Eight touchdowns later, they walked out winners. It’s possible they could both play, but regardless of how the coaching staff chooses to handle the roles of Harris and Scarbrough, Henry will be on the field a great deal. Alabama running back Damien Harris scored on a six-yard run in the fourth period to end the Tide’s scoring.
Advertisement
“They say I’ve got little man syndrome, just kind of because of my demeanor and how I approach things”, Jones said last week. The starters played well and got out in a hurry, and the backups got valuable experience.
We’ll start this week’s look at the Alabama game by stating the obvious – Charleston Southern was in no way talented enough to compete against Alabama, and everything positive that came out of the game for Alabama has to be looked at with that understanding.
Not only did he return two punts for touchdowns, making him the first Crimson Tide player to do so since Alabama started keeping records on returns in 1944, but he also deflected an option pitch to himself for a fumble recovery. It left the senior savoring the performance in his final game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. If Alabama’s offensive line wants to do what it does best and run block all day, they’ll have to make holes on the early downs. He managed to gain one more rushing yards than Henry on one more carry. “We put two guys back there to keep it from rolling, Cyrus and Richard Mullaney, and Cyrus did a good job of fielding the ball and returning it. He’s got really good running skills”.
Charleston Southern, which moves on to the FCS championship playoffs from this point, gained a total of 134 yards, 85 on the ground.
“I think it’s important that our defense play as well as they are capable of playing against what I know is a very hard offense to defend [next week]”, Saban said.
“He struggled this week to be able to practice as much as we thought he needed to”, Saban said.
“They’re obviously as good as anybody we’ve seen”. In two quarters of play, quarterback Jake Coker completed 11 of 13 pass attempts for 155 yards and two touchdowns without throwing an interception.
Alabama’s opening drive went 64 yards in nine plays, and was capped by a 17-yard touchdown run from Henry, who scored a rushing touchdown for the 16th straight game. CSU had 31 yards on 21 carries at halftime, and zero passing, with the Crimson Tide already inserting reserves. A whopping 24 defenders recorded tackles against the Buccaneers, with senior defensive back Bradley Sylve and junior defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson sharing team-high honors with four tackles apiece.
Advertisement
The game was the home finale for an Alabama senior class that is 46-6 and counting.
