Kevin Riley and AK Dear rushed for two touchdowns apiece, and the No. 10 Alabama defense smothered Eastern Illinois while rolling to a 56-0 victory over the FCS Panthers on Saturday afternoon at Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The Crimson Tide outgained Eastern Illinois 539-34 and held a 32-2 edge in first downs. Dijon Lee Jr. had an interception for Alabama.
Jam Miller rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown for the Crimson Tide (9-2). Daniel Hill, Richard Young and backup quarterback Austin Mack also had rushing scores.
Alabama’s eight rushing touchdowns were the program’s most since 1979.
Alabama’s Ty Simpson was intercepted twice while completing 11 of 16 passes for 147 yards.
Connor Wolf completed 4 of 8 passes for 20 yards for Eastern Illinois (3-9). Cole LeCrue’s lone pass attempt was picked off by Lee as the Panthers dropped their seventh straight game.
Dillon Conway and Kaleb Lyons had interceptions for Eastern Illinois, which has five double-digit setbacks during the seven-game skid. Moses Alexander racked up a game-high 13 tackles.
The interception by Lyons gave Eastern Illinois the ball at the Alabama 16-yard line with 7:07 left in the first half. But the Panthers went backwards during their best opportunity of the game.
Charles Kellom lost 4 yards on a run and Wolf was sacked by Bray Hubbard for a loss of 9. Wolf’s ensuing pass to Kellom was complete for a 2-yard loss and Wolf’s fourth-and-25 pass from the 31 for CJ Nelson was incomplete to give the ball back to Alabama.
Riley ran for two second-quarter touchdowns as the Crimson Tide led 28-0 at the break.
Miller scored from the 1 and Hill tacked on a 7-yard rushing score in the first 10-plus minutes of the game.
Riley scored from the 1 to make it 21-0 with 10:04 left in the second quarter. He tacked on a 2-yard score with 1:05 left in the half.
The Crimson Tide added two more touchdowns in the third quarter. Dear scored from the 1 less than four minutes into the period, and Mack scored on a 20-yard keeper to make it 42-0 with 1:05 left in the period.
Young scored from the 2 with 7:34 remaining, and Dear finished off the scoring with a 5-yard run with 1:15 to go.
