Ad Disclosure
Rapid Reaction: No. 1 Alabama tops 50 again in blowout victory over Louisiana-Lafayette
By Marq Burnett
Published:
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The only real question heading into top-ranked Alabama’s glorified scrimmage against Louisiana-Lafayette was whether the Crimson Tide would cover the ridiculous 49-point spread.
They almost did — by halftime. Alabama took care of business from the opening kickoff, scoring touchdowns on every possession of the first half in front of what might be the smallest Alabama home crowd of the Nick Saban era. Seriously, there have been A-Day crowds better than what we saw inside Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was his usual surgical self, completing 100 percent (8-for-8) of his passes for 128 yards and 2 touchdowns. Tagovailoa didn’t see the field in the second half of Alabama’s 56-14 romp that fell just shy of covering.
Alabama’s opening drive of the contest was one of the easiest you’ll see all season. The Crimson Tide wanted to get the run game going, and also threw some to set up the run. The big play came on a Jerry Jeudy reception where he juked at least four ULL defenders. Running back Josh Jacobs capped the drive with a 9-yard touchdown run, stiff-arming a defender into the ground on his way to the end zone.
Before you could blink, Alabama’s defense was forcing a 3-and-out. As ULL dropped back to punt, Alabama receiver Derek Kief came in untouched to block the kick and recover the ball to give Alabama’s offense a short field.
Two plays later, Tagovailoa found receiver Henry Ruggs III for an easy 13-yard touchdown to make it 14-0 early in the first quarter.
Not to be outdone, Alabama’s special teams wanted to do some scoring as well. Freshman receiver Jaylen Waddle took the punt, ran around multiple ULL defenders and found himself in the endzone for a 63-yard touchdown to make it 21-0.
Jacobs added his second touchdown of the day from 1-yard out to make it 28-0.
The other big question for Alabama was whether Jalen Hurts would play. Hurts appeared in the contest late in the first quarter, eliminating the possibility of redshirting this season. Hurts has remained committed to Alabama despite the outside noise.
On his first drive, Hurts found Ruggs for a 54-yard touchdown to make it 35-0 early in the second. Hurts hung in the pocket and took a hit as he delivered the strike to Ruggs, who broke multiple tackles before scoring.
Hurts has shown a good amount of improvement as a passer, and is more willing to stay in the pocket before taking off.
He led another touchdown drive and found Ruggs for another big play on the next possession. The drive was capped by a touchdown from Najee Harris to make it 42-0.
For some reason, Alabama put Tagovailoa back into the game, and as he’s done all year, the sophomore quarterback threw more lasers. Tagovailoa delivered a beautiful ball to Waddle for a 20-yard touchdown to make it 49-0 before half.
Alabama took its foot off the gas in the third, scoring just one touchdown, but it was a beauty. Reserve quarterback Mac Jones threw a quick pass to Waddle who took it 94 yards for the score. It was Jones first career passing touchdown, and Waddle’s third score of the day. That pushed the Tide over 50 points for the fourth time this season, one shy of matching the program record. They topped 500 yards for the fifth consecutive week.
The margin could have been bigger, but Joseph Bulovas missed two field goal attempts. Alabama kickers are now 5-for-9 on the season.
Veteran Alabama beat reporter Marq Burnett covers the Crimson Tide for Saturday Down South.
