Alabama’s defense got embarrassed two weeks ago against Tennessee.
It allowed five touchdown passes from Hendon Hooker, five touchdown receptions to Jaylin Hyatt, 567 yards, and 52 points in a loss at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. Crimson Tide fans were disappointed in the performance, and many directed the blame at defensive coordinator Pete Golding. Alabama sacked Hooker once as he had a clean pocket for much of the game.
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Coach Nick Saban and Will Anderson said ‘anxiety’ played a role in the loss to the Volunteers, but the defense responded versus Mississippi State on homecoming. The Tide earned a 30-6 victory at Bryant-Denny Stadium, and it collected four sacks, six tackles for loss, 15 pass breakups, and seven quarterback hurries. Alabama reduced its penalties to three and got off the field on third down. Chris Braswell, a third-year outside linebacker for the Tide, spoke Thursday about the challenge the team had to respond well after a difficult loss.
“We had to get back to the little things,” Braswell said about Alabama bouncing back from a loss. “We had to clean up the penalties, mental errors, missed tackles, and improve as a whole defense. I think we did a pretty good job of that.”
Mike Leach, Mississippi State’s head coach, said the Bulldogs’ players were ‘afraid’ of the Alabama players. The Tide has been dominated under Saban when it has the mental edge over teams. As it travels to face Louisiana State University next week, Alabama needs to bring the mentality from the MSU game.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
