Another easy day, win for Tua, Tide
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa tries to get away from Arkansas defender De’Jon Harris in the first half.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. >> Every week Alabama seemingly reaches another milestone with yet another blowout.
Tua Tagovailoa passed for 334 yards and four touchdowns as No. 1 Alabama ran its winning streak against Arkansas to 12 straight with a 65-31 win today. The Crimson Tide has reached 45 points in six straight games for the first time in program history.
It took just one play for Alabama (6-0, 3-0 SEC) to set the tone as Tagovailoa, a Saint Louis alum, hit tight end Irv Smith Jr. on a pass across the middle that Smith took 76 yards to the end zone and a 7-0 lead just 21 seconds into the game.
Alabama coach Nick Saban has coached the Tide to five national titles, but never has he had a team like this.
“I can’t make any comparisons. This is a different team with its own identity,” Saban said. “You’re not really competing against the other team, you are competing against yourself. Are you really playing as well as you’re capable of playing? We’re obviously playing better on offense than we are on defense.”
Tagovailoa fired four first-half touchdown passes, going 10-of-12 overall. The sophomore was a spectator for most of the second half. He has yet to throw a fourth-quarter pass as Alabama has outscored its opponents by a combined 336-96.
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“I thought we did an outstanding job on offense,” Saban said. “We had a lot of explosive plays, a lot of big plays.”
Alabama built leads of 21-0 and 34-14. Tagovailoa hit Jerry Jeudy for scoring strikes of 42 and 60 yards in the second quarter.
Arkansas first-year coach Chad Morris, who recruited and coached Deshaun Watson at Clemson, had high praise for Tagovailoa.
“He is a fantastic leader and you can definitely see that,” Morris said. “They do a good job of moving him around and his receivers good a good job of finding holes.”
Defensively, Saban said the Tide has a lot of work to do to meet the level of play the offensive is playing at.
“We made a lot of mistakes on defense,” said Saban after giving up 405 yards to Arkansas (1-5, 0-3). “We didn’t play very well as a unit. We had lots of opportunities to get off the field on third down and we just didn’t do it, which allowed them to extend drives.
“I don’t think you beat the other team when you give up 31 points like we did today, from a defense perspective.”
