Alabama’s goal coming into this week against Louisianna Monroe was to try and clean up some of its offensive issues from a week ago against Texas.
Although the group was able to outscore its output from the game against the Longhorns, Bill O’Brien’s unit still has some lingering issues that will need to continue to be addressed.
After a fast start in the first quarter that included a four-play drive ending with a 33-yard touchdown from Traeshon Holden and a 7-yard Bryce Young touchdown run with a short field, the Crimson Tide’s offense came to a stop in a big way.
To put it plainly, the team’s offensive production in the second quarter was poor until the final two minutes.
A big area of concern through the opening of the season was Alabama’s inconsistency in the run game. Throughout the game, the team rotated in Javion Cohen, Emil Ekiyor and Tyler Booker as it continues its evaluation upfront. But in the second quarter yards were difficult to come by on the ground as the unit had just 17 yards in the 15 minutes of play.
Young’s chemistry with the new set of receivers appeared to still be a work in progress as well. Head coach Nick Saban urged the group to play faster following the Texas game, and at times the group did. But still too often were players locked up in coverage forcing Young to hold onto the ball.
Young himself also made some mistakes on the day throwing two interceptions for just the second time in his career at Alabama and missing Jermaine Burton on a 50-yard touchdown in the first half.
Just before the half, the offense found some success through the air in the form of its tight ends Cameron Latu and Amari Niblack. On the final drive before the break, Latu caught three passes for 51-yards with Niblack capping off the drive with a 15-yard touchdown reception.
This late drive helped propel the unit to some improvement in the second half of action.
The run game appeared to be better as Jase McClellan and Roydell Williams found success in the trenches with solid carries helping sustain drives.
Despite its ups and downs on offense, defensively, Alabama showed up.
Pete Golding’s unit turned in an impressive performance against the Warhawks as the first team unit held the opposing offense to 164 yards when in the game.
Will Anderson, who struggled with penalties a week ago, answered the bell in a big way. Early on, Anderson and the defense picked up the slack for the studdering offense in the form of a pick-six from the star defender.
On the day, Anderson posted total five tackles, one sack, 1.5 tackles for loss to go with his interception.
Although it wasn’t against top tier competition, the defense controlled the line of scrimmage throughout with over five tackles for loss to go with several quarterback hits as a group.
Like the offensive line, the cornerbacks room continued its battle to see who will be the full-time starters.
Freshman defensive back Terrion Arnold and sophomore Kool-Aid McKinstry started the game and saw a bulk of the action before Saban rotated Khyree Jackson and Eli Ricks into the game. This was Ricks’ first action since the Utah State game, as he did not play last week against Texas.
McKinstry not only got the start today, but made a huge impact on special teams, namely the punt return game. The Birmingham, Ala. native returned five punts for a total of 136 yards giving him an average of 27-yards a return.
Defensive back Brian Branch also made his presence felt with a 68-yard punt return for a score, capping off a dominant special teams performance all-around.
There were several positive takeaways from the matchup, but Alabama’s offense still has some ways to go in order to round out the team.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
