Alabama beats Tulane despite uninspired effort

TUSCALOOSA — Javier Arenas and Alabama’s special teams didn’t keep the Crimson Tide from staggering through an uncomfortable home opener. But they kept it from being a very special night for the Tulane football program.

By halftime, Arenas had already set a school record with 141 punt return yards — including a scintillating 87-yard return for the game’s first touchdown. That play and another special teams touchdown helped Alabama defeat stubborn Tulane 20-6 Saturday night at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Arenas churned out first-half punt returns of 87, 2, 33 and 19 yards. That broke Harry Gilmer’s 61-year-old school record of 122 yards set against Georgia.

Arenas makes it as tough on writers as he does on coverage teams because describing what he does — cutting against the grain, squirming through creases and accelerating out of trouble when he’s all but boxed in — is nearly impossible.

“Once he catches it, it’s like, who knows where it goes,” punt return teammate Roy Upchurch said of Arenas. “If you blink you’re gonna miss it.”

On the touchdown run, four Tulane defenders got a hand on him, but he raced the final 80 yards untouched less than five minutes into the game.

“Most of the time in situations like that it’s kind of a middle return and you try to wall everybody out,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “I thought when he didn’t hit it up the middle ... he might be going backwards instead of forward.

“He’s got a unique knack of making big plays, especially in space, he has an ability to make people miss. That was a fantastic run.”

Arenas returned one more punt, but he paid a price for it. On his 6-yard return in the third quarter, he tried another cutback and never saw Tulane’s Jordan Ellis, whose wipeout tackle knocked Arenas out of the game with five punt returns and 147 yards.

The Tide got another special teams score late in the opening quarter. Roy Upchurch came off the wing and blocked Darren deRochemont’s punt. Chris Rogers picked it up near the right hashmark and cruised 17 yards into the end zone.

“I did a little up and under move and beat the wing,” Upchurch said. “I was kind of stumbling a little bit but I was able to pick myself up. I saw he didn’t kick it yet. I was like, ‘Oh, OK. There’s the ball.’ I blocked it.”

Chris Rogers never saw Upchurch make the block, but the ball squirted directly to him.

“I didn’t see nothing. I got blocked, the ball popped out,” Rogers said. “I was like, ‘Thank you, Jesus.’ That’s all I was thinking, ‘God is good.’ ”

However, Leigh Tiffin, who was injured on a long Tulane kickoff return nullified by penalty, stayed on the sideline. Backup Corey Smith missed the PAT, leaving Alabama with a 13-0 advantage.

The Green Wave then marched 42 yards in 12 plays and held the ball more than five minutes. Ross Thevenot made a 35-yard field goal to cut it to 13-3 with 13:07 left in the first half.

Alabama’s offense was, well, Clemson-like for most of the first half. The Tide had zero rushing yards on 12 carries and quarterback John Parker Wilson was just 5-for-14 for 38 yards. He was also sacked four times for 29 yards in losses. He wasn’t sacked at all against Clemson.

Alabama did manage a trip into the red zone thanks to a 33-yard Arenas punt return. But the best the Tide could do was a three-and-out, and Smith’s 37-yard field goal hit the right upright and bounced back, drawing boos from the 92,138 at Bryant-Denny.

Tulane appeared to pull to within 13-6 when Thevenot hit a 23-yard field goal. But that was after Alabama was awarded a timeout with 15 seconds left in the half. Thevenot pulled the 23-yarder wide left on his second try. It sent Alabama to the locker room with a 10-point halftime lead.

The key sequence of the second half started with an Alabama turnover. Glen Coffee fumbled at the Alabama 31. The defense held and Thevenot missed a 41-yard field goal wide left with 4:41 left.

Alabama then went on an 11-play, 77-yard march that featured freshman running back Mark Ingram. Ingram rushed for 16 yards to the Tulane 46. He finished the drive with a 15-yard run over left tackle. Tiffin made the PAT to make it 20-3 Alabama with the fourth quarter remaining.

“The defense getting the stop after turnover was big,” Saban said. “They miss a field goal and the ensuing touchdown was one of the most positive things that happened in the game.”

Tulane got the game’s final three points on Thevenot’s 21-yard field goal with 11:47 remaining.

“It’s great to win, but it’s not always great to win when you don’t feel like you played relative to your capabilities,” Saban said.

“We’re gonna get better because of this; we’re gonna improve because of this and we’ll learn from it.”

Alabama, which played without star left tackle Andre Smith, also had Marlon Davis got out with a pulled hamstring. As a result, Mike Johnson was at left tackle, Brian Motley was at left guard and David Ross shifted to Davis’ right guard spot.

“We lost our continuity in the offensive line,” Saban said. “We didn’t get ’em blocked up front.”

The coach said the defense wasn’t as sharp in two key areas, either.

“”We didn’t get pressure tonight with the four-man rush,” he said. “We didn’t get off the field on third down as often as we needed to. One thing we did do is play extremely well in the red zone. They missed two field goals and we held them to field goals on two occasions.”

First quarter
10:45 Alabama 7, Tulane 0: Javier Arenas 87-yard punt return (Leigh Tiffin PAT). Key play: Arenas was touched by four Tulane defenders near the right sideline, squirmed through a crease, got a nice seal block and outsprinted Tulane’s Corey Sonnier to the end zone on an 87-yard return.

3:15 Alabama 13, Tulane 0: Chris Rogers 17-yard return of blocked punt. (Corey Smith PAT no good). Key play: Roy Upchurch got through the middle of the Tulane line and blocked Darren DeRochemont’s punt. Rogers scooped it up near the right hashmark and scored easily. Tiffin was dazed after being pounded on a Tulane kickoff return that was called back due to penalty. Smith missed the PAT.

Second quarter
13:07 Alabama 13, Tulane 3: Ross Thevenot 35 field goal. 12 plays, 42 yards, 5:08. Key play: Tulane quarterback Kevin Moore got the drive started with a nice third-and-8 completion to Jeremy Williams for 10 yards at the Alabama 48.

Third quarter
0:00 Alabama 20, Tulane 3: Mark Ingram 15-yard run (Tiffin PAT). 11 plays, 77 yards, 4:41. Key play: Ingram carried five times for 38 yards on the drive, including a pile-pushing 16-yard gain that seemed to energize his teammates and the crowd with his effort.

Fourth quarter
11:47 Alabama 20, Tulane 6: Thevenot 21-yard field goal. 11 plays, 70 yards, 3:13. Key play: Josh Chapman ran into quarterback Kevin Moore and was called for roughing the passer, which gave Tulane a first down on the Alabama 30.