Alabama Football: Celebrating a Tide win and getting real for College Station

Make no mistake Saturday night’s Alabama Football win was very satisfying. There were many reasons to celebrate the continued improvement of the Crimson Tide. An added bonus, that might have been the most important change of all, was the return of an angry Nick Saban. It is never said enough and must be said again – Thank you, Miss Terry.

Nick Saban had good reasons to go off on some of the Tide’s miscues Saturday night. Even with mistakes, Alabama was going to win in Starkville. The Tide will not have the luxury of many mistakes in College Station.

Alabama Football goes into week six as a 3.5-point favorite, according to FanDuel. The point spread may be less than the points boost the Aggies will get from the Kyle Field crowd.

Alabama football fans have all week to drill down on the Aggies. An early summary is Saturday afternoon will be the most physical game Alabama has played this season. In the preseason, the Aggies were predicted by some experts to have the fourth-best defensive line in the SEC. They are better than that and maybe even the SEC’s best. The Alabama offensive line will have a huge challenge.

As Cole Cubelic said of the A&M front after 15 TFLs against Auburn,

"… those dudes up front are real man …"

The Aggies did it again on Saturday, with 15 TFLs against Arkansas. Not even Jimbo Fisher can screw up such an advantage for the Aggies.

Nick Saban knows Alabama, playing well, can compete with any team. What likely concerns him greatly is the Crimson Tide has not shown it can play at a high level for 60 minutes.

Alabama Football Making Progress

Clearly, the Crimson Tide has made progress over the last two weeks. The defense is playing great, even without Deontae Lawson in the middle. The pass rush is strong. The secondary is one of college football’s best. Alabama has the best placekicker-punter duo in the SEC.

On offense, the offensive line is coming together. As a result, the running game is solid. Despite taking a couple of sacks instead of throwing the ball away, Jalen Milroe was arguably the SEC’s top quarterback on Saturday. His Passing Rating, now at 177.17 for the season is third-best in the SEC.

There are plenty of reasons for Alabama football fans to be optimistic. At the same time, Jimbo Fisher has a team with the talent to beat Alabama. It appears Fisher has left Bobby Petrino alone enough that Alabama can expect a smart and not always predictable game plan. The Kyle Field crowd will be a major boost to the tough Aggies’ defense.

I expect Alabama to have only a small margin for error, and for the game to be slugfest until the end. Under a ton of pressure, Tommy Rees must deliver or the offense will struggle. Forget the polls and computer rankings. In week six of this season, any team going to College Station would have a major challenge.