Death Valley, allegedly “where opposing teams’ dreams die,” might need a new nickname after Saturday night.
The Alabama Crimson Tide’s dreams are very much still alive, and even thriving, after their trip to Baton Rouge. LSU is clearly struggling this year. Yet, after the Tigers’ win last year and post-game locker room talk by head coach Ed Orgeron, Bama wasn’t going to let them out of there without a beat down.
The stars aligned for this blowout to take place. Nick Saban was back on the sideline after missing his first ever football game as the Tide’s coach, the rivalry has grown stronger than ever and one team is great this year while the other is below average.
Saban opened up his post-game interview saying, “Obviously this team has done a great job all year and won the [SEC] West today, which I’m very proud of them and their efforts all year to be able to do that.”
Afterwards, Saban discussed how some of the assistant coaches that were out due to COVID-19 affected the team and the game plan: “We were down four coaches today… everybody in the organization stepped up and did a really good job. So, we really didn’t skip a beat today.”
If anything, Alabama might have even hit more notes than usual in an absolutely dominant performance. The stars shined brightly on the night for the Crimson Tide, including the “big three” of Mac Jones, Najee Harris and DeVonta Smith.
The star running back for the Tide, Harris, had another 100-plus yard night. He carried the ball 21 times for 145 yards and three touchdowns.
Jones notched another amazing night to go towards his Heisman portfolio. The Alabama quarterback was 20-28 passing the ball for a total of 385 yards and four touchdowns. Those numbers are starting to become so regular that people are getting numb to them.
Both of these young men profited off of arguably the best offensive line in the nation.
The big nasties up front for Bama were a terror in the trenches for the Bayou Bengals all night long. Multiple times, Harris didn’t even get touched by a defender until he was ten yards down the field thanks to the gaping holes left by the line.
Saban said he thought his team played a little better in the second half than the first, but the numbers in the first half are hard to argue with. For points alone, the Tide outscored LSU 21-0 in just the first quarter.
Of course, Saban was likely referring to the defense in the first half. While the Alabama offense scored 45 points in the first half, the defense gave up 14 of LSU’s 17 points all in the second quarter. Either way, Alabama had the win locked up the entire game and put together a complete four-quarter performance.
When most coaches win by 38 points over a rival there isn’t much to complain about, but Saban is building a culture at Alabama and a standard that needs to be upheld no matter the score.
“I don’t get to see every player play in the country. I love Smitty, I think he is an outstanding player for our team, and he has probably done as much this year for our team as any player we’ve ever had,” Saban replied when asked if he thought Smith was the best player in the country.
Without a doubt Smith stood out above everyone else for Alabama on Saturday. The Tide receiver caught eight passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns. “Smitty” averaged nearly 30 yards per reception. He now has over 1,000 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns on the season.
“I don’t think there is any player in the country that has done for their team than what Smitty has done for our team,” Saban added.
According to Saban, his team has gotten very resilient this year because of all of the abnormal events that come along with a season during the coronavirus pandemic. This includes Saban being quarantined last week, and then some assistants being out this week. Even on Saturday at the hotel, his team had a weird experience.
“The electricity went off in our hotel today… a half hour before our pre-game meal, and we had to eat our pre-game meal in the dark,” Saban shared. “It’s like, you know, stuff happens. Everybody just kind of keeps on keeping on.”
Resiliency is necessary in a season like no other. However, the Crimson Tide are not planning to let anything phase them.
That includes the Arkansas Razorbacks, who Alabama will matchup with next. The Tide will travel to Fayetteville in an attempt to go undefeated through the regular season. The game will be on December 12 for the SEC “make-up week” at a time that has not been announced yet.
Hayden Crigler is a contributing college football writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him through email: hayden@new-yhn.local or on Twitter: @hayden_crigler.
