Mailbag: Is Alabama football ahead of where it was to start Nick Saban’s final season?

Alabama football got its 2024 season and coach Kalen DeBoer’s inaugural season with the program started on the right foot with a 63-0 win over Western Kentucky on Saturday night at Bryant-Denny Stadium. It was a game that saw Alabama dominate in all aspects.

Following the win, we asked for questions and comments from Crimson Tide fans. Now, we have some answers, thoughts and observations. Onto questions and answers:

Question/comment: This defense may struggle with teams like Georgia. But it will help with games against Ole Miss, Texas and Tennessee.

Answer: Alabama’s new swarm defense really showed to be a force against Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers offense could not withstand the Crimson Tide defense and struggled to get any consistency going, its longest offensive play of the night being a 16-yard reception from TJ Finley to River Helms in the first quarter. Michigan transfer Keon Sabb had quite the debut, setting the tone early with a pair of interceptions in the first quarter.

Finley was eventually replaced by Caden Vetkamp in the second quarter, but he was unable to get much going for the Hilltoppers offense, either. In total, the Alabama defense held Western Kentucky to 145 total yards compared to that of its offense’s output of 600 total yards. It marked Alabama’s first shutout since 2022.

Question/comment: This year’s team feels 100 miles ahead of last year’s team after Week 1.

Answer: Last year’s Alabama team did look undisciplined early in the season but progressively got better as the season went on. But that’s to be expected — teams to get better over the course of the season, that is. This year’s team for sure came to play against Western Kentucky. DeBoer, his staff and his team came prepared, and Saturday proved it.

Alabama seemed to have some early game nerves, five of its seven penalties coming in…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mailbag-alabama-football-ahead-where-090450669.html

Author : The Tuscaloosa News

Publish date : 2024-09-01 09:04:50

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