Bama’s Hurts painful for foe Fresno
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Fresno State received a $1.4 million paycheck Saturday afternoon for helping provide plenty of Jalen Hurts highlights.
Alabama’s sophomore quarterback and the reigning Southeastern Conference offensive player of the year was nearly flawless in the first half for the top-ranked Crimson Tide, who cruised to a 41-10 rout of the Bulldogs from the Mountain West Conference before a crowd of 101,127 inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Hurts experienced peaks and valleys in last week’s 24-7 opening win over Florida State in Atlanta, but this FSU was no match for the 6-foot-2, 218pound dual-threat talent from Houston.
Hurts rushed 10 times for 154 yards and two touchdowns against the Bulldogs, and he completed 14 of 18 passes for 128 yards and a score.
“He did a nice job today,” Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said. “He threw the ball in the right place. He was accurate with the ball. He kind of took what the defense gave him. I would like to see us have more explosive plays in the passing game, but the passing efficiency was a lot better.
“There were a couple of times we had longer passes down the field called, and we didn’t get the protection we needed, so it didn’t work out, but I was pleased with the way Jalen handled and managed the game.”
Hurts threw for just 96 yards in the opener, but in the first 30 minutes Saturday he rushed seven times for 119 yards and completed 12 of 13 passes for 112 yards in totaling the three touchdowns.
“It was productive, but it wasn’t a perfect game,” Hurts said. “We want to be the best we can be, so this is not about personal stats. It’s about playing to a standard.”
Alabama (2-0) opened the game with Hurts throwing to Cam Sims for 18 yards to the Crimson Tide 45-yard line, and Hurts broke free over the left side on the next play for a 55-yard touchdown run. The Tide marched 62 yards in 10 plays on their second possession, taking a 14-0 lead on a 23-yard pass from Hurts to tight end Hale Hentges.
Through two drives, Hurts had 124 total yards.
“Jalen knew at the start of the week that he was going to come in and play better,” Hentges said. “He made it known to all of us that we had to play better, and we did. He’s our leader, obviously, and you want your leader to be headstrong and to rally the troops, and he did that this week.”
Fresno State (1-1) took its second possession 70 yards in nine plays and pulled within 14-3 on Jimmy Camacho’s 27-yard field goal. The Bulldogs had a 30-yard completion from Chason Virgil to Da’Mari Scott to the Alabama 18 after benefiting from defensive-substitution and offside penalties on the Tide.
Alabama gained 198 yards in the first quarter and took a 21-3 lead two plays into the second quarter on a 2-yard Hurts keeper.
Tide true freshman backup quarterback Tua Tagovailoa entered the game at the 10:35 mark of the second quarter and completed his first two passes for gains of 9 and 6 yards, but he was sacked for an 8-yard loss on his third play, and the drive ended with a punt. Tagovailoa returned to play the fourth quarter and wound up completing 6 of 9 passes for 64 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown to Henry Ruggs III with 2:41 left in the game to cap the scoring.
“I thought Tua did a pretty good job in the game, and obviously he’ll learn from it,” Saban said. “He took a sack when he shouldn’t have taken a sack. He didn’t have great protection, but he had an opportunity to get rid of the ball.
“He made some accurate throws and some good decisions and managed the game fairly well.”
Hurts returned for Alabama’s final possession of the first half and guided a six-play, 77-yard march that culminated with a 5-yard touchdown run by Damien Harris to make it 28-3 at the break. The Crimson Tide had 297 first-half yards, with Hurts accounting for 231 of them.
Andy Pappanastos accounted for the only scoring in the third quarter with a 24-yard field goal that extended Alabama’s lead to 31-3.
Fresno State appeared in 14 bowl games during a 16-year stretch from 1999 to 2014, but the Bulldogs have slid since and bottomed out last year at 1-11, with their only triumph against Sacramento State. Alabama will welcome Colorado State, which is coached by former Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, to Bryant-Denny this Saturday night.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.