Alabama doesn’t shy away from fatal flaw that could wreck the Crimson Tide’s season despite a win over Texas A&M Aggies
The Alabama Crimson Tide picked up a Homecoming win over Texas A&M and now heads into the bye week. One problem from that game has followed this program for years, and LSU is waiting on the other side.
The Alabama Crimson Tide picked up a big Homecoming win over Texas A&M and now heads into the bye week hoping to get healthy before a massive matchup against LSU. Even so, Alabama has a fatal flaw that could ruin its chances of winning anything of substance. At least Kalen DeBoer is addressing it.
The flaw is the run game. DeBoer made clear he was disappointed with how Alabama ran the football against the Aggies, per the Alabama Crimson Tide YouTube channel:
“We needed more out of that run game. To open some things up for us.”
So just how bad is it? Well, it’s not good.
Alabama rushing vs. Texas A&M
- 71 total rushing yards.
- Nine carries for QB Keelon Russell, tied for the team lead.
- Nine carries for Daniel Hill.
- 2.7 yards per carry average
Alabama chooses not to run the football
The bigger issue may not be that Alabama can’t run the football. It’s that the Crimson Tide chooses not to. When your quarterback is tied for the team lead in carries, that tells you everything about how much faith the coaching staff has in the ground game.
On top of that, this game should never have been close in the fourth quarter. Alabama should have beaten Texas A&M by double digits, and to be fair, it did, winning by 11. But the game should have been over early in the fourth quarter, and the Aggies were still hanging around because Alabama couldn’t put them away.
Why? Because the Crimson Tide can’t run the football. And when the moment finally calls for it, Alabama hasn’t built up the callus. It doesn’t have the rhythm you need to lean on the run late in a game, because the team simply hasn’t committed to it. That’s what happens when your leading ball carrier is your quarterback.
This isn’t a new problem in Tuscaloosa
Let’s be honest, this is not a new symptom, and it didn’t come out of thin air. Alabama has struggled to run the football for years now.
Early in the season, it looked like things might be different. I think of the game against Kentucky, I think of FSU, and I think of the big carries from Trae’shawn Brown and EJ Crowell. Crowell wasn’t out there against Texas A&M, and that deserves to be mentioned in fairness to Alabama.
But that’s neither here nor there, because the bigger picture tells the real story. Alabama has had a 100-yard rusher in only two of its last 23 games.
I get that this season, and even last season, has been a by-committee approach. I have no problem with that. But two 100-yard games over a nearly two-season stretch speaks to a much bigger problem than any one game plan.
I also understand the injury situation. Racin Delgatty wasn’t available, and Alabama is going to be without Will Sanders for a little bit. Those absences matter, and they make an already thin situation even tougher.
Alabama has to fix it before LSU
The truth is, none of that changes what the Crimson Tide puts on tape. A team with championship expectations can’t rely on its quarterback to carry the rushing attack, and it can’t let inferior opponents hang around into the fourth quarter because it has no way to bleed the clock.
The bye week could not come at a better time. DeBoer and his staff have two weeks to get healthy, find some answers, and decide whether they’re actually willing to commit to the run.
This just isn’t good enough. If Alabama doesn’t figure out its run game by the time it plays LSU, the Crimson Tide might be in real trouble.
