TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Cyrus Jones and the No. 3 Alabama football team left Bryant-Denny Stadium in high style even for a game against a lower division team.
Jones returned two punts for touchdowns in his home finale and Derrick Henry also scored twice as Alabama rolled past Charleston Southern 56-6 on Saturday.
“I’m just happy I went out the way I did, in kind of dramatic fashion,” Jones said. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”
It turned into a three-hour celebration, and not just for the seniors.
The Crimson Tide (10-1, No. 2 College Football Playoff) led 49-0 by halftime against the Buccaneers (9-2), who are bound for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Alabama is hoping to join them in the Football Bowl Subdivision version and can clinch a Southeastern Conference West title with a win next week at Auburn.
Jones scored on returns of 43 and 72 yards. He’s the only Alabama player to score twice on punt returns, according to school records dating to 1944. He also is the first Crimson Tide player to have touchdowns on punt returns in consecutive games.
The players apparently heeded coach Nick Saban’s caution about this game, which included a mid-week rant to reporters. The 49 first-half points were the most under Saban.
“Sometimes we’ve played a little lackluster in games like this, especially this time of the year,” he said. “But I told them if you’re not inspired to play every play that you play then you’re kind of cheating yourself.”
Henry tied Trent Richardson’s Alabama single-season record of 21 touchdowns before sitting out the second half. He had nine carries for 68 yards.
The few remaining fans gave a big cheer in the final minutes after No. 9 Michigan State upset No. 2 Ohio State. Ohio State knocked Alabama from the playoffs last season en route to a national title.
“You could tell the fans were going crazy,” Crimson Tide linebacker Reggie Ragland said, adding that he’d “love to play them” again.
This game had no such drama, as expected.
The starters posted good numbers before giving way to the backups for much of the game.
Jake Coker was 11 of 13 for 155 yards with a 30-yard touchdown to Calvin Ridley and a 21-yarder to Richard Mullaney — who stuck his left foot down while falling out of bounds — before heading to the sidelines. Henry scored on runs of 17 and 2 and has touchdowns in 16 consecutive games.
Freshmen Damien Harris and Bo Scarbrough added short touchdown runs. Alabama had eight players run the ball and 10 catch passes from three quarterbacks.
Alabama outgained Charleston Southern 403-134 and didn’t punt.
Charleston Southern started backup quarterback Kyle Copeland instead of Austin Brown with the program’s first playoff game awaiting. The Buccaneers came in riding an eight-game winning streak.
Copeland was 3 of 7 for 46 yards. He ran 15 times for 25 yards. Leading rusher Darius Hammond played little on offense, carrying three times for minus-3.
“The outcome was probably what we expected,” Charleston Southern coach Jamey Chadwell said, noting that the primary goal was to avoid injuries.
Chadwell took solace in one regard: “I do think we had more yards rushing than (LSU’s) Leonard Fournette did, though.” The Buccaneers gained 85 to Fournette’s 31 against the Crimson Tide.
This game was clearly a mismatch from the outset, with Alabama at one point gaining 154 yards while Charleston Southern had minus-7.
The Crimson Tide still managed to turn in highlight reel plays even with little drama in the game, especially Jones. He batted a pitch down in Charleston Southern’s backfield and nearly scored again right after his second touchdown, making it to the 6.
Jones also ran back a punt last week against Mississippi State.
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