Versatile Alabama defense is too much for the rest of the country to handle
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No matter what school you root for on Saturdays, there’s one thing you got to love about Alabama under Nick Saban.
It represents old school football, and it does it well.
While most of the Big 12 and Pac-12 have evolved to force scoreboard operators to take double shots of espresso to keep up each game, Alabama represents the SEC’s stubborn tradition of putting them to sleep.
Consider this. The SEC has six teams ranked in the top 20 nationally in scoring defense (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, Missouri and Vanderbilt). Meanwhile, the Big 12 and Pac-12 combined have zero.
But let’s focus on the Alabama defense that’s carrying that flag with gusto this season.
The Tide is barely letting its opponents’ cleats get dirty. You got to move the chains before you score points. Entering Week 11, Alabama was forcing offenses to go three-and-out on an astounding 42.3 percent of their drives. That’s the 2nd-best rate in the FBS behind only Clemson (44.5).
However, no defense is as capable of shutting down both the run and pass simultaneously like Kirby Smart’s stingy unit. Bama boasts the best front seven and back seven in the country. The front has five returning starters from last year’s defense, including junior DE Jonathan Allen and senior middle linebacker Reggie Ragland.
That group has made offensive fronts look invisible while stuffing runs and flattening quarterbacks.
The Tide is only allowing 77.1 rushing yards per game, which is 2nd in the FBS. However, Alabama leads the nation with eight games of not allowing 100 rushing yards.
We’re not talking about a 100-yard rusher. We’re talking about a 100-yard rushing team. Alabama’s prevented all but two of its opponents from hitting the mark.
When it comes to 100-yard rushers, it’s faced two of the eight backs in the nation this season to post seven 100-yard games or more. Both happen to reside in the SEC (Arkansas’ Alex Collins and LSU’s Leonard Fournette). Those fine runners barely made a peep against Bama, combining for 57 rushing yards.
Fournette, the Heisman frontrunner that every other team in the nation couldn’t bring down, came crashing down from his unstoppable status up to that point. Collins, one of the steadiest producers in the country, was shut down for a career-low 2.2 yards per carry.
Meanwhile, quarterbacks haven’t fared any better.
Alabama has recorded 38 sacks on the season, 2nd only to Penn State’s 42 among FBS schools. Last week against Mississippi State, Alabama got to Dak Prescott nine times. That’s the most sacks in a game by a Tide defense since the first season of the BCS era (1998).
We’re only 10 games into the season, yet Alabama’s 38 sacks are already the most by a Tide defense in a single season under Saban. The next-highest total by a Saban defense in Tuscaloosa was 35 in 2012, the last time Alabama won a national championship.
Things don’t work out when the ball comes out of their hands, either. Led by junior SS Eddie Jackson (5) and freshman CB Minkah Fitzpatrick (2), Alabama has an SEC-best 14 interceptions, and have more pick-sixes (4) than any Power 5 team in the country.
Finding a weakness in this Tide defense is like trying to find that oasis in the desert. It’s not there, and you’ll die trying to find it.
All this isn’t to say this season’s Alabama’s defense is better or worse than any of the other stellar defenses the Tide have had. However, it’s good enough to take the Tide back to the top of the college football mountain.
Frankly, it’s already up there sitting inside an impenetrable fortress.
Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.
