Alabama Against Texas A&M Starts With Three Tennessee Lessons
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With the Alabama against Texas A&M game prep underway, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb walked into Monday’s briefing and took full responsibility for the loss. His assessment left little room for excuses after the disappointing defeat in Knoxville.
“I thought I had them ready to play, and I didn’t,” Grubb said.
The admission was honest, and maybe a little overdue, after Alabama finished with 10 points and 201 total yards. Honesty only helps if Saturday looks different, though, and the Aggies will test whether it does.
Alabama Against Texas A&M
The loss followed a 20 -17 home defeat to Georgia. Together, they handed the Crimson Tide its first back-to-back regular-season losses since 2007. Alabama now sits at 5-2 overall and 3-2 in SEC play.
Texas A&M comes in 4-3 and 1-3 in the league. Meanwhile, Aggies head coach Mike Elko got a free tutorial from Tennessee, and his staff surely took notes.
If the Crimson Tide hopes to get back to winning ways against Texas A&M, then it will need to learn from what went wrong in Knoxville.
Here are three lessons from that loss that stand out, and repeating those errors could make this weekend another difficult one after Alabama.
Keelon Russell Needs Cleaner Pockets
Start with the quarterback, because Tennessee certainly did. The Vols sacked Keelon Russell five times, and he finished 19-of-29 for 147 yards with two interceptions. He also lost a fumble early, so his 19-yard touchdown run felt more like a rescue than a highlight. Alabama committed four turnovers in all, hardly a recipe for winning in Knoxville.
Some context softens the picture without excusing it. Mal Waldrep Jr. made his first start at center, and receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams sat out after knee surgery. Losing a key part of Alabama’s passing game left Russell with one less option.
Russell acknowledged the tough environment but pointed to his own decisions in his postgame comments. His explanation put the focus on chances he had missed.
“There was stuff in front of me that I could’ve easily took and I was forcing the ball somewhere else,” Russell said.
Grubb took responsibility for the plan instead, questioning Monday whether he had asked too much of players who looked slow. The fix might be as simple as shrinking the menu (Quick throws, early-breaking routes, and a few designed rollouts could get the ball out before the pocket caves in).
Russell looked like a different player against Mississippi State, where he threw for 285 yards and three touchdowns. The promise he showed during Alabama’s spring quarterback competition is still there. The Aggies will study all five sacks, so the smart play here starts with simpler reads.
The Run Game Has to Earn Respect Again
Alabama finished with 54 rushing yards (college stats count sacks as runs, which drags that total down). But the main issue was volume, because the backs barely touched the ball.
Daniel Hill carried seven times for 34 yards, and Trae’shawn Brown added 12 on six carries. First-year EJ Crowell got a single carry before a lower-leg injury ended his afternoon.
Without a ground game to lean on, Alabama lived in third-and-long and went 2-of-13 on third down. It went 0-for-7 before halftime, making it pretty difficult to stay on the field in Neyland Stadium.
Ironically, Alabama has proved it can run when it commits. It piled up 227 rushing yards against East Carolina and outrushed Mississippi State 179-18.
Hill ran for 104 yards on 18 carries at Kentucky, behind a line rebuilt almost from scratch. Sticking with the backs, even when the first few carries go nowhere, could reshape the entire call sheet. A real ground game would give Alabama against Texas A&M a chance to call plays from third-and-four instead of third-and-11.
Spreading those carries around could keep the backs fresh, although Crowell’s availability is still uncertain. Alabama is still evaluating his lower-leg injury ahead of Saturday.
Alabama Against Texas A&M Had to Win the Clock
Tennessee held the ball for 35:44, and running back DeSean Bishop did the heavy lifting. He carried 32 times for 159 yards and two touchdowns. The Vols then sealed the win with a 15-play, 72-yard touchdown drive that ate 9:32 off the clock. At the end of it all, Alabama’s offense had watched more football than it played.
Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack’s group held Tennessee to four first-half field goals, so the Crimson Tide only trailed 12-10 at the break. Fatigue is hard to prove from a box score, and the defense still allowed that final march. But all those short possessions did it no favors.
Texas A&M ran for 264 yards in a 41-10 win over The Citadel last Saturday. However, an FCS opponent proves very little, and the Missouri game a week earlier paints a different picture. The Aggies managed 27 rushing yards and 216 overall in Columbia, and Marcel Reed completed 19 of 39 passes.
Alabama’s defense has smothered an offense before, too. Devan Thompkins had two sacks at Kentucky, where the Wildcats finished with 209 total yards. Winning time of possession may be the quietest key this weekend.
The Last Word
Grubb wants his players to play faster, and a smaller plan could help them do it. Alabama needs to give Russell easier decisions and stick with the run long enough to help him. The defense still has to get its own stops, especially when a close game reaches the fourth quarter.
Former Alabama receiver Isaiah Horton returns in maroon Saturday, and he would love another slow afternoon from his old team. A program still sorting out its identity cannot afford a third straight loss. At this point, Alabama really needs to prove that it can carry out the basics against SEC opposition again.
Main Image: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images
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