Things aren’t so simple with this opponent.
After controlling the traditional offenses of Georgia and Arkansas the past two weekends, Alabama will face the spread attack of Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon in College Station. The Bulldogs and Razorbacks played right into the heart and strength of the Crimson Tide, but the fast-paced Aggies will be looking to make big plays in space with an offense averaging 480.4 yards and 39.2 points per game.
“They put more pressure on us as a defense to communicate and get lined up,” Alabama senior cornerback Cyrus Jones said in a news conference. “We know it’s going to be fast-paced, but we’ve got to slow the game down in our head and not get caught up in what they’re doing.”
Against Georgia, the Crimson Tide built a 38-3 lead and held tailback Nick Chubb to 63 yards on 18 carries before Chubb broke free for an 83-yard score late in the third quarter. They were even more effective against the run last Saturday, limiting Alex Collins to 26 yards on 12 carries in a 27-14 win over the Razorbacks.
Alabama was able to use the 300-pound likes of defensive linemen Jarran Reed, A’Shawn Robinson, Darren Lake and Daron Payne to control things up front the past two weeks, but facing the Aggies requires the big and the fast, with more of an emphasis on the fast.
“They’ve tried to run the ball more effectively this year, but we are going to have to play more players,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “They’re going to try and go fast, and when they’ve got their four wideouts on the field, you’ve got to have as much speed out there as you can. That’s what we’ll try to do, but we’ll still have to have a couple of big guys inside, because they can run the ball.
“You’ve got to have good athletes on the edges, because their quarterback can scramble, and you need the pass rush. It does create the opportunity for more players to play.”
Redshirt freshman Marlon Humphrey and freshman Minkah Fitzpatrick will get their first taste of the Aggies at Kyle Field as members of Alabama’s secondary, which is headed by Jones and junior safety Eddie Jackson. The Crimson Tide are allowing 187.2 passing yards per game, a noticeable improvement over the 226.1 yielded a year ago.
Alabama also has intercepted eight passes through six games after totaling 11 in 14 games last season.
“We’ve given up fewer big plays this season, which has been a positive,” Saban said, “and we’ve stopped the run a little better out of those situations, which is primarily because our front has done a good job. Whenever you have to add a guy in the box to stop the run, it really puts you in a little more vulnerable coverage, and we’ve had to do less of that this year.
“The more we can continue to do that, the better we can play in nickel.”
Saban praised Jones this week for his consistency, adding that he’s one of the better performers on the Southeastern Conference’s top defense at the midway mark of the regular season. He also complimented Jackson, a former cornerback who tore his ACL during 2014 spring practice.
Jackson has a team-leading three interceptions for 111 yards and a touchdown.
“Eddie has done a really good job for us,” Saban said. “He was a little apprehensive to move because it was out of his comfort zone and there were a lot of new things he was going to have to learn. He’s been very dedicated in his approach to learn the position. He’s always been very instinctive, and that’s kind of carried over into safety.
“We’re not as big as we’ve been at safety, but the guys we have are athletic and may have more range, and that has helped us against some of these teams that we play that are so spread out.”
Texas A&M quarterback Kyle Allen has been great out of the gate, completing 89 of 139 passes (64.0 percent) for 1,274 yards with 13 touchdowns and just two interceptions. Heralded freshman receiver Christian Kirk leads the league with 103.8 yards per game, while junior Josh Reynolds is fourth with 76.6.
The Aggies also possess Ricky Seals-Jones and Speedy Noil on the perimeter, and they are better at power running this year with senior running back Tra Carson, who is averaging 86.0 yards a game and 4.5 yards per carry.
“He’s a different-style guy from what they’ve had in the past,” Saban said. “They’ve had fast guys, and it’s not that he’s not fast, but he’s a bigger, more powerful downhill runner, which really complements what they do on the perimeter. He’s more along the lines of the backs we’ve had here who can run through tackles.”
Alabama massacred Texas A&M 59-0 last season in Tuscaloosa, but that Aggies team had struggling Kenny Hill at quarterback and had yet to add Kirk. That game has not been mentioned at Alabama this week as much as the last result from Kyle Field two years ago, when the Tide topped the Aggies 49-42.
In that game, Alabama (568) and Texas A&M (628) combined for 1,196 yards.
“I don’t want to have numbers like that,” Jones said, “but you never know what’s going to happen.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.