September 25, 2021 Week 4 · Regular Season Belt defended

Alabama defends the belt, 63–14, at home over Southern Miss.

Home · Defending Holder

AlabamaAP No. 1 63

Away · Challenger

Southern Miss 14

AP poll, week 4: Southern Miss unranked at Alabama No. 1 · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Alabama came in 301 days into reign #315, which began with a win over Auburn, with 8 defenses already behind it; this was its 9th defense. Alabama went on to defend it 1 more time before Texas A&M took it on October 9, 2021, 315 days after the reign began.

For Southern Miss this was its 5th shot at the belt; it had held the belt twice before.

It was the 3rd of 3 belt games between the two; going in, the series stood 1–1; all-time Alabama leads 2–1. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Alabama's defense forced an early interception to set up scoring opportunities while the Crimson Tide's offense attacked relentlessly through the air, with Bryce Young connecting with receivers across the field. Southern Miss managed a kickoff return touchdown on the game's opening play to briefly keep pace, but Alabama scored on five consecutive possessions in the first half to put the game out of reach by halftime. The Tide's dominant second quarter, highlighted by an 81-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Williams and a 9-yard score to Jase McClellan with 15 seconds left in the half, effectively sealed the victory. Alabama's balanced attack of 606 total yards and Alabama's defense holding Southern Miss to just 213 yards proved decisive in a 63-14 rout that saw the Crimson Tide comfortably retain the belt.

Jameson Williams kickoff return for 100-yard TD to open the game kept Southern Miss from falling behind early
Bryce Young's 81-yard TD pass to Jameson Williams in Q2 exemplified Alabama's offensive dominance
DeMarcco Hellams interception of Ty Keyes in Q1 gave Alabama excellent field position and led to scoring
Alabama's 28-point second quarter showed the Tide were firmly in control of the belt

