Coming off the heels of Alabama’s loss to Florida State in Week 1, many questioned whether the Crimson Tide’s offense was one-dimensional.
While the program historically has been built on strong run games behind star tailbacks and offensive lines that dominated games, it has been a few years since Alabama has had a strong, consistent ground attack.
Saturday’s game in Bryant-Denny Stadium could be the turning point.
Against a Commodore team boasting the nation’s 12th best run defense to this point, the Crimson Tide totaled 146 yards on the ground, a major swing compared to the 92 yards rushing average per game against the first three Power Four opponents faced this season.
With the uptick in total yards came the resurgence of running back Jam Miller.
Miller, who missed the first three games with a collarbone injury, ran for 136 of the Crimson Tide’s rushing yards Saturday, the second most in a game in his career.
“There’s a lot of room to improve,” Miller said about the run game. “We’ve just got to take it day by day, step by step.”
He also averaged 6.2 yards per attempt, while the team averaged 3.8 on the day.
Much to the chagrin of Vanderbilt bettors, Miller added his only touchdown of the day with less than 30 seconds to play to cover the spread.
A performance like this could spring a player like Miller to a strong second half of 2025.
Backup running back Kevin Riley, who led the team in carries coming into Saturday, was second to Miller with five attempts for 17 yards.
Quarterback Ty Simpson, wideout Germie Bernard and offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor also carried the ball.
Proctor entered the game on a third-and-1 at the Vanderbilt 20 and carried it for a first down late in the fourth quarter, a feel-good sequel to his 11-yard scamper last week against Georgia.
The emergence of the ground game was helpful to Simpson, who achieved a career high in passing yards at 340, in addition to two touchdowns, both through the air.
Unlocking a forgotten element to the offense and helping out the quarterback in the process could bring this Alabama team to championship level.
