It wasn’t the prettiest of first halves for the Tide, but they made it to halftime with a 28-0 lead. The Alabama defense was nearly perfect, absolutely stymieing the overmatched Panthers for -1 total rushing yards and 13 passing yards, plus the special teams got a punt block.
The Alabama offense was given a couple of short fields that they cashed in on, and they generally moved the ball well. However a Ty Simpson interception over the middle ended one drive, and another ended on a holding call that set up a chip shot field goal that Connor Talty missed to make himself the main story of the game.
Alabama’s called 22 rushing plays in this one so far, gaining 121 rushing yards (5.5 yards per carry!!). The passing game hasn’t been as good, with Simpson completing 11/16 for 147 yards and 2 picks, though one of those was a hail mary to the endzone on the last play of the half.
The Tide may give Simpson one more drive after the half, but it should be the Austin Mack and Keelon Russell show the rest of the way.
Roll Tide.
