Alabama will have to rebound from its worst defensive showing of the season without one of its starters.
Junior cornerback Trevon Diggs, who leads the Crimson Tide with six pass breakups, broke his foot during Saturday afternoon's 65-31 win at Arkansas. In his weekly news conference Monday, coach Nick Saban said Diggs would be "out indefinitely."
True freshman Patrick Surtain, the nation's No. 1 cornerback in the 2018 signing class, is expected to replace Diggs at the corner spot opposite junior college transfer Saivion Smith, who also is in his first season at Alabama.
"We now have five defensive players who are out for an extended period of time - starters or people who were in the two-deep," Saban said. "Three of those guys are defensive backs, so it's going to be challenging. We're very thin, and we need some other guys to step up and develop. The next guy up has to take the challenge and play well for us.
"Patrick has played quite a bit at his position, so we do have two guys who have some experience. We just don't have a lot of depth right now."
Alabama's defensive injury list, in addition to Diggs, includes linebackers Terrell Lewis (knee) and Christopher Allen (knee), safety Daniel Wright (shoulder) and cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis (knee).
Diggs, a 6-foot-2, 199-pounder from Gaithersburg, Maryland, has played in 34 career games with seven starts, including six this season. He has 20 tackles, one forced fumble and one interception.
The Crimson Tide's first test without Diggs occurs Saturday night at home against Missouri, which averages 530 yards a game. Tigers senior quarterback Drew Lock is averaging 297.4 passing yards per game and has thrown for 11 touchdowns, and he is complemented by a rushing attack averaging 211.6 yards a contest.
"This is by far the best offensive team that we've played to this point," Saban said. "They've lost two close games to two really good teams, so this will be the biggest challenge we've had all season long."
'Chief' praise
Alabama is averaging 567.5 yards and 56.0 points a game at the midway mark of the season, with sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa leading the nation in passing efficiency with 18 touchdowns and no interceptions. Tagovailoa threw for 334 yards and four touchdowns in the first half alone against Arkansas.
Razorbacks first-year defensive coordinator John "Chief" Chavis, who faced Alabama for a 30th consecutive season on Saturday, told reporters Monday that this year's Crimson Tide "may be the best offense I've coached against."
Tide tidbits
Next week's game at Tennessee will be televised by CBS with a 3:30 p.m. kickoff. ... Sophomore tight end Kedrick James will miss this week's contest with a high-ankle sprain. ... Saban on how he determines when to change quarterbacks: "Sometimes we have a plan for how we do it, and sometimes we do it by feel."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.