Hello and Roll Tide!

The University of Alabama honored Nick Saban Saturday night by renaming the field after Coach. In the first game on Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Alabama Crimson Tide survived a stressful home contest against the University of South Florida. The 42-16 score does not represent the true nature of the game. The Bulls of USF were within one score of Alabama until late in the 4th quarter. The Tide exploded with three unanswered scores to secure the win after subbing in Elijah Pritchett at Right Tackle with 6:45 left in the game. Below I have prepared injury notes, depth chart updates, a week 2 review, Wisconsin preview and week 3 storylines. Let’s go!

Depth/Injury Notes:

· Kaydn Proctor remained out for the contest Saturday. He is Probable to start against Wisconsin

· Tyler Booker moved from Left Guard to Left Tackle to replace Proctor

· Gino VanDeMark started at Left Guard

· Elijah Pritchett was not 100% going into the game, likely causing him not to start at Right Tackle

· Cole Adams sustained an arm injury late in the 4th quarter. He is listed as Doubtful to play

· Jaylen Mbakwe subbed in at Punt Returner to replace injured Cole Adams

Week 2 Review: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Offense: For the second week in a row, the Alabama Crimson Tide had a surprise starter at Left Tackle. Tyler Booker slid over from Left Guard to the tackle spot as Geno VanDeMark filled in at Left Guard. The rest of the line remained the same as the Western Kentucky game, however they played significantly worse than the week before. There was a complete lack of concentration from the unit as they were flagged for 6 holding penalties and 3 false starts. This equated to 70 yards going backwards and took 2 touchdowns off the board. Half of the holding penalties were attributed to Wilkin Formby who had a night to forget at Right Tackle. The offensive line did not protect Jalen well as he took 3 sacks, fumbled a snap, and only completed 61% of his passes. The only bright spot on offense in the first 54 minutes of the game was Jam Miller. Jam was able to bruise his way through tackles and beat linebackers to the edge. Jam ended the night with 140 yards on the ground and a touchdown.

With 6:45 left in the 4th quarter, DeBoer decided to remove Formby and substitute Elijah Pritchett into the game at Right Tackle. This caused an immediate spark to the Alabama offense. The Tide ran behind big #57 two plays in a row gaining 32 yards before Jalen found Ryan Williams for a big touchdown play. The next Alabama possession, they once again followed Pritchett on the right side as Jam Miller found daylight on a 56-yard touchdown run. After a turnover on downs by the Bulls, Alabama had the ball on the opposing 29-yard line. DeBoer clearly thought “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” as the Tide ran behind Elijah for another big 29-yard touchdown run, this time for Justice Haynes. After a long frustrating night, the Tide offense finally showed the fans what they were expecting to see. Sheridan and the Offensive staff clearly have issues to work out on the line, but sometimes it takes a game like this to identify the issues that need to be worked on the rest of the season.

Defense: Alabama won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half, sending the defense out onto the field right away. USF used a hurry-up offense and marched down the field quickly until a false start penalty derailed their drive, leading to a field goal. The speed at which USF got to the line and called plays caused issues for the Tide defense who frequently subs out lineman and defensive backs. Qua Russaw found himself in multiple 3rd down plays while he traditionally rushes the QB on 1st and 2nd down. Wommack was able to make quick adjustments forcing 4 3-and-outs and limiting USF to one field goal the remainder of the first half. The defensive line and linebackers caused issues for the Bulls all night as Tim Keenan, Justin Jefferson, and Que Robinson all recorded sacks. Tim Keenan was a monster in the middle as he continually bulldozed through the USF interior line. Jihaad Campbell and Justin Jefferson were all over the field as they led the Alabama defense in tackles. Jefferson had a breakout performance before being ejected after a questionable targeting call. In slow motion it is targeting “by definition”, but at full speed there is no clear intent to cause harm. It was a bang-bang play and is rather unfortunate that he will be sitting out during the first half of the Wisconsin game.

The only sore spot on the defensive side of the ball was the secondary. Like last week, we saw a lot of rotation between the cornerbacks and huskies. Quick subs seemed to cause confusion among young players. Alabama almost got caught vertically by USF twice in press coverage. True freshmen Zabien Brown and Red Morgan were beat off the line in press coverage and both times bailed out by bad quarterback play. Alabama could have easily been down by one or two scores late in the game if the USF quarterback was an average passer. The quarterback’s lack in accuracy did lead to 6 pass deflections but zero interceptions. The -3 turnover differential was a big red flag for the Alabama defense, which would have likely led to a loss in SEC play.

