TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nick Saban called for his Alabama team to embrace adversity. There was plenty of it Saturday, much of it self-inflicted.
The No. 1 Crimson Tide’s game against Texas A&M caused more anxiety than necessary. More heart palpitations, too. Another effort like the 60 minutes put forth Saturday night, and Alabama will enter the loss column sooner rather than later. And later could be coming as soon as next weekend in a trip to Tennessee. No Bryce Young, no threat of a consistent passing game, four turnovers and two missed field goals did not yield the best results, and a repeat will not get it done on Rocky Top.
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Yet it somehow yielded a win against Texas A&M, as the Crimson Tide (6-0, 3-0 SEC) pulled out a 24-20 goal-line stand, slop-fest victory with Jalen Milroe starting in place of the injured Young. But not by much.
Oddly enough, the offense did plenty to win comfortably, with 288 yards rushing and six plays of 25 yards or more. It also did enough to lose with four turnovers, its most in a game since the home loss to Ole Miss in 2015 (five). Every time it seemed the Crimson Tide would pull away, a turnover or missed opportunity in the red zone allowed the Aggies to stay in the game. They ultimately had the ball on the Alabama 2-yard line with three seconds remaining.
There are many takes that will come from this game. Some of them well-thought out and reasonable. Others will come from emotion and fear that what was witnessed against what’s now a .500 Texas A&M team (3-3, 1-2 SEC) will show up again next week at No. 8 Tennessee.
We can get all caught up in this area of the game or that. That the running game was feast-or-famine or that the passing attack was not noteworthy. But it really boils down to this: Alabama needs Young or this season goes off the rails. That’s relative, of course. But without Young, this Alabama team could very well be staring down multiple regular-season losses with Tennessee (5-0), Mississippi State (5-1) and Ole Miss (6-0) among the opponents still looming on the schedule.
What we learned about Milroe
Alabama can win a key conference game with the redshirt freshman. But to do so, it needs a defense that can more than hold its own and a running game that can help him out.
A good argument can also be made that Alabama nearly lost because of his turnovers, from which Texas A&M scored 17 of its 20 points. But it’s important to remember that Milroe did throw three touchdowns — one to Cameron Latu, one to Ja’Corey Brooks and one to Jermaine Burton. It’s fair to be critical of his play, but he did some things to help the team win as well, including rushing for 83 yards.
Jalen Milroe and the Crimson Tide get on the board with a PERFECT throw. pic.twitter.com/QcE0EIKP83
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 9, 2022
Could he do enough to outpace Tennessee, which came into the week tied for second nationally with an average of 48.5 points per game and scored 40 at LSU on Saturday? That seems like a leap that’s not supported with reason. You’d be hard-pressed to find a person right now who thinks 24 points will be enough to win that game.
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Against Texas A&M, Milroe was not comfortable in the pocket and not secure enough with the ball. There’s also some debate to be had about whether or not Bill O’Brien called the best game for him. Take this play, for example: On second-and-5 in the third quarter, O’Brien had Traeshon Holden run a route in the right flat coming off of going in motion. Milroe found him, but the play was thrown for a 5-yard loss. Nothing against Holden, but might it have had a better chance of success with a speedster like JoJo Earle or Isaiah Bond in the open field?
In O’Brien’s defense, he had to be wary of more turnovers, so perhaps that factored into some of the play calls. There definitely seemed to be a point in the game during which Milroe might have been better served with one read before running if it wasn’t open.
Saban was cautious in his postgame thoughts about Milroe’s performance. He avoided being overly critical. He was alarmed, though.
“I wouldn’t evaluate Jalen as a passer. It’s relative to how did we protect them? How do we run the routes? How do we get open?” Saban said. “And without watching the film, I can’t tell you if he made the right reads and had opportunities to make throws that he didn’t make or not or if we just didn’t have anybody open. I think he did a good job. Making some plays, scrambled with his feet. But we had 111 yards passing and that’s certainly not our goal. So something in the passing game needs to get better and I’m not putting it all on him.”
Young’s availability is unknown for next week, and it would surprise no one if Alabama goes up until game time before the answer is revealed. But Saban said Young wanted to go into the game in the fourth quarter, and I saw him running out from under the tunnel late with the training staff near him.
Without Young playing next week, the mountain is much steeper to climb. And please don’t take that the wrong way: He shouldn’t be on the field unless he’s ready to play. He felt he could play late in the fourth quarter. How will he feel during practice over the next week?
Defense saved the day
The Alabama defense wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly asked to do a lot of the heavy lifting against Texas A&M because of the turnovers and the bad spots it was put in. To limit the Aggies to 20 points, 17 of which came off the turnovers, was the difference in the game.
Saban referenced the idea of embracing adversity when asked about what could be taken from winning the game with a defensive stand at the end. He first said the defense wouldn’t have been in that position had it “done things the right way.”
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But it was impossible to watch that game and not notice Will Anderson Jr. He didn’t stuff the stat sheet, recording just two tackles, including one for a loss. But he was credited with eight hurries. As a team, the defense had 14 quarterback hurries. Because of the excellent pass rush, it was noticeable that Texas A&M was not called for one holding penalty. In six games this season, opposing offenses have been called for two holding penalties against Alabama. One was an offsetting penalty. So either opposing offensive lines often play a clean game against Alabama’s pass rushers or officials aren’t calling them.
Another thing that was noticeable was Texas A&M going at cornerback Terrion Arnold, including on the game-deciding play. Arnold said he was looking at Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher as he lined up and he said the veteran coach sort of tipped the play.
Coach Saban draws up the @AlabamaFTBL defense on tonight's final play.#RollTide | @CBSBank pic.twitter.com/TaQt2C1mnZ
— Alabama Athletics (@UA_Athletics) October 9, 2022
“I’m actually looking at Jimbo before the play and he was kind of going, ‘Evan, Evan, Evan,’” Arnold said of when he lined up in front of Evan Stewart.
It wasn’t a perfect night for Arnold, but he held his own as the Aggies kept going at him. He finished with eight tackles and one interception. All told, Texas A&M averaged just 5.4 yards per pass and 2.8 yards per rush, totaling 323 yards on 72 plays.
The Alabama defense was missing inside linebacker Jaylen Moody, who didn’t dress out with a bruised kidney. Deontae Lawson played in his place. Saban said he thought he played well. He finished with five tackles.
(Top photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)