Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Crimson Tide get back on track
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama ‘s defense rebounded with a vintage performance while Jake Coker and the offense overcame a sputtering start.
Coker threw three touchdown passes in the 12thranked Crimson Tide’s 34-0 victory Saturday over Louisiana-Monroe, and a defense victimized for some big plays in a loss to No. 3 Mississippi allowed just 92 yards.
“[Linebacker] Reggie Ragland kept saying that no one’s scoring on us, and that’s been the motto,” said safety Geno Matias-Smith, who had an interception. “It motivates us because it has to be the standard. We didn’t have the best game last week, so we just have to keep creating an identity.”
The Tide ( 3- 1) have a much bigger challenge with an upcoming visit to No. 7 Georgia.
The Warhawks (1-2) didn’t have a first down in the first 23 minutes and were held to 9 yards rushing. They lost 51-14 to the Bulldogs three weeks earlier.
It was their first visit since stunning the Tide 21-14 eight years ago in Coach Nick Saban’s first season, which still stands as the low point of his tenure.
This one seemed out of reach by the time Alabama went up 14-0 in the second quarter.
The Tide racked up six sacks and two interceptions.
Coker was 17 of 31 for 158 yards but also threw an interception for the third consecutive game. He hit freshman Calvin Ridley for a 15-yard touchdown and backup tight end Michael Nysewander for a 19-yarder.
“I think we all started a little slow, but eventually we got things going and finished how we wanted to finish off,” Coker said.
By the time ArDarius Stewart caught Coker’s third touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, most of the announced 101,323 fans had made a beeline for the exits. The only mystery was whether the Tide would produce the 16th shutout under Saban, and a late stop by the backups took care of that.
“They didn’t do anything that surprised us,” Warhawks Coach Todd Berry said. “We just didn’t do what we were asking them to do. I liked our game plans coming in, but we still didn’t execute as well as we would have liked. Alabama’s a good football team, and it should be a great game next week.” The best news for the Tide might have come from the drives that stalled.
Adam Griffith broke out of a kicking slump, making field goals of 40 and 35 yards. He came into the game having made only a 20- yarder in five attempts and now has hit three consecutive.
“We have a lot of confidence in him that he’s capable,” Saban said. “I just think he’s got to think the right things and focus on the technique that he needs to use to have success. When he does that, he’s a very good kicker.”
Coker couldn’t connect on a number of downfield attempts, including one that was intercepted by safety Tre’ Hunter when it didn’t appear he had a receiver much closer than 10 yards of the ball. He was hit as he threw. Saban rose in his quarterback’s defense, citing a number of dropped balls.
“We had four drops in the first half,” Saban said.
Derrick Henry rushed for a touchdown in his ninth consecutive game and gained 52 yards on 13 carries after battling illness during the week.
NO. 3 MISSISSIPPI 27, VANDERBILT 16
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Chad Kelly threw for 321 yards, Jaylen Walton ran for a season-high 133 yards and No. 3 Mississippi pushed past feisty Vanderbilt 27-16 on Saturday night.
It was a mostly mediocre performance for the Ole Miss offense, which came into the game averaging 64 points per game — tops in the nation.
The Rebels’ red zone offense was particularly bad. Ole Miss had to settle for three field goal attempts when inside Vanderbilt’s 20. Two were made and one was blocked, which helped keep the Commodores in the game much longer than most expected.
Ole Miss (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) broke the game open midway through the fourth quarter when Walton ran for a 3-yard touchdown after two long runs earlier in the drive.
Vanderbilt ( 1- 3, 0- 2) lost its third straight against the Rebels. Johnny McCrary threw for 194 yards and Ralph Webb ran for 90. Ole Miss’ Laquon Treadwell caught eight passes for 135 yards. Kelly completed 24 of 42 passes and a touchdown but also threw two interceptions.
