After a Week 2 loss to the Texas Longhorns and a Week 3 struggle win against Group of 5 opponent the USF Bulls, almost every single person in the college football world wrote Nick Saban and his Alabama Crimson Tide off. Since then, Alabama has rattled off six straight wins, three of which came against teams currently ranked in LSU, Tennessee and Ole Miss as well as just needing one more win to clinch the SEC West.
The thing that has been most encouraging about this Alabama team is that they continue to get better by the week and to be honest, I don’t think we have even seen the best version of the Crimson Tide yet. Alabama played a sloppy first half against Tennessee before playing their best half of the season in the second half as they shut out Tennessee 27-0 to head into a Week 9 bye.
Coming off the rest week, Alabama hosted LSU in a game they essentially determined who would represent the West in the SEC championship game. Alabama responded with their most complete game of the season by knocking off the No. 14 LSU Tigers 42-28, but it felt like they had even more control of the game than that. For the Tide’s dominant performance in Week 10, Bleacher Report labeled Alabama as the Team of the Week.
David Kenyon, a college football specialist, said of Alabama, “Last season, LSU spoiled Alabama’s hopes of SEC and national titles with a gutsy two-point conversion in overtime. Alabama would not be denied this year. Jalen Milroe had a fine evening as a passer, completing 15-of-23 attempts for 219 yards. But he sliced through LSU’s defense on the ground all night, amassing 155 yards and four touchdowns. Overall, the Tide rushed for 288 yards on 6.3 per carry with six scores in the 42-28 triumph. Alabama still has zero margin for error because of its early loss to Texas. However, the Tide are 6-0 in conference action, and a victory at Kentucky in Week 11 would clinch the SEC West.”
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