Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bama keeps Ole Miss grounded
SEC FOOTBALL NO. 1 ALABAMA 42, NO. 12 OLE MISS 21
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Brian Robinson Jr. rushed for career highs of 171 yards and four touchdowns, and No. 1 Alabama mostly throttled the nation’s top offense in a 42-21 victory Saturday over No. 12 Mississippi.
Bryce Young passed for a couple of touchdowns for the Crimson Tide (5-0, 2-0 SEC) but the Bama defense and ground game stole some of the thunder from a matchup of the two leading Heisman Trophy contenders coming into the game.
“It was a great opportunity for us today to show how physical we can play for 60 minutes,” said Robinson, a fifth-year senior who carried 36 times in his first 100-yard game.
Alabama turned to Robinson to play keep away from Matt Corral and the offense of the Rebels (3-1, 0-1), who had breezed through three nonconference games before an open date but had some gambles that backfired.
Nick Saban improved to 24-0 against his former assistants, but ex-offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin didn’t help his own cause with three failed fourth-down calls in the first half. Saban turned the tables with two touchdowns on fourth-down plays.
“I’m sure I got killed by going for it on fourth down, but that’s analytics,” Kiffin said. “We believe in our players, and it doesn’t work all the time. When it doesn’t work and you follow the book, it doesn’t look good.”
Young completed 21 of 27 passes for 241 yards and was intercepted once for Alabama, which led 28-0 at halftime. Oddsmakers had him as the second-leading Heisman candidate coming into the game, behind only Corral.
The Rebels star ran for a touchdown but was mostly held in check by a team he torched last season. Corral also passed for a touchdown, completing 22 of 32 passes for 213 yards while losing a fumble. Corral extended his streak of games with a
touchdown pass to 16 games with 2:23 left, matching Eli Manning for the second-longest such streak at Ole Miss.
“We got dominated up front,” Kiffin said. “That ain’t hard to see. Matt didn’t have much time. We had negative runs.”
Alabama’s defense, burned by Ole Miss for 48 points and 647 yards a year ago, made the big fourth- down stops and plenty of others.
The Tide limited Ole Miss to 291 total yards, despite giving up a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. The Rebels came in leading the nation with 635 yards and 53 points per game but couldn’t get that tempo going consistently this time.
“We prepared all week for it,” Alabama defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis said. “We knew it was coming and we worked our tails off. I think that really got us ready for the fastball all week long.”
Ole Miss was without second-leading receiver Jonathan Mingo, who was wearing a boot on his left foot and didn’t dress out.
“We played the whole game in the same personnel group, so we didn’t get into all this substitution stuff that was a problem for us last year,” Saban said.
Alabama backup tailback Jase McClelland left with a knee injury and Saban said the early indication is “he’s probably going to be out for a while.”
KENTUCKY 20, NO. 10 FLORIDA 13
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Trevin Wallace returned a blocked field goal 76 yards for the go-ahead touchdown late in the third quarter, Chris Rodriguez Jr. had a 9-yard scoring run early in the fourth and Kentucky made a final defensive stand to hold off No. 10 Florida.
The SEC East Division showdown was more of a slog than a slugfest for much of the night, and the Gators (3-2, 1-2) were poised to add Jace Christmann’s 48-yard field goal attempt to their 10-7 lead.
Kentucky defensive end Josh Paschal got a hand on the low kick that sent the ball fluttering to Wallace, who jetted past a tackle on the left sideline and cut back through a small seam to race for the game-changing TD.
The Wildcats (5-0, 3-0) turned it over on downs at the Florida 34 to start the fourth quarter but created another opportunity when linebacker J.J. Weaver intercepted Emory Jones’ pass for a first down at the Gators 29. Rodriguez took over from there, rushing three times for 22 yards including the 9-yard TD for a 20-10 cushion with 11:32 remaining.
Florida got within seven on Christmann’s 33-yard field goal with 6:23 left before getting the ball again a couple of minutes later and driving to the Kentucky 5 with the help of a defensive facemask penalty. A 4-yard loss on a pass play and false start penalty moved the Gators back to the 14, but they had a final chance from the 8 before Jacquez Jones swatted away a fourth-down pass with 18 seconds left to seal the win.
Fans stormed the field as Kentucky beat Florida at home for the first time since 1986 and took a big step toward challenging Georgia in the East.
TENNESSEE 62, MISSOURI 24
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Hendon Hooker threw for three touchdowns and ran for
another as Tennessee routed Missouri, scoring touchdowns on its first six possessions.
Hooker completed 15 of 19 passes for 225 yards and rushed 14 times for 74 yards. He wasn’t the only Volunteer who padded his stats against a beleaguered defense. Tiyon Evans rushed 15 times for 156 yards and 3 touchdowns. Tennessee (3-2, 1-1) piled up 677 total yards and never punted.
The Volunteers built a 28-3 first-quarter lead without ever needing to run a third-down play. Among the many highlights was Evans’ 92-yard touchdown run in which he ran through a massive hole on the right side and wasn’t touched by a Missouri defender.
The 92-yard TD run was third-longest in program history.
The Tigers ( 2- 3, 0- 2) entered the game ranked 129th out of 130 FBS teams in rushing defense, allowing an average of 269 rushing yards per game. Tennessee had 275 rushing yards in the first half alone as it built a 45-10 lead and finished with 452 yards on the ground.
The Tennessee defense contained Missouri’s big-play threat, Tyler Badie, holding the running back to 41 yards on 21 carries, and intercepted quarterback Connor Bazelak twice. The best moment for Missouri came on special teams when Kris Abrams-Draine returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
SOUTH CAROLINA 23, TROY 14
COLUMBIA, S.C. — David Spaulding returned an interception 74 yards for a touchdown and Parker White kicked three field goals and South Carolina overcame several mistakes in the second half to hold off Troy in a nonconference game.
White booted a 37-yard field goal in the fourth quarter with just over two minutes left to make it a two-possession lead and Damani Staley intercepted Taylor Powell (Fayetteville) with less than 30 seconds to play.
The Gamecocks (3-2) got a defensive touchdown for the third time in five games, Spaulding’s return giving them a 17-7 lead at halftime. Yet the Trojans (2-3) wouldn’t go away and South Carolina’s inability to take advantage of its numerous chances to score helped Troy stay in it.
The Gamecocks still haven’t found a solution for their sputtering running game, but quarterback Luke Doty completed 20 of 34 passes for 255 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions and one fumble.