imageHere is your home for coverage during the game as the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide takes on the Virginia Tech Hokies in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in the Georgia Dome. Brett Hudson, Alabama reporter and host of Crimson Tide Gameday, will be updating this post with live stats and analysis throughout the game. You can follow Brett on Twitter: @Brett_Hudson.

Fourth Quarter

– 5:08. It’s been fun, folks. I’m going to power down to focus on the postgame coverage here. Follow me on Twitter for more updates up until the postgame press conferences: @Brett_Hudson.

– 9:12.

– 11:21. (Not really. Worth a try, though.)

– 11:59. Landon Collins is having a whale of a day in special teams. Guaranteed to be a Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday.

– 12:35. Freshman running back Derrick Henry comes in for his first carry, and gets popped in the backfield for a loss of three. Something tells me Saban will have something to say about plays like that in his postgame press conference.

– 14:32. Another great opportunity for Alabama goes by the wayside, as HaHa Clinton-Dix can’t come up with an interception. Virginia Tech punts and pins Alabama on its own 19 on the very next play.

Third Quarter

– Total Yards: Virginia Tech 201, Alabama 163
– Rushing Yards: Virginia Tech 142, Alabama 53
– AJ McCarron: 10-21, 110 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception. Logan Thomas: 5-21, 59 yards, no touchdowns, 1 interception.
– T.J. Yeldon: 15 carries for 70 yards.
– Christion Jones: 256 all-purpose yards, three touchdowns.

– 1:00.

– 3:43. Christion Jones is having the game of his life, shaking one-on-one man coverage out of its shoes on a go route and scoring his third touchdown of the game. Alabama 35, Virginia ech 10

– 5:10.

– 7:44. We have an Altee Tenpenny sighting. True freshman from North Little Rock Arkansas sees his first collegiate action.

– 8:47. Announced attendance in the Georgia Dome: 73,114. I’ll guess 48,000 are in crimson and white.

– 8:54. Going deep against Deion Belue. Another situation where, although the coverage was there step-for-step, the ‘Bama defender just was not in a great situation to make a play on the ball. That trend has not hurt Alabama much thus far, but it only takes one to make this a two-possession game. 73114

– 9:00.

– 10:20. Alabama has made a change at left guard, subbing out Arie Kouandjio and going with Kellen Williams.

– 11:43. Nice idea by Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler coming out of a timeout: line up in one formation, quickly switch to another and run the play as fast as possible. Alabama practiced against that one too many times this week, though.

– 13:35. T.J. Yeldon starts the quarter with a 27-yard run, and quickly Alabama goes back to struggling to nickel-and-dime its way down the field. Will punt after just one first down.

HALFTIME: Alabama 28, Virginia Tech 10
– Total Yards: Virginia Tech 155, Alabama 97
– Rushing Yards: Virginia Tech 115, Alabama 30
– First Downs: Alabama 5, Virginia Tech 3
– 3rd Down: Alabama 4-9, Virginia Tech 2-9
– Christion Jones: 1 catch, nine yards; 2 punt returns, 66 yards, 1 touchdown; 1 kick return, 94 yards, 1 touchdown
– AJ McCarron: 7-14, 67 yards, 1 INT; Logan Thomas: 3-14, 40 yards, 1 INT
– T.J. Yeldon: 11 carries, 22 yards. Dee Hart: 2 carries, 1 yard. Jalston Fowler: 2 carries, 1 yard.
– Virginia Tech’s Trey Edmunds: 9 carries, 29 yards. That’s minus his 77-yard touchdown outburst.

My Thoughts

– Quite impressed with Virginia Tech’s front 7. The numbers and personnel suggested a stout unit, but not this stout. Alabama hasn’t been stymied like this in the ground game in quite a while. Plus, it’s clearly affecting McCarron’s ability to throw the ball: the playaction game is not as threatening without a potent running game.

– Alabama’s new offensive line has improved throughout the game to a certain degree, but like the rest of both teams, it is the first game and there is no such thing as 100%.

– The numbers may look bad, but really, Alabama’s defense has been pretty good. Half of Virginia Tech’s offense (49.6 percent, to be exact) came on one triple option play that could not have been run more perfectly and was busted for 77 yards. There’s a lot going for this new defensive unit outside of that one play.

Second Quarter

– 1:03. A comment on the offensive line play from former Alabama tight end Brad Smelley.

– 3:20. Adam Griffith came in to kickoff, in for Cade Foster. Griffith’s went a few yards deeper than pretty much all of Foster, actually reaching the goal line.

– 3:25. Christion Jones does it AGAIN. Unleashes a 94-yard kick return for a touchdown. Alabama 28, Virginia Tech 10

– 3:39. Virginia Tech pounds Alabama even more with the run game, but a delay of game penalty forced the Hokies to pass and it was almost picked off in the endzone by Deion Belue. It dropped to the ground and setup a 39-yard field goal that was made by Cody Journell. Alabama 21, Virginia Tech 10

– 7:06. Questionable throw from McCarron on that interception. Not sure throwing to an in route when the defensive back has the inside cover all the way is a great idea. But he probably wasn’t counting and DeAndrew White slipping and falling. But, still, probably should not have been thrown.

– 8:35. So far, Alabama’s new offensive line has been quite spotty. Sometimes, McCarron has days to sit back and throw the ball. Other times, when he gets done with the playaction fake, there’s a defensive lineman in his facemask. I will say it seems to be trending upward as we move forward (less of the latter, more of the former).

– 9:24. If you had Virginia Tech outrushing Alabama 101-22 as we near the midway mark of the second quarter…well..you’re a liar.

– 9:29. Another one I couldn’t resist.

