Five takeaways from Alabama Football stomping on Mercer

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 10 Alabama Crimson Tide dominated Mercer on Saturday with a 52-7 victory at home.

Alabama has been on fire lately with ranked beatdowns against Missouri and LSU and now Mercer, one of the top teams in the FCS. In each of these games, the Crimson Tide shined on both sides of the ball and it created a tremendous sense of camaraderie every time the offense scored or the defense was stopped.

There is so much to parse from this game on Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Here are five takeaways:

49 days after Alabama freshman wide receiver Ryan Williams got the go-ahead against Georgia and freshman cornerback Zabien Brown pulled in the game-sealing interception moments later, this young duo, with both players wearing the No. 2 jersey, shined again on Saturday.

Williams, a 17-year-old college football phenom, got the scoreboard working with a 29-yard run on a sweep on Alabama’s opening possession. On the Tide’s next drive, Williams found the end zone for the second time in the first quarter, this time on a thunderous block from fellow wide receiver Germie Bernard.

After a touchdown catch by Alabama tight end/fullback Robbie Ouzts, Mercer trotted back onto the field down 21-0, desperate to break the Tide’s momentum. The Bears reached midfield, but on a short completion, Alabama defenseman DaShawn Jones grabbed LAID THE TREE and Zabien Brown grabbed the loose ball and returned it 68 yards to the house, creating a commanding 28-0 lead even midway through the second quarter . . Brown’s touchdown was the defense’s first of the season — a goal the unit and defensive coordinator Kane Wommack have been outspoken about for some time.

“Yeah, those (defensive touchdowns) are exciting,” DeBoer said during the post-game press conference. “The boys talk about it when they come up short. They think they have a chance to score, they always hear about that. You should have kept it on the sidelines or cut back and for us to give him that long time in the end zone.” The return was something that was exciting for the whole team because they got the takeaways, but we just didn’t end up with one in the end zone.

Brown didn’t add any more touchdowns the rest of the first half, but his sticky coverage prevented Whitt Newbauer from targeting him often, as Mercer’s quarterback often looked in the opposite direction.

The two No. 2s were responsible for 21 of Alabama’s first 28 points of the game. Williams and Brown’s touchdowns helped Alabama build a large enough lead to knock out many of the starters about halfway through the third quarter, as it was 38–7 at the time.

Alabama’s defense has forced at least three goals in five straight games and six of the last seven overall. Yes, you read that correctly. Zabien Brown’s scoop-and-score after a forced fumble by DaShawn Jones, defensive lineman Damon Payne’s fumble recovery after cornerback Domani Jackson’s punchout and WOLF linebacker Qua Russaw’s wild interception on the ground contributed to the extending this incredible streak.

“I like that we have three more takeaways,” DeBoer said. “I think there’s a mentality about our defense in three of the first four possessions that does that. I just really like where we are. We’re chasing the ball.”

Winning the turnover battle is crucial to the outcome of a game and Alabama’s last three games have shown that. Sure, Alabama has outscored opponents 128-20 over the last three weeks, but the early results have provided a big boost on both sides of the ball, especially against ranked teams Missouri and LSU.

Between the second half against Georgia and hours leading up to the game against Mizzou, Wommack and his unit are unquestionably the most attacked part of the schedule by the college football world. This is certainly understandable considering the Tide defense couldn’t get off the field.

The terrible third-down numbers are most indicative of this fact, as Vanderbilt converted 12 of 18 attempts, South Carolina 7 of 15, and Tennessee 6 of 14. The numbers against the Gamecocks and Vols may seem a lot better than against the Commodores, but the majority of their third-down conversions came in the second half.

But the aforementioned insights and score differential show that Wommack’s Swarm D is in full force as Alabama targets a spot in the College Football Playoff under the inaugural 12-team format.

Milroe’s performance in the loss to Tennessee was widely considered the worst of his Crimson Tide career. He needed a big rebound against Mizzou and got one. Plus, he followed it up with a record-breaking night in Baton Rouge.

Milroe remained consistent Saturday afternoon, completing 11 of 16 pass attempts for 186 yards and two touchdowns in just 2.5 quarters of action. The dual-threat also recorded six carries for 43 yards and another score.

