Alabama football continued to look incredible on all sides of the ball in yet another complete desecration of the Ole Miss Rebels.
Alabama and Ole Miss had the attention of most college football fans going into the weekend. The die-hard fans of college football were drooling at the thought of this prolific Ole Miss offense going up against the unstoppable Alabama offense led by Tua Tagovailoa.
There was certainly a lot of offense in the matchup, but only by one team. The Crimson Tide went for more than 500 yards of offense against a miserable Ole Miss defense while also holding Jordan Ta’amu to six total completions for most of the game.
Ole Miss kicked things off early with quarterback Jordan Ta’amu finding D.K. Metcalf for a 75-yard touchdown pass on the opening drive of the game. This would seemingly be the only highlight on either side of the ball for the Rebels the rest of the game. Alabama responded with a three-play drive capped off by a 43-yard rush from Damien Harris.
The Crimson Tide’s offense for the rest of the first half with their drive chart sounding something along these lines…
- Henry Ruggs III fumbled
- Tua Tagovailoa pass complete to Jerry Jeudy for 79 yards for a touchdown (three Plays, 80 Yards)
- Najee Harris run for 10 yards for a touchdown (six Plays, 62 Yards)
- Tua Tagovailoa pass complete to Irv Smith Jr. for 12 yards and a touchdown (three Plays, 15 Yards)
- Missed Field Goal from 38 yards
- Josh Jacobs run for 4 yards and a touchdown (four Plays, 52 Yards)
- Jalen Hurts pass complete to Jerry Jeudy for 22 yards for a touchdown (three Plays, 30 Yards)
- Jalen Hurts pass complete to Henry Ruggs for 13 yards and a touchdown (seven Plays, 50 Yards)
And after going almost flawless on both sides of the ball in the first half the Tide held a 49-7 lead going into the half. The second half wasn’t as fast paced as the first half as Alabama turned on cruise control and rode out the first half.
Jalen Hurts led a field goal drive at the start of the half and followed it up with an interception. Jordan Ta’amu threw his second touchdown of the night when Alabama safety Xavier McKinney intercepted him and took it to the house for a 30-yard pick six.
The Crimson Tide won the game with a final score of 62-7 and made a statement in all facets of the game. Stat leaders for both teams:
Alabama
- Tua Tagovailoa: 11-of-15,191 yards, two touchdowns
- Damien Harris: Five carries, 62 yards, one touchdown
- Jerry Jeudy: Three receptions, 136 yards, two touchdowns
Ole Miss
- Jordan Ta’amu: 7-of-22,133 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions (Pick-Six)
- Scottie Phillips: 12 carries, 44 yards
- D.K. Metcalf: Two receptions, 92 Yards, one touchdown
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
1. Alabama’s defense passed its first test
Going into this game, Alabama’s defense had looked dominant against Louisville, who has since benched Jawon Pass in favor of backup Malik Cunningham, and an Arkansas State offense that isn’t quite firing the ball around like they did a season ago.
But we have seen Jordan Ta’amu play at his best. Ta’amu came in after the unexpected injury of Shea Patterson and practically made the offense better all around. Going into their home matchup against the Tide, Mississippi ranked No. 2 nationally in passing offense and had one of the best receiving corps in college football in D.K. Metcalf, DeMarkus Lodge, and Biletnikoff Award Watch List receiver AJ Brown.
Jordan Ta’amu’s stat line against a reloaded Alabama secondary was obnoxious. Ta’amu completed seven total passes on 22 total attempts for 133 yards (6.0 yards per attempt) for one touchdown and two interceptions. Ta’amu’s career yards per attempt is just over 10 and this game proved to be the worst game of his career from an accuracy standpoint.
If this doesn’t prove to be a fluke later on in the season, Alabama might have just as great a defense this season as they did in the past several seasons on teams with several NFL Players.
2. Ole Miss’ defense needs improvement
Don’t think this is only base off of this game alone. Ole Miss hasn’t been able to make a stop against anyone all season long.
Against Alabama, the Landshark defense gave up 516 total yards of offense and 55 offensive points to three different quarterbacks, six different running backs, and eight different receiving targets. Southern Illinois was able to hang 629 yards of total offense on Ole Miss with 41 points in an Ole Miss win. And Week 1, The Rebels gave up 486 yards to Texas Tech after they lost their starting quarterback and had to thrust a freshman into action.
They were able to create two turnovers off of a bad throw from Jalen Hurts and a fumble from Henry Ruggs III but those were the only silver linings that they had all game long. The Landshark defense that has been recently successful at getting after the quarterback had only one sack in 60 minutes of play and anyone who watched the game saw that the Alabama quarterbacks had all the time in the world to make passes.
Ole Miss isn’t in contention for any bowl games or conference championships this season, but with a defense like this, they likely wouldn’t have made it that far anyway.
3. Tua Tagovailoa is very very good at football
So maybe this isn’t a takeaway from just one game, but Tua Tagovailoa continues to show the world why he won out the starting job over Jalen Hurts.
The quarterback from Ewa Beach, Hawai’i came into his first drive of the night with pressure on immediately. The Rebels offense took one play to score, all the Ole Miss fans in Oxford, Mississippi were hyped up, and Tagovailoa had to even the game out at seven or risk the crowd getting into the game. After back-to-back passes of over ten yards, the Landshark defense got too focused on the quarterback and completely forgot to guard Damien Harris who toted the rock for a 43-yard score.
Tua’s impact was seen anytime he was on the field, as the Tide rolled into the end zone on four out of five drives he played with the only non-scoring drive ending at the hands of Henry Ruggs III who fumbled a one-yard pass. His calculated quarterback rating tonight was 224.3, his yards per attempt when he sat down was 12.7, and he was able to do all this without ever turning the ball over. He also ran the ball five times for 47 yards and finished averaging 9.4 yards per carry.
Alabama’s offense will remain a problem for all who oppose them this season so long as Tua Tagovailoa remains at the controls.