Ad Disclosure
Alabama’s bye comes at an opportune time with undefeated LSU up next
By Steve Barnes
Published:
Bryant-Denny Stadium will be quiet this weekend and there will be no charter flight or pregame meal for the Alabama football team. The Crimson Tide finally will get a week off.
After summer workouts, training camp and eight weeks of games, Alabama will get some well-deserved rest and it appears to come at the right time.
The Tide barely got by Tennessee last week, winning 19-14 in Tuscaloosa. But at the end, the Tide defense looked completely gassed.
The defense was un-Tide like, trying to stop Tennessee runners with arm tackles. The Vols ran through many of them. There were also blown assignments, indicating that mental fatigue was as much of a factor as the physical fatigue.
On offense, the line lacked energy and quarterback Jake Coker spent a lot of the game trying to escape the Tennessee pass rush.
“I thought Jake (Coker) did a fantastic job did although he did not have really good protection a lot of the time.” Alabama coach Nick Saban said after the game. “He got sacked five times, and he got out of some other sacks, so we certainly need to clean that up.”
Coker attempted 27 passes, but he dropped back even more than that. Besides the five times he was sacked, there were several times he scrambled away from pressure and ran. Officially he had seven rushes for 1 yard, but he saved lots of lost yardage simply by keeping plays alive. Coker could use a break to get his legs back under him as well.
Alabama gets this week off as does LSU and Missouri. The Crimson Tide plays LSU Nov. 7.
Another conference team still has not had a week off. Ole Miss does not get a bye week until Nov. 14, meaning the Rebels play 10 straight games before a break.
With the week off, Alabama will not only get to rest and recover from the grind of the season, but the team will also be able to reflect and make adjustments for the rest of the season.
“Our guys looked a little bit sluggish (against Tennessee), and that’s something that we need to work on to get our tempo back up and do what we need to do so that we can become a better football team,” Saban said.
After LSU, the Tide goes to Mississippi State, hosts Charleston Southern and finishes the year with the Iron Bowl at Auburn.
Steve Barnes is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football.
