"It was huge," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said after the game. "Set up a score. Got us to 17-14. From that time on, I thought we played a little better in the game on both sides of the ball."

Saban said it gave Alabama the momentum it needed going to halftime, where the team wasn't focused on the score, just playing one play at a time. From the fumble on, Alabama outscored Ole Miss 23-7 over the final 32:23 of the game, including 13 unanswered points to close out the game.

Byron Young, who had one of the best games of his career, caused the fumble on Ole Miss running back Zach Evans, and Terrion Arnold recovered at the Rebel 23. Young said the defense works on pursuit in practice every single day, and that's all he was trying to do on the play. The referees blew the play dead, or else it would have been a scoop-and-score for the Alabama defense.

Young was officially credited with the fumble, but after the game, he said he wasn't sure if it was him or Henry To'oTo'o. But ultimately, it didn't matter. It was the turnover Alabama needed.

"All I know is we created the turnover, and that’s our goal," Young said.

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said it ended up being a 10-point swing in the Crimson Tide's favor.

"It was obviously discouraging," Kiffin said about the fumble. "It is what it is. Zach took a big hit and unfortunately the ball came out, and he actually ,as you can figure out, ended up with concussion there and then didn’t return, on the play. Really good play by them, and obviously a big deal to hand away seven points right there.”

Senior safety Jordan Battle nearly had an interception earlier in the second quarter and talked about how hungry this Alabama defense was for getting the ball to the offense.

"That forced fumble was big," Battle said. "Coming into every game, we know we haven’t been the best at getting turnovers this year. And just causing that turnover and helping the offense out was huge for us, and we love that."

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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