The Alabama Crimson Tide woke up bright and early for its 11 a.m. matchup against Southern Miss with the offense wasting no time scoring points. Namely junior wide receiver Henry Ruggs.
Ruggs has been on a tear of late as he was able to follow up his six catch, 122 yard game against South Carolina last week with a 4 catch 148 yard and two touchdown performance today.
This included a pair of typical long touchdown receptions as he continues to burn defensive backs all around the country.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa wasn’t too shabby on the day as well as he exited the game completing 17/21 passes for 293 yards and five touchdowns. The Heisman Trophy candidate has also shown obvious improvement with his decision making as he is doing a much better job of taking what the defense gives him.
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Wide receiver Jerry Jeudy also put together a big game with six catches for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
To complement Alabama’s passing attack, offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian was finally able to have a healthy balance with the run game as well. And for the first time all year, the rushing attack of Brian Robinson and Najee Harris was able to put together a complete game from the backfield.
The duo combined for 22 carries for 149 yards with an average of 6.4 yards per carry with Harris becoming the first 100-yard rusher of the season. The junior running back carried the ball 14 times for 110 yards.
Another area in question headed into the game was how Alabama’s defense would perform. Even though it wasn’t against a marquee opponent the unit was able to meet the challenge.
Southen Miss’ offense led by quarterback Jack Abraham was able to put together a couple of decent drives by using several stacked receiver formations and trying to push the tempo of the game. But it’s tough to gain control of the game if you can’t run the football, which was one of the more impressive areas of the game.
The golden eagles averaged roughly two yards per carry on the day putting a lot of pressure on the passing game to move the football which resulted in a Trevon Diggs interception during the first quarter.
Other top performers on the defensive side were safeties Jared Mayden( eight tackles) and Xavier McKinney( five tackles), as well as linebackers Anfernee Jennings( five tackles, one sack) and Shane Lee( five tackles, one sack).
But the young front of the crimson tide seemed to suffer another injury as freshman defensive tackle D.J. Dale left the game during the second quarter. Freshman kicker Will Reichard also exited the game.
Head coach Nick Saban is expected to give an update during his post-game press conference following the game.
Final score: Alabama 49 Southen Miss 7
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
