Aaron Suttles
TideSports.com Senior Writer
It's a stark contrast, the difference comparatively between the University of Alabama football team at home inside Bryant-Denny Stadium and on the road in SEC play.
It's not particularly surprising that a team performs better at home than on the road, but the degree of difference for the Crimson Tide is startling.
Just how different?
Alabama averages 27.2 more points a game at home than on the road, including a 50.5-points-per-home-game average against SEC competition.
Certainly home field advantage plays a part in the drastically different number of explosive plays and overall efficiency and consistency in the offense at home versus on the road. UA coach Nick Saban said it's difficult to explain.
"…the times that we've been on the road this year, we've been sort of up and down, inconsistent, played well at times when we needed to but didn't play with a lot of consistency throughout the game."
The Crimson Tide averages 2.6 more yards per play, 10.5 more plays and 258.5 more yards per game at home than on the road.
"We can't really put our finger on exactly why that is, we just hope that the formula continues to work, whatever it is, that has helped us play well at home because it's certainly going to be necessary for us to do that in this game this weekend."
Leave a good thing be
It's a position that most people ignore until something goes wrong, but punter is a position of strength this season for Alabama.
Freshman JK Scott leads the SEC and is third nationally in punting average (47.1) with half of his punts (18 of 36) downed inside the opponents 20. Fourteen of his punts traveled at least 50 yards with a season and career long of 66 yards last Saturday night against LSU that flipped field position during a tight game in the second half.
Saban claimed no credit for Scott's success, saying Scott "could punt really well when he came here."
When an athlete is in a zone, especially with a specialist Saban said, sometimes you just leave them be.
"…sometimes good enough is good enough. You don't have to keep trying to get better," Saban said. "When you're kicking every one of them 50 and 55 yards with a 5.0 (second) hangtime, that's good enough. You don't really have to try to keep going. And he's one of those guys who always really wants to try to do a little better and keep going. He's done a great job for us and certainly changed field position in critical times in several games this year."
Defending De'Runnya
He's the biggest wide receiver Alabama has faced, and at 6-foot-5, 215 pounds, De'Runnya Wilson presents match-up problems for every cornerback he goes up against.
Wilson is from the state of Alabama, a product of Wenonah High School in Birmingham, where he helped the lead the Dragons to three consecutive Class 5A basketball state championships.
Now Wilson is leading Mississippi State on the gridiron with 22 receptions for 367 yards and six touchdowns.
The job of defending Wilson falls on Cyrus Jones, Alabama's most consistent cornerback this season.
"I think it's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to the challenge," Jones said. "It's another great receiver that's playing well this season.
"I don't shy away from contact. I like getting my hands on receivers and kind of using that to my advantage because I'm a smaller guy. They probably wouldn't expect that from somebody my size."
Alabama recruited Wilson a little during his senior year at Wenonah. He chose Mississippi State over several offers from Power 5 conference schools.
Saban said his visits with Wilson left an impression.
"I remember how very productive that he was," Saban said. "I remember going to the school and actually visiting his school, seeing him and meeting him. I thought he would be a really good player because he had great size and was a great athlete and he has certainly proved us to be absolutely correct because he uses his size really, really well, he's got great hands, he's a good athlete, he plays with a lot of toughness, he's a very physical player so I'm very, very impressed with the way he's developed as a player and the way he's played, especially this year."
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1703662#sthash.FHic6KVI.dpuf
TideSports.com Senior Writer
It's a stark contrast, the difference comparatively between the University of Alabama football team at home inside Bryant-Denny Stadium and on the road in SEC play.
It's not particularly surprising that a team performs better at home than on the road, but the degree of difference for the Crimson Tide is startling.
Just how different?
Alabama averages 27.2 more points a game at home than on the road, including a 50.5-points-per-home-game average against SEC competition.
Certainly home field advantage plays a part in the drastically different number of explosive plays and overall efficiency and consistency in the offense at home versus on the road. UA coach Nick Saban said it's difficult to explain.
"…the times that we've been on the road this year, we've been sort of up and down, inconsistent, played well at times when we needed to but didn't play with a lot of consistency throughout the game."
The Crimson Tide averages 2.6 more yards per play, 10.5 more plays and 258.5 more yards per game at home than on the road.
"We can't really put our finger on exactly why that is, we just hope that the formula continues to work, whatever it is, that has helped us play well at home because it's certainly going to be necessary for us to do that in this game this weekend."
Leave a good thing be
It's a position that most people ignore until something goes wrong, but punter is a position of strength this season for Alabama.
Freshman JK Scott leads the SEC and is third nationally in punting average (47.1) with half of his punts (18 of 36) downed inside the opponents 20. Fourteen of his punts traveled at least 50 yards with a season and career long of 66 yards last Saturday night against LSU that flipped field position during a tight game in the second half.
Saban claimed no credit for Scott's success, saying Scott "could punt really well when he came here."
When an athlete is in a zone, especially with a specialist Saban said, sometimes you just leave them be.
"…sometimes good enough is good enough. You don't have to keep trying to get better," Saban said. "When you're kicking every one of them 50 and 55 yards with a 5.0 (second) hangtime, that's good enough. You don't really have to try to keep going. And he's one of those guys who always really wants to try to do a little better and keep going. He's done a great job for us and certainly changed field position in critical times in several games this year."
Defending De'Runnya
He's the biggest wide receiver Alabama has faced, and at 6-foot-5, 215 pounds, De'Runnya Wilson presents match-up problems for every cornerback he goes up against.
Wilson is from the state of Alabama, a product of Wenonah High School in Birmingham, where he helped the lead the Dragons to three consecutive Class 5A basketball state championships.
Now Wilson is leading Mississippi State on the gridiron with 22 receptions for 367 yards and six touchdowns.
The job of defending Wilson falls on Cyrus Jones, Alabama's most consistent cornerback this season.
"I think it's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to the challenge," Jones said. "It's another great receiver that's playing well this season.
"I don't shy away from contact. I like getting my hands on receivers and kind of using that to my advantage because I'm a smaller guy. They probably wouldn't expect that from somebody my size."
Alabama recruited Wilson a little during his senior year at Wenonah. He chose Mississippi State over several offers from Power 5 conference schools.
Saban said his visits with Wilson left an impression.
"I remember how very productive that he was," Saban said. "I remember going to the school and actually visiting his school, seeing him and meeting him. I thought he would be a really good player because he had great size and was a great athlete and he has certainly proved us to be absolutely correct because he uses his size really, really well, he's got great hands, he's a good athlete, he plays with a lot of toughness, he's a very physical player so I'm very, very impressed with the way he's developed as a player and the way he's played, especially this year."
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1703662#sthash.FHic6KVI.dpuf
