Practice Report: Alabama Prepares for Air-Raid Against Mississippi State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama football held a two-hour padded practice on Tuesday afternoon as the Crimson Tide prepares for its Saturday evening matchup against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Earlier in the day on Tuesday, sophomore defensive back Jordan Battle spoke with the media about what he expects from the Bulldogs and first-year head coach Mike Leach's air-raid style of offense.

“Oh yeah, Mississippi State is a great offense," Battle said. "It’s gonna be a great competitor for us. You know, usually we're used to the teams who are balanced or mostly balanced or run the ball. And now we have a team who passes the ball, so it's gonna be a great challenge for us.”

Over the course of its five games so far this season, the Crimson Tide's defense has slowly but surely shown improvement. Against its last game this past weekend at Tennessee, Alabama allowed its lowest numbers of the year so far in both total yards allowed and points scored, which were 302 and 17, respectively.

The Bulldogs under leach have averaged roughly 70 plays on offense per game this season, with the vast majority of those plays being passes.

For Battle, he's excited to face such a pass-heavy offense.

“Being a DB, we love to see teams, you know, pass the ball and challenge us in the air," Battle said. "It's gonna be a great challenge for us and I'm hoping that, you know, we play very well in this game.”

Alabama Practice, Oct. 27, 2020

Courtesy of Alabama Athletics