We're Starting To Find Out What This Alabama Team Is Made Of Following Bryce Young Injury

Crimson Tide has more questions than answers following Arkansas setbacks as brutal SEC stretch continues.

Author:
Christopher Walsh
Publish date:
Oct 1, 2022 7:20 PM EDT

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Alabama Crimson Tide

There are only two certainties about the Alabama Crimson Tide football team following its trip to Arkansas.

First, everyone feels for junior Bryce Young, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who suffered a shoulder sprain in the second quarter, especially considering the way the 21-year-old conducts himself.

Shoulder sprains can vary in terms of recovery, depending on the severity of the damage and location of the injury. Sometimes players can play with it. Other times it can take several weeks or months to heal.

Either way, no one is going to pity the Crimson Tide. Not even for a second.

And no one knows it better than Nick Saban.

"What I would like to talk about is our team," the Crimson Tide coach said postgame. "Our team just won a game on the road. It wasn't pretty all the time, but they made plays when they had to make plays."

"Theres' a lot that we can learn from this game. Hopefully our team will get better because of it."

The greatest dynasty college football has ever seen managed to grind out another win against Arkansas, the 16th straight in the series, but at the expense of numerous players suffering injuries.

That obviously includes Young. The injury heard around college football, and could dramatically change the landscape of the season, happened just as the Crimson Tide appeared almost unstoppable against the Razorbacks.

But things can always turn on a dime with this game, and often does. Even when the final score ends up being 49-26.

Adding to the Crimson Tide's frustration Saturday was on the play Young got hurt the quarterback was trying to get rid of the ball while being pursued by a former teammate. In a way it was like Tua Tagovailoa's injury at Mississippi State in 2019 in that it occurred when he was being pursued and tried to do a little too much.

"He should have thrown the ball away," Saban said after both injuries.

Ironically, two days ago, Tagovailoa suffered another major injury in the National Football League. It came a week after the starter between them was sidelined as well, Mac Jones.

He was the one to step in in 2019, of course. Alabama managed to beat the Bulldogs, but two weeks later took a 48-45 loss at Auburn.

Regardless of Young's status, the other teams in the SEC will try and take advantage of the situation in any way they can. That's not anything on them, or being critical, it's just part of football.

It's especially notable, though, that his injury occurred as Alabama was entering the meat of its schedule, a fitting word especially against Arkansas.

Alabama has Texas A&M and the revenge showdown with Jimbo Fisher on deck, followed by a trip to No. 8 Tennessee, and then Mississippi State before the bye week. The Volunteers are riding a 15-game losing streak against the Crimson Tide, and the Bulldogs have a 14-game losing streak.

Even if Young plays and starts, those team will go after him and test him every way imaginable, sort of like at the end of last season when Alabama's offensive line was struggling. That's what you do in these situations, and no one should expect otherwise.

No one knew it at the time, but one of the best signs that Young may have avoided a major injury occurred at halftime, when his parents returned to their seats. Maybe he told them he needed to help his teammates out, or they felt in the way during the hectic time during the break.

But most likely they were back in the Crimson Tide section because there was nothing left to be gained by his side, and Young was out of immediate danger.

The Crimson Tide was, though.

With momentum on its side, Arkansas went for an onside kick, got it, and subsequently got a field goal to help get back in the game.

"That was a fake and we called it off," Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said about 22-yard field goal.

He didn't have that problem with the onside decision.

"It just seemed like the right time to use it."

The Razorbacks then got a rare gift, the botched snap on a punt, giving Arkansas the equivalent of a tap-in in golf to pull within 28-23 just before the end of the third quarter.

But just as the first half turned on one play, the same happened in the second half, this time to Alabama's advantage.

Arkansas was smelling blood when on third-and-15 at the Crimson Tide 20, redshirt freshman quarterback Jalen Milroe tucked the ball and took off. Even though Bumper Pool was spying the quarterback on the play, the Arkansas linebacker was left flailing on the elusive run that didn't end until 77 yards later.

"It stopping the bleeding for sure," Saban said. "That was a huge momentum change."

Alabama could breath a sigh of relief, and no longer playing on its heels followed with a defensive stand along with touchdown runs of 72 and 76 yards by running back Jahmyr Gibbs.

Meanwhile, the defense had issues it had to get over as well. For example, when safety Brain Branch was sidelined and Malachi Moore cramped up, cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry slid over into star, a position he hadn't practiced, for a series.

"You have to have more than one way to win," the coach added.

So Alabama sort of reinvented itself on the fly on both sides, and survived. In the process, the Crimson Tide may have learned a few things about itself, including that this can be a resilient bunch.

It'll need to be, because the predators were circling, and are still looming larger than ever.