He’s done a really good job recently of knowing when to run the ball. He scrambled a lot more last game, but the constant open lanes against LSU all but forced him to run for easy long gains. Mercer was made aware of this, but Milroe was still accurate on short, medium and long passes, showing not only his efficiency as a runner and passer, but also a fantastic game plan from offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan.

Milroe also spread the ball about a ton until he was sacked, as in the first half he completed nine passes to six different pass catchers – wide receiver Germie Bernard scored the most with three receptions for 58 yards. Mercer came into this game with an FCS-best 21 interceptions, but the wide target share when Milroe entered may have kept the Bears from expanding that lead in the league.

A common theme in Alabama’s offense during wins this season revolved around explosiveness and quick drives with an abundance of long gains. Because of this, a new fast attacking style was expected against Mercer, but surprisingly that was not the case, apart from a few big plays.

First and foremost, Alabama outscored Mercer 29-10 on the first down category, leading to 77 plays to the Bears’ 46. This was also the result of the Tide’s victory in possession with a score of 33:48 to 26. :12. Overall, Alabama defeated Mercer in every single category except penalties (6-5).

As the score continued to grow on one side, Alabama continually chewed the clock as Mercer was unable to stem the tide due to the highly efficient 6.6 yards per play compared to Mercer’s 4.4.

Of course, Alabama’s defense is largely responsible for ball control, as it allowed just 202 yards and 1-for-9 shooting on third down to an offense that never saw the red zone. Crimson Tide linebacker Jihaad Campbell, who was named SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week and Reese’s Senior Bowl Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against LSU, was strong again Saturday afternoon as he led Alabama with nine tackles (the closest he had five), including one for loss, and a sack.

“That’s a great example of how you don’t have to have the ‘C’ to be a leader,” DeBoer said. “Jihaad is just that. He has been a leader for us since I could remember. I counted on him. I go to him expecting big things, expecting that leadership. He can run, it starts there. But I think more and more he plays with the ball, executes the actions, understands what our defense is and how it relates to what he sees, trusts the others around him, doesn’t try to do too much and just attacks. He feels it and there is confidence that he has that. You can see that reflected in his playing skills. It’s not just him, it’s a lot of guys, but it starts with a few of those guys making consistent plays and Jihaad is one of them.”

As previously mentioned, Alabama’s starters on offense and defense both left the game during the second half as the offense ended its day midway through the third quarter and the defense wrapped things up briefly in the final period. During that time, we were able to get a glimpse of the future of Alabama football as many freshmen and sophomores who hadn’t actually seen the field yet took a good sampling of photos.

Quarterbacks Ty Simpson, Dylan Lonergan and Austin Mack combined to complete 12 of 19 attempts for 133 yards, including a huge touchdown connection between Mack and freshman wide receiver Rico Scott, plus a 43-yard play between Simpson and backup tight end Josh Cuevas .

“There’s a great opportunity to have these guys run the offense and get that experience and a chance to do what they work on every day,” DeBoer said. “I was proud of the way they handled everything from the execution to even the procedural stuff, making sure the guys were in line before we made a gesture, all that kind of stuff. I thought it was a good day for all of them as a whole. “

Freshman running back Richard Young has seen a decent number of carries over the past few games due to some dominance from the first-teamers, and he added another touchdown to his season while recording seven carries for 26 yards against Mercer. Fellow freshmen running backs Daniel Hill and Kevin Riley also saw time on the field, combining for 17 yards on seven rushing attempts.

Alongside Rico Scott, freshman wide receiver Caleb Odom played quite a few snaps even before the scoring got out of hand. Freshman wide receiver Bubba Hampton and tight end Jay Lindsey were also even on the stat sheet among a few other pass catchers.

Not as many scholarship players filled the stat sheet in their first appearances in the game in the fourth quarter, but linebacker Justin Okoronkwo, defenseman King Mack, Cayden Jones, Hunter Osborne, Zavier Mincey and Keon Keeley did.

Perhaps most notably, many walk-ons at various positions got the opportunity to play in a real game for the mecca of college football. These moments where each walk-on works as hard as every other member of the team to finally get their shot are a big part of what makes football special. Campbell called it “precious” after the game.

The Crimson Tide will look for more growth next week when No. 10 Alabama takes on Oklahoma on Saturday, September 23 at 6:30 PM CT on ABC.