When blitzed, Young made defense pay
STARKVILLE — In the blink of an eye, Jameson Williams was gone, leaving cornerback Martin Emerson and a host of other Mississippi State defenders in the dust.
The Alabama receiver had run a 15yard hitch route, turning to catch the pass from quarterback Bryce Young before pivoting. As he crossed the Bulldogs’ logo at midfield, four defenders were in the vicinity. Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes got closest to Williams, shedding a block from wide receiver John Metchie only to whiff on a tackle at the 10-yard line.
On that 75-yard touchdown reception, Williams had run for about 60 of the yards.
That play was the most egregious example from Saturday’s 49-9 loss to Alabama, but the game was riddled with missed tackles and failed blitzes that allowed Crimson Tide pass catchers to turn short-yardage plays into explosive ones, tarnishing a defense that has otherwise been a bright spot for Mississippi State (3-3, 1-2 SEC).
Alabama racked up 248 yards after the catch, according to Pro Football Focus — the most the Crimson Tide have managed this season and the most the Bulldogs have conceded.
It was 110 more yards after the catch than Mercer’s defense allowed, and 89 more than Southern Miss gave up. Even in Ole Miss’ lopsided loss to Alabama, the Crimson Tide gained just 81 yards after the catch.
“I thought our eyes were in the wrong place, and we didn’t tackle well,” coach Mike Leach said Monday. “It’s about as simple as that.”
Mississippi State is far from the first team Alabama has blown out. But with two weeks to prepare for the game, the defensive performance was particularly troubling, calling for a major response against Vanderbilt (2-5, 0-3) on Saturday (3 p.m., SEC Network).
“You know, obviously, (Alabama is) a fine team,” Leach said. “But a guy runs a curl and takes it 70 yards, well, there was some contribution on our part a little bit, too.”
Mississippi State blitzed Alabama early and often, and the defense got to Young twice. He was blitzed on 13 of his 34 drop backs, according to PFF, yet he completed 8 of his 11 throws in those situations for 204 yards and three touchdowns.
Young averaged 18.5 yards per attempt on blitz plays, taking advantage of the single coverage — and missed tackles — down field.
On a 46-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, safety Jalen Green came in unblocked. He clocked Young, but not before Young got the pass away to Metchie. Safety Fred Peters missed the tackle, and Metchie was off to the races.
Later, it was Tyrus Wheat’s turn to lay a heavy hit on Young, blitzing off the edge. But Young found running back Brian Robinson in the flat. Robinson evaded a diving tackle from linebacker Jett Johnson as he scampered for a 51yard score.
“We’ve got to get home,” Johnson said Saturday. “I feel like we executed the blitzes pretty well, and like you said, we’ve got to get home. We saw how in the A&M game, they had some trouble with some of those pressures and stuff, so we tried to emulate that a little bit. We got home a couple times, but obviously we’d have liked to get home a few more times.”
Johnson referenced what Texas A&M managed to do against Young and Alabama the week before to pull off the upset. When the Aggies blitzed Young on 16 drop backs, Young completed just over half his passes for just 85 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Mississippi State defensive coordinator Zach Arnett said prior to facing the Crimson Tide that he wasn’t looking forward to calling plays against an offense of that caliber. His dread was for good reason.
Arnett should have an easier time against Vanderbilt, but the missed tackles and big plays that pervaded throughout the display against Alabama will be costly against just about any opponent.