Opportunity is knocking for Kalen DeBoer and Alabama this weekend. While the Crimson Tide will have bigger tests throughout the season than a road game at Kentucky, this is still a major challenge early in the season with an opportunity to put one major concern - and one irritating narrative - to bed for good.
The narrative surrounding DeBoer is that he struggles in road games as a favorite. That's proven true throughout his tenure in Tuscaloosa, and he'd love a dominant showing in Lexington to prove that it's a thing of the past.
For the Alabama team in general, the concern throughout the offseason was the offensive line and whether sufficient upgrades would be made to create a championship-caliber unit. Early returns were positive as Alabama produced over 200 yards rushing in the season opener against East Carolina.
But now, Alabama takes the show on the road and will face an SEC opponent that will present a much greater challenge. That the Crimson Tide will almost certainly be without star sophomore RG Michael Carroll, who is dealing with a mild concussion, makes the task that much more difficult this weekend.
But if Alabama can take care of business against Kentucky by running the ball effectively against an SEC front even without its best offensive lineman, then that would go a long way in silencing the critics of the physical nature - or lack thereof - of DeBoer's teams.
Alabama's offensive line has a golden opportunity to make a statement at Kentucky
The expectation is that Will Sanders and Mal Waldrep will slide in as the starting guards for Alabama in Week 2. Those two split reps last week at LG, with Sanders starting but giving way to Waldrep. Now, they'll both likely need to play the whole way this week.
It's unfortunate that in Alabama's quest to garner stability and continuity up front, they are forced to start a different offensive line this week. But that's football, and it's why you always want to have seven or eight guys ready to go up front at the beginning of the season.
Waldrep got plenty of reps in both the spring and the fall with Sanders banged up. It looked for a while like he was going to win the starting job, but a late surge by Sanders led to him jumping ahead. Now Alabama needs both to play and play well against a quality SEC front.
This has a chance to be a statement game for Alabama. They've heard all the doubts about them for the entire offseason. This is a chance to quiet the noise and shut up the doubters. Not for good, but at least for one week.
Road games in this league aren't easy. They especially aren't easy when you're missing one of your best players.
But this game provides a golden opportunity for the offensive line to make a massive statement without Carroll. One that reverberates nationally and shows the world that things are different.
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