Alabama's Defense Stepped Up Big in Ugly Win Over USF

The Crimson Tide put together five sacks and 10 tackles for loss while also forcing two turnovers and holding the Bulls to a putrid 2-for-6 on fourth down.

Austin Hannon | Sep 16, 2023

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Alabama Crimson Tide

TAMPA, Fla. — That was certainly not the performance No. 10 Alabama wanted.

Given the situation, it was expected that the Crimson Tide (2-1) would stomp a team like USF — which lost 11 games in 2022-23. After Alabama's mistake-heavy loss to No. 4 Texas last weekend at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Crimson Tide was favored by 34 points against USF on Saturday afternoon in Tampa, Fla.

While the performance was very underwhelming, it wasn't because of the defense. Alabama's defensive unit was picked apart in the second half of the loss to the Longhorns — surrendering 454 total yards. The Crimson Tide never came close to sacking the quarterback in that game — and also didn't force any turnovers.

Alabama went back to the drawing board and played much better on Saturday. It became pretty obvious early on that the Bulls (1-2) didn't have much confidence in their passing game. USF quarterback Byrum Brown was just 14-for-28 with 87 yards.

And while the Bulls stacked up 177 rushing yards as a team, it was on a whopping 46 attempts — just an average of 3.8 yards per carry.

The Crimson Tide offense was poor, but the defense stepped up in its place. Alabama routinely got off the field, limiting USF to just 7-for-23 (30.4%) on third and fourth down.

That is a crucial component in a game like this one.

"They went for it six times, only converted two — that's like four turnovers," Saban said. "It was huge — especially field position."

"I feel like our defense was tremendous as far as us just executing, sticking to our keys and really just trusting ourselves," cornerback Terrion Arnold said. "Like we really had fun playing together. We didn't look at the scoreboard thinking about all the other outside measurables. We just focused in and had fun playing together."

And that pass rush that was nonexistent last week? On Saturday, the Crimson Tide was insistent on getting to the quarterback, which resulted in five sacks.

"I think we had a lot better pressure," Saban said. "We thought they would go fast, which sometimes they did, but sometimes they didn't. Our whole plan, thinking they would go fast, was to play with the guys we had in the game. So we actually played [Chris Braswell] and [Dallas Turner] sort of at the defensive ends and two athletic guys inside."

Before the season, outside linebacker Dallas Turner said that he felt he was the best defender in all the SEC. After two weeks, Turner didn't have a single sack. He was hungry on Saturday, putting Brown on the ground twice while also forcing a fumble.

A native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — there couldn't have been a better time for Turner to assert his dominance again.

"It was good overall just showing my family that I can play ball," Turner said. "It was good to see them in the stands and stuff like that. I had about 10 or 11 people come out here and watch me play."

Alabama was back to forcing turnovers on Saturday as well. Up just 10-3 late, Malachi Moore came up with a pick in the end zone to give the Crimson Tide the ball back — which it didn't give back.

Alabama also got an interception from cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry that was called back due to offsetting penalties on the play.

It was a muggy, humid day in Tampa. There was a near-60 minute weather delay. But the Crimson Tide defense never got tired and rolled over — it stood strong for the entire 60 minutes.

"I tried to warn them what was going on," Turner joked. We're used to tough conditions. [...] We practice at the hardest time of day. All of the heat and the humidity and the rain — that didn't really affect me. I'm kind of used to it."

"I'm really proud of our players for the way they competed in the game," Saban said. "That was obviously a tough game. I thought the defense did an outstanding job of only giving up three points and that was after a turnover that gave them good field position. A lot of guys really played well — pressured the quarterback, didn't give up a lot of explosive plays."

Obviously, Alabama has a lot of work to do as a team. But the Crimson Tide can feel confident in its defense again after what was a dominant performance.

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