Alabama's domination upfront on both sides of the ball is scary good
Updated: Jan. 14, 2019, 12:47 p.m. | Published: Oct. 03, 2011, 9:30 a.m.
Courtney Upshaw (left) and Nick Gentry converge on Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel for a fourth-quarter sack. (Mark Almond/The Birmingham News)
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Here's how scary good Alabama is right now: The Crimson Tide played in The Swamp shorthanded on defense and finished the night practicing on offense.
Linebacker C.J. Mosley didn't play Saturday night and the Gators were held to 15 rushing yards. Who needs one of the defense's most versatile players against the speed of Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps?
With the win comfortably in hand, Alabama's offense turned to Trent Richardson taking direct snaps out of the wildcat. Because they could. That formation might be needed like, oh, I don't know, Nov. 5 against LSU.
Jon Solomon is a columnist for The Birmingham News. Join him for live web chats on college sports on Wednesdays at 2 p.m.
Alabama is controlling the line of scrimmage. And the cliche rings true in football: If you run the ball and stop the run, you're going to be extremely hard to beat.
The Crimson Tide leads the nation with an absurd 39.6 rushing yards allowed per game. The offense is running the ball at a clip of 229.8 yards per game, 13th in the country.
Each of the past four national champions has finished in the top 15 in both rushing offense and rushing defense. Dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides wins championships.
As suspect as Auburn's defense was in 2010, the Tigers did rank ninth against the run to go with the fifth-ranked rushing offense. Alabama was No. 2 against the run and No. 12 running in 2009; Florida was No. 15 against and No. 10 for in 2008; and LSU was No. 12 against and No. 11 for in 2007.
It's still relatively early. As conference games continue to be played, statistics will fluctuate. But right now, only two teams rank in the top 15 running the ball and stopping the run.
Alabama and Texas A&M.
Judging by the Gaggies' choke jobs the past two weeks, Texas A&M is nowhere close to the BCS Championship Game, much less competing for SEC division titles.
What about LSU, the team Alabama eyes from a distance and vice versa? The Tigers are dominant against the run right now, ranked third at 60.4 yards allowed. But they're 48th in rushing yards at 172.6. No team has won the national title ranked that low in rushing since No. 68 Oklahoma in 2000.
No wonder LSU is carving out a running role for Jordan Jefferson, who got to practice Saturday because Kentucky was nice enough to hold a scrimmage.
Alabama's running game has kicked into gear after "only" averaging 182.9 yards per game last year, which ranked 29th. This year's rushing output is slightly ahead of pace as what Alabama produced through five games in the 2009 national championship season.
Remember those Week 1 concerns about Richardson gaining 37 yards on 13 carries against Kent State? He now has four straight 100-yard games in which he averaged seven yards per carry against Penn State, North Texas, Arkansas and Florida.
Problem solved. Begin the Heisman Trophy candidacy.
Even more dominant is Alabama's rush defense, which is interesting because this year's unit isn't supposed to have a great run-stopper. There's no Marcell Dareus or Terrence Cody -- that one dominant presence upfront every opponent must account for.
Yet there's Alabama allowing 39.6 yards rushing. That's the best average by a Nick Saban defense through five games in his 10 years coaching in the SEC.
Saban's previous three bests through five games: 54.0 yards per game in 2008, 58.2 in 2003 and 64.4 in 2009. What happened those seasons? Saban won the national title twice and almost played for another. Last year's Alabama team was already allowing 101 yards per game on the ground at this point.
Alabama's two SEC opponents in 2011, Arkansas and Florida, have more rushing attempts (48) than rushing yards (32). You can brush it aside as the Razorbacks and Gators don't have true power running games, and there's truth to that.
But when you hold Bobby Petrino and Charlie Weis teams both to under 20 yards rushing, you're an elite defense. When through five games you're not far off from Alabama's single-season record of 33.9 rushing yards allowed (in 1938), you're at a championship level.
Alabama got to toy with the then-12th ranked team in the country. That's scary.
Write Jon at jsolomon@bhamnews.com. Follow him at twitter.com/jonsol.