Huge Georgia Dome crowd watches Tide roll

By Sekou Smith

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

No one has coined a catchy phrase like “Beamerball” for the brand of football Nick Saban has instilled in the program at Alabama.

Win a few more games like they did Saturday night, though, and surely someone will come up with something that has a ring to it.

The fifth-ranked Crimson Tide woke up in time to knock off No. 7 Virginia Tech 34-24 on Saturday night in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game before a raucous Georgia Dome crowd of 74,954, the fourth-largest football crowd in the history of the building.

Not nearly as one-sided as their 31-10 destruction of Clemson in this same game last year, the Tide’s win Saturday night was arguably much more impressive because of the level of competition. And with No. 3 Oklahoma’s 14-13 loss to No. 20 BYU earlier, Saban’s team stands to make a move in the rankings.

Even with a nearly 2-to-1 statistical edge in nearly every category, the Tide trailed the Hokies by a point minutes into the fourth quarter.

All that changed when Mark Ingram crashed into the end zone for a touchdown and the go-ahead score with 12:23 to play. Greg McElroy added the topping with a conversion pass to a leaping Colin Peek in the back of the end zone for a 24-17 lead that was 45 minutes in the making.

The Tide’s fumble recovery on the ensuing kickoff and the field goal that followed two minutes later for a 27-17 lead were merely the delayed benefits of an evening spent moving up and down the field against the Hokies’ vaunted defense.

The Hokies closed the gap on their next possession courtesy of a 32-yard touchdown run by Ryan Williams with 9:22 to play, trimming the lead to 27-24.

And that’s where the Tide’s evening-long dominance of the ball and the game clock came into play.

Ingram went right back to work gashing the Hokies’ defense for big gains, a 39-yarder on the first carry of the Tide’s first drive after that score. Ingram finished the drive by catching a short pass from McElroy and outrunning the defense for an 18-yard touchdown with 6:35 to play.

Ingram finished with 150 yards on 26 carries and 35 yards on three receptions and those two scores. It was an eye-opening effort on a prime-time stage for the sophomore bulldozer, who also took several direct shotgun snaps during the game.

Still, for every blow the Tide landed early, the Hokies led 17-16 heading into the fourth quarter.

And for a five-minute stretch of the second quarter Saban’s bunch seemed to be a bit rattled.

Williams capped off the Hokies’ go-ahead score, a 1-yard plunge for a 17-16 lead with 62 seconds to play before the break. Williams broke free from coverage for a pivotal 43-yard catch and run down to the Alabama 5 to help set up the score.

Two huge penalties, a personal foul and an unsportsmanlike-conduct call on the same play, from Tide senior linebacker Rolando McClain pushed the ball down inside the 5.

“We lost our poise there in the two-minute situation on defense and gave them a touchdown basically on penalties and a busted coverage,” Tide coach Nick Saban said to ABC sideline reporter Lisa Salters as he headed to the locker room. “Special teams have not been good for us. They got 10 points on special teams and turnovers.”

It was assistance the Hokies certainly didn’t need. And miscues the Tide didn’t either, with all that they squandered in the first half — they had six penalties for 48 yards, McElroy threw a costly interception in the shadow of his own end zone, and Dyrell Roberts returned a kickoff 98 yards before the intermission.

They might have been in an even bigger hole at halftime if not for the work of Ingram and Roy Upchurch. Ingram averaged 5.1 yards on his 11 first-half carries while Upchurch finished the half with 53 on two carries.

The senior put the Tide back on top 16-10 with just over three minutes to play before halftime with a 19-touchdown sprint, finished off with a wicked hit and run (over) of Hokies rover Dorian Porch at the goal line.

It was actually a fumble by Upchurch in the red zone on another sure touchdown sprint late in the third quarter that delayed Tide’s second-half resurgence.

But only for a few minutes.