Look, Alabama was never going to be able to really prove anything in this game. UL-Monroe is a terrible team, even for a Sun Belt squad. Still, the Tide did come out and avoid doom-spiraling and slogging through this one. There are some times you’ll see big programs have fairly inefficient days against teams like this and then just have their athletes bust off some big plays.
This time, it’s been almost the opposite. None of Alabama’s RBs or WRs have really just outrun anyone for long touchdowns or anything
like that. Instead, Ty Simpson just played insanely efficiently, going 17/17 for 226 yards while Kevin Riley averaged a nice 6.6 yards per carry despite not really breaking any big runs. Riley also leads the team with 6 catches. There’s not a single one of you that had Riley as the team’s leading offensive weapon on your bingo card this summer, huh?
Austin Mack also got a single drive in the 2nd quarter where he went 3/3 and a touchdown, showing off his lighting-quick release and rocket arm on the TD to freshman TE Kaleb Edwards. Freshman Michael Carroll also got in to play right tackle for most of the 2nd quarter.
The defense held ULM to 43 total yards and made four tackles for loss. Justin Jefferson in particular has been doing his best to make up for last week, looking like a bowling ball with rockets strapped to him on every play.
The only real negative so far has been the pass rush’s inability to bring down the QB. They’re getting the pressure but not closing the deal, which, unfortunately, has been a problem going back through last season.
With the Tide up 42-0, expect to see some mass substitutions pretty quickly for the rest of the game. The Tide was already getting plenty of backups some run time in 2nd quarter, so I’d expect no more than one more drive with the starters (if that).
It’s as good of a recovery from last week as we could have hoped, even if it’s impossible to really prove that much. Here’s to seeing another half of great football and a lot of promise from the young players on the team.
Roll Tide!
