David W. Smith/ Daily News Alabama receiver Julio Jones is brought down by WKU's Ryan Beard during the Toppers game against Alabama in Tuscaloosa Saturday.

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The Daily News

nbaumgardner@bgdailynews.com/783-3239

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Western Kentucky never really had a chance to test its mettle against No. 11 Alabama on Saturday - the Crimson Tide simply wouldn’t allow it.

Alabama jumped all over the Hilltoppers early and often, taking a 17-0 lead after the first quarter on its way to a convincing 41-7 win at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Click here for more photos from the game.

“The first thing is, our opponent today was awfully good,” WKU coach David Elson said. “I think we caught them with some pretty bad timing - coming off that Tulane game, they were ready to get after it and just ready to play right away.

“When they’re playing at their best, they’re pretty good, and we just got off to a slow start, tried to run the ball, got off track. And they just have some guys that are awfully good.”

WKU never seemed to find a rhythm on either side of the ball. Before many fans settled into their seats, the Crimson Tide (3-0) had a 17-0 lead.

“Alabama came out flying around the football - they’re a fast football team and we didn’t make plays,” senior quarterback David Wolke said. “I don’t think we were physical enough up front and I thought they did a really good job of holding us. We had a bunch of third downs we didn’t convert on, but we’ll look at the tape and see what happens.”

Alabama coach Nick Saban said he was proud of the way his team started and finished the week, and that he was happy with the way it competed against WKU (1-2).

“The goal in this game was to go prove that you can play to your capacity,” Saban said. “To play your best football because of the competitive character that you have, and do it by going out and executing. Do your job on every play with the kind of attitude and toughness that you need to try to dominate competitively.”

After forcing WKU to punt on the first possession of the game, the Crimson Tide took the ball and marched 63 yards in 11 plays, finishing on a seven-yard touchdown plunge by freshman Mark Ingram to go up 7-0.

The Hilltoppers would set Alabama up with stellar field position one play into the following drive, as 6-foot-5, 365-pound defensive tackle Terrence Cody caused and recovered a Marell Booker fumble to give the Crimson Tide the ball deep in WKU territory. The Hilltoppers stiffened defensively, forcing Alabama to settle for a 22-yard field goal from Leigh Tiffin to make things 10-0.

Penalties spelled disaster on WKU’s next possession. The Hilltoppers were flagged on two straight plays, forcing them into an unmanageable situation and eventual punt.

Ingram found paydirt again five plays later, capping a 56-yard Alabama drive with a five-yard run to put the Tide up 17-0.

After Alabama extended its lead on a Terry Grant eight-yard run early in the second quarter, WKU finally found the end zone two drives later. After a Travis Watters interception, the Hilltoppers needed just four plays to score, with Wolke hitting freshman tight end Tristan Jones on a 30-yard touchdown strike. The first touchdown Alabama’s defense surrendered all season made things 24-7.

But any momentum was quickly lost, as junior Glen Coffee rumbled 52 yards on the first play of the ensuing Alabama drive. Four plays later, Wilson found tight end Nick Walker on a two-yard scoring hookup to put the Tide up 31-7 going into the half.

“We get it to 24-7 and we kickoff to them and we feel like if we get a three-and-out there, we’ve got some momentum going,” Elson said. “But then they rip off that long run and go right in for a touchdown and it’s just one of those things where we need to make tackles and execute better.”

Things were elementary after that, as the Tide added another Tiffin field goal and another Wilson touchdown pass - a 12-yarder to freshman phenom Julio Jones - to bring the final score to 41-7.

WKU emphasized its desire to run against Alabama all week long. But just as in the season opening loss at Indiana, it failed to do so. The Hilltoppers only mustered 42 rushing yards - a season low - on 22 attempts.

Alabama, meanwhile, racked up 281 yards on the ground and threw for another 276, making the yardage differential 557-158 in favor of the Crimson Tide.

“It seemed like we had creases at times, but it seemed like there’d just be one person there or something - I don’t know, it was just really difficult to move the football,” said Wolke, who finished 14-of-26 for 116 yards and a score. “We tried to get something going and we did a few times, but it was just tough.”

Wilson finished 17-for-27 for 215 yards and two scores, while Coffee finished with 97 yards on the ground.

Offensively for WKU, redshirt freshman Derrius Brooks turned in another fine performance at the wide receiver position, catching six balls for 40 yards.

While the Hilltoppers maintained that the season isn’t over, the players seemed to latch onto a single sentiment: The slow starts need to stop, and the mistakes need to be fixed.

“We’re just going to have to digest this film and find out our mistakes and correct them,” senior offensive lineman Greg Ryan said. “We’ve got a long season ahead of us. It’s early in the year and all of the goals we set for ourselves are still reachable.

“We can still do everything we want to do this season, but we’ll have to digest this down and move on to Murray State.”