Alabama football offensive woes continue, but defense carries the day vs. Ole Miss | Goodbread
In the summer of 2016, Tuscaloosa native and former WBC heavyweight boxing champion Deontay Wilder broke his right hand in the fourth round of a fight against Chris Arreola. For another four rounds, he threw punches only with his left hand, and still managed to score a TKO victory in the eighth round.
That was Alabama football on Saturday: throwing punches with its defense while nursing a broken offense, and doing so for the second consecutive week.
In a 24-10 win over Ole Miss, punching left-handed got the job done. And it even slipped in a couple of late rights.
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To be clear, this isn't the suffocating, dominating Alabama defense that fans have come to expect from Nick Saban's teams. There doesn't appear to be dominant inside force along the front seven, and it's probably not a defense capable of carrying the team week after week after week. Nor should that have to be asked. But it showed a steely nerve on Saturday, and landed a few crushing blows against a potent Rebels offense, especially in the second half. After a couple of early coverage busts in the secondary, the defense eventually found its footing and entered shut-down mode, allowing just 301 total yards. It was the primary reason Alabama notched the conference win column in its first opportunity to do so.
Meanwhile, the Alabama offense continues to bleed profusely with miscues and negative plays. The Ole Miss pass rush was all over quarterback Jalen Milroe. For more than a half, the running game looked like it was playing in mud. Inaccurate shotgun snaps continued to plague, most notably on a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line that turned what should've been an easy touchdown into a 40-yard field goal by Will Reichard. For the fifth time this season, the Crimson Tide had a touchdown called back on a penalty. Even when Alabama wasn't being penalized, officials didn't help when it came to communication with the UA sideline.
There were signs of offensive life in the second half: a 33-yard touchdown pass from Milroe to Jalen Hale, and the gutsy two-point conversion run quarterback by Ty Simpson that followed. Running back Jase McClellan sprung a couple nice second-half runs that made a difference. But as the Alabama coaching staff retreats to the film room looking for answers this weekend, the questions remain squarely about the offense.
This Alabama team isn't good enough to lean too much on its better half all season.
But it was good enough to do just that on Saturday. And buy another week to bring its lesser half along.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23 and the Talkin' Tide podcast. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama defense pounds Ole Miss as offensive woes continue
