As dire and bleak as the offense looked in Fayetteville, that's how amazing they looked on Saturday in Tuscaloosa against the Aggies. Blake Sims looked sharp. The offensive line was MOVING people. And, most importantly (to this guy anyway), the running backs played their tails off. Just a great day for Alabama football. A quick reminder: the running back success rate measures the frequency with which a running back has a "successful run." A successful run is when a running back gains at least 40% of the remaining yardage on first down, 60% on second down, and 100% on third and fourth down.
School | Player | Carries | Successful Carries | Yards | Yards per Carry | Success Rate |
Alabama | T.J. Yeldon | 13 | 11 | 114 | 8.8 | 84.6% |
Alabama | Derrick Henry | 10 | 8 | 70 | 7.0 | 80.0% |
Alabama | Altee Tenpenny | 8 | 3 | 30 | 3.8 | 37.5% |
Alabama | Tyren Jones | 9 | 3 | 34 | 3.8 | 33.3% |
Arkansas | Jonathan Williams | 18 | 11 | 108 | 6.0 | 61.1% |
Florida | Kelvin Taylor | 12 | 7 | 56 | 4.7 | 58.3% |
Florida | Matt Jones | 12 | 5 | 41 | 3.4 | 41.7% |
Georgia | Nick Chubb | 30 | 17 | 202 | 6.7 | 56.7% |
LSU | Darrel Williams | 10 | 6 | 61 | 6.1 | 60.0% |
LSU | Leonard Fournette | 15 | 3 | 40 | 2.7 | 20.0% |
Missouri | Russell Hansbrough | 13 | 7 | 35 | 2.7 | 53.8% |
Ole Miss | Jaylen Walton | 10 | 3 | 60 | 6.0 | 30.0% |
South Carolina | Mike Davis | 18 | 13 | 111 | 6.2 | 72.2% |
South Carolina | David Williams | 11 | 7 | 110 | 10.0 | 63.6% |
Tennessee | Jalen Hurd | 13 | 4 | 40 | 3.1 | 30.8% |
There's not much to say about Alabama's performance here. The top two running backs combined for 8.0 yards per carry and and 82.6% success rate. Against an SEC defense, even if it is Texas A&M, that's about as well as you're going to perform. Bradley Bozeman finally played like an Alabama offensive lineman. Even when Austin Shepherd went down and was replaced by Grant Hill, nothing changed. The line and the backs should be proud of the way they played on Saturday. Fatality.
Observations:
1) The Tennessee game actually scared me when the season began, but that offensive line has not improved at all since the season began. After seeing how Alabama's defense played against Texas A&M (namely the defensive line), I have no reason to believe the Volunteers will score more than 17 points on Saturday in Knoxville.
2) Mike Bobo's quest to ruin a player's career before it really even gets started continues. A week after carrying the ball 38 times against Missouri, Nick Chubb tallied 30 more carries against Arkansas. Chubb is crazy talented, but putting this much wear and tear on a freshman just doesn't seem like the best idea to me. The last time a freshman running back was leaned on this much, this early was Marcus Lattimore in 2010. As talented as he was, the injuries started coming when the carries piled up. Be careful, Mark Richt.
3) Missouri's entire offensive performance against Florida was hilarious. If I told you that Florida would have allowed 119 total yards and only 20 through the air, you would have said "Good for Florida, they might have finally turned it around!" They didn't. Finding a way to hold the other team's best running back to 35 yards and give up 42 points is a tough task, but if any man can do it, it's Will Muschamp.
This week was kind of a quiet one in the conference. All of the favorites won. But next week, when Ole Miss goes into Tiger Stadium at night? Mississippi State going into Kentucky against a talented, angry Wildcat team? October 25th is going to get so, so weird, and I can't wait for it.
Can Alabama keep up its offensive execution against Tennessee in a trap game on the road? How many points will Auburn put up on South Carolina? Is the Ole Miss defense licking their chops before playing an LSU offense that, really, still hasn't overly impressed? As always, thanks for reading!