Alabama Football vs. Vanderbilt: First Half Impressions – Roll 'Bama Roll

7-3 Good Guys at the half
If you came into this game thinking that Alabama would be geared up and ready to play, you were sorely mistaken (at least on offense). The Tide opened with an anemic three-and out after a couple of failed run plays, and OC Ryan Grubb decided not to run the ball again for 3 drives. QB Keelon Russell played the whole half despite reports yesterday saying he was likely going to miss the game with an ankle injury. Interestingly, he didn’t really seem slowed by the injury, though he did slip in the backfield on multiple occasions.
Most of the gameplan from Grubb seemed to be around a quick passing game and passes to the flats – which the Tide subsequently struggled to block. As such, Russell’s stat line was a 14-19 (74% completion rate), but for only 106 yards. And for the most part, it was just a big punt fest until the end of the half. At that point, the Commodores got an interception when a free rusher tipped Russell’s pass and then picked off the deflection, then the Tide followed that up with an actual good drive on offense, handing the ball off to Daniel Hill multiple times and the big man getting his total up to 50 yards on 7 carries. They ultimately punched it into the endzone with a pass to Marshall Pritchett as the half expired.
The Tide defense, on the other hand, was phenomenal. They gave up a couple of first downs to open the game, but still forced the punt. And after that, zilch. The Commodores had 19 passing yards on 11 attempts and totaled 13 rushing yards for the half. Even when Russell threw the interception and gave Vandy the ball in the redzone, the Tide defense promptly walked them backwards and forced the resulting field goal to be a 53 yarder.
So, I truly don’t know what to do about the Alabama offense. They made the Vandy front 7 look like the best defensive line in the country play after play after play. Meanwhile, Grubb came out with a weird game plan, and Keelon Russell struggled with accuracy for much of the half, plus he fell down untouched on a 4th down. Daniel Hill had a few good runs at the end there, but he had some bad runs too. And on Trae’Shawn Brown and EJ Crowell’s couple of carries, they were met in the backfield. Crowell did make two guys miss in a very impressive 1-yard game.
Until they can figure something out (block better? get some passes downfield?) to get the Vandy defense to a point where they aren’t attacking Alabama relentlessly, I’m not sure I see how the Tide offense does much of anything. They might get another score or two, but it’s probably going to feel like pulling teeth. So here’s to hoping the Alabama defense continues to utterly dominate.
Roll Tide
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