– There was much to like about Alabama’s defense Saturday.
Sure, Mercer is from the FCS and had no chance to win, but that didn’t matter. Alabama’s defense dominated, something it’s done the last three games. If that trend continues, the Crimson Tide could be a tough out in the playoffs, provided they get there.
Alabama has allowed just two touchdowns in the last three games, and both those TDs came late with the game well in hand. For the third time this season, Alabama held a team to under 100 rushing yards. Mercer had just 61.
“Everybody is doing their job,” said linebacker Qua Russaw. “We still have a lot of mistakes we have to clean up, but we want to dominate. We want to be like the old Bama.”
In some ways, Alabama is like the Alabama standard on defense. With three turnovers against Mercer, the Crimson Tide now has 24 on the season with at least three in five straight games and six of the last seven.
“That’s the swarm defense mentality,” said defensive back Domani Jackson. “We have to get more.”
The tone was set in the first series. Jackson punched the ball out of running back CJ Miller’s hands, which Damon Payne Jr. recovered. Alabama scored four plays later to take a 7-0 lead.
Later in the opening quarter, Russaw caught a pass tipped at the line of scrimmage by linebacker Deonte Lawson for another turnover. In the second quarter, Zabien Brown ran a fumble back 68 yards for the Tide’s first non-offensive score of the year.
“They talk about it, when they come up short and they think they had a chance to score,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. “They always hear about it. It’s something that’s exciting for the whole team, because they have gotten the takeaways, but we just hadn’t ended up with one in the end zone. I love the mindset. They’re attacking. And the position they’re putting our offense in and getting points on the board, it’s, really good.”
Alabama scored off all three turnovers.
Third down is a big part of the Crimson Tide defense, lately. Alabama held Missouri to 3 of 13 on third-down conversions. LSU was 6 of 14 on third down last week and Mercer was 1 of 9 Saturday.
Jihaad Campbell led the defense with its only sack, on third down, and led the team with nine tackles.
“He just plays ball, executes the plays, understands what our defense is and how it matches up against what he sees,” DeBoer said. “He trusts in the others around him, not trying to do too much and just attack it. He’s feeling it. There’s confidence that he has that you can see coming out in his play-making ability.”