TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Top-ranked Alabama engineered a potent offense Saturday afternoon and it was especially formidable on third down.
The Crimson Tide rolled up 599 yards of offense on Arkansas State University in a 57-7 thrashing of the Red Wolves at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alabama converted on five of its first six third-down attempts in taking a 19-0 advantage 12 minutes into the game. The Tide were 10 of 15 overall on third downs.
"Any time somebody is over 50 percent it's going to be rough day for you," ASU Coach Blake Anderson said. "Last week [Southeast Missouri State] was 2 of 14. It was completely different, but also it was a much more talented team that had the ability to protect and win on some one-on-one areas. We missed a couple of opportunities to get them off the field and we didn't do it."
Alabama's first third-conversion resulted in a 58-yard scoring pass from sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to Jerry Jeudy 1:41 into the game. Three possessions later and leading 13-0, the Tide converted on two third-and-11 plays with Tagovailoa hitting Jeudy for 14 yards to the Alabama 44 and DeVonta Smith for a 41-yard touchdown with three minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
Alabama also converted on two third-down plays on its first scoring drive of the second quarter. Josh Jacobs ran for 10 yards on third and 1, and Smith hauled in a 30-yard pass from the Tide's other quarterback, Jalen Hurts, to put Alabama at the ASU 10. Hurts connected with Irv Smith on the following play for a touchdown and a 26-0 advantage.
"That was disappointing," said ASU junior safety Darreon Jackson, who forced a fumble and made a game-high 10 tackles. "When you're on defense you want to get a three and out. We did not do well in those situations."
ASU managed 391 yards of offense, but the Red Wolves struggled on third down, converting on only 4 of 19 attempts. The Red Wolves were 2 of 4 on fourth-down conversion conversions.
"There were opportunities to move the chains more than we did," Anderson said. "We had some mechanical busts. We had some communication mistakes. We did not execute well enough consistently to move the chains."
ASU was close to turning in some big moments. After a bad snap on a punt resulted in Alabama's second possession starting at the Red Wolves 31, junior cornerback Jeremy Smith just missed an interception. One play later, Tagovailoa hit Henry Ruggs for a 31-yard TD.
The Crimson Tide caught another break midway through the second quarter when they fumbled a punt return but managed to recover, leading to Hurts' TD pass to Smith.
"That's the frustrating part, way too many mistakes," Anderson said. "The list is way too long to honestly count. We cleared it up and played better in the second half. I felt like that was an improvement but this is just something we've got to get fixed. When you play a great football team like Alabama, you're mistakes are going to get exposed in a big, big way. That's what happened today."
Sports on 09/09/2018