Alabama O-line 'fantastic' in controlling line of scrimmage in Starkville

STARKVILLE, MISS. – The Alabama offense had its moments through the first four games, both good and bad, but Saturday’s SEC road opener at Mississippi State was mostly positive.

The Crimson Tide (4-1, 2-0 SEC) amassed 357 total yards, including 193 yards on the ground, and despite giving up four sacks, the offensive line played pretty well in pass protection, with the first sacks coming well outside of the pocket. Snaps were once again a problem for center Seth McLaughlin, too, but UA was able to recover the ball on those this week.

After the 40-17 win over the Bulldogs, which was the 16th straight for Alabama in the Battle for Highway 82 rivalry, Tide head coach Nick Saban praised the play of his offensive line.

“They played really well,” Saban said late Saturday night. “I mean, even you all can tell that they were plugging and stunting a lot, right? It’s what I told you they’d do (laughs). And that’s really tough on offensive linemen, when you have to block movement and pluggers all the time, and I think the offensive line did a fantastic job controlling the line of scrimmage. 

“I think that’s important to our team to have that kind of balance.”

Quarterback Jalen Milroe was Alabama’s leading rusher with 69 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries. He got the night going with a 53-yard touchdown using his legs, out-running a pair of Mississippi State defenders in the process. Running back Jase McClellan wasn’t far behind with 63 yards and a 2-yard touchdown run of his own on a team-high 15 attempts.

The Tide saw success on the ground, averaging 4.5 yards per carry, and would have had 216 rushing yards had it not been for the four sacks. While Milroe was more responsible for some of the sacks than the offensive line, the quarterback also made plenty of plays through the air, as he completed his first eight passes and didn’t have an incompletion until late in the third quarter. He ended up with 164 yards on 10-of-12 passing with a rating of 198.1.

It wasn’t anywhere close to a record for passing attempts, but Milroe completed throws to seven different receivers, with tight end Amari Niblack leading the way with three catches for 61 yards. He only threw the ball 12 times but was again accurate in his first-ever road start.

“I think he’s building more confidence every day,” Saban said of Milroe. “I think he’s played better in each game, and I think he’ll continue to do that as he gets experience. I think we’re all a little smarter as we get older because we have more experience, and I think as he gains more experience, he’s going to gain more confidence. 

“He’s very committed in preparing the right way and doing the things that he needs to do to be able to play well in the game, and I think as he gets more comfortable understanding defense, he’ll be able to make quicker decisions and he’s going to be fine.”

For the second week in a row, Milroe lined up under center to run a quarterback sneak on a 3rd and 1, only this time he picked up a first down rather than the debacle we saw a week ago. But it only happened once on Saturday. The rest of Alabama’s short-yardage situations were run out of the pistol or shotgun formations, and when Saban was asked what he preferred, he pointed to the loud road environment at Davis Wade Stadium and its cowbells.

“I watch games on TV, and everybody’s in the gun,” Saban said. “Some people never get under center. When we’re in the gun, we clap. The players get in a rhythm. When you get under center, you have to go on voice command, and it was pretty loud out there on a couple of those occasions, and I think we had some things that we wanted to do in short-yardage with the quarterback under, but I think we were a little apprehensive about using verbal cadence. 

“When I played, everybody was in an I-formation and the quarterback was under center. We watched a movie last night called The Program, which was like 30 years ago, which I played 30 years before that. And that’s the only formation there was in the whole game was the I-formation, all under center. So now the quarterback’s never under center. You’ve got to worry about getting the snap and you’ve got to worry about voice command.” 

Saban continued by pointing out Alabama’s success on the ground, “I do think there is a place in short-yardage situations where the quarterback being under center and not handing the ball off five yards deep in the backfield – but you can’t allow penetration like we did either. 

“It still comes down to executing. All them other plays that we ran in the game that made – how many yards did we have rushing? 193 – we were in the gun every time. Explain that to me.”

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