You have two weeks to make your preparations for kickoff of another Alabama football season. Those preparations might need to include stocking up on nitroglycerin pills and your favorite brown liquors, at least for the times when the Crimson Tide is forced to settle for a field goal.
It has been a very positive fall camp for Kalen DeBoer's team. Offensively, things have been sharp. Ty Simpson reportedly had yet another strong scrimmage, making plays with his arm and his legs, and not skipping a beat since he was named the team's starting QB earlier in the week.
The defense is stout and experienced, widely believed to be one of the five or 10 best in college football.
But the one area of concern continues to be special teams, and more specifically, the field goal kicking. That continued to be the case during Saturday's scrimmage. According to DeBoer, projected starting kicker Conor Talty has looked good in the practice facility, but has struggled to have that translate to Bryant-Denny.
"Conor's done a really good job on campus in the complex," DeBoer said. "Last week he missed, I'm not sure what it was. We've got to keep getting work in the stadium here. He missed a couple today. From a field goal standpoint, the ones further out, probably 40, 38-to-44, somewhere in there between a couple of those. Got to keep getting in the work. I was disappointed he didn't him them all because he's done a nice job in practice."
FG kicking woes are nothing new for Alabama - and they've won big in the past in spite of it
Fortunately (I guess?), Alabama fans are used to adventurous field goal kicking. Prior to Will Reichard's arrival on campus, the Crimson Tide was one of the nation's most inconsistent field goal kicking teams. It cost them several games over the years, with even the most dominant of Nick Saban-coached teams falling victim to it a time or two.
Reichard changed that, and Miami (OH) transfer Graham Nicholson was steady last season despite only attempting 10 field goals all season. But Nicholson was brought in a year ago because the staff didn't think Talty was ready. They didn't go the portal route this offseason, instead believing Talty, who was once the No. 2-ranked kicker in the nation as a recruit, would be ready in 2025.
That belief may yet prove foolish. DeBoer mentioning "the ones further out" and then saying between 38 and 44 yards is not encouraging. If he was consistently hitting from 44 or so and in, but missing from 45+, I think fans could live with that. But going back to the days of not having faith in a kicker to consistently make the kicks you would consider to be "gimmes" is not a world Tide fans want to relive.
It may be inevitable, however.