Alabama receiver Ryan Williams makes a 54-yard catch from quarterback Ty Simpson during the Tide’s 30-14 win Saturday in Tuscaloosa. Williams had six receptions for 98 yards and a touchdown. (University of Alabama photo)
TUSCALOOSA — Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer sucked in a deep breath and exhaled an even deeper one as he walked off the field between his Alabama State Trooper escorts Saturday.
The relief was evident on his face since nobody in the state — except maybe Auburn fans — wanted a repeat of last year’s loss to Vanderbilt in which the Commodores paddled the buttocks of the nation’s No. 1-ranked team until they were as crimson as its jerseys. From then on, Alabama was not the same team.
It wasn’t easy this time — “It wasn’t perfect,” DeBoer would say later — but for the second straight week the No. 10-ranked Tide beat a top-20 team when it patiently subdued No. 16 Vanderbilt 30-14 before 100,077 fans at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
It was a satisfying victory for DeBoer, his players and Alabama fans, many of whom actually feared the Commodores, who horsewhipped the Tide last year and were commanded by the brash, profane and primeval quarterback Diego Pavia, who, at 24, is playing his sixth year of college football on a court injunction and, in all his learned wisdom, had declared that the excursion to Bryant-Denny Stadium would not be close “if we play our game.”
He was right about that for one quarter. The rest of the afternoon was spent turning the ball over in the red zone, looking like an old man in a young man’s game and prying a boot out of his various orafices. He was sophomoric in the pregame, highlighted by a crotch-grab salute to Alabama fans and practicing a victory kneeldown. His walk off after the game was not as enjoyable as DeBoer’s, as he responded to taunts by saying, “I’ll do whatever the f*** I want.”
But not on this day and not on Saban Field, where the old master looked on.
Saturday’s game was pocked with danger for the Tide coming off its impressive win at Georgia and facing a Vanderbilt team even better than the one that garroted Alabama 40-35 last year. The Commodores’ fans were so tough in the aftermath that they tore down a goalpost, hauled it three miles through downtown Nashville and threw it in the Cumberland River.
This time, the Tide had something to prove in an Alabama-Vanderbilt game in which both teams were ranked for the first time since 1937, when the country was struggling through the Great Depression.
Last year’s loss in Nashville sent Tide fans into a great depression of their own and its effects lingered into Saturday, which started just as bleakly for Alabama when running back Sedrick Alexander and Pavia broke runs of 65 and 36 yards, respectively, on their first two possessions through holes big enough to drive the federal deficit through.
But the Tide allowed just 34 more yards on the ground the rest of the way and played disciplined defense against Pavia, who had so bedeviled Alabama a year ago.
The Commodores’ motto is “Anchor Down” and it appeared on the way down in the fourth quarter. But the Tide snatched it before it hit bottom when Keon Sabb intercepted Pavia at Alabama’s 7 to stop a drive that could have given Vanderbilt a 21-20 lead, then wrapped the chain around the Commodores’ necks afterward to pull away.
“I thought we played hard nosed,” DeBoer said. “I love the way we finished the game.”
Just as pleasingly for DeBoer, quarterback Ty Simpson overcame an early interception (the first of his career) to play well, Jam Miller ran for 136 yards to show the running game is not a mirage and wide receiver Ryan Williams caught everything thrown his way and contributed mightily in ways that had been all too rare in the early season.
If you believe the critics, Williams has hands of glass and wants nothing to do with blocking downfield, running precise routes, decoying and sticking his $2.5 million NIL-valued head into the middle of the field, lest it get chopped off. On Saturday, he was an effective contributor even if he didn’t detonate three or four bombs and even though he played fewer snaps than Germie Bernard and Isaiah Horton. Instead, Williams did the dirty work mainly from the slot, as has been the case all season, and still had some Hollywood moments. He caught six passes on seven targets for 98 yards. Four of his six catches were for first downs or touchdowns. He had 30 yards after the catch. He made an improvised 14-yard touchdown grab to tie it 7-7 in the second quarter on a pass from Simpson, who was looking for a friend while running for shelter. He caught a 54-yarder down the sideline to open the second half after Simpson looked off the safety, leading to a field goal.
The touchdown came after Williams beat press coverage from cornerback Jordan Matthews, then adjusted his route to the middle of the end zone and broke away from Matthews.
“I’m going to get a mouthful when we watch it tomorrow,” said Simpson, who was often forced to check down short and completed 23 of 31 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns. “I tried to buy time. Ryan has a really good feel for scramble rules. He just got open because that’s what good players do. I expect him to do that.”
The two-time Mr. Football from Saraland has had his problems over the last half of his freshman season and this year but I’ve never known him to play with fear and be lazy.
The Tide’s confidence in itself and in Simpson has been rising since the season-opening debacle at Florida State and DeBoer feels it’s a long way from cresting.
“When it first happened week one, there’s one of two things you can do,” he said. “You can just take it or you can fight back. And if you are who we are — and we really believe that we have a good football team — then we should only have one option.”
Of the feeling that the best is yet to come from Simpson, DeBoer said: “You can feel it in the calls that we’re making. … We still haven’t hit our full swing here like I think we’re capable of as an offense.”
Alabama will need Saturday’s workmanlike effort each week because there is no vacation in the SEC.
“This stretch of SEC games, it’s like the NFL, man,” Simpson said. “Every week is going to be a hard week. SEC ball is different than anybody else’s ball.”
Yet, the Tide has a chance to beat three straight top-25 teams when it visits Missouri this week. That hasn’t happened since one Nicholas Lou Saban did it in 2016. If it happens, a return to the College Football Playoff seems likely and DeBoer — who is 15-3 against ranked teams (5-1 at Alabama) — could breathe easy.