Special Teams: Alabama has yet to put the 2023 Lou Groza award winning kicker to the test, however Graham did convert all 6 extra point attempts on Saturday. James Burnip was busy on Saturday as he punted the ball 7 times, yet these kicks were not as good as a week before. James averaged 50.9 yards/punt in week 1 and only 42.9 yards/punt in week 2. Kendrick Law lost a fumble on the opening kickoff of the 2nd half, giving USF a great opportunity to keep the pressure on Alabama. Cole Adams did not have any success returning punts this week. Jaylen Mbakwe had an explosive Punt Return in the 4th quarter, giving the Tide great field position that they capitalized on to take a 21-13 lead.

Preview: The Wisconsin Badgers

Alabama will take their talents on the road to Madison, Wisconsin to face off with the Badgers. This is the furthest north Alabama has traveled in a regular season game since September 10, 2011 when the Tide visited the Penn State Nittany Lions. Alabama has faced Wisconsin relatively recently, to open the 2015 season where the Tide defeated the Badgers 35-17 in a battle of ranked opponents. The Tide were led by Heisman trophy winner Derrick Henry who rushed for 147 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Leading the Badgers this season is a familiar face in Luke Fickell. Fickell, in his second season with Wisconsin, faced off against the Tide in 2021 as the Head Coach of Cincinnati in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. Cincinnati became the first Group of 5 team to make a college football playoff. This impressive resume put Fickell at the top of all Head Coaching rumors and he eventually accepted the job with Wisconsin in 2023. Fickell no doubt has better talent with the Badgers in his second matchup with the Tide. Last season, the Badgers finished 7-6 with a bowl appearance as they lost to LSU 35-31 in the ReliaQuest Bowl. Wisconsin has traditionally been a run-heavy offense as highlighted by recent NFL stars such as Melvin Gordon and Jonathan Taylor, but in 2023 Luke Fickell introduced the Wisconsin faithful to the Air-Raid Offense. In his first season, Fickell attempted 36.1 passes per game, up from 25.1 the season before. The passing game was not efficient a season ago as they averaged 220.2 yards and 1.1 touchdowns per game. To help install this offense, Fickell brought in 5th year transfer Tyler Van Dyke out of Miamia (FL). Van Dyke is a gunslinger, who attempted 30.2 passes per game a season ago as he eclipsed 2, 700 yards with 19 touchdowns. Alabama has seen Van Dyke before, as he backed up D’Eriq King in a 2021 blowout where the Tide beat Miami 44-13. Van Dyke has only 31.5 passes per game so far this season as Wisconsin has leaned on the run game against lesser opponents Western Michigan and South Dakota. The offense has yet to click this year for Wisconsin, but that is likely due to the coordinator saving their big plays for the Big 10 schedule ahead. Expect Offensive Coordinator Phil Longo to empty the play sheet against Alabama in a hostile environment at Camp Randall Saturday morning.

In 2023, the Wisconsin Badgers Defense was a respectable unit, ranking 21st in the nation for points allowed per game (20.2) and 39th in total yards per game (344). Star safety Hunter Wohler returns after leading the team with 120 tackles and 6 pass deflections. Corner Rico Hallman had 7 interceptions a season ago and will look to be a ball-hawk against the Tide on Saturday. The Badgers biggest transfer came in at Edge rusher, John Pius. Pius played for William & Mary a season ago where he led the Coastal Athletic Association in sacks (9.5) and tackles for loss (16.0). This improved unit can cause issues with Alabama’s already struggling offensive line.

Week 3 Storylines:

· Can we play a clean game?: The Tide were very sloppy in week 2 as they lost 3 fumbles and committed 13 penalties for 120 yards. These stats would certainly have lost Alabama the game against a even matched opponent. Wisconsin is better than USF at all positions, so the Tide need to take care of the ball and be disciplined in order to make it out of Camp Randall with a win.

· Offensive line improvement: Without Kaydn Proctor at Left Tackle this season, the Tide’s offensive line has been very up-and-down. Alabama’s line regressed from week 1 to week 2. In week 1, Alabama game up 1 sack and had 2 holding penalties. In week two, these increased to 3 sacks and 6 holding penalties. Both games were against lesser Group of 5 opponents. The line needs to play much better against a skilled Big 10 defensive line at Wisconsin

· Turnover Margin needs to be Positive: Alabama started the season with a +2 turnover margin against Western Kentucky as Keon Sabb picked off TJ Finley twice. Some expected more, such as defensive coordinator Kane Wommack who publicly stated that he wished the team was more aggressive forcing turnovers. This went in the opposite direction as Alabama lost 3 fumbles against USF and did not force any turnovers in the game. Facing a legitimate Big 10 team such as Wisconsin will require the Tide to be neutral or positive in the turnover department to secure a win. Big plays on defense and special teams will surely help deafen the crowd at Camp Randall.

Reach out with any questions or comments.

Roll Tide!

-Jake