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

AlabamaSouthern Miss

Total yards606213

Rushing yards21182

Passing yards395131

First downs2211

3rd down conv.6/105/15

Turnovers11

Penalties–yards7–625–36

Time of possession28:4231:18

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 14:46	Southern Miss	+100 yd	Briggs Bourgeois kickoff for 65 yds , Jameson Williams return for 100 yds for a TD, (Will Reichard KICK)
Q1 14:46	Alabama	+20 yd	Will Reichard kickoff for 64 yds , Camron Harrell return for 20 yds to the SoMis 21
Q1 9:41	Alabama	+16 yd	Bryce Young pass complete to Jahleel Billingsley for 16 yds for a TD, (Will Reichard KICK)
Q1 11:10	Alabama	+25 yd	Bryce Young pass complete to Jahleel Billingsley for 25 yds to the SoMis 17 for a 1ST down
Q1 5:25	Southern Miss	+6 yd	Ty Keyes pass intercepted DeMarcco Hellams return for 6 yds to the Alab 24
Q1 8:45	Southern Miss	+21 yd	Ty Keyes pass complete to Grayson Gunter for 21 yds to the SoMis 45 for a 1ST down
Q1 3:00	Alabama	+1 yd	Cameron Latu 1 Yd pass from Bryce Young (Will Reichard Kick)
Q1 5:15	Alabama	+27 yd	Jase McClellan run for 27 yds to the SoMis 49 for a 1ST down
Q1 4:00	Alabama	+20 yd	Bryce Young pass complete to Slade Bolden for 20 yds to the SoMis 28 for a 1ST down
Q1 0:31	Southern Miss	+45 yd	Mason Hunt punt for 35 yds , JoJo Earle returns for a loss of 1 yard to the 50 ALABAMA Penalty, Offensive Holding (10 Yards) to the Alab 40
Q1 0:00	Alabama	+55 yd	Roydell Williams run for 55 yds to the SoMis 1
Q2 14:26	Alabama	+1 yd	Roydell Williams run for 1 yd for a TD, (Will Reichard KICK)
Q2 12:36	Alabama	+81 yd	Bryce Young pass complete to Jameson Williams for 81 yds for a TD, (Will Reichard KICK)
Q2 8:10	Southern Miss	+26 yd	Ty Keyes pass complete to Grayson Gunter for 26 yds to the Alab 30 for a 1ST down
Q2 5:26	Southern Miss	+14 yd	Ty Keyes pass complete to Chandler Pittman for 14 yds for a TD, (Briggs Bourgeois KICK)
Q2 4:04	Alabama	+33 yd	Bryce Young pass complete to Jahleel Billingsley for 33 yds to the SoMis 47 for a 1ST down
Q2 0:15	Alabama	+9 yd	Bryce Young pass complete to Jase McClellan for 9 yds for a TD, (Will Reichard KICK)
Q2 0:15	Alabama	+22 yd	Will Reichard kickoff for 58 yds , Antavious Willis return for 22 yds to the SoMis 29
Q3 13:52	Southern Miss	+49 yd	Mason Hunt punt for 39 yds , JoJo Earle returns for a loss of 1 yard to the Alab 42 ALABAMA Penalty, Illegal Block (10 Yards) to the Alab 32
Q3 12:38	Alabama	+36 yd	Jase McClellan run for 25 yds to the SoMis 22 for a 1ST down SOUTHERN MISS Penalty, Horse Collar Tackle (11 Yards) to the SoMis 11 for a 1ST down
Q3 12:22	Alabama	+11 yd	Bryce Young pass complete to Cameron Latu for 11 yds for a TD, (Will Reichard KICK)
Q3 4:00	Alabama	+13 yd	Bryce Young pass intercepted Malik Shorts return for 13 yds to the SoMis 16
Q3 8:30	Alabama	+23 yd	Bryce Young pass complete to Jahleel Billingsley for 23 yds to the SoMis 45 for a 1ST down
Q3 9:35	Alabama	+22 yd	Bryce Young pass complete to Cameron Latu for 22 yds to the Alab 28 for a 1ST down
Q4 13:29	Southern Miss	+11 yd	Ty Keyes pass complete to Demarcus Jones for 11 yds for a TD, (Briggs Bourgeois KICK)
Q4 13:16	Southern Miss	+83 yd	Briggs Bourgeois kickoff for 48 yds , Jameson Williams return for 83 yds for a TD, (Will Reichard KICK)
Q4 6:35	Alabama	+35 yd	Paul Tyson pass complete to Javon Baker for 35 yds to the 50 yard line for a 1ST down
Q4 4:30	Alabama	+23 yd	Paul Tyson pass complete to Cameron Latu for 23 yds to the SoMis 23 for a 1ST down
Q4 2:49	Alabama	+24 yd	Jalen Milroe pass complete to Javon Baker for 24 yds for a TD, (Will Reichard KICK)

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Alabama

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Bryce Young	20/22	313	14.2	5	1	99.1
Paul Tyson	2/3	58	19.3	0	0	98.1
Jalen Milroe	1/1	24	24.0	1	0	98.3

Southern Miss

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Ty Keyes	11/24	131	5.5	2	1	60.5

Rushing

Alabama

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Roydell Williams	11	110	10.0	1	55
Jase McClellan	12	97	8.1	0	27
Trey Sanders	5	12	2.4	0	4
Jalen Milroe	2	5	2.5	0	3
Team	1	-2	-2.0	0	0
Bryce Young	2	-11	-5.5	0	0

Southern Miss

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Ty Keyes	12	41	3.4	19
Chandler Pittman	6	28	4.7	11
Dajon Richard	4	7	1.8	4
Frank Gore Jr.	9	7	0.8	3
Tee Webb	1	1	1.0	1
Team	1	-2	-2.0	0

Receiving

Alabama

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Jahleel Billingsley	5	105	21.0	1	33
Jameson Williams	1	81	81.0	1	81
Javon Baker	2	59	29.5	1	35
Cameron Latu	3	57	19.0	2	23
John Metchie	7	45	6.4	0	21
Slade Bolden	2	27	13.5	0	20
Jase McClellan	1	9	9.0	1	9
Traeshon Holden	1	9	9.0	0	9
Trey Sanders	1	3	3.0	0	3

