Butch Jones gets victory bath from Tide players
KNOXVILLE — Alabama sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has had a lot of time on his hands during the fourth quarters of games this season.
In Saturday’s 58-21 trampling of Tennessee inside Neyland Stadium, Tagovailoa and senior tailback Damien Harris became a bit mischievous at the expense of first-year offensive analyst Butch Jones.
“Butch came up to me, and I shook his hand,” Tagovailoa said afterward. “It came to my mind that we should dump water on him. I went to Damien and said, ‘Let’s go dump some water on Coach.’ I feel bad, because it’s kind of cold out here, but I’m happy for him.”
Saturday marked the sixth consecutive Alabama-Tennessee game for Jones and the first in which he could smoke a victory cigar. As Tennessee’s head coach the past five seasons, Jones sustained five losses to the Crimson Tide, including 49-10 and 45-7 blowouts the past two years.
Harris and Jones ran off the field together with overlooking crimson-clad and orange-clad fans expressing very different emotions.
“It was good to see Butch Jones get dumped on,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. “He was happy, and he’s done a great job for us. We really appreciate the things he has done to help our program.”
Said sophomore receiver Henry Ruggs: “Even though it was cold, it had to feel good for him getting that win.”
Punting change
Alabama switched punters before Saturday’s game, with walk-on Mike Bernier handling the duties for the first time in his career.
Bernier, a 6-foot-2, 219pound senior from Madison, Alabama, entered the game early in the second quarter and had two 41-yard punts after rare consecutive threeand-outs by the offense. Those would be his only two punts.
“You like to see guys who really are willing to stick with the process of doing the things they need to do to be successful,” Saban said. “He has certainly done that, and I was happy to see him do a good job with his opportunities today.”
Bernier replaced freshman Skyler DeLong, who punted 16 times through Alabama’s first seven games, averaging 34.4 yards per attempt.
“Nobody is entitled to a job, and everybody is in competition,” Saban said. “We need to help the other guy, who has a lot of talent, become a better punter. I think he gets a little anxious in a game and sort of loses his technique a little bit, so we’ll give him some time to cool off, and maybe this will help him see things from a little different perspective.”
Switching roles
Sophomore receiver DeVonta Smith, who entered Saturday ranked second on the Crimson Tide with 409 yards and three touchdowns on 21 receptions, did not make the trip due to his hamstring injury last week against Missouri.
That didn’t stop Alabama from having another big outing, with freshman Jaylen Waddle amassing 117 yards on four catches and with sophomores Jerry Jeudy and Ruggs adding 72 and 65 yards, respectively.
“We’re brothers, and we look out for one another,” Ruggs said. “With him not being here, somebody had to step up. I actually moved to his position and did what I could do. I made a couple of mistakes, and that’s on me. I’ve got to fix them.”
Tide tidbits
Alabama has scored 28 first-quarter points this season against Ole Miss, Louisiana and Tennessee. … Junior running back Josh Jacobs made the first start of the season and the third of his career. … Saban said junior defensive end Raekwon Davis didn’t play in the first half and senior running back Damien Harris didn’t start for “internal reasons.” … The average score of the Alabama-Tennessee game inside Neyland in the Saban era is 43-14. … Tagovailoa has a 233.64 passer rating in his five SEC games. … Alabama has scored 30 or more first-half points in six straight games.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.