Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith catches a 30-yard touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa during Saturday's 45-23 home win against Texas A&M.TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama's dynamic offense under the direction of sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa amassed more than 500 yards for a fourth consecutive game Saturday afternoon at Bryant-Denny Stadium, this time helping the top-ranked Crimson Tide to a 45-23 smothering of No. 22 Texas A&M.
Alabama had 481 of those yards through three quarters, when Tagovailoa was on the sideline after his career-best 387 passing yards had provided the Crimson Tide a 45-16 lead. Tide coach Nick Saban was asked afterward whether this is the best offense he has witnessed during his 12 seasons in the program.
"I'm not ready to say that or make comparisons to any other team," Saban said. "We've had some really good offensive teams in the past. I think the diversity and the number of playmakers that this team has certainly ranks it up there as one of the best. We knew this was the kind of team that we were going to have, but they had 72 offensive plays today and we had 61.
"Their time of possession was way greater than ours, so if we're the best we've ever had, we would be able to control the game and control the line of scrimmage and run the ball when we need to run it. We may throw it as well as anybody we've ever had, but that's not all there is to it."
The Crimson Tide set a Southeastern Conference record by scoring 50 or more points in their first three games and certainly were on pace to do it again before backup Jalen Hurts appeared with a minute left in the third quarter. Alabama instead has scored 45 or more points in each of its first four games for the first time since 1920.
Tagovailoa completed 22 of 30 passes, with each of those representing career bests as well, and he matched a personal high with four touchdown tosses. Two of his scores went to tight end Hale Hentges, while receivers DeVonta Smith and Henry Ruggs reached the end zone from 30 and 57 yards out, respectively.
"Some of those plays are RPOs (run-pass options), and some of them are play-action passes," Saban said of Tagovailoa's big day. "They definitely had an extra guy in the box most of the time, so we were pulling the ball and throwing it, and it was effective for us."
Said Ruggs: "He wants to compete and help us get better, and we want to help him do what he has to do."
Tagovailoa was 17-of-20 for 239 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone.
Alabama started quickly, stuffing Aggies running back Trayveon Williams for no gain on the first snap from scrimmage and collecting a turnover on the ensuing play when quarterback Kellen Mond threw the ball over the middle and was intercepted by middle linebacker Mack Wilson at the Aggies' 30. On the very next play, Tagovailoa threw down the left sideline to a diving Smith for the score.
The Aggies (2-2, 0-1) did nothing with their second possession, either, but then they drove 99 yards and stunned the crowd with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Mond to Jace Sternberger that tied the game at 7.
Mond broke free for a 54-yard run to Alabama's 15-yard line to set up the score to Sternberger, and he also had rushes of 34 and 11 yards to finish the first half with 12 carries for 112 yards. His 34-yard run set up a 32-yard Seth Small field goal with 3:24 before halftime to pull the Aggies within 21-13.
The Crimson Tide then broke free, using a six-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with a 6-yard pass from Tagovailoa to Hentges to make it 28-13. Tagovailoa set up that score with a 52-yard pass to Damien Harris out of the backfield that reached the Texas A&M 20.
Texas A&M had just 1:09 in the half to try to make it a one-possession game again, but Mond was intercepted by freshman cornerback Patrick Surtain, whose pickoff help set up a 47-yard Joseph Bulovas field goal for a 31-13 lead as the horn sounded.
"I felt like that was the changing point of the game," Crimson Tide junior cornerback Trevon Diggs said. "We were up, but it didn't feel like we were up, and that put us in position to keep scoring points."
Alabama struck first in the second half, when a Josh Jacobs 3-yard run capped a seven-play, 80-yard possession that made it 38-13 at the 10:03 mark of the third quarter. A 42-yard pass from Tagovailoa to tight end Irv Smith to the 17 of the Aggies was the big gain of that drive.
The Tide are not only 4-0 overall but 2-0 in SEC play, but they step out of the league this week to host Louisiana-Lafayette.
"We've got a good team, but our team needs to do a lot of things to improve," Saban said. "If what our team has accomplished to this point makes them not take into account the teams we have to play in the future, and they underestimate what we need to improve so that we can become a better team and don't just take things for granted - it's not going to happen that way.
"I would appreciate if you would look at some of the things we didn't do so well and write about that, so I can show it to the players and say, "Look here, man, here's something you can do better.'"
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.