It's no secret that Alabama coach Nick Saban isn't happy with how his team has started the 2016 season. Sure Bama has won the first two games by wide margins, but they have been sloppy wins and with SEC play coming next week, Alabama has to be better.
Being able to run the football and dominate the line of scrimmage has been a staple of Alabama's success under Saban, but that running game just hasn't been there. Bama has turned to Bo Scarbrough, Damien Harris, and freshman B.J. Emmons to carry the ball after losing Derrick Henry to the NFL. So far none of Alabama's runners have asserted themselves and against Western Kentucky Saturday Alabama only managed 13 yards rushing in the first half.
"We didn't really run it very well last week either," coach Nick Saban said. "We just had a couple explosive plays. We had two long runs last week, which made it look like we ran the ball a lot better than what we did. We're going to have to do a better job on a more consistent basis of being able to run the ball. I thought we ran the ball a little better in the second half than the first (against Western Kentucky). But, again, they sort of played us to say you're not running the ball, where we're going to get enough guys up there that we're going to make it tough for you to run. We're still going to have to be able to run some in those situations, but we've got to do a better job."
The offensive line isn't very happy with the output either.
"For an offensive lineman, that's pretty embarrassing," Tide center Bradley Bozeman said. "We've got to definitely focus (in practice) next week and come out hard." With SEC play starting next week against Ole Miss, the Crimson Tide will be looking for the running game to get in gear.
