TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — 456.
It looks a career home run chase sort of number, but was actually the passing yards the University of Alabama gave up to Auburn last week, tied for the fourth-most allowed in program history.
Not even Nick Saban could sugarcoat that when a reporter started his postgame question with “It seems like they were having a lot of success throwing the ball …”
“Well, they had a lot of success throwing the ball, it wasn’t it seemed like it, it was 456 yards,” Saban said with a grin. “About seven of eight of those were really big plays, so you’re not going to hurt my feelings by saying that, I have it right here on paper, 456 yards passing.
“We knew going into the game that (Sammie Coates) and (D’haquille Williams) were really good vertical receivers and we worked hard on getting those guys cut off and we didn’t do a very good job of it.”
At halftime Saban pulled sophomore starter Eddie Jackson for freshman Tony Brown, and after some confusion near the goal-line led to a 5-yard touchdown reception junior Bradley Sylve got his shot and helped stop the hemorrhaging.
The last time Saban made a move like that was after the season opener against West Virginia, when Sylve was the one getting pulled.
So with fans still remembering how the cornerbacks got exposed at the end of last season, it all leaves the obvious question: What’s the state of the Alabama secondary this week?
Thus far it’s been pretty much business as usual even though Alabama had given up just eight passes of 30-plus yards through its first 11 games and then had six against Auburn – which led to 23 points for the Tigers, two touchdowns and three field goals.
Of course quite a bit of that had to do with Auburn being very good offensively. Granted, Coates had the better statistical day with 206 yards on five catches and two long touchdowns, but it was Williams who gave the secondary more problems. The most physical receiver Alabama faced all season had seven receptions for 121 yards and also served as a decoy on one of Coates’ touchdowns.
Yet there were also mistakes, like Jackson looking back into the backfield instead of concentrating on Coates on a deep ball. Those kinds of things can be fixed.
“Just think that we try to correct the mistakes that we made and show a guy why things happened the way they did, whether it was eye control, not maintaining position on the receiver, not keeping a guy cut off, not playing the right leverage on the guy when you have help,” Saban said about his approach. “I think these things are technical in nature, and obviously we want to execute a little better than that. That’s how we correct things in the film, and that’s what we’ll do.
“The other issues that we had in the secondary, we’ll do the same thing with, as we will with the receivers and the quarterback and the offensive line and the linebackers and the front. When it wasn’t set right, we didn’t play the runs right. That’s what we do at every position.”
On Sunday, Jackson tweeted: “I played a horrible game yesterday I apologize to all my fans but all I know how to do is Bounce Back Believe that.” He then did the same to his teammates.
“We gave him a warm welcome, gave him a hug and told him, ‘Man, it’s going to be all right.’ I mean, we all have bad games,” junior safety Landon Collins said. “You got to learn to work around it, move on.
“Once we got in our DB group, he said, ‘Man, I’m sorry the way I played; it won’t happen again.’ So he’s back and back to regular Eddie.”
Although reporters are limited to a 5-minute observation window during practices it appeared that Jackson was working in tandem with Cyrus Jones like usual on Tuesday. Regardless of who starts, though, Alabama knows that Missouri will test that player in particular during Saturday’s SEC Championship Game (4 p.m. ET, CBS).
Junior Cyrus Jones has been the Crimson Tide’s most consistent cornerback, junior Landon Collins is considered by many to be the best safety in college football this season, and senior Nick Perry has come on strong the second during the second half of the season.
“Probably A&M game,” Perry said was a turning point for him. “I had a great game that game, and ever since then, I feel like I can be able to do anything out there.”
Against Alabama’s last four SEC opponents he’s had 41 tackles and two interceptions.
“Landon’s keeping me motivated,” Perry continued. “He just tells me keep pushing myself, that he needs me out there, and I do the same for him. You know, we’re all out there together, playing for each other, and we’re all feeding off each other.”
Now they’re doing likewise with Jackson, who has already come back from having knee surgery in the spring and has seen how teammates have handled similar outings. But should he start and falter, Alabama knows it has other players ready to step in again.
“We just have to be ready to play ball,” said Perry, “and it’s really going to be all on the secondary in this game.”
Most passing yards allowed
528 LSU* 2001, L 35-21
464 at Texas A&M 2013, W 49-42
458 vs. Louisville 1991 (Fiesta Bowl), L 34-7
456 Auburn 2014, W 55-44
456 Mississippi State 1978, W 35-14
Source: Alabama record book
*At the time LSU was coached by Nick Saban
Christopher Walsh has covered Alabama football since 2004 and is the author of 19 books. In his free time, he writes about college football.
