Alabama vs. Ole Miss Reactions
Join BamaOnLine‘s Clint Lamb and Jimmy Stein as they react to the Alabama Crimson Tide’s 24-10 win over Ole Miss from Saturday afternoon.
- Breaking down an encouraging second half
- How Jalen Milroe, Tommy Rees and the OL performed
- Alabama’s defense playing at elite level
- And more!
Snap count observations – Defense
Defensive Line
Justin Eboigbe – 40 snaps (59.7%)
Tim Keenan III – 38 snaps (56.7%)
Tim Smith – 33 snaps (49.3%)
Jaheim Oatis – 29 snaps (43.3%)
Jah-Marien Latham – 17 snaps (25.4%)
Damon Payne – 6 snaps (9%)
James Smith – 3 snaps (4.5%)
Observations: After primarily deploying nickel rabbits (2 DL, 2OLB) against USF in Week 3, Alabama chose to return to its heavy front (3 DL, 1 OLB) against Ole Miss. In other words, Keenan was the starter alongside Eboigbe, Oatis and Dallas Turner with Chris Braswell came off the bench. That decision proved effective, too.
The Rebels only totaled 56 yards rushing and one score on 29 attempts, which is good for only a 1.9-yard average. The defense’s ability to stop the run and force Ole Miss to be one dimensional helped give guys more opportunities to get after the quarterback. Don’t get me wrong, there were lapses that led to a couple of decent gains, but Alabama’s run defense was sound enough to make life difficult on Lane Kiffin and company.
It was nice seeing Oatis back in the starting lineup after having to miss the USF game due to an ankle injury. He finished the game playing the fourth-most snaps amongst the defensive linemen, which isn’t surprising when you consider that he probably isn’t quite 100% right now. His presence was noticed, however. Maybe not on the stat sheet, but he was tough to move. In fact, I thought the top four guys in the rotation all played well against the run.
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Smith and Keenan were impactful as pass rushers, too.
Smith was responsible for 1.5 of Alabama’s five sacks on the day. Keenan didn’t get to the quarterback, but he did manage three hurries, which was good for third-most on the team behind Turner and Braswell (five each). I wouldn’t expect a lot of sacks from him this season, but understand that he’s been consistently disruptive. He’s currently on pace to have between 29-34 pressures this season, which would be the most from a defensive lineman since Christian Barmore in 2020 (39).
We need to be giving him more credit.
It was nice to see James Smith get some action despite Oatis being back. Obviously, three snaps isn’t much of a workload, but at least he got a couple of opportunities. Similar to wide receiver Jalen Hale was on offense going into the weekend, the five-star defender is trending toward a larger role at some point. Remember, Hale only got six snaps against USF before bursting onto the scene (two catches, 63 yards, touchdown) a week later.
For more defensive snap count observations, click here (requires On3+ subscription).
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