Finally, An Expected Outome: Alabama Victorious Over North Texas Mean Green

The outcome of the Alabama vs North Texas match-up was never in doubt.  During the game, not just before. Alabama performed up to expectations.

McElroy went out on a humid, overcast Saturday and didn't let the weather dampen his game. He was very efficient, completed 13-of-15 attempts for 176 yards resulting in two touchdowns.

At backup, Star Jackson was 9-of-13 for 88 yards, 0 TDs, but more importantly, 0 INT. Jackson did throw a risky pass in the second half, on the goal line, that nearly resulted in a turnover but the pass was merely deflected. Overall, a good outing for the redshirt freshman.

Distribution of the ball to the running backs and receivers was impressive for this young Alabama offense. Five different ball carriers came out of the backfield, 11 different players caught passes from the Alabama quarterbacks.

Ingram led the backs with eight carries for 91 yards. True freshman Trent Richardson had 11 carries for 87 yards and junior Terry Grant ended up with the most carries at 19, totalling 79 rushing yards.

Ingram also had three receptions for 38 yards, Grant caught two passes for 29 yards.

The receivers were led by Marquis Maze (4 receptions, 49 yards), Mike McCoy (3-38) and two receptions each for Darius Hanks, Colin Peek and Brad Smelley. Brandon Gibson, Trent Richardson, Earl Alexander and Michael Bowman each had one completion in the game.

Alabama passes for 264 yards in the game, had a total of 260 yards rushing. Talk about balance, it doesn't get any better than that.

Special Teams improved. Javier Arenas returned four punts for 90 electrifying yards. Any of the four could have resulted in a touchdown because of the effort by Arenas. In addition, he returned one kickoff 61 yards. Interestingly, Trent Richardson was back in kick coverage in the third quarter but the ball went out of bounds.

Tiffin was 2/2 FG attempts but missed two extra points, finishing 5/7 on the day.

On the defensive side of the ball, special teams still gave up 119 yards in kick returns. Having said this, none was longer than 20 yards. The total had more to do with the number of returns and the opportunities for the Mean Green. Alabama kicked off to the North Texas team 7 times, the longest return was for 23 yards.

No punts were returned by the North Texas special teams. Nathan Tune passed for 126 yards on the day, completing 16 of 23 attempts and had no interceptions. The longest pass up-field was on a scramble to the sideline. Tune connected with M. Outlaw for a 32 yd gain. The play ended by a monster hit by Alabama safety, Justin Woodall.

The longest pass of the day by the Mean Green QB2 was a 34 yard completion (5 yd toss and 29 yd scamper) to tailback Lance Dunbar. The play resulted from a busted coverage when Dunbar, out of the backfield, lost Corey Reamer and broke away for the score.

On review, this was a masterful play that utilized the speed of Dunbar to get to the corner. The WR moved on a square in, taking the cornerback to the middle of the field, crossing and in fact screening Reamer for a short time, but just enough for Dunbar to get to the open field. The catch was athletic and the speed to the endzone world class.

Aside from that score, Alabama was master of the turf, controlling the line. North Texas was held to 61 yards rushing and total yardage of 187 for the game.

There were few penalties in the game. Luckily for both teams, no significant injuries to speak of at the end of the day. Time of possession was pretty even, Alabama with a slight edge at 30:43, Mean Green time of possession 29:17.

A great win for the Tide. Roll Tide Roll.

Next up Arkansas, opening up the SEC schedule against a wide open Razorback offense. Alabama will present a much more formidable defense than the Razorback have faced on the season. The Alabama offense should have a productive day against the Hogs. More to come on this match-up later in the week.