No. 3 Alabama will face the biggest test of the season when No. 11 Texas comes to visit Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday.
This heavyweight matchup has been highly anticipated since Alabama barely escaped Austin, Texas, last season with a 20-19 victory.
This year, the Crimson Tide will play host to Texas as well as ESPN’s "College GameDay." Legendary Alabama quarterback Joe Namath will return to Tuscaloosa to be the guest picker on the college football show.
Here are a few things to watch for this Saturday night as the Tide plays host to Texas.
Jalen Milroe
Last weekend's five-touchdown performance against Middle Tennessee State was enough to earn Milroe Co-SEC Player of the Week honors. While it was a great start, Milroe will need to continue to improve as Nick Saban has stated all offseason that the quarterback battle will be a season-long competition.
This weekend, Milroe will go against a Texas defense that intercepted former five-star quarterback JT Daniels twice, holding him to just 149 yards passing last week. Milroe’s performance this weekend should provide answers to many of the questions that surround his ability to play the position at a high level.
Quinn Ewers
Last year, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers was having his way with the Alabama secondary before exiting the game at the end of the first quarter with a collarbone injury. In just one quarter of work, Ewers completed 9 of 12 passes for 134 yards leaving the question of what might have been if he didn’t get knocked out of the game. Last week against Rice, Ewers threw for 260 yards through the air for three touchdowns, as well as adding a rushing touchdown. Ewers is back to full health and will look to once again cause challenges for the Crimson Tide secondary.
Alabama Secondary
One of the biggest questions this weekend will be can Alabama’s secondary slow down the Texas receivers. Xavier Worthy is Texas’ leading receiver, and according to Saban, he is one of the best in the nation. Worthy finished last week’s game against Rice with five catches for 97 yards. Worthy and the Texas receivers will be attacking a strong but banged-up Alabama secondary.
Starting defensive backs Jaylen Key and Malachi Moore were banged up in last week's game against Middle Tennessee State. Both Key and Moore were able to practice this week, but Saban is unsure if they will be able to get healthy enough to play Saturday. Terrion Arnold did a great job handling Worthy last year, but if Moore is unable to go, Arnold would most likely have to slide into the STAR position. Louisiana transfer Trey Amos would likely be inserted into Arnold’s cornerback spot alongside Kool-Aid McKinstry.
Pass Rush
The best way to help out a banged-up secondary is to rush the passer. Last week against Middle Tennessee State, Alabama was unable to generate a ton of pressure due to the quick passes. If Texas tries to test the Crimson Tide secondary deep, Alabama’s pass rush should have extra time to get to the passer and force mistakes. Last year against Texas, Alabama was able to record three sacks and one hurry. This year if they want to be successful, the front seven will need to do a better job of putting pressure on the quarterback.
Rushing Attack
All offseason, outside of the quarterback battle the talk has been about returning to a more dominant rushing attack. Last week, the Crimson Tide accounted for 205 rushing yards from 40 carries, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. Not as dominant of a performance as hoped, but the short-yardage run game was vastly improved. Alabama was put in five third-and-short situations and converted all five by running the ball. Alabama will need to be able to run the ball Saturday against Texas to open up easy passing situations for Milroe in his first true test.
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