– 11:17. Kyle Fuller with an incredible play on the ball at corner for Virginia Tech after a solid first and second down for the Hokies. VT really doing a great job of swarming to the run.

– 12:48. I’m genuinely surprised by Alabama’s inability to score consistently on offense. I thought the Tide would at least be able to run the ball enough to set-up the pass. Right now, Alabama is too spotty for that. Lots of credit to VT’s front seven.

– 12:48.

– 13:59. This one is just for fun.

– 14:04.Alabama 21, Virginia Tech 7

First Quarter

STATS
– Total Yards: Virginia Tech 119 (13 plays), Alabama 79 (19 plays)
– Rushing Yards: Virginia Tech 85, Alabama 24
– AJ McCarron: 5-8, 55 yards; Logan Thomas: 2-7, 34 yards
– Amari Cooper: 2 catches, 33 yards
– T.J. Yeldon: 8 rushes, 24 yards

– 1:37. Some brilliant football from Virginia Tech. They run a pistol triple option with an upback on the backside of the play. The playside tackle for the Hokies pushed the defensive end out of the play and that backside upback laid the play-making block on C.J. Mosley in the backfield. It was a footrace from there that Alabama lost. Alabama 14, Virginia Tech 7

– 1:53. T.J. Yeldon runs it in from two yards out for a touchdown in some serious smashmouth form. The play came out of the tackle-over formation: where Cyrus Kouandjio switched from left tackle to line up next to right tackle Austin Shepherd on the right side. Jalston Fowler was the lead blocker behind the two as the H-Back and Yeldon pranced right on. Alabama 14, Virginia Tech 0

– 3:14. Of all offensive linemen that need to hold, Cyrus Kouandjio is not it. His brother Arie at left guard, on occassion. Austin Shepherd, sure. Cyrus would not have been my guess.

– 3:30. On third down, Alabama loaded the left side with Cyrus Kouandjio, Brian Vogler, O.J. Howard and Jalston Fowler. And ran Yeldon that way. Seriously, what is a defense supposed to do with that?

– 5:39.

– 6:53.

– 7:01. Virginia Tech’s respect for Alabama’s pass rush is unreal. They were running a mesh pass play (featuring two short crossing routes, quick play), but when ‘Bama showed blitz, Hokies QB Logan Thomas changed up the protection and got another blocker in the backfield to help.

– 8:26. Cody Mandell’s first punt of the season is fair caught at the 15-yard line. A 40-yard effort.

– 8:34.

– 9:45. Welcome to the show, O.J. Howard. The true freshman was the second tight end in a set with Brian Vogler and laid a mean block on Hokies outside linebacker Josh Trimble. Pushed him back five yards, easy.

– 10:17. Jalston Fowler’s new role officially takes effect, being deployed as an upback in a shotgun formation. AJ McCarron found Amari Cooper wide open on a corner route. First down.

– 11:17. Everyone on the Virginia Tech sideline started waving their arms in a circular motion, wanting to go into the hurry-up, ater the 34-yard pass to D.J. Coles. Could be a good idea (see: 2010 Auburn, 2012 Ole Miss and 2012 Texas A&M), but you have to gain yards first for that to work.

– 13:21. After a quick three-andd-out from the defense, Christion Jones took the punt back for a touchdown from 72 yards out. Dee Hart threw a solid block downfield, as did Kenny Bell. Jones looked a lot more confident when fielding the ball and really only had to make two or three moves to get through for the TD. 7-0 Alabama

Pre-Game Information

Nothing to do with Alabama, but Virginia Tech’s band ran out onto the field (I mean it when I say ran…they sprinted) and formed an outline of the state of Virginia. Pretty cool.

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They followed it up by forming the logo and spelling out “Hokies”.

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Three Players to Watch that You’re Not Thinking About

– Tight end Brian Vogler. While a lot of the attention at the tight end and H-Back positions has been swirling around Jalston Fowler, Vogler has a tough act to follow, coming in behind Michael Williams. Vogler is of similar build when compared to Williams and, at times, has shown more athleticism. AJ McCarron has shown a tendency to love going to the tight end and Vogler could be that new guy.

– Noseguard Brandon Ivory. Ivory has shown the skills it takes to be the lead noseguard in Nick Saban’s system, and he seems to have improved his conditioning over the offseason. If he can do what he is capable of doing up the middle for a large number of snaps, he can open up some dangerous opportunities for pass rushers like Adrian Hubbard, Jeoffrey Pagan, Xzavier Dickson and Jonathan Allen, to name a few.

– Linebacker Tana Patrick. Newflash: C.J. Mosley and Trey Depriest are human. It’s true. On extended drives in the second half, they may need to come out for a play or two. Alabama has been a great benefactor of depth at linebacker to keep from a dropoff in that situation, and Patrick playing well would go a long way towards establishing that.

Match-ups

– Alabama’s run defense should have a strong advantage over Virginia Tech’s running game. Defensively, Alabama is returning 67.8 percent of its tackles from last season, including its top two tacklers: linebackers C.J. Mosley and Trey Depriest. Virginia Tech will enter today’s game without 75% of last season’s rushing output (1,896 yards), including just one of their top seven rushers from 2012: quarterback Logan Thomas.

– Thomas’ regression from 2011 to 2012 was largely seen in the interception department, throwing 16 interceptions, or one per 26.8 attempts. That’s bad news as the Hokies go up against an Alabama defense that was tied for 12th in the nation last season with 18 interceptions, and returns 12 of those 18.

– Alabama’s running game will have a tough task, as the Hokies have six returning starts in a front seven that ranked 30th in the nation last season in run defense, third in the ACC, allowing 134.08 yards per game on the ground.