A useful line inside a difficult loss
Trae’shawn Brown gained 90 yards on nine carries against Georgia. Alabama still lost 20–17 on October 10, but the freshman’s production offers a practical place to begin the next offensive plan. Fellow freshman EJ Crowell added a rushing touchdown. The two backs have combined for nine rushing scores, with at least one in five of Alabama’s six games.
That contribution is part of a broader change in the Tide’s scoring profile. Eighteen of Alabama’s thirty offensive touchdowns have come on the ground. The number is already three short of the team’s entire 2025 rushing-touchdown total across fifteen games. Saturday’s trip to Tennessee puts that developing strength into a much louder setting.
Efficiency is an invitation, not a depth chart
Brown’s ten yards per carry against Georgia should not be converted into a claim that every additional handoff would produce the same return. Nine attempts are a sample, not a complete workload trial. They do establish that Alabama found productive rushing opportunities against a strong opponent. The question is how to recognize the conditions that made those opportunities available.
Using that threat on early downs can also help Keelon Russell. A defense that must continue accounting for the backs has fewer reasons to treat the next snap as an obvious passing situation. Alabama does not need to choose between supporting its quarterback and trusting its runners. The more useful offense makes each part complicate the defense’s response to the other.
Make the next down less expensive
The Tide are 5–1 overall and 3–1 in the SEC entering the October 17 game at Neyland Stadium. Kickoff is 3:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC. Russell’s ability to extend a play remains another problem for Tennessee, but Alabama should not make improvisation the cost of keeping a possession alive.
The first measure of the backs’ value will therefore be the situations they leave behind. A run that creates a manageable second down can matter even without becoming another long gain. A reliable exchange and a clear blocking assignment can quiet a road possession before the crowd gets another opportunity to influence it. Brown and Crowell have supplied more than a promising introduction. Alabama now needs their rushing threat to help give its offense a repeatable beginning.
Sources & reporting
This article adds independent analysis to publicly available reporting. We did not conduct the interviews or report the game firsthand. Report a factual error.