Arguably the game’s biggest play came late in the third quarter, when Cale Luke blocked a Vanderbilt punt to give the Rebels the ball at the Commodores’ 20. Seven plays later Robert Nkemdiche ran for a 1-yard touchdown to give Ole Miss a 20-13 lead. Nkemdiche, a 296-pound junior who usually plays defensive tackle, has scored three touchdowns this season.
Special teams and the defense saved the Rebels when the offense was sputtering. Linebacker Denzel Nkemdiche had a career-high 14 tackles, including 12 solo.
Vanderbilt stayed within striking distance all night thanks to a defense that didn’t give up big plays and generally played mistake-free football. But the Commodores couldn’t find much room to work on offense against the Rebels’ suffocating defense.
The Ole Miss offense couldn’t gain traction, looking little like the one that had put up gaudy numbers during the first few weeks. Kelly threw an interception on the game’s opening drive and never looked particularly comfortable in the pocket.
Vanderbilt briefly took the a 3-0 lead thanks to a 28-yard field goal following a 19-play, 73-yard drive that featured five third-down conversions.
It was the first time the Rebels had trailed all season and the deficit seemed to jolt them awake. Kelly found Damore’ea Stringfellow in the front corner of the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown on the ensuing drive to push Ole Miss ahead 7-3 late in the first quarter.
The momentum was short lived. The Rebels moved the ball well at times but routinely bogged down in the red zone, failing to get much push with its offensive line.
Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze mixed and matched formations close to the goal line, bringing in several different combinations of players. Nothing worked until Robert Nkemdiche plowed through the line in the third quarter.
NO. 7 GEORGIA 48, SOUTHERN 6
ATHENS, Ga. — Nick Chubb ran for 131 yards and two touchdowns and caught a TD pass to lead No. 7 Georgia to a victory over Southern.
Chubb had scoring runs of 9 and 49 yards in the third quarter. The 49-yarder gave him 12 consecutive games with at least 100 yards rushing. He scored on a 24-yard pass from Greyson Lambert in the first quarter.
Georgia ( 4- 0) led 17- 0 in the first quarter and then played in the second quarter as if looking ahead to next week’s visit from No. 12 Alabama.
Lenard Tillery’s 16-yard scoring run for Southern (2-2) quieted the Georgia fans on a soggy day. The Bulldogs’ only points in the second quarter came on a field goal.
KENTUCKY 21, NO. 25 MISSOURI 13
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Patrick Towles threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score to lead Kentucky past No. 25 Missouri 21-13 on Saturday night, ending the Wildcats’ 18-game losing streak against ranked teams.
Towles’ arm and feet were critical in the Wildcats’ first upset of a ranked team since beating No. 18 South Carolina 31- 28 in Lexington five years ago. The junior threw TD passes of 24 yards to tight end C.J. Conrad in the third quarter and the 5-yard clincher to Dorian Baker with 6:20 remaining, and fuel a small celebration on the field with some of the 58,008.
Towles was 22 of 27 passing for 249 yards and ran for 21 yards, including a 14-yard TD in the second quarter. His performance helped the Wildcats (3-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) gain 369 yards against the nation’s fourth-ranked defense and snap a school-record, 11game road winning streak for the Tigers (3-1, 0-1).
SOUTH CAROLINA 31, CENTRAL FLORIDA 14
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Freshman quarterback Lorenzo Nunez threw for two touchdowns and Pharoh Cooper turned a broken play into a 29-yard go-ahead scoring run to rally South Carolina to a much-needed victory over UCF.
Nunez ran for 123 in his first start while Cooper added a 35-yard TD catch to end the Gamecocks’ two-game losing streak.
Things looked dire for South Carolina (2-2), which trailed 14-8 and struggled to make critical yards against firedup UCF (0-4) in the opening half. But behind Nunez, Cooper and linebacker T.J. Holloman’s two interceptions, the Gamecocks turned things around.
After Cooper’s scoring run made it 1514, Nunez hit tight end Jacob August with a 13-yard touchdown pass. Nunez connected with Cooper on a 35-yard TD later in the period.