Kent State vs. Alabama: Game Preview, Prediction and Players to Watch
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — When it comes to moving on from last week’s roller-coaster 48-43 victory, University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban was more than happy with the way his team came back from an early 21-point deficit at Ole Miss, but also frustrated about his team's overall performance when going over the game film.
“The devil is kind of in the details,” he said. “We could have really lost the game based on mental mistakes, mental errors, lack of execution at times that led to really bad plays for our team. Our focus needs to be on getting these things corrected but having the ability to focus on sort of each and every play.”
Saban had plenty of examples to choose from, including the missed assignment that led to freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts getting drilled, resulting in a fumble return for a touchdown, the busted coverage in the secondary for another easy score and the team struggling to finish during the final minutes.
“All these things catch up with you if you don't fix them, correct them, focus on every play and get things executed properly. Leads to lots of problems,” Saban said.
For the most part Alabama players were given an extra day off to recover as Monday was primarily used for film study, but the Crimson Tide benefit from having Kent State and Kentucky next up on the schedule.
These two weeks will give the team a chance to work on its attention to detail and the things that could go a long way in determining how well Alabama fares during the subsequent two months of the season.
Date: Saturday, Sept. 24
Time: 11 a.m. CT
Place: Bryant-Denny Stadium
TV: SEC Network
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network, WHLO 640 AM, Sirius 106, XM 190.
Spread: Alabama is a 43-point favorite, according to Odds Shark
Kent State’s Keys to Victory
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1. Contain Alabama's defense
No, that’s not a typo. If Kent State can’t outscore Alabama’s defense—which got into the end zone twice last week at Ole Miss and four total times over the first three games—it has no chance of winning.
Kent State has done a good job of creating turnovers with six so far, but it has also given up six as well. Meanwhile, Alabama has scored a touchdown on all but one of its turnovers created.
“It's something that we work on,” Saban said, “not only getting the turnover but returning it, how to block them. That's something that has been very beneficial to us.”
Over Alabama’s last 18 games (15 last season and three this fall), it has scored 15 non-offensive touchdowns.
The five this season is already tied for the fifth-most of the Saban era at Alabama (since 2007), trailing only 2015 (10), 2008 (nine), 2013 (seven) and 2009 (six). It won the national championship in all but one of those seasons.
2. Out-rush the Crimson Tide
Since 2012, Kent State is 18-5 when out-gaining the opponent on the ground, and last week it tallied 235 rushing yards against Monmouth. But that was also its best showing in 11 games.
Running back Justin Rankin is a true freshman who had 82 yards on 13 carries against Penn State, and a week later scored his first career touchdown. It’s one of only two rushing touchdowns for the Golden Flashes this season.
Stopping the run is a point of pride for Alabama, which has given up the fewest rushing touchdowns in college football since 2005 with 79.
3. Protect the quarterback
Kent State’s offensive line has made a combined 105 starts between the five starters, but they’ve already given up 12 sacks for 86 yards. The four sacks allowed per game puts the Golden Flashes in a tie for 119th nationally out of 128 teams.
Kent State has more bulk on the left side of the line with senior tackle Reno Reda and senior guard Wayne Scott, and the the least experience between center Stefano Millin and right guard Connor Shinsky, who are both sophomores.
Look for Alabama to play the contain game against Kent State’s zone-read option offense and do everything it can to force the Golden Eagles into 3rd-and-long situations.
Alabama’s Keys to Victory
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1. Make defenses fear the running game
After not doing much to establish the run during its first two games, Alabama ran for 334 yards on 48 attempts against Ole Miss, with both Hurts and sophomore running back Damien Harris topping 140 yards.
That figure is important because since the start of the 2008 season Alabama is 82-4 when rushing for at least 140 yards—albeit as a team. It eclipsed 140 rushing yards 10 times in 2015.
The 144 yards by Harris were a career high as he’s firmly established himself as Alabama’s lead running back after the departures of Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake.
“They taught me things that I never thought that I would need to know,” Harris said about his former teammates. “They just emphasize the importance of the little things. It’s not just when you have the ball in your hands, from footwork to technique to what you see on the field before the play even gets started.”
2. Get some offensive rhythm going
Alabama struggled with this at times at Ole Miss, especially when trying to go sideline-to-sideline with jet sweeps and bubble-screen passes in the second quarter. At halftime, Hurts was 16-for-23, but had just 89 yards to show for it (44 of which came on back-to-back plays en route to the Crimson Tide's first touchdown).
“We were trying to run the ball on the perimeter to see if we could get them tired, which we did,” Saban said. “Then we had a lot more direct runs later and played a lot more physical interior line play for us and had success running the ball inside.
“Sometimes one of these things build on the other,” he added.
3. Don’t get off balance defensively
Alabama gave up numerous big plays at Ole Miss, including passes of 63 (on busted coverage), 44, 44 and 37 yards, and a 23-yard touchdown run. That’s after the first-team defense didn’t give up a touchdown to Southern California or Western Kentucky.
The good thing about facing a zone-read option team this week is that it forces the players to key on their assignments, so a back-to-basics week of practices is likely on tap.
Either way, Alabama’s defensive speed will be problematic for Kent State, as the Crimson Tide is sixth nationally against the run, having yielded just 62.7 yards per game.
Kent State’s Players to Watch
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1. The Holley brothers
Although it may look like Kent State has a player going both ways, Nate and Nick Holley are actually twin brothers.
Nick, a junior wide receiver who often lines up in the slot, leads the Golden Flashes with 12 catches for 110 yards and also returns punts. Last year he caught two touchdown passes before suffering a season–ending hip and back injury that resulted in a medical redshirt. He wears No. 4.
