No. 12 Alabama Overcomes Ugly Start To Pull Away For SEC Road Win Over Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The first half was ugly.

From consecutive turnovers to start the game, to a holding penalty that erased a touchdown, to a defensive delay of game that led to a Kentucky field goal, the No. 12 Crimson Tide did just about everything in its power to hand the Wildcats a 17-13 lead at the break. While the second half was far from perfect, Kalen DeBoer's team managed to avoid shooting itself in the foot, and the talent on the roster was allowed to shine as Alabama pulled away for a 45-17 win to open SEC play.

After forcing a punt on Kentucky's opening drive, Alabama put together a nightmarish first possession. Keelon Russell was called for intentional grounding on the first snap, Daniel Hill ran backwards on second down, and then Russell threw his first career interception, a pick-six to defensive lineman Mi'Quise Humphrey-Grace that set the Kroger Field crowd on fire.

The offense showed signs of life when it got the ball back moments later, as Ryan Coleman-Williams and Lotzeir Brooks produced consecutive chain-moving receptions, but Humphrey-Grace came through again with a strip sack on Russell that the Wildcats recovered to end the drive just shy of the red zone.

The Crimson Tide found its first points of the game three plays later, thanks to a Luke Metz pick-six, on a play where Kentucky quarterback Kenny Minchey simply did not see the inside linebacker in coverage. The sophomore, making his second career start, turned on the jets for a 34-yard return to tie the game.

But Kentucky's response was perfect, as Kenny Minchey led a surgical 13-play, 83-yard drive that ended in a 20-yard strike to tight end Henry Boyer on the first play of the second quarter. The Crimson Tide then put together its most complete drive yet, driving all the way to the two-yard line, but Russell was sacked on a questionable third-and-goal playcall where the team went with an empty backfield.

The end result, a Conor Talty field goal, was repeated on the team's next drive as well, cutting the Kentucky lead to 14-13 with two minutes to play in the half.

Kentucky then went three-and-out, giving Alabama 65 seconds to get in position for a go-ahead field goal. But Russell, on what may have been his worst throw of the season, was picked off by Jordan Castell, and the Wildcats would go on to extend the lead with a last-second kick of their own.

The field goal was only made possible due to a delay of game penalty on safety Bray Hubbard, called on a fourth-and-four near midfield, where the Wildcats intended to call a timeout and punt the ball to effectively end the half. Hubbard's mishap, alongside a holding call on left tackle Jackson Lloyd that brought back a Russell rushing touchdown in the second quarter, were defining moments of a first half full of self-sabotage.

The second half proved much more fruitful for the Crimson Tide. After a three-and-out to start the half, the team scored on every other possession up until the end of the game. Talty drained his third field goal of the day to cut the deficit to one point before Daniel Hill took over, finding the end zone on the next drive en route to a career-high 104 rushing yards.

Hill had the longest run of the day, a 31-yard rush to the Kentucky three-yard line, late in the third quarter to set up a touchdown for EJ Crowell that gave Alabama a 31-17 lead, just about ending the game. Will Stein's offense could muster nothing over the final 30 minutes, even resorting to a failed fake punt to try and create a spark.

Russell found Rico Scott in the fourth quarter for his first passing touchdown of the season, and Trae'Shawn Brown capped off the scoring with his second touchdown of the season with four minutes to play.

The talent gap was evident throughout the second half, and Alabama now has a 1-0 record in SEC play to show for it.

This story will be updated with quotes.

Add us as a preferred source on Google