Alabama had little trouble avenging last year’s Iron Bowl loss with a 42-13 clinic Saturday night in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Even without Nick Saban, the top-ranked Crimson Tide checked all the boxes moving to 8-0. Mac Jones got back on track with five touchdown passes on another dominant afternoon for DeVonta Smith.
Anyway, we’re back for another Sunday evening DVR rewind of this one. Without further delay, here are some bonus observations, notes and context from an Iron Bowl win for Alabama.
— We’ll start off by saying the sight of Steve Sarkisian leading Alabama off the team bus was even more bizarre in person. All I kept thinking all night was how Saban was digesting each moment as it happened. As far as game administration went, there never felt like a difference if you didn’t know Saban was at home.
— It was clear the Alabama defense was jacked up from the very beginning, flying around and gang tackling the ground game. The first of three sacks also came in the first possession after Alabama entered the game 11th of 14 SEC teams with 11 sacks. You could hear all 19,424 in crimson when Chris Allen and Will Anderson combined for that first sack of Bo Nix. The eight tackles for loss tied Alabama’s season high as well.
— The Alabama offensive start was far from inspiring considering it started at the Auburn 34-yard line. Mac Jones was off-target on two deep shots and were forced to punt after a third-down conversion was called back. Of note, Alabama’s starting field position (own 36-yard line) was 14 yards better than Auburn’s (own 22).
— The subject of the non-DeVonta Smith receivers was discussed in this space last week. Slade Bolden was the target on the second incomplete deep ball of the first drive and he wasn’t thrown to the rest of the game as his injured ankle appeared to still be an issue. John Metchie’s nine targets, however, were more than Smith’s seven.
— Alabama’s running game was curiously quiet in the first quarter considering the success Tennessee had on the ground (222 yards, 5.4 average) last week. The Tide had just 2 yards on five carries after the first quarter with Najee Harris pretty well contained.
— Not sure I’ve seen a more effective or violent pump fake than what Jones dropped on the 66-yard touchdown pass to Smith. Our press box view of the play was perfect to see Smith seven yards behind the nearest DB when he caught the ball at the 26-yard line for the walk-in score.
— Nobody tell Saban but Auburn beat Alabama in time of possession, 36:30 to 23:30. My favorite misleading stat was first downs. Auburn finished with 20. Alabama finished with 20. Think about that.
— Another interesting number: Auburn had 19 third-down plays (the most for any Tide opponent this year). It converted nine times or 47.4% — better than the 39.3% Alabama allows on average. Back to the total third downs, Alabama opponents have faced 129 while the Tide offense has seen just 87. That shows the impact of an Alabama offense that can strike so quickly.
— It looked like Steve Sarkisian was drawing up some creative ways to get DeVonta Smith the ball with so much focus on the senior receiver. The swing passes, screens and end around got Smith the ball in space and his 171 receiving yards more than tripled the next best total.
— Penalties had been an issue all season but the Iron Bowl was a second straight relatively clean game. The wins over Kentucky and Auburn saw the Tide flagged four times each for 30 yards both times. Alabama averaged eight flags a game in the first six outings.
— Saban had more insight into Alabama’s second touchdown of the game in his postgame segment he does with Chris Stewart on the Nick Saban TV show.
— Bless Alabama safety Jordan Battle for having to tackle 300-pound Auburn tight end JJ Pegues in space on a third-down play. “I don’t think I’ve ever tackled a 300-pound tight end,” Alabama LB Christian Harris said earlier in the week, “but Auburn utilizes all the players in their offense really well.” If I was Auburn, he’d get the ball a lot.
— Alabama freshman Malachi Moore got the glory on the interception before halftime but chasing down Auburn speedster Anthony Schwartz from behind earlier in the quarter might have been a more impressive athletic feat. Saban later said Moore and the other young DBs benefited greatly from playing some exotic teams early in the season like Ole Miss. “They saw about everything that you could see from a formation and adjustment standpoint,” Saban said. “But I think they learned a lot from it, and I think Malachi is the kind of guy that might make a mistake one, but when he learns — he’s smart — he gets it right the next time.”
— Other DBs made some impressive open-field tackles for loss including Patrick Surtain and Daniel Wright. The tackling has improved greatly from Oxford until now for a defense no longer taking the kind of heat it got in early October.
— One of the nicer throws of Jones’ day was the 24-yarder to Jahleel Billingsley. Check it out below, he used Smith as a decoy with a slight pump fake as the sophomore tight end streaked across the field. The window was tight for the QB and he put the perfect amount of touch on it for his third of five TD passes. Gary Danielson on CBS also pointed out Jones’ ability to step up in the pocket while sensing outside pressure and never taking his eyes off the downfield receiving options.
— The Alabama offensive plan at the end of the first half was notably conservative. Up 21-3, the Tide called four straight runs to backup running back Brian Robinson. The second one went for 15 yards, but Auburn packed the box for two short runs and a third-down incomplete pass. It felt like a moment Sarkisian would go for the throat but part of me wondered if they wanted to give the defense a breather after spending 18:54 of the 30 first-half minutes on the field.
— It was a rough afternoon for Tuscaloosa product Seth Williams. The Auburn receiver had just three catches for 17 yards — easily a season-low after catching three balls for 66 yards in last year’s Iron Bowl. The drop at the end of the first half will be the most haunting after turning Tide safety Daniel Wright around and finding himself as wide open as a receiver gets. “We made a couple of mistakes in the secondary that could have been costly,” Saban said. “The guy drops the ball when he is 20 yards behind everybody in the second quarter, which is a bust on defense.”
— Mac Jones was a combined 0-for-4 on the opening possessions of the first and second halves and 18-for-22 on the other drives. The Tide looked listless coming out of halftime but snapped back to form with touchdowns on the next three possessions. DeVonta Smith was shaking his head crossing the goal line on the 58-yard slant he turned up field to make it 28-6.
— Alabama kicker Will Reichard hasn’t had a field goal attempt in the past two games and remains 8-for-8. He’s one of seven kickers in the nation who haven’t missed. The Hoover grad is also 52-for-52 on extra points. Only BYU has kicked more (55) in one more game than Alabama’s played.
— Rewatching Najee Harris’ 39-yard touchdown run, Auburn safety Jamien Sherwood ran right out of one of his shoes trying to chase him down. Harris went untouched for his only touchdown of the day.
— Alabama kicker Will Reichard hasn’t had a field goal attempt in the past two games and remains 8-for-8. He’s one of seven kickers in the nation who haven’t missed. The Hoover grad is also 52-for-52 on extra points. Only BYU has kicked more (55) in one more game than Alabama’s played.
— The last TD to Metchie was a thing of beauty. There’s something about that corner of that end zone the suits Metchie as he scored his sixth touchdown of the season. He’ll need to be a factor down the stretch to keep opposing defenses honest.
— The CBS cameras didn’t capture it but the Alabama sideline went bananas after both interceptions by true freshmen Moore and Brian Branch. There was no lack of emotion Saturday.
— The only black mark on the defensive performance was ending the touchdown-free streak at 12 quarters. The 347 yards Auburn gained were the fewest since a Week 2 loss at Georgia when it managed just 216. The 347 yards were actually the most Alabama’s allowed in five games when Georgia had 414 in a 41-24 Tide win.
Congrats if you made it to the end. See you next Sunday.
Previous Sunday rewinds:
