Alabama football on Saturday won big over Mercer, as expected, and looked good doing it in what was a tune-up game before traveling to Florida next week.
The Crimson Tide ran through Mercer by beating the Bears 48-14.
Earlier in the week, head coach Nick Saban wanted to see a few things from his team during their week two matchup. He said, “We basically played one half of one game.” Which, to be fair, is also what happened this week.
However, Saban has to be proud of the team’s effort, which was the main thing he wanted to see from his team today. It is hard to play a full 60 minutes when Bama can run all over their opponents. Yet, effort has the opportunity to be present no matter what.
Will the Tide benefit from destroying Mercer though? The short answer is no. Saban would probably say that he would have preferred his team struggled and had to finish through adversity.
Unfortunately, Bama is just too good for that.
Quarterback Bryce Young once again showed why he is one of the top quarterbacks in the country as he completed 70% of his passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns.
For the defense, the Tide lost their leader on that side of the ball early in the second half when linebacker Will Anderson went out for the game with a lower-leg injury.
Receiver JoJo Earle was the star of this game with seven receptions for 85 yards. Earl was the leading receiver of the game as a freshman, but he also was electric at punt returner with a long of 29 yards.
John Metchie, III had five catches for 70 yards and had another successful night. However, Jameson Williams had the only touchdown catch of the top three receivers for Bama.
On defense, “Kool-Aid” McKinstry had one of the two interceptions with defensive back Marcus Banks picking off the other one.
All around, the Tide looked good again, but their true test is going to be next week in The Swamp.
The two square off at 2:30 p.m. on CBS.
Hayden Crigler is a contributing college football and college basketball writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him through email: [email protected] or on Twitter: @hayden_crigler.
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