Coming off an emotionally charged win over LSU last weekend in Baton Rouge, Alabama was set up for a natural let-down spot on the road against a Vanderbilt team with just one SEC win on the season. The only thing that mattered in Nashville was getting out of there with a win.
To that end, Alabama accomplished its biggest goal, walking out of FirstBank Stadium on Saturday afternoon with a 21-6 win.
But it was another long day for the offense, which was picked up by Kane Wommack's dominant defense that appears to be hitting its stride at the perfect time. If only the offense could follow suit.
Let's take a look at the biggest winners and losers from Alabama's 15-point road win:
The Alabama defense is really playing good football in recent weeks. After holding Vanderbilt to just two field goals, that's now just one touchdown allowed in the last eight quarters. That'll get it done.
Alabama needed everything it got from the defense today with the offense struggling to find its footing. The Crimson Tide forced the Vanderbilt offense to be one-dimensional, completely shutting down the 'Dores ground game with just 12 rushing yards allowed.
Alabama pressured freshman QB Jared Curtis, sacking him five times and consistently harassing him on the majority of his dropbacks.
It was an elite effort on that side of the ball. Ryan Grubb owes Wommack a beer or six.
It wasn't the effort on the ground that Alabama hoped to get this week overall, but junior RB Daniel Hill had a strong game. He ran hard all day long, picking up 89 yards on 14 attempts for a 6.4-yard-per-carry clip.
It was the fourth consecutive game that Alabama was held under 100 rushing yards overall, but Hill certainly did his part.
Alabama will need more from him and the other backs down the stretch to have a chance of making a run in the College Football Playoff.
After a quiet day against LSU last week, sophomore WR Lotzeir Brooks came up big in Nashville. He caught five passes for 62 yards and scored two touchdowns. He only had one receiving touchdown all season before Saturday.
Brooks caught a 39-yard touchdown pass from Keelon Russell on the opening drive of the third quarter, which allowed Alabama to take a two-possession lead.
WIDE 👀 OPEN
📺: SEC Network pic.twitter.com/50qZqQQjnM
On the next drive, following an 83-yard kickoff return by Dijon Lee to set Alabama up in the redzone, Brooks caught his second touchdown pass to extend the Alabama lead to 21-6.
Lottie Dottie we like to PARTY!🤫
📺: SEC Network pic.twitter.com/Q1IPilb8uh
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On a day when there were few bright spots for the Tide's offense, Brooks was certainly one of them.
Reese has been a solid No. 3 LB for Alabama behind Luke Metz and Caleb Woodson all year. He had his best game of the year against Vanderbilt, flying all over the field and leading the Crimson Tide with a career-high eight tackles and his first career sack.
Woodson was banged up a bit during the game, though he came back in, which allowed Reese to get more reps in the middle of the Tide's defense than he has been seeing.
He certainly took advantage.
After dealing with a nagging injury for weeks, sophomore Wolf LB Justin Hill looked healthier than he's looked since the first couple of weeks of the season.
He had his most extended playing time since, giving the Crimson Tide a bigger edge presence as a result.
He got into the backfield multiple times, recording a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. His return to form is a huge piece of the puzzle for Alabama's defense.
DeBoer ultimately made the right decision to start Keelon Russell at QB. He was clearly healthy enough to play in this game, and you can't rest a player during an SEC road game. You can get away with that next week at home against Chattanooga, but you have to take every conference opponent seriously.
That part makes sense.
What didn't make sense was the heavy (internal) media push for Austin Mack. He was front-and-center in Alabama's marketing for the game.
What else didn't make sense was sending him out to take the knees at the end, either.
It all felt disrespectful for a player who has sacrificed a lot for this team.
Grubb just cannot consistently get out of his own way. He earned some fans back after last week in what was one of his best-called games against LSU, particularly in the second half. But his plan made little sense this week against Vanderbilt, especially with a banged-up QB.
Russell took far too many hits because of far too many RPO calls and far too many shot plays when the game was in hand in the fourth quarter. Russell shouldn't be being asked to take deep shots and hang onto the ball with a two-touchdown lead against a Vanderbilt offense that could do little to break through against the Tide's defense.
It was a poor gameplan, something that has happened far too often in his two seasons as the Alabama OC.
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