Alabama’s ground game has struggled recently following an excellent start across the first five weeks of the regular season.
The Tide have rushed for just 122 total yards across the last two weeks of conference play. Alabama exploded for 161 yards on the ground against Georgia despite the hard fought loss, and the Tide will undoubtedly need to establish their presence on the ground this weekend considering the talent on LSU’s defensive front.
Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb took a moment to comment on the run game during his weekly press conference today. Grubb appeared to be fully confident in the Tide running backs’ ability to bounce back prior to the contest.
“I think just like any week, you got to run disciplined and you got to run physical.” Grubb said. “And what I mean by that is don’t pass on a 4-yard run against a defense like this, if there’s a crack we got to take it. We can’t be greedy and think about what if I bounce this one, just got to follow the rules, run disciplined and run with belief. I believe our guys can run the football on these guys, I think we’ve run against some good fronts this season. So for us it’s just going to be staying disciplined in the read, moving the ball forward and be patient for the big one.”
Alabama running back EJ Crowell’s status remains up in air as of Monday, but the Tide will need to lean on Daniel Hill and the other talented backs in the room nonetheless. A victory on the road in Baton Rouge would prove to be massive for Alabama’s playoff hopes, and establishing the run will likely emerge as a major key throughout the entire contest.
