Alabama has been no stranger to monster offensive performances in recent years. The 63 points the Crimson Tide scored in their shutout victory over Western Kentucky on Saturday were the most since… Nov. 18, 2023. The Tide have had a 60-point game every season since 2017.

But 63 points in an opener? Saturday’s game marked the highest-scoring season opener for Alabama since 1973.

In Kalen DeBoer’s debut, Alabama looked in midseason form. The Crimson Tide averaged 9.2 yards per play and ran up 600 yards of total offense. Quarterback Jalen Milroe threw for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns while attempting just 9 passes.

Alabama ran 65 plays and scored 63 points.

Take away a 13-play, 55-yard drive at the end of the game that bled the final 8:39 off the clock and Alabama acted as if it was against the rules to hold the ball for longer than 3 minutes for much of the evening.

Prior to that game-killing possession, Alabama had the ball 13 times. Ten of those possessions ended in less than 2 minutes. And 6 of those 10 possessions resulted in touchdowns.

Particularly in the first half, Alabama was breaking off chunk plays left and right. After the game, DeBoer was asked if he liked the explosiveness or if he’d prefer a little more time of possession.

“Both,” DeBoer said with a smile. “But how can you argue?”

On the evening, the Crimson Tide’s first-team offense had scoring plays of 12, 21, 22, 39, 55, 84, and 85 yards.

Freshman receiver Ryan Williams’ first 2 collegiate catches were touchdowns that went for 84 and 55. Milroe did it with his arm and his legs, finishing the game with 279 yards of total offense and 5 total scores. Running backs Justice Haynes and Jam Miller combined for 156 yards on 9 carries.

As a team, Alabama had a 24.6% explosive play rate.

“There’s things that weren’t perfect but we made up for it. So, now, what you want to look at are those plays that didn’t go as well and dial in on some of the mistakes — a penalty here, a penalty there,” DeBoer said. “But when we had the opportunity to make plays, I’m never going to be disappointed that we’re finding ways to have explosives. That’s a big part of what our offense is about. We preach it, we practice it, and that was fun to see.”

Alabama was without left tackle Kadyn Proctor, who picked up a knock in pregame warmups and did not play. That shifted Elijah Pritchett from the right side — where he took the vast majority of camp reps — over to the left. The Tide were also working a new quarterback-center exchange that had a few blips. And offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan had to shuffle back and forth between the booth and the field as WKU dealt with repeated issues with its on-field communication.

There are areas to build upon and parts of the equation that’ll change the next time the Crimson Tide take the field, but DeBoer thought the overall operation was smooth in Game 1.