You may have heard of him. In fact, you know him. For years, Hollywood has featured the bully character in cinema. The bully is a couple of inches taller, several pounds heavier, and is happy to deprive another person of their lunch money.
Unlike Hollywood, though, the Alabama Crimson Tide doesn’t have a comeuppance in the future. After a couple of years in hibernation, the Tide has returned to their bullying ways, and have been smashing teams all year with a physicality that Alabama fans have come to love.
The defensive statistics are comically excellent. It is easier to list the categories where the Alabama defense isn’t in the top 10% of the FBS — fumbles recovered and fourth down defense — than it is to break down where Alabama is dominant.
Attacking the Alabama defense is like solving a Rubix cube blindfolded. Assuming that a pass gets beyond the defensive line without being batted, or the quarterback avoids being turned into a lawn ornament by an onrushing defender, the secondary has been in perfect position more often than not.
That doesn’t even account for a rushing defense which has turned running powerhouses Wisconsin and Arkansas into sputtering messes, or shut down Georgia’s Nick Chubb outside of a long run when the game was out of hand.
Defensive dominance isn’t completely copied by the offense, but when they’re on, they’re as mauling as any offense in the country today. Derrick Henry has more stiff-arms than a mannequin factory, and if that isn’t enough, quarterback Jake Coker has surprised everyone with his ability to punish would-be tacklers when he’s scrambling.
Alabama’s overall physicality gives them a shot against any team remaining on the schedule. Big Bully Bama is back, and they’re after the Tennessee Volunteers‘ lunch money starting today.
Thomas Watts has written for Touchdown Alabama Magazine for years. Catch him on Twitter@ThomasHWatts, on BAMSRadio every Wednesday from 8-10, and 2 Deep Zone hosted by BamaSportsRadio.
