Alabama defeats Utah State 55-0 in season opener

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WBRC) - The Tide dominated Utah State Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama beat the Aggies 55-0 in their season opener.

Junior quarterback Bryce Young combined for 295 yards of total offense and six touchdowns.

Young finished the night with a team-leading and career-high 100 yards rushing (five rushes) while throwing for an additional 195 yards on 18-of-28 passes with five touchdowns. Running back Jahmyr Gibbs finished with 93 yards on nine carries in his Crimson Tide debut. Juniors Traeshon Holden (5 catches, 90 yards, 2 TDs) and Jermaine Burton (5 catches, 35 yards, 2 TDs) combined for 10 receptions, 125 yards and four touchdowns to lead the aerial attack.

Redshirt senior Jaylen Moody paced all Tide defenders with five tackles, including one for loss and one quarterback hurry. In all, Alabama’s defense accounted for five tackles for loss, four quarterback hurries and a forced fumble on the way to the team’s first shutout in a season opener in 34 years.

Head Coach Nick Saban had this to say:

“I was really pleased with the way the players approached this game. I thought we had good energy, I thought we had good intensity. We had good preparation throughout this week. [Utah State is] challenging with some of the things they do. I thought the first group did a really good job and we had a lot of intensity. And we’ve missed some things which we need to clean up, but for the most part I thought the first group did a really good job in this game. It was as good team win. I thought the offense played well, defense played well and, except for at the end when we got to punt block, the special teams were solid. But there are things that we need to improve on and get better at and players need to understand the importance of sustaining the kind of intensity they have, whether it’s in preparation or practice, so that we can build and improve as a team. Utah State played hard they have a good team. No disrespect to them, but we’re going to play teams that are much more physical and aggressive and talented than what they are. So, we’re going to have to do things correctly and it’s going to be important the guys get to understand that. I told all the young players on the team that if they are going to get an opportunity to play, are you going to be able to take advantage of that? Are you prepared to go out there and take advantage of doing your job? Knowing what to do and go out there and get five or six penalties, wrong formations, holding calls. It’s good experience for them, but I think the biggest thing is the lesson that they learned in terms of how you have to prepare for a game so you can take advantage of an opportunity when it comes to. We [were able] to play a lot of players. I wish we could even play more but we’re trying to get guys experience to make our team better. And that was the number one goal when we started subbing guys in later on in the game.”

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