Turning The Tide

We should have known better. I mean come on. We all knew what was coming. A 5th ranked Alabama hosting the #1 Mississippi State Bulldogs in an SEC West showdown. Did anyone outside of Starkville expect Alabama to lose that game? We knew coming into the season that Alabama was one of the most talented teams in college football. Ole Miss shocked the nation by upsetting the Crimson Tide in week 6. Then, by virtue of all of our hope that maybe, just maybe Alabama might finally go away, we all thought that Nick Saban’s team was out of playoff contention. We should have known better. Since that loss in Oxford, Alabama has run off 5 consecutive SEC wins, including night games in Knoxville and Baton Rouge. We thought that after only mustering 17 points against Ole Miss, Alabama’s offense under Lane Kiffin was stagnant. We should have known better. Alabama hung 59 on a decent at worst Texas A&M team and 34 on a young but talented Tennessee defensive unit(and Saban called off the dogs early). We thought that Ole Miss found the blueprint on how to beat Alabama in close, physical games. We should have known better. The Tide has since beaten LSU in overtime and this past week outlasted Mississippi State’s Heisman candidate in a 25-20 win. Alabama may only be averaging the 40th most points per game in the nation(at over 33 points per contest), but they are only giving up 14 points a game, good for 2nd best in the nation. Is this not the same thing we have seen from Alabama for the past 5 seasons? A shutdown defense with a capable offense. Alabama hosts Western Carolina this week before gearing up for the Iron Bowl against an Auburn team that is reeling after back to back losses. If Alabama can go into Atlanta with 1 loss they will likely be a lock for the top seed in the College Football playoff, no offense to Missouri who looks like will claim the SEC East(What?). So once again Alabama controls its destiny in pursuit of another National Championship. But 2 months ago we all knew that Alabama was out. We should have known better.