TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No one had a better view of the University of Alabama’s attempt at a first down on fourth-and-1 at Arkansas last week than running back T.J. Yeldon.

Offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin wanted to give the ball to the junior in the backfield, but Nick Saban thought the quarterback sneak would be better. It wasn’t. Senior Blake Sims tried to jump instead of dive and got nowhere fast.

“Honestly I don’t know what he was trying to do,” Yeldon said with a laugh.

However, no one knows what would have happened with a handoff either. The previous week at Ole Miss, Alabama failed to convert a third-and-1 behind the right side of the offensive line, and the running game was struggling against the Razorbacks as well. Arkansas made seven tackles for a loss, of which two were sacks, but the Crimson Tide also had 10 carries that gained between 0 and 2 yards.

That’s more than half of Alabama’s running plays in the game. One has to think that factored into Saban’s thinking, as the ground game hasn’t been as successful as hoped.

At the midway point of the season Alabama is fifth in the Southeastern Conference and 30th in the nation with 258 carries for 1,268 rushing yards. This year’s team is averaging 4.91 yards per carry, down almost a whole yard from 2013 and is the lowest since 2008.

Alabama average rushing yards per carry
2013: 5.8
2012: 5.59
2011: 5:49
2010: 5.09
2009: 5.01
2008: 4.55

After having two running backs reach 1,000-yard rushing yards in 2012 the Crimson Tide doesn’t have anyone on pace to reach the milestone unless it plays 14 games. Yeldon has 452 rushing yards on 93 carries and sophomore Derrick Henry 382 on 77 attempts. Individually they rank 65th and tied for 93rd in the nation, respectively.

Coming into this fall Yeldon was on pace to become Alabama’s all-time leading rusher and break Shaun Alexander career record of 3,565 yards, only his chances are shrinking with each game. With 2,795 he’s 770 shy, but after averaging 75.3 yards through the first half of the season he needs 128.5 per game the rest of the way to top him during the regular season.

“I’ve been playing really hard, all running backs have, the whole team has,” said Yeldon, who averaged 102.9 rushing yards in 2013. “Have to stick to the techniques and fundamentals, and we’ll be good.”

Nevertheless, Yeldon’s longest carry this season is 26 yards. That’s second among all the Crimson Tide running backs, with junior Kenyan Drake, who is now out for the season due to a leg fracture, having a 29-yard carry against Southern Miss.

Alabama’s longest carry per game
West Virginia: T.J Yeldon 26
Florida Atlantic: Tyren Jones and Amari Cooper 20
Southern Miss: Kenyan Drake 29
Florida: Derrick Henry 25
Ole Miss: T.J. Yeldon 22
Arkansas: T.J. Yeldon 12

“It’s been tough,” Yeldon said about Drake. “We really could use him. He was our speed guy, we could use him out wide. But things happen and we just have to move on. Hopefully he’ll get better and be back next year.

Drake broke a 50-yard run last season and Henry had an 80-yard touchdown as a true freshman. Yeldon had a 68-yard carry, which was more than the entire Alabama team accumulated at Arkansas last Saturday. The longest gain was just 12 yards.

Alabama game-by-game rushing yards
West Virginia 288
Florida Atlantic 190
Southern Miss 333
Florida 223
Ole Miss 168
Arkansas 66

The last time the Alabama has so few rushing yards was last season against Colorado State, when Jim McElwain’s team limited the Crimson Tide to 3.14 yards per carry. This time the Tide averaged 3.8 yards per attempt despite Arkansas dominating in time of possession.

It also, like the other two SEC teams Alabama has faced, didn’t give up much in the interior – which used to be the Crimson Tide’s offensive calling card.

The 12-yard carry was behind true freshman tackle Cam Robinson, but it was also one of five times that Alabama attacked to the left. Subtract the screen pass that was technically a lateral to DeAndrew White and the end-around with Amari Cooper that failed, and the other two attempts by running backs resulted in no gain.

The previous week Alabama ran more to the left at Ole Miss, including Yeldon’s 22-yard carry around the end. Against Florida the running backs kept bouncing to the outside and Alabama averaged 3.8 yards per attempt.

With junior center Ryan Kelly likely out another week due to a sprained knee, senior Leon Brown and sophomore Alphonse Taylor still platooning at right guard, and left guard Arie Kouandjio barely practicing last week due to an ankle injury, and Texas A&M has to be optimistic about yielding fewer than last year’s 234 rushing yards and 568 total yards to Alabama, which won 49-42.

“I think they’ll play us in a lot of eight-man fronts and make it tough for us to run the ball,” Saban said. “Our skill guys are going to have to play really well if that’s the way they choose to play us, and if they’re going play us in more split-safeties-type stuff we’re going to have to be able to run the ball better than we did last week to control the line of scrimmage and control the ball on offense. Because one way that they can’t go fast on offense is (for us to) have the ball.”