Alabama did not jump out to the start it had hoped for against Colorado State, but it still rolled to a 31-6 win Saturday in the team’s first game in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
The Crimson Tide failed to put points on the board until sophomore running back Kenyan Drake punched in a 3-yard touchdown on fourth down with less than a minute left in the first quarter.
“I don’t think the offense came out with a good intensity to start off with the ball,” wide receiver Christion Jones said. “I think we’ve just got to start out fast so that we can get things going and get the momentum changing for the defense when they come out. We’ve just got to get it all together.”
Alabama’s usual ground-and-pound running game was quiet for most of the day, only accumulating 66 yards.
Quarterback AJ McCarron said it was a lack of communication that hampered the Crimson Tide’s offense from having its way with the Rams.
Wide receiver DeAndrew White shared the same sentiment. He said the offense could not make any excuses for a 70-point scoring field day Saturday.
“We just weren’t on the same page,” White said. “We were shooting ourselves in the foot, too many mental errors.”
Starters Amari Cooper, Anthony Steen, Deion Belue and Jarrick Williams did not see the field because of injuries. Freshman cornerbacks Eddie Jackson and Maurice Smith saw plenty of playing time with the absence of key contributors on defense.
Linebacker C.J. Mosley said the younger players played well but had a hard time adjusting to Colorado State’s sideline-to-sideline offensive attack.
Head coach Nick Saban said the use of so many players at cornerback was done in order to find someone to stay on the field for all four quarters.
“We played about five guys at cornerback and just kind of rotated them in there with the idea of we’re going to see if somebody can play the position with any kind of consistency, do their assignment and do their job,” Saban said.
The feeling after the game was somber and not representative of a victory, as none of the Alabama players were smiling or celebrating.
“I felt like as a whole that we didn’t execute to our full ability,” Mosley said. “It’s not an SEC opponent that we just played. The win really wasn’t what it should have been. I felt like we kind of got away with a win; we didn’t really dominate.”
But the Crimson Tide remained undefeated on the young season, heading into a pivotal contest with SEC West for Ole Miss Saturday, Sept. 28.
Saban credited Colorado State for its tenacity and ability to disrupt the Crimson Tide’s game plan.
“It was a win, and you have to give the other team a lot of credit. Their players played with a lot of heart, but I’m not satisfied with where we are as a team,” Saban said. “We need to continue to focus on improvement and do a lot better job as a football team if we’re going to be kind of team we are capable of being.”
