TUSCALOOSA, Ala.–Alabama beat Western Carolina 48-14 but it wasn’t pleasant.
In games like this when one team pays the other over $400,000 to play, the end result is usually a foregone conclusion. But the Catamounts came to play and became the first team all year to score a touchdown on the opening drive against Alabama.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban attributed the team’s slow start to a noticeable lack of energy.
“I don’t think that we started the game out the way we’d hoped to or how we planned,” Saban said. “It’s really up to me to make sure that the guys have the right psychological disposition when we come out and play a game.”
Western Carolina confused Alabama initially with some misdirection on offense, but the real problem for the Crimson Tide was the seemingly non-stop flow of injuries.
Alabama lost five players in the first half alone. Wide receiver Amari Cooper, defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson, and linebacker Reuben Foster all left the field limping or with help from trainers and never returned.
Then midway through the second quarter fullback Jalston Fowler and offensive lineman Cam Robinson went down on the same play, but Fowler later returned. Wide receiver ArDarius Stewart had to be helped off with an apparent leg injury, and tight end Brian Vogler followed that when he injured his left knee and limped straight into the locker room near the beginning of the second half.
At one point in the game it seemed more important to track who was in the locker room or the training table than to follow the actual game.
And all of those in-game injuries don’t even include the pre-game decision to leave running back T.J. Yeldon, wide receiver DeAndrew White and kicker Adam Griffith on the bench to help them heal nagging injuries.
Saban said Cooper has a bruised knee and both Cam and A’Shawn Robinson sprained their ankles and could have returned to the game but weren’t needed. Vogler and Stewart had stretched knee ligaments and their recovery will be monitored closely as the Iron Bowl approaches.
But even without Yeldon, the Tide’s run game finally took over, which was Saban’s goal. Derrick Henry had 92 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns, which was a career high. Tyren Jones was a sparkplug for the offense with 75 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The passing game also had its good moments, with quarterback Blake Sims having 222 yards and two touchdowns and backup Jake Coker slinging the ball for 115 yards and one touchdown through the air.
But Alabama came out flat today — “flat as a pancake” as Saban put it. All the energy Alabama had last week was gone. There was no bouncing to “Jump Around” on Alabama’s sideline today. Not even the song stylings of C-Murder could help the team, though, it definitely raised morale when it seemed like there was another Alabama player injured on every play.
The glorified bye week became a sloppy, injury riddled game. The “good little team from North Carolina” came to play, but it did ultimately provide a chance for inexperienced Alabama players to see the field once the Tide started to cruise.
“When guys fall out, the next guy’s got to be ready,” Alabama linebacker Reggie Ragland said. “He has to go through the whole week preparing the way he should because he never knows when his turn is going to come.”
Of course, Saban would never say the upcoming game against Auburn had an effect on the team, but some of the players admitted it.
Now Alabama has to refocus and re-energize, as well as try to return the half-dozen of its injured players for next week’s game against the Tigers, which once again has huge SEC Championship and national title implications.
