Bama rolls with big plays

TUSCALOOSA - Greg McElroy had heard enough.

Sick of listening to how many points and big plays Arkansas' nationally second-ranked offense had put up in its first two games, Alabama's junior quarterback spoke up and challenged his receivers at a pregame meeting Friday.

"I'm sick and tired about hearing how explosive Arkansas' offense is," McElroy recalled saying. "We can be explosive, too.

"All we heard about was them. We wanted some respect, too, and we got that today."

Playing with a chip on his shoulder, McElroy aired out touchdown passes of 50 and 80 yards and freshman running back Trent Richardson had a 52-yard touchdown run, as No. 3 Alabama (4-0, 1-0 SEC) demonstrated its big-play capability in a 35-7 rout of Arkansas (1-2, 0-2) on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The three scoring plays over 50 yards accounted for 182 of Alabama's 287 total yards midway through the third quarter.

The Crimson Tide also got a blocked punt by Lorenzo Washington to set up a touchdown, as Alabama pulled away from a one-time 7-point third-quarter lead.

The Razorbacks cut their deficit to 14-7 on a five-play, 55-yard touchdown drive, capped by Ryan Mallett's 18-yard pass to Greg Childs 4 1/2 minutes into the second half.

McElroy responded, connecting with Marquis Maze for an 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the ensuing drive. The play was Alabama's longest touchdown pass since 2003 and sixth-longest all-time, and it set up 21-7 lead.

"I think we can do more things and I think we need to do more things," Alabama coach Nick Saban said of the big-play passing game. "I don't think we're sort of the overpowering team we were a year ago in a lot of ways, and I think that's good. It involves more people in the offense, and the diversity we've developed can make us a better offensive team if we continue to improve."

That diversity was no more apparent than in a trick play that saw McElroy line up at wide receiver and the ball change hands four times before hitting pay dirt. Mark Ingram took a direct snap out of the Wildcat formation and handed off to Terry Grant in motion. Grant then pitched it to McElroy lined up wide right, and the quarterback connected with Julio Jones, who slipped a tackle for a 50-yard touchdown catch, his first in 12 games.

It gave Alabama a 14-0 halftime lead and was the Tide's first pass play out of the Wildcat.

"If you watch TV, you've probably seen it before," Saban said. "I think the Miami Dolphins scored a couple touchdowns on that last year. That was a play we were going to run in the first half no matter what, and having it at midfield gave us a good chance to take a shot."

McElroy finished with a career-high 291 yards and three touchdowns on 17-for-24 passing. The first-year starter has now gone 81 attempts without an interception.

Meanwhile, Mallett, the last SEC starter to throw a pick, tossed his first interception of the season to Justin Woodall in the fourth quarter.

The nation's most efficient passer was a season-worst 12-for-35 for 160 yards and was sacked three times, despite Alabama losing top pass rusher, Dont'a Hightower, to a first-quarter knee injury.

"Making the quarterback move in the pocket, as much as anything, making him feel uncomfortable was probably a key to it," Saban said. "They've got a very good offensive scheme. This was one of the most difficult offensive systems we've had to defend. And they have an outstanding quarterback, so I felt really good about that."

Bryan App can be reached at 740-5730 or bryan.app@TimesDaily.com.