3 Takeaways from Alabama vs Vanderbilt

The Alabama Crimson Tide was up next as they traveled to Nashville to defeat the Vanderbilt Commodores 59-0. A complete annihilation on both sides of the football and in the stadium the Crimson Tide rolled all over the Commodores.

The Crimson Tide finished the game with a total of 677 yards, most coming from the run game, and defense only allowed 78 yards to a Commodores offense led by a experienced quarterback and a talented tailback.

Here are three takeaway from the Alabama/Vanderbilt game this past weekend:

Balanced offense can take Alabama a long way.

One issue many people had with offensive coaches in the past is not utilizing the run game. RUN THE BALL could be heard all throughout the last two season at Alabama, but OC Brian Daboll seems to be paying attention to the talent he has at the running back position because that core carried them against Vanderbilt. The team totaled for 496 yards rushing on 66 carries and 6 touchdowns. Damien Harris led the pack with 12 carries for 151 yards and three touchdowns followed by Bo Scarbough with 11 carries for 79 yards and two touchdowns. We even got to see a Josh Jacobs and Brian Robinson Jr. sighting who combined for 79 yards and a touchdown. I know people want to see Jalen Hurts throw the ball downfield to his receivers, and plenty of them got touches in this game against Vandy, but in order for him to do that, the Crimson Tide have to establish themselves in the run game and ware teams out with the talent they have in the backfield. It makes it even more scarier for opposing defenses' when Hurts can also run for 100 yards at the drop of a hat. Offense has a GT style of offensive talent with power and speed in the run game, but GT doesn't have the Alabama defense to help them on the other end so if the Crimson Tide can continue their dominance in the run game, this season could be truly special.

Who needs a meeting? Defense just goes out there and dominates

Speaking of the defensive side of the ball, Alabama’s defense and how they were going to perform after Shaun Dion Hamilton called last week’s performance against Colorado State “pathetic” was a big question heading into Nashville. A lot of that was credited to Mike Bobo and Colorado State’s game plan Alabama wasn’t expecting and the Rams took advantage of missed assignments and missing piece sounding the defensive unit. Against Vanderbilt, we saw the return of Evans and Jennings and the Crimson Tide defense find their groove on defense only giving up 78 total yards for the game. Vanderbilt has some good offense weapons including QB Kyle Shurmur who came into this game with 703 passing yards and eight touchdowns through three games and only finished with 4-17 for 18 yards against Alabama’s defense and RB Ralph Webb struggled running the ball against this Alabama front with only 6 carries for 20 yards. Webb has back-to-back games where he fails to reach over 50 yards rushing and Alabama did a good job containing Webb throughout the game. Still some work needs to be done in the pass rush with zero sacks and three QB hurries, this defensive performance is something to build up on in the upcoming weeks especially since better offense are down the line on the schedule. Even though Shaun Dion didn’t have his “Come to Jesus” meeting on Monday, the statement fired up this unit and it showed against Vanderbilt.

Alabama takeover Nashville

The Alabama faithful travel where ever the team goes and Nashville was no exception. Walking around the beautiful city of Nashville I saw more Crimson Tide tents on the tailgate and heard more Roll Tide’s than I heard Anchor Down’s. That carried into the stadium as well where it was 70/30 Alabama. I think seeing how much reception they had from their fans motivated the Crimson Tide in this 59-0 victory. This game was a home game for the Crimson Tide and they played like it on the field and the fans showed up all four quarters Most cities would frown upon his but credit to the city of Nashville and the fans of Vanderbilt that stayed classy this entire weekend.