STARKVILLE, Miss. — To London Simmons, Alabama football’s defensive approach against quarterback Kamario Taylor and the Mississippi State offense was relatively simple. As a defensive lineman, it’s, simply, keeping sound, keeping gaps and rushing as a unit.
And when it comes to takeaways and defensive scores, Simmons said Alabama‘s approach is, simply, consistency, taking what is cultivated and honed on the practice field to the field of play.
“It will come out on the field for sure,” Simmons said.
In Alabama’s 56-23 win against Mississippi State, that simplicity seemed to cut it.
The Bulldogs got theirs, at times, on offense. Mississippi State had 302 yards of offense, 284 of which came through the air, but averaged 4.3 yards per play. It converted on seven of 17 third down changes. And the Bulldogs scored three touchdowns, each of which came from Taylor’s arm.
But when it came to the bread and butter of Alabama’s defense, it worked once again.
Alabama had five sacks and nine tackles-for-loss against Taylor and the Bulldogs offense. With that Mississippi State was able to cultivate 18 rushing yards on 30 attempts. Both carried over into affecting Taylor, the passer.
Taylor finished with 258 passing yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, completing 56% of his pass attempts. Taylor left the game early in the fourth quarter with an apparent injury.
“You know that if you can just keep coming after him, we felt like we can get there,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. “We believe in our guys up front, and what they’re capable of, and I think that’s where it starts. And just if you can keep Kamario from being able to throw early and quick, and make him hold on to it for just a little bit longer. Just keep hustling, keep straining, and you’ll find a way to get home. But I think the guys are all playing together. We’re not leaving these glaring windows and lanes for quarterbacks to scramble, really, over the last few weeks.”
The pressure up front turned into takeaways: two forced fumbled by safety Bray Hubbard and Simmons, respectively, and two interceptions by linebacker Caleb Woodson and defensive back Dijon Lee Jr., who returned it for Alabama’s fourth defensive touchdown in five games.
“They’re attacking, and again, it’s playing aggressively. It’s playing confidently,” DeBoer said. “And the guys, when you can have, and it’s happened kind of in different ways. It happened a little bit on a scramble today, and we jumped it. You know who’s behind you, you can take those, you kind of balance out those risk rewards, and it was a great job again tonight.”
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter or Instagram @colingaytnews.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: How Alabama football defense stifled Kamario Taylor, Mississippi State
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