Ole Miss and Alabama meet at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Tuscaloosa, and the Tide is going back to Jalen Milroe at starting quarterback. He started the first two games of the season — versus Middle Tennessee and Texas — before not playing against South Florida this past weekend in Tampa.
“Jalen really showed the leadership that I was looking for during the game in terms of supporting his teammates and doing the things that he needed to do,” Nick Saban said on Monday. “He’s had the opportunity to play. So have the other guys. Jalen played the best of all those guys. So I think he’s earned the opportunity to be the quarterback.”
Milroe on the season is 27-for-45 (62 dropbacks) for 449 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s been sacked seven times on 24 pressures. Alabama receivers have three drops in those two games.
By game:
Middle Tennessee: 13-for-18 (23 dropbacks), 194 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions. None of his throws were turnover worthy (PFF stat measuring luck related to throws that should b picked off).
Two designed runs for 15 yards and three scrambles for 49 yards.
Texas: 14-for-27 (39 dropbacks), 255 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions. Four throws were turnover worthy. He also fumbled twice.
Three designed runs for 28 yards and seven scrambles for 46 yards.
In the two games, he’s forced seven missed tackles leading to 85 yards after contact and a gaudy 5.65 yards after contact per rush. Five of the missed tackles are on scrambles, and there’s no pattern to his designed runs — one to five different areas of the field.
Here’s his passing depth chart for this season.
Milroe certainly favors the left side of the field, and he has an interesting chart with a major discrepancy between deep passes and intermediate passes. On throws traveling 20 or more yards in the air, he’s 7-for-11 (24 percent of attempts) for 262 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions — PFF grade of 96.3. Bama is giving him 3.11 seconds on average for those throws.
On passes traveling 10-19 yards in the air, he’s 2-for-8 (17 percent of attempts) for 56 yards with one touchdown and one interception — PFF grade of 25.5.
Alabama does some form of play-action with Milroe on 32 percent of dropbacks but has shown virtually on screen game, running screen plays on six percent of dropbacks.
Milroe has been under pressure on 38 percent of his dropbacks, and he’s 4-for-11 on those throws with two touchdowns and no picks. Teams are blitzing him 42 percent of the time, and he’s 9-for-18 (26 dropbacks) for 151 yards facing blitz. Three of the seven sacks have been against base three-or-four man pressure.
For what it’s worth, last season Milroe was 31-for-53 (70 dropbacks) for 297 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. This is his depth chart for last season, where he was incapable of much beyond 10 yards. Has he improved that much on the deep ball or is it a small sample size?
“Jalen really showed the leadership that I was looking for during the game in terms of supporting his teammates and doing the things that he needed to do,” Nick Saban said on Monday. “He’s had the opportunity to play. So have the other guys. Jalen played the best of all those guys. So I think he’s earned the opportunity to be the quarterback.”
Milroe on the season is 27-for-45 (62 dropbacks) for 449 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s been sacked seven times on 24 pressures. Alabama receivers have three drops in those two games.
By game:
Middle Tennessee: 13-for-18 (23 dropbacks), 194 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions. None of his throws were turnover worthy (PFF stat measuring luck related to throws that should b picked off).
Two designed runs for 15 yards and three scrambles for 49 yards.
Texas: 14-for-27 (39 dropbacks), 255 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions. Four throws were turnover worthy. He also fumbled twice.
Three designed runs for 28 yards and seven scrambles for 46 yards.
In the two games, he’s forced seven missed tackles leading to 85 yards after contact and a gaudy 5.65 yards after contact per rush. Five of the missed tackles are on scrambles, and there’s no pattern to his designed runs — one to five different areas of the field.
Here’s his passing depth chart for this season.
Milroe certainly favors the left side of the field, and he has an interesting chart with a major discrepancy between deep passes and intermediate passes. On throws traveling 20 or more yards in the air, he’s 7-for-11 (24 percent of attempts) for 262 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions — PFF grade of 96.3. Bama is giving him 3.11 seconds on average for those throws.
On passes traveling 10-19 yards in the air, he’s 2-for-8 (17 percent of attempts) for 56 yards with one touchdown and one interception — PFF grade of 25.5.
Alabama does some form of play-action with Milroe on 32 percent of dropbacks but has shown virtually on screen game, running screen plays on six percent of dropbacks.
Milroe has been under pressure on 38 percent of his dropbacks, and he’s 4-for-11 on those throws with two touchdowns and no picks. Teams are blitzing him 42 percent of the time, and he’s 9-for-18 (26 dropbacks) for 151 yards facing blitz. Three of the seven sacks have been against base three-or-four man pressure.
For what it’s worth, last season Milroe was 31-for-53 (70 dropbacks) for 297 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. This is his depth chart for last season, where he was incapable of much beyond 10 yards. Has he improved that much on the deep ball or is it a small sample size?
