Alabama’s defense suffocated the Arkansas State Red Wolves at times Saturday afternoon and seemed to scarcely bother them at others. The Crimson Tide forced six three-and-outs en route to a 57-7 drubbing, but allowed 391 total yards, tied for the team’s most against a non-Power Five opponent since 2007.

“I think we got caught early when they had four wideouts in the game,” head coach Nick Saban said. “They made a couple explosive plays and we obviously need to get that fixed.”

Alabama allowed five pass plays of more than 15 yards and runs of 40 and 22 yards, which Saban attributed to the Red Wolves exploiting favorable matchups and Alabama occasionally attacking the wrong gaps in the run game.

Alabama’s run defense was more generous than usual, as the Red Wolves racked up 173 rushing yards on 31 attempts for a 5.6 average.

On the flip side, Arkansas State’s passing attack completed 22-of-51 passes for 218 yards, one touchdown and one interception, a 38-yard pick-six by junior cornerback Saivion Smith. Sophomore safety Xavier McKinney nearly added another one on the next drive but couldn’t corral the ball.

“I was initially blitzing, but I just let my instincts kick in and should’ve made a play,” McKinney said.

The strong safety led the Crimson Tide with seven total tackles. Redshirt junior safety Deionte Thompson made six tackles, all of which were solo.

Saban said after last week’s season opener against Louisville that the communication among Alabama’s inexperienced secondary was an issue. Junior Mack Wilson took responsibility for that as the team’s Mike linebacker and defensive signal-caller.

“I feel like this week we came in more prepared and more focused with everyone on the same page,” Wilson said. “We knew they were going to throw the ball a lot, so we definitely had to make a lot of checks to get people on the right matchups.”

Wilson set the tone for the defense from the first play, when he sprinted from his inside linebacker position to the sideline to wrap up an Arkansas State ball carrier.

Despite the gaudy yardage Alabama gave up, it rarely allowed Arkansas State to sustain drives, as the Red Wolves were 4-of-19 on third down.

“We had a couple mental errors that we had to get fixed when we got to the sideline,” McKinney said. “But I thought we adjusted pretty well for the most part.”

While the defense was mostly stout and showed improvement from last week, the special teams undeniably regressed.

Kicker Austin Jones, a graduate transfer from Temple, missed two extra points in the first quarter after long passing touchdowns. He was replaced by redshirt freshman Joseph Bulovas, who made all five extra point attempts and a 39-yard field goal.

Freshman receiver/returner Jaylen Waddle also fumbled his only punt return of the day.

“Joe (Bulovas) did a good job when he went in there,” Saban said. “I think it had a lot to do with confidence. Sometimes when you lose your confidence, things don’t go right. But we still have a lot of confidence in both guys; we just have to get their minds right.”

Alabama (2-0) opens its SEC schedule with a trip to Ole Miss next week. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.