Tide eye more wins at Atlanta stadium.
ATLANTA — Mercedes-Benz Stadium is shiny and new with the look and feel of a luxury stadium featuring all the amenities you would expect from a $1.5 billion venue. It even had that new-car smell.
Perhaps Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank should just go ahead and hand the keys over to Alabama coach Nick Saban now.
Atlanta has become a home-away-from-home for the Crimson Tide, with the program having won nine consecutive games there heading into Saturday’s showdown with No. 3 Florida State. The location may have changed — those wins were at the nowdefunct Georgia Dome, which sits like a ghost next door to its successor — but the streak continues.
The 24-7 victory over the Seminoles gives the Tide 10 wins in a row. With the SEC Championship Game to be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in December and the National Championship Game at the same venue a little more than a month later, it’s easy to believe Alabama will be back in Atlanta often.
“We love playing over here. Our players love playing over here,” said Saban, who is now 11-0 in season openers since taking over the Tide program in 2007. “But it’s one game. We have a long season.
“We’re going to have to get other players ready to compete at a high level that don’t have as much experience if we’re going to continue to improve as a team, and that’s the focus that we have right now is what’s ahead, not what’s behind.”
Alabama linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton,
who finished with a teamhigh eight tackles — including 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack — agreed with his coach’s assessment.
“We’re comfortable playing here now,” Hamilton said. “We’ve played here so many times since my freshman year. We just have to keep on winning here. We just got to take it one game at a time.”
Critics wondered how Alabama would bounce back from that disheartening 35-31 loss to Clemson in January during the national-title game. The Tide were four seconds away from their fifth national title in the 10 seasons under Saban.
Any questions about Alabama’s resolve were answered with the win over Florida State.
“The only thing in my mind today was winning the game,” Tide quarterback Jalen Hurts said when asked if last season’s title loss weighed on him heading into the opener. “Clemson was last year and this is a new season and a new chapter and the big thing is being 1-0 each week.”
Hurts was a modest 10-of-18 passing for 96 yards and a touchdown. He also earned 55 yards rushing on 15 carries.
The game was billed as the GOAT — Greatest Opener of All Time — but Alabama made the case it should be known as the GOAT — Greatest Of All Time.
Early on, however, the game had the feel of a classic prize fight, with both teams feeling each other out.
Ultimately it was Alabama’s special-teams play that would help the Tide pull away early in the second half. Minkah Fitzpatrick
blocked a 37-yard field goal try by Ricky Aguayo to close out the first half and secure a 10-7 halftime lead for Alabama.
In the third quarter, the Tide would come up big again on special teams by blocking a Logan Thomas punt at the FSU 25-yard line and returning it to the 6-yard line. The Seminoles would hold Alabama to a field goal, but the psychological damage was done.
On the ensuing kickoff, Florida State’s Keith Gavin fumbled the football and the Tide recovered at the FSU 10-yard line. Two plays later, Damien Harris rumbled through the defense for an easy touchdown to help extend the Tide lead to 21-7.
“Any time you score a touchdown, it feels good,” said Harris, who had the key block of Thomas’ punt. He finished as the game’s leading rusher with 73 yards.
Harris said Saturday night’s win will prove to everyone, including the Crimson Tide, that last season’s title-game loss is behind Alabama.
“After last year we didn’t think we were the same team,” the junior tailback said. “We didn’t finish the way we wanted to. We took full ownership for that. We just felt like we needed to improve. We took it upon ourselves to get that mantra back and finish it and impose our wills on teams.
“Tonight was a great test with a great opponent. Hpefully we can continue to have that moving forward.”