Southern Miss

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Grayson Gunter	3	61	20.3	0	26
Dajon Richard	1	19	19.0	0	19
Jason Brownlee	1	19	19.0	0	19
Chandler Pittman	1	14	14.0	1	14
Demarcus Jones	1	11	11.0	1	11
Frank Gore Jr.	1	4	4.0	0	4
Da'quan Bailey-Brown	2	3	1.5	0	3
Brad Dennis	1	0	0.0	0	0

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Alabama

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR	TD
Jordan Battle	7	2	0	0	0	0	0
Christian Harris	5	4	0	0	1	1	0
DeMarcco Hellams	5	4	0	0	0	0	0
Will Anderson Jr.	5	3	1	3	0	1	0
Brian Branch	3	3	0	0	0	0	0
Daniel Wright	3	2	0	0	0	0	0
Jalyn Armour-Davis	3	2	0	1	0	0	0
Henry To'o To'o	3	2	0	0	0	0	0
Chris Braswell	3	2	0	0	0	0	0
Jaylen Moody	3	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jamil Burroughs	2	2	1	1	0	0	0
Demouy Kennedy	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shane Lee	2	0	0	0	0	1	0
Josh Jobe	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Kendrick Blackshire	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Byron Young	1	1	0	1	0	0	0
DJ Dale	1	1	0	0	0	1	0
Malachi Moore	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Phidarian Mathis	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
Jase McClellan	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Traeshon Holden	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
JoJo Earle	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kool-Aid McKinstry	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dallas Turner	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
Justin Eboigbe	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
Drew Sanders	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
Kristian Story	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
LaBryan Ray	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Jameson Williams	0	0	0	0	0	0	2

Southern Miss

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	QB HUR
Malik Shorts	10	6	0	0	0
Jay Stanley	9	7	0	1	0
Santrell Latham	6	2	0	0	0
Tyrek Moody	5	1	0	0	0
Rachuan Mitchell	4	3	0	0	0
Averie Habas	4	2	0	0	0
Camron Harrell	3	3	0	1	0
Josh Ratcliff	3	2	0	0	0
Lakevias Daniel	2	2	0	0	0
Joshua Carr Jr.	2	1	1	1	0
Josh Perry	2	1	0	0	0
Eric Scott	2	1	0	0	0
Hayes Maples	1	1	1	1	0
Bryce Foxworth	1	1	0	0	0
Devin Thomas	1	1	0	0	0
Antavious Willis	1	1	0	0	0
Eriq Kitchen	1	1	0	0	0
Mason Hunt	1	1	0	0	0
Dominic Quewon	1	1	0	0	0
Tahj Sykes	1	0	0	0	0
Justin Hulett	1	0	0	0	0
Khalen Leonard	1	0	0	0	0
Michael Pleas	1	0	0	0	0
Everitt Cunningham	1	0	0	0	1
Antoine Robinson	1	0	0	0	0
Fred Smith	1	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Alabama

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
John Metchie	1	0	0

Southern Miss

No recorded stats in this category.

Interceptions

Alabama

Player	INT	YDS	TD
DeMarcco Hellams	1	6	0

Southern Miss

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Malik Shorts	1	13	0

Kick Returns

Alabama

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Jameson Williams	3	177	59.0	100	2

Southern Miss

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Camron Harrell	2	37	18.5	20	0
Antavious Willis	1	22	22.0	22	0

Kicking

Alabama

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Will Reichard	0/0	0.0	0	9/9	9

Southern Miss

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Briggs Bourgeois	0/0	0.0	0	2/2	2

Punt Returns

Alabama

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
JoJo Earle	1	-2	-2.0	-2	0

Southern Miss

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Da'quan Bailey-Brown	1	18	18.0	18	0

Punting

Alabama

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
James Burnip	2	78	39.0	0	0	40

Southern Miss

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Mason Hunt	9	401	44.6	1	3	60

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401282081) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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