Alabama rolls thanks to old-school rushing attack, help from Lane Kiffin

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No. 1 Alabama beat No. 12 Ole Miss 42-21 on Saturday in a game that was not as close as the final score indicated, a game that was not close at all, a result of Alabama’s superior talent and Lane Kiffin’s inability to control the impulse that compelled him to hand the Crimson Tide this game in the first half.

Alabama switched offensive personalities Saturday, using a ground-control game plan that put the game on the shoulders of fifth-year senior running back Brian Robinson, who ground out 36 carries for 171 yards and four touchdowns.

“It actually did feel like old-school Bama football,” Robinson said. “I have never had over 30 carries in all the time I ever played football. It started to feel like classic Alabama pound the football today.”

But there’s no question Kiffin made it easier for Tide coach Nick Saban to improve his record to 24-0 against his former assistants.

Maybe Kiffin has heard the same warning to do holiday shopping early this year because of the shipping problems from China. Or maybe Kiffin felt the same need that compulsive gamblers feel to double down when every objective analysis tells you to fold and live to fight another round.

Whatever the reason, in the second quarter, with the Rebels behind 14-0 and a crowd of 100,077 turning Crimson in the face from screaming, Kiffin chose to go for a fourth-and-1 on his 31-yard-line.

This is Kiffin’s version of, as his close friend Steve Sarkisian of Texas says, all gas and no brakes. Only this was all gas and no brains.

The Rebels came into the game having converted 12-of-14 fourth-down attempts. They converted their first two attempts Saturday on the game’s opening possession, a 16-play, 59-yard drive that ended on Alabama’s 6 when — spoiler alert!—nose tackle Tim Smith and strong safety Jordan Battle stuffed Jerrion Ealy on fourth-and-1 for no gain.

One quarter later, Alabama linebacker Henry To’oTo’o said that when Ole Miss’ punt team stayed on the sideline, he felt “excited, juiced. Get off the field and put our offense in a position to score. It was huge for us.”

You can quibble with the play call if you like, an option pitch from Matt Corral to Ealy that To’oTo’o sniffed out as soon as Ealy twitched a muscle. To’oTo’o slung Ealy down for a 4-yard loss. Alabama scored its third touchdown six plays later, and the game effectively ended.

But why? Other than petulance, or a lack of common sense, why?

“If anything, 100 percent you go for it,” Kiffin said. “A lot of people don’t do it because it’s like scared money. The blackjack table, you got five dollars, it’s easy. Put a couple of thousand out there, you get scared. I said we weren’t going to do that. We were going to follow the analytics, follow the book, and not get scared because we’re in Alabama, and not have confidence in our players, and punt.”

Kiffin explained that if he had chosen to punt, Alabama would have come right down the field and scored anyway (so much for confidence). It just would have taken longer. But maybe it would have taken long enough that, when Alabama recovered Corral’s fumble at Ole Miss’ 14 on the Rebels’ next snap, the Tide wouldn’t have had 2:39 left in the half, plenty of time to go the 14 yards needed for Alabama’s fourth touchdown.

“I know it looks bad when it doesn’t work,” Kiffin said.

To be clear, that one decision isn’t the reason that Alabama won the game.

“We got dominated up front,” Kiffin said. “That ain’t hard to see.”

Ole Miss was held to 291 yards, the fewest during Kiffin’s tenure.

But there was more to it than that. Five games into the season, it’s well established that this Alabama team isn’t as good as the last, which may have been Saban’s best. But this team is talented enough that in one week, Saban could completely switch the offense.

There he was Saturday, DJ Nick, playing the greatest hits of his 15 seasons in Tuscaloosa, borrowing a tune from the good ol’ pre-spread days, when he handed the ball to Derrick Henry and let him lay waste to the poor guys trying to bring him down.

Saban wanted to play keep away from Corral, and he saw how the Rebels regularly drop eight guys into pass coverage and decided to run the ball.

“It’s not really the personality of this offense,” Saban said. “I think that the combination of we wanted to keep the ball away from them, and the way their defensive structure is, a ‘32’ defense (three down linemen, two linebackers) with six defensive backs, it’s hard to throw when they are dropping eight guys all the time.”

That style of defense keeps everything in front and prevents the big play. To beat it, an offense must be content with being patient. That’s what made Alabama’s performance impressive. Alabama held the ball for 37:59, ran the ball 50 times and threw it only 27. It doesn’t matter that Bryce Young threw for 241 yards and the offense ran for 210. It doesn’t matter that Alabama didn’t have a single gain of more than 29 yards. What mattered it that Alabama dictated the tempo of the game by running the ball.

Robinson knows something about patience. He grew up in Tuscaloosa watching Henry. Robinson signed with Alabama and got in line behind Damien Harris and Josh Jacobs and Najee Harris, all three now in the NFL, two of them first-round picks.

Robinson, at 6-foot-1 and 225 pounds, is more punisher than speedster. He slides to daylight, churning elbows and knees so that defenders pay a price to tackle him.

“It has taken a lot of patience up to this point,” Robinson said. “I am blessed for the opportunity and thankful for everything. This coaching staff always believed in me. With it taking this time, it feels even better now that I actually was patient enough to wait it out.”

Saban said this is not what the Alabama offense is. But it is what it needed to be Saturday.

“It’s not really how we want to play,” he said. “It’s not how we played all year, and it’s not going to be the style that we want to continue to play. We have to do the things we have to do to try to win the game.”

But the ground game proved to be more than enough, especially with an assist from Kiffin.