Alabama Football: Crimson Tide will keep ‘Streaking’ against the Hogs
By Ronald Evans
Alabama football has an upper hand in a series of SEC winning streaks. One is against Arkansas, which will extend to 13 straight wins Saturday night in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama football will face the Arkansas Razorbacks without quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Inclement weather may also impact the game after a sodden two days in Tuscaloosa. As to the game’s outcome, neither will matter.
According to the Action Network, the Alabama Crimson Tide is a 32-point favorite. Even with Mac Jones as the Tide starter and if the game is played in a rainstorm, the 2-5 Razorbacks are not going to pull off an upset. A Crimson Tide win will push the current win streak over the Hogs to 13 games. That’s a pretty big deal, even though another 13-game Alabama football win streak against the Tennessee Vols will get more attention.
Nick Saban’s 2007 rebuild of Alabama football started slowly. Two of the highlight wins in that seven-win season came against Arkansas and Tennessee. They were both upsets. The Razorbacks were ranked No. 16 going into the game and the Vols were ranked No. 20 five weeks later. Not even the most optimistic Crimson Tide fan could have envisioned a future of five National Championships to follow over the next ten seasons.
Check out the winning touchdown pass in the 2007 Arkansas game, from John Parker Wilson to Matt Caddell. Don’t miss the sweet line from the broadcast announcer, “wake up the echoes in Tuscaloosa.”
The other current winning streak garnering much attention is the eight Crimson Tide wins over LSU. The Bengal Tigers last beat an Alabama football team in 2011. The 9-6 loss in Tuscaloosa appeared to end the Tide’s title chances. A rematch two months later in the national title game began the Tide’s current win streak. The longest Tide win streak over LSU is 11 games from 1971 – 1981.
The Crimson Tide has a current win streak of 11 games against Mississippi State. The longest Tide win streak over those Bulldogs is 22 games, from October 1958 to November 1979.
The longest current win streak for the Tide is over Vanderbilt. Going back to September 1985, the Tide has topped the Dores 22 times.
Other past Crimson Tide win streaks include 16 straight wins over the Kentucky Wildcats from November 1923 to October 1938. More noteworthy in the Tide – Cats history is a Crimson Tide unbeaten streak. From 1923 through 1996, the Tide faced the Wildcats 31 times. The record was 30 wins and one tie.
There is another current Alabama football win streak of note. The Crimson Tide has won five straight against the Georgia Bulldogs, going back to the 2008 season.