Nate, a senior free safety, is averaging 15.7 tackles per game, including 9.0 solo tackles, which tops the nation. Second on the team behind his 47 total tackles is Terence Waugh with 26, including eight for a loss and five sacks. Nate Holley’s jersey number is 18.
2. Quarterback Mylik Mitchell
Kent State hasn’t been able to implement its full offense yet as the coaching staff has had to be careful not to overload the redshirt freshman.
“The thing about Mylik is that Mylik didn’t go through spring ball, because he was hurt with his ankle,” head coach Paul Haynes said during his on-campus press conference on Monday. “So all of this fall camp there’s a lot of newness to him. So we still are kind of seeing what he can do, what he can handle, how much he can have on his plate and what is too much.”
So far Mitchell is 37-for-62 passing (59.7 percent) for 353 yards with five touchdowns and one interception. He also has 113 rushing yards, which is somewhat deceiving due to all the sacks taken.
3. Linebacker Elcee Refuge
Although the senior isn’t listed as a starter at outside linebacker, Refuge has created a turnover in three straight games, including an interception against Monmouth last week.
"We are a hungry [defense]," Refuge said, per Kent State's website. "We feed off of each other's plays. Anytime we are on the football field, there are plays to be made. I look forward to creating energy with those plays."
Refuge recovered a fumble and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown against Penn State, giving the Golden Flashes their fifth defensive score over a span of 12 games.
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Alabama’s Players to Watch
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1. Wide receiver Cam Sims
Although wide receiver ArDarius Stewart will probably not play due to a sprained knee, his absence may not result in Robert Foster returning to the staring lineup.
“Robert will play some but the guy who’s been playing really well for us is Cam Sims, so we would play him as well,” Saban said. “And there will be an opportunity for some others to play."
“A young guy that we've been trying to play both ways who's got a lot of promise is Trevon Diggs, who because of our lack of depth in the secondary, maybe trying to be playing him both ways," Saban added. "I think we'll probably try to emphasize more offense with him this week.”
Foster was a starter in 2015 before a shoulder injury ended his season against Ole Miss. He’s listed as Calvin Ridley’s backup on the Crimson Tide depth chart, with Sims behind Stewart.
2. The interior offensive line
After the interior of the line had some issues during the first two games, the coaching staff reinserted senior Alphonse Taylor at right guard and moved sophomore Ross Pierschbacher back to left guard, the position he played last year.
That left sophomore Lester Cotton as the primary backup at both left tackle and left guard at Ole Miss. He had started the first two games at left guard.
The result was fewer errors, but Saban wasn’t ready to declare the line set yet.
“We're starting to lock in more, jelling more as a unit and just keep rolling,” junior center Bradley Bozeman said. “Hopefully we'll knock [the errors] all the way down."
3. Linebacker Reuben Foster
Even though he missed a good part of the fourth quarter at Ole Miss with an injury before returning, senior interior linebacker Reuben Foster still finished with 12 tackles.
Playing at a lighter weight this season is agreeing with Foster, who leads the Crimson Tide with 22 tackles.
“He calls his new body a Ferrari. He says last year was a Tahoe,” senior linebacker Ryan Anderson said. “He played like it, man. I was watching the film, and every play, he’d just fly.
“Like the play he hit Chad Kelly, I stopped and my jaw dropped like, ‘Dang.’ I was scared. I was scared for him," Anderson said. "I don’t know where he came from. I was running and it was bop! Like what was that? I should have known it was [No.] 10.”
What They’re Saying
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Saban on facing his alma mater: “I was telling [my wife] Terry this morning, I watch these games and these tapes and look out on the field and I played there. And I can't remember too many games that I played in there. I guess I'm getting old.”
Saban about being down the street when the National Guard opened fire on a student protest in 1970: "Well, I think certainly to that point in my life it was one of the most traumatic experiences that I'd ever had to deal with. To have students on your campus shot, killed … I actually didn't see it happen, but saw the aftermath, right after it happened. It's made me have a lot of appreciation for a lot of things. Actually made me appreciate the fact that law and order is very important, but it also made me appreciate the fact that what those students were trying to express in terms of the Vietnam War and the demonstration they were having and the confrontation that occurred was unnecessary.”
Haynes on what he learned when visiting Alabama during the offseason: “It’s everything. It’s everything about the program that wants to be the best. From everything they do they want to be the best, they want to be the best at everything. Those programs, there’s only a couple of them, there’s only about three or four that are like that, that everything they do and everyone who’s involved in that wants to be the best.”
Haynes on facing the No. 1 team: “It’s a machine. They do what they do. They don’t have a lot of weaknesses, and if you try and take one out, you sit there and watch it again and it’s not a weakness. They’re the defending national champion for a reason.”
Prediction
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Kent State was picked to finish last in the Mid-American Conference in both the media and coaches’ preseason polls and is 1-2 on the season, including a 39-36 four-overtime home loss to North Carolina A&T—a Football Championship Subdivision team that plays in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
For motivation, Saban only needs to remind his players that Kent State plays in the same conference as Central Michigan, which recently pulled of a stunning upset at Oklahoma State.
“They did a nice job against Penn State,” Saban said. “It was 16-13 at the half and they actually missed a field goal to tie the game.”
Kent State ranks 31st in total defense, 32nd in passing-efficiency defense, 50th in rushing defense and is tied for 72nd in scoring defense.
It’ll probably rank lower in all four categories next week.
Prediction: Alabama 48, Kent State 9
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.
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