Alabama Crimson Tide: 75 yards for Jonathan Allen
By Matt Green
There are 75 days till college football season, and today we focus on a defense that knows how to find the end zone.
The Alabama Crimson Tide made a habit of finding different ways to score touchdowns in 2016. They led the nation with 13 non-offensive touchdowns in 2016, with 10 coming from the defense and three from special teams.
And that leads us to no. 75 in the Southbound and Down College Football Countdown.
Alabama’s Jonathan Allen’s 75-yard interception return for a touchdown against Ole Miss in 2016
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Ole Miss handed the Crimson Tide their only regular season losses in 2014 and 2015, and they appeared to be on the way to another win in 2016.
The Rebels led 24-3 in the second quarter and had the Crimson Tide on the ropes. But that’s when Alabama started doing what Alabama does. Eddie Jackson returned a punt for an 85-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 24-17 at the half.
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Then to open the second half, Da’Ron Payne recovered a fumble and took it three yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 24.
Fast forward to the fourth quarter. After the Crimson Tide took a 41-30 lead in the fourth, Ole Miss was driving into Alabama territory. Rebels’ quarterback Chad Kelly was hit as he threw and Jonathan Allen intercepted it and rumbled 75 yards for a touchdown to give Alabama a commanding 48-30 lead with just over five minutes remaining.
The touchdown was the third non-offensive touchdown of the game for Alabama and their fifth of the season. It was also their fifth consecutive game with a non-offensive touchdown, a streak that got all the way up to 10 games against Texas A&M later in the season.
The Alabama Crimson Tide lost a lot from their 2016 defense, but knowing them, they’ll likely pick up right where they left off in 2017.