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Bama News
It was the type of throw and the type of early gut-punch for a defense that so often came from that previous Alabama quarterback.
Seventy-eight yards.
Thrown perfectly in stride.
Touchdown.
Just three plays into Alabama’s first drive.
The Tua Tagovailoa era may be over, but the Crimson Tide offense isn’t slowing down.
This Mac Jones-led group made that clear Saturday during Alabama’s 52-24 blowout of Texas A&M.
“They’re dynamic,” Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher said.
That’s the case even with guys like Tua, Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs no longer in Tuscaloosa.
After producing 35 points in a little more than two quarters of work in game one vs. Missouri, Alabama’s first-team offense made an even bigger statement Saturday against A&M, even with star running back Najee Harris being limited to 43 yards and 3.6 yards per carry.
Led by Jones, the Tide’s final box score included six offensive touchdowns, 544 yards of total offense, seven throws that gained 20 yards or more and an overall average of 9.9 yards per play.
“The way they played us, we have to utilize the skill guys that we have and take shots (down the field),” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “They were up there stopping the run. Their safeties were very aggressive. I thought we did a good job of adjusting to that and making some big plays.”
After throwing for 249 yards and two touchdowns in essentially one half of action vs. Missouri, Jones threw for 435 yards against Texas A&M, the fourth-highest yardage total for a single game in school history.
He also had four touchdown passes.
Not bad, right?
Through his first six-plus quarters of action this season, Jones has completed 75 percent of his passes (38 of 51) and has thrown for 674 yards with six touchdown passes.
Again, that’s in barely more than six quarters of work.
While Jones did have an early mistake vs. A&M — a second quarter interception off of a tipped ball — the redshirt junior bounced back with three touchdown passes during the final three quarters while helping the Tide turn a 14-14 game into a 28-point lopsided victory.
“We expect Mac to develop maturity and confidence,” Saban said. “He’s very smart. He’s bright. He’s accurate with the ball and we have got some good skill guys. The strength of our team is to be able to utilize those guys. ... When teams play us to stop the run, then we have to try and make big plays. Mac is certainly doing a good job of that. Mac is playing very well.”
Including on Saturday.
It started with the 78-yard touchdown connection with John Metchie.
It continued with touchdown passes to DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle.
It was then a final touchdown pass to Metchie — a 63-yarder with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter — that served as an exclamation point.
One final piece of proof that this Alabama passing game and offense is going to be really tough to stop.
Even in the post-Tua era.
“Everyone wants to talk and say that Alabama’s not back,” Jones said, “I think that we’ve proved the first two games that we’re improving and we’ve got to continue to do that.”
