Alabama picked up a much-needed win on Saturday afternoon as they beat Texas A&M, 31-20, after a dominant fourth quarter.
It was a 17-17 game at halftime and Texas A&M led 20-17 heading to the fourth, but Alabama outscored the Aggies 14-0 in the fourth quarter to pick up the win. Alabama outgained Texas A&M 102-15 in the fourth as well, truly taking over the game late when it mattered the most.
It was far from a perfect performance from Alabama, but they were able to grind out the win. Here are three takeaways from that win over Texas A&M on Saturday.
Another defensive touchdown for Alabama
Alabama's defense has made a habit of finding the end zone this season, and they continued that early on Saturday. On A&M's fourth play of the game, Dijon Lee jumped a Marcel Reed pass and scored
on a 39-yard pick-six. That marked Alabama's fifth defensive touchdown of the season, all of them pick-six's. As a whole, Alabama has 19 takeaways this season. The Tide's defense has been great at making big game-changing type plays this season.
Alabama's run game struggles
With injuries mounting up on the offensive line and in the backfield itself, Alabama's run game continues to struggle. After the Alabama running backs went for 14 carries and 47 yards against Tennessee last week, the trio of Daniel Hill, Trae'shawn Brown, and Kevin Riley combined for 51 yards on 17 carries (three yards per carry) against Texas A&M.
As a whole (including Keelon Russell), Alabama had 71 yards rushing on 26 non-kneel down attempts (had 26 carries for 54 yards as a team last week against Tennessee). Dating back to the Georgia game, Alabama's running backs are averaging 71.3 rushing yards per game.
The bye week comes at a crucial time for Alabama to try and heal up, but the Tide has to get more out of their run game moving forward.
Keelon Russell bounces back in second half
After a rough game last week against Tennessee, it looked like it might be another struggle this week for Keelon Russell through the first half. In the first half, Russell was 10-of-19 passing for 161 yards with one touchdown and one interception. That interception was a costly one right before the half when Russell was trying to do too much and it set up an Aggie field goal that tied the game heading into the half.
Then in the second half, Russell was nearly perfect. After the break, he was 9-of-11 passing for 150 yards and two touchdowns. Him bouncing back also led Alabama to improving a lot on third down in the second half. Alabama as a team was one-of-six on third down in the first half, then was four-of-six in the second half.
It was not his best first half, but Russell stepped up in the second half and looked like the player we saw a couple weeks ago and the one that Alabama will need for them to make a run to the College Football Playoff.
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This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: 3 takeaways from Alabama's comeback home win vs. Texas A&M
