There was once a point in this football season, specifically Oct. 17, when Alabama treated the third quarter as an ignition switch.
The Crimson Tide trailed Georgia 24-20 at halftime but used a 90-yard touchdown strike from Mac Jones to Jaylen Waddle to open the floodgates to a 41-24 victory. Those floodgates have stayed open in every first half since, with Alabama building halftime leads of 28-10 at Tennessee, 27-0 against Mississippi State, 28-3 against Kentucky, 21-3 against Auburn and 45-14 this past Saturday night at LSU.
With these recent contests having already been decided by intermission, and this is the First World problem of all college football problems, Alabama players are battling sluggish starts to the third quarter.
"It's just all about making adjustments at halftime and coming out and trying to execute," Crimson Tide sophomore linebacker Christian Harris said Monday afternoon on a Zoom call. "They make adjustments as well, so we've got to make sure we come out stronger in the second half than we did in the first half. We've kind of slipped on that a little bit at the beginning of the third quarter, but we tend to pick it up pretty well."
Alabama scored first in the second half against LSU, but an 11-yard touchdown run by Najee Harris to make it 52-14 in the eventual 55-17 rout didn't transpire until the 3:39 mark of the third quarter. The Crimson Tide took a while to resume their pounding of Auburn the week before in the Iron Bowl, going three-and-out to open the second half before the Tigers had a seven-play, 47-yard drive that culminated with a 45-yard Anders Carlson field goal that made it 21-6.
In Alabama's 41-0 whipping of Mississippi State on Halloween, the Crimson Tide failed to score in the third quarter.
"I think the emphasis is always that there is no scoreboard," coach Nick Saban said. "You want to come out and re-establish the tempo of the game in the second half. We've kind of been up and down in that regard, but it's something we certainly want to continue to focus on."
Alabama has racked up a staggering 59 touchdowns in its 9-0 start, with four of those occurring on defense, including a pair early in the third quarter. Malachi Moore returned an Eric Gray fumble 28 yards for a score 33 seconds into the second half of the Oct. 24 win at Tennessee, while Jordan Battle's 45-yard interception return to the end zone at the 10:14 mark of third against Kentucky added to that eventual 63-3 slaughter.
"I've been trying to find ways to raise our energy coming out of halftime," Jones said. "I think part of that is just getting warmed up a little bit more. We'll have to find a way to do that and just get our heart rate up so we're ready to go in the second half. At the end of the day, you've got to go out there and treat it play by play.
"We definitely have to address that, and I'm sure our coaches will come up with the ways to help fix that."
Two finalists?
Jones was asked Monday for the first time - and probably not the last - about the possibility of Alabama having him and senior receiver DeVonta Smith as finalists for the Heisman Trophy.
"I'm not really focused on that right now, because that is a while away," Jones said. "I think if we just keep winning games and everyone keeps playing at a very high level like they are right now, the awards will come. At the end of the day, here at Alabama, we're just trying to win games, and the other stuff just takes care of itself."
The two provided quite the highlight just before halftime in Baton Rouge, when Smith went up to make a one-handed snag for a 20-yard touchdown that made it 45-14.
"We ran the same play against Missouri on the 18th play of the game," Jones said, "and I threw the pass too far to the right, and it actually went out of bounds. Smitty wasn't mad at me, but he said, 'Just throw it up. Just throw it up,' so eight games later, we run the same play. He had a great route on (LSU cornerback Derek) Stingley, and I just threw it up and towards the back.
"Obviously Smitty helped me out and made a great play, and it just goes back to trust."
Tide tidbits
Arkansas is one of two annual foes of Alabama yet to defeat the Crimson Tide under Saban, with the other being Tennessee. South Carolina's Kevin Harris is the SEC rushing leader with 1,138 yards, but his season is likely over. Najee Harris has 1,038 yards and has at least three games remaining. Saban on the Razorbacks: "Their record really doesn't reflect how well they've played. They've lost three games by a total of seven points, otherwise they would be 6-3 instead of 3-6." Crimson Tide kicker Will Reichard continues to be perfect, having made all 10 field-goal attempts this season and all 59 extra-point tries, and he is among the 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.