Alabama Football still has work to do ... lots of it

It was probably okay for Nick Saban's old 24-hour rule to be ignored after the Alabama Football win over Georgia. The win was one of the Alabama Crimson Tide's sweetest ever. Fans can continue to relish the victory but the coaching staff and the players had to return to work on Sunday, self-evaluating how to improve.

Alabama is No. 1 in the latest AP Poll, but that ranking means nothing in what happens for the rest of the 2024 season. There is a long way to go and the Crimson Tide is far from a finished product.

Playing Vanderbilt a week after Georgia was always going to bring with it some days to decompress. Alabama football players will have a harder time preparing for the Commodores than they did preparing for the Bulldogs. The Crimson Tide will be a three-plus touchdown favorite in Nashville. The Dores will put up a fight. The result will be a one-sided contest unless Alabama wastes its considerable talent advantage through lackluster play.

Clark Lea is a good coach and he has some quality players. No disrespect is intended to Vandy. The quarterback that beat Auburn while playing for New Mexico State, is a tough gamer. On Monday, Kane Wommack talked about Vandy QB, Diego Pavia, calling him "a real baller." He is that, but Pavia doesn't have enough roster help to seriously threaten the Crimson Tide.

Rather than playing down to Vandy on Saturday, the Crimson Tide should play to its own standard. No practice rep and certainly no game snap can be wasted for a team improving itself to contend for multiple championships. On Monday, Kalen DeBoer spoke about what he expects from Tuesday's practice, "Looking forward to tomorrow morning and a great practice, should be full of energy. It needs to be the best Tuesday we’ve ever had just because that’s the way we have to approach each and every opportunity."

That's a lofty expectation for a practice during a Vandy week, but it is the correct one. Against Georgia, Alabama showed impressive potential for what it can become this season. But there is work left to do ... and plenty of it.