Looking back on the 2016 defense, it's clear that Gandalf probably would've been on the bench. Jeremy Pruitt and Karl Dunbar had these boys dialed in.

In 15 games, opponents gained only 959 total yards and scored only five rushing TDs for an average of 63.93 yards per game. These stats were by far the best in the nation and the Tide played three post-season games. [BTW, Clemson gave up 1,944 on the year.]

Houston was second yielding 1,302 total rushing yards, but in only 13 games. That puts the Tide up -343 yards over the next closest defense. Western Kentucky was second in rush YPG allowed at 97.21, a difference of 33.28 from Alabama. Wisconsin (98.8) was the only other team to keep opponents under a 100 average. LSU and Louisville each gave up 7 scores on the ground.

Below is the list of every opposing player who attempted to gain positive yardage against the Tide in the 2016-17 season.

OPPONENT CAR YDS AVG TD LONG OPP COMMENTS Ronald Jones II 7 46 6.6 0 46 Southern Cal Not a typo: 46 total, 46 longest

Aca'Cedric Ware 6 22 3.7 0 6 Southern Cal

Sam Darnold 3 9 3 0 7 Southern Cal

Dominic Davis 2 5 2.5 0 3 Southern Cal

Justin Davis 7 2 0.3 0 3 Southern Cal

Max Browne 4 -3 -0.8 0 17 Southern Cal

Chris Tilbey 1 -17 -17 0 0 Southern Cal

Anthony Wales 11 44 4 0 16 WKU Lowest output of the season Marquez Trigg 2 7 3.5 0 4 WKU

Quinton Baker 4 7 1.8 0 3 WKU

Drew Eckels 1 -6 -6 0 0 WKU

Mike White 3 -14 -4.7 0 4 WKU

Tyler Ferguson 1 -15 -15 0 0 WKU

Akeem Judd 15 45 3 1 23 Ole Miss

Chad Kelly 14 43 3.1 0 15 Ole Miss 7th Round Pick DENV Eugene Brazley 3 10 3.3 0 5 Ole Miss

D'Vaughn Pennamon 1 3 3 0 3 Ole Miss

Justin Rankin 6 52 8.7 0 47 Kent State

George Bollas 3 26 8.7 0 16 Kent State

Myles Washington 6 15 2.5 0 5 Kent State

Nick Holley 2 5 2.5 0 5 Kent State

Will Matthews 3 3 1 0 2 Kent State

Kavious Price 3 3 1 0 3 Kent State

Colin Reardon 1 2 2 0 2 Kent State

Raekwon James 2 2 1 0 6 Kent State

Mylik Mitchell 4 -26 -6.5 0 0 Kent State

Jojo Kemp 10 39 3.9 0 16 Kentucky

Benny Snell Jr. 8 38 4.8 0 17 Kentucky

Stanley Williams 9 22 2.4 0 10 Kentucky Lowest output of the season Sihiem King 2 -1 -0.5 0 0 Kentucky

Stephen Johnson 7 -26 -3.7 0 10 Kentucky

Rawleigh Williams III 12 46 3.8 1 14 Arkansas AP 1st team All-SEC Devwah Whaley 5 21 4.2 0 10 Arkansas

Kody Walker 4 15 3.8 0 11 Arkansas

Jared Cornelius 1 8 8 0 8 Arkansas

Dominique Reed 1 -1 -1 0 0 Arkansas

Drew Morgan 1 -6 -6 0 0 Arkansas

Austin Allen 12 -10 -0.8 0 18 Arkansas

Jalen Hurd 13 28 2.2 0 12 Tennessee

Alvin Kamara 8 21 2.6 1 8 Tennessee 3rd Round Pick NO John Kelly 3 8 2.7 0 5 Tennessee

Tyler Byrd 1 6 6 0 6 Tennessee

Joshua Dobbs 7 -31 -4.4 0 4 Tennessee 4th Round Pick PIT Keith Ford 15 62 4.1 0 15 Texas A&M Highest Total vs Bama

Trevor Knight 13 24 1.8 0 27 Texas A&M

Trayveon Williams 9 23 2.6 0 11 Texas A&M

Kendall Bussey 1 5 5 0 5 Texas A&M

Leonard Fournette 17 35 2.1 0 9 LSU 4th Overal pick JAX Derrius Guice 2 8 4 0 5 LSU Unanimous 1st team All-SEC

J.D. Moore 2 5 2.5 0 4 LSU

Danny Etling 6 -15 -2.5 0 7 LSU

Aeris Williams 11 56 5.1 0 24 Miss. State

Nick Fitzgerald 11 15 1.4 0 22 Miss. State

Damian Williams 4 11 2.8 0 9 Miss. State

Ashton Shumpert 4 9 2.3 0 5 Miss. State

Malik Dear 2 3 1.5 0 3 Miss. State

Dontavian Lee 2 2 1 0 2 Miss. State

Keith Mixon 1 -2 -2 0 0 Miss. State

Derrick Craine 13 36 2.8 0 8 Chattanooga

Richardre Bagley 5 35 7 0 13 Chattanooga

Tyler Roberson 6 9 1.5 0 5 Chattanooga

Alejandro Bennifield 2 5 2.5 0 5 Chattanooga

Kyle Nalls 2 4 2 0 3 Chattanooga

Alex Trotter 1 -7 -7 0 0 Chattanooga

Kerryon Johnson 8 39 4.9 0 13 Auburn

Kamryn Pettway 12 17 1.4 0 5 Auburn Lowest output of the season John Franklin III 3 14 4.7 0 10 Auburn

Jeremy Johnson 2 -1 -0.5 0 4 Auburn

Jordan Scarlett 11 17 1.5 0 4 Florida 1.5 YPC Mark Thompson 5 16 3.2 0 7 Florida

Lamical Perine 3 8 2.7 0 7 Florida

Jordan Cronkrite 1 2 2 0 2 Florida

Brandon Powell 1 1 1 0 1 Florida

Josh Hammond 1 1 1 0 1 Florida

Antonio Callaway 2 -2 -1 0 0 Florida

Johnny Townsend 1 -11 -11 0 0 Florida

Austin Appleby 5 -32 -6.4 0 4 Florida

Myles Gaskin 10 34 3.4 0 10 Washington Lowest output; All-PAC-12

Chico McClatcher 1 16 16 0 16 Washington

Lavon Coleman 7 16 2.3 0 5 Washington

K.J. Carta-Samuels 1 3 3 0 3 Washington

Jomon Dotson 1 3 3 0 3 Washington

Team 1 -7 -7 0 0 Washington

Jake Browning 8 -21 -2.6 0 13 Washington

Wayne Gallman 18 46 2.6 1 12 Clemson 4th Round Pick NYG Deshaun Watson 21 43 2 1 15 Clemson 1st Round Pick HOU C.J. Fuller 1 3 3 0 3 Clemson

Artavis Scott 1 0 0 0 0 Clemson



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