Aaron Suttles
TideSports.com Senior Writer
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. | It was a yeoman's effort from the Alabama defensive front seven Saturday night.
It started up front with the big guys from Brandon Ivory, A'Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed, Jonathan Allen. Heck, even Darren Lake got in on the party.
Then there were the linebackers from Reggie Ragland down to Xzavier Dickson over to Trey DePriest.
Together they stymied an offensive line that averaged 328 pounds and two of the conference's top-flight runners.
All in all, they combined to snuff out an Arkansas rushing attack that hadn't been held to less than 100 yards rushing in the Bret Bielema era (2013-14).
It was Saturday night.
Of the Razorbacks' 39 carries that netted 89 yards, 18 rushes went for 2 yards or less. Ten were for no gain or negative yardage.
It's almost as if the Alabama defense's manhood was challenged. Players said it was.
"With the talk that we got all week, we made it an emphasis that we weren't going to have that," middle linebacker Trey DePriest said. "The style of ball that they play, they're a run-first team. They're going to try to hit you in the mouth. They pride themselves on running the ball and making you quit up front.
"That's what we're built on as an Alabama defense and stopping the run and we took that kind of personal."
DePriest never clarified how the defense was challenged, but it's not difficult to envision the entire coaching staff using whatever it could to squeeze every bit of motivation and passion out of its players.
It showed.
Outside linebacker Xzavier Dickson was a match-up problem for Arkansas for most of the night, helping stretch out running plays, making runners go sideways, getting off blocks and making stops. He finished with eight tackles, including one sack.
Jarran Reed batted two passes down, made five tackles and one sack. He and his defensive line teammates helped clear the path for Reggie Ragland's game-high 12 tackles.
"It felt real good coming dow striking, using your hips, fighting up off the blocker," Ragland said.
No play proved a bigger example of Alabama's front-seven dominance than at the halfway point of the fourth quarter with Alabama clinging to a one-point lead.
On fourth-and-one from midfield, the Razorbacks chose to go for it. They were stopped cold.
"We said, 'Bow your necks. Be strong. Strike up front, big guys. Let's get this stop," Ragland said.
The defensive line, Allen to be precise, also proved to be the difference in the score with a blocked extra point that resulted in the 14-13 win.
In a game where not much went right, Saban was pleased with his front seven.
"Our defense did a really good job of stopping the run, there's no doubt about it," Saban said. "And they did it playing straight up, just base football. They formationed us so it was really hard to pressure them and give them bad plays. So we really stopped the run straight up most of the time just playing 3-4 defense."
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1691656#sthash.3ZRra7vo.dpuf
TideSports.com Senior Writer
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. | It was a yeoman's effort from the Alabama defensive front seven Saturday night.
It started up front with the big guys from Brandon Ivory, A'Shawn Robinson, Jarran Reed, Jonathan Allen. Heck, even Darren Lake got in on the party.
Then there were the linebackers from Reggie Ragland down to Xzavier Dickson over to Trey DePriest.
Together they stymied an offensive line that averaged 328 pounds and two of the conference's top-flight runners.
All in all, they combined to snuff out an Arkansas rushing attack that hadn't been held to less than 100 yards rushing in the Bret Bielema era (2013-14).
It was Saturday night.
Of the Razorbacks' 39 carries that netted 89 yards, 18 rushes went for 2 yards or less. Ten were for no gain or negative yardage.
It's almost as if the Alabama defense's manhood was challenged. Players said it was.
"With the talk that we got all week, we made it an emphasis that we weren't going to have that," middle linebacker Trey DePriest said. "The style of ball that they play, they're a run-first team. They're going to try to hit you in the mouth. They pride themselves on running the ball and making you quit up front.
"That's what we're built on as an Alabama defense and stopping the run and we took that kind of personal."
DePriest never clarified how the defense was challenged, but it's not difficult to envision the entire coaching staff using whatever it could to squeeze every bit of motivation and passion out of its players.
It showed.
Outside linebacker Xzavier Dickson was a match-up problem for Arkansas for most of the night, helping stretch out running plays, making runners go sideways, getting off blocks and making stops. He finished with eight tackles, including one sack.
Jarran Reed batted two passes down, made five tackles and one sack. He and his defensive line teammates helped clear the path for Reggie Ragland's game-high 12 tackles.
"It felt real good coming dow striking, using your hips, fighting up off the blocker," Ragland said.
No play proved a bigger example of Alabama's front-seven dominance than at the halfway point of the fourth quarter with Alabama clinging to a one-point lead.
On fourth-and-one from midfield, the Razorbacks chose to go for it. They were stopped cold.
"We said, 'Bow your necks. Be strong. Strike up front, big guys. Let's get this stop," Ragland said.
The defensive line, Allen to be precise, also proved to be the difference in the score with a blocked extra point that resulted in the 14-13 win.
In a game where not much went right, Saban was pleased with his front seven.
"Our defense did a really good job of stopping the run, there's no doubt about it," Saban said. "And they did it playing straight up, just base football. They formationed us so it was really hard to pressure them and give them bad plays. So we really stopped the run straight up most of the time just playing 3-4 defense."
- See more at: https://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1691656#sthash.3ZRra7vo.dpuf
