Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Duke Blue Devils: Second Half Open Thread

Raise your hand if you thought Alabama would only have 14 points at halftime.

With Najee Harris and Brian Robinson, Jr. both sitting out the first quarter, second year back Jerome Ford got the first few carries. They didn’t go too well as the Tide went three and out, then Ford fumbled on the next drive.

At the same time, the Alabama defense was on it’s heels against a Duke team that suddenly brought out a triple option. The defense stood their ground, however, and the duo of freshman linebackers played well all game. Duke did finally get a field goal at the end of the after after a deep ball was caught down the sideline despite tight coverage from Trevon Diggs.

The Alabama offense got back on track with two drives for touchdowns spanning 15 total minutes. Some poorly timed holding penalties took away a lot of yards from the Tide offense, and the running game was generally poor, but Tua Tagovailoa slung the ball around to 7 different receivers for 208 yards (84% completion) while also having the teams longest rush of the night (10 yards).

Anyway, there’s a lot of positives to build on and areas for improvement, but the Duke team is throwing all they can at the Tide to keep the game close. Saban has to be in his happy place.