Ty Simpson tells reason he believes Alabama is struggling to run the football

Nov 8, 2025; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama running back Jam Miller (26) is wrapped up in the middle of the LSU defense with help from LSU defensive back Mansoor Delane (4) at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images

Alabama football improved to 8-1 on Saturday night with a win over the LSU Tigers but the lack of a productive rushing attack was a glaring issue in the win for the Tide.

Alabama ran for 56 yards as a team against the Tigers. The Tide’s top two rushers had 34 yards on 15 carries combined.

Ty Simpson was asked what he feel is at the root of these struggles after the Tide beat LSU 20-9

“We just have to have confidence running the ball,” Simpson told reporters. “I feel like that we’re not very confident that we can think that we can run the ball very well right now. It’s all mental, really. We got the good scheme. We got the great calls. We got the great players. But we just have to want to and understand that’s what we need to do. We’ll take care of it.”

Kalen DeBoer also had to answer a question about the Tide’s lack of production when running the football.

“I think there’s a lot of things,” DeBoer said. “I think there’s other things we can do to make a defense have to cover us. And we missed opportunities that would help open up the box a little bit. But we certainly, either one or two things on each play is do a better job blocking and then do a good job of being physical with the ball in our hands, too, falling ahead for yards, those extra one or two yards, three yards that you can get by running through arm tackles and things like that, those can hurt. We got to do a better job giving lanes for the running back to go hit it confidently and hit it hard. It’s everything. It’s an effort across the board. When we run on the perimeter, let’s make sure we get the blocks out there. We certainly got to be better than what we were.”

Alabama is still looking for answers when it comes to running the football.