Notebook: Multiple Alabama Players Suffer Injuries in Win Over Ole Miss

The Crimson Tide escaped with a win with multiple players having to step into larger roles.

Blake Byler | Nov 12, 2022

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Alabama Crimson Tide

OXFORD, Miss. — No. 9 Alabama came away with a 30-24 win over No. 11 Ole Miss, but it had to do it somewhat shorthanded.

Multiple Alabama players left the game with injuries — namely starting running back Jahmyr Gibbs and starting cornerback Eli Ricks.

Fortunately for the Crimson Tide, neither seem to have serious injuries according to head coach Nick Saban.

In the postgame press conference, Saban said Gibbs "twisted his ankle" in the first half. Gibbs remained on the sideline for the second half with his ankle taped, but did not enter the game. Gibbs' injury opened the door for Jase McClellan to emerge as a threat at running back, carrying the ball for 84 yards on 19 carries and acting as a spark plug for Alabama in the second half.

Early in the first quarter Ricks suffered a hard hit that put him out for the rest of the game, causing Terrion Arnold to supplant him in the lineup. Arnold held the starting job over Ricks to start the season, but was replaced following the loss to Tennessee.

"Eli Ricks is okay," Saban said. "I think his head is the issue. We haven't been able to test him from a concussion protocol standpoint as of yet, but I saw him in the locker room and he seemed okay."

Noticeably less penalties

For the first time seemingly all season, Alabama didn't shoot itself in the foot with an abundance of penalties in a road environment. The Crimson Tide was only flagged five times in the game for 45 yards, compared to 10 against Arkansas, 15 against Texas and 17 against Tennessee.

Defense got off the field in the second half

It felt like Ole Miss got whatever it wanted offensively in the first half. Once the second half started the Crimson Tide defense tightened up, especially on third downs. Alabama held Ole Miss to 20 percent (1-for-5) on third downs in the second half compared to 64 percent (7-for-11) in the first half. The defense's ability to get off the field on third downs not only kept the defense rested and fresh, but allowed the offense more chances to wear down the Rebels' defense. Alabama ran 17 less plays than Ole Miss in the first half, compared to five more than the Rebels in the second half.

Young receiver makes an impact

Freshman wide receiver Kendrick Law got some of his first meaningful action of the season, recording his first catch since the season opener against Utah State. Law finished the game with three catches for 21 yards, both career-highs, which all collectively came on the same drive in the third quarter.

"Kendrick Law has really come along," Saban said. "He's a guy we were hopeful would be a contributor. He pulled his hamstring several weeks ago, was out for a couple weeks, now he's back to full strength. [...] I thought he did a really good job and he's a guy we've been trying to get in the lineup for some time."

Red zone passing

While Alabama's running game carried the weight for much of the second half, once the Crimson Tide got to the red zone it was the passing that brought paydirt.

Quarterback Bryce Young threw three touchdowns — all of which came inside the red zone — including a 19-yarder to Jermaine Burton, an 8-yarder to Cameron Latu and a 5-yarder to Ja'Corey Brooks.

Climbing the leaderboard

Bryce Young passed Tua Tagovailoa to move into third place on Alabama's all-time passing yardage leaderboard. He has 7,471 passing yards in his career, trailing second-place John Parker Wilson (7,924) and first-place AJ McCarron (9,019).

Tidebits

Alabama's captains were Bryce Young, Will Anderson Jr. and Jordan Battle... Alabama won the toss and deferred to the second half... Nick Saban improved his coaching record to 4-0 against former assistant Lane Kiffin... Temperature at kickoff was 39 degrees... Official attendance was 65,923... Game officials: Matt Loeffler, Head Referee; Stan Weihe, Umpire; Nicholas Theriot, Linesman; Michael Shirey, Line Judge; Tom Fimmen, Back Judge; Antonio Smith, Field Judge; Jesse Dupuy, Side Judge; Chris Garner, Center Judge

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