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Checking in on the mid-season temperatures in Tuscaloosa.
HOT UNDER THE COLLAR
Nick Saban. The coach has got to be furious with his special teams coaches and players after talking about how the team needed to greatly improve after that phase of the game cost them a win at Ole Miss. That obviously did not happen against Arkansas, as the team lost two fumbles on punt returns and put the ball on the ground two other times on kicks. The team missed another field goal as well. For all his coaching prowess, Saban can’t get this unit straight.
WARMING UP
Xzavier Dickson. The senior linebacker has gotten into a groove the last few weeks and has surged into the team lead in sacks. He’s been crucial in improving the Tide’s pass rush in recent weeks, picking up a sack against a run-heavy Arkansas team to give him 3.0 sacks over the last two games. Getting after the quarterback was a weak spot on last year’s team, and the senior is helping to get those numbers back up to the standards Alabama is used to.
COOLING OFF
Blake Sims. The senior quarterback has seen his completion percentage drop in each of the last five games, and he’s now hitting on less than 70 percent for the season. For the first time all year, Sims had a truly bad game against Arkansas. He didn’t turn the ball over, but had two throws that hit Razorbacks defenders in their hands. Sims had been a very solid decision maker up until last week (the interception at the end of the Ole Miss game falls more on O.J. Howard than Sims) but he’ll have to tighten up if Alabama is going to survive the rest of the schedule.
COLD STARES
Amari Cooper. The star receiver looked none to happy against Arkansas, as he finished with a season-low 2 catches for 22 yards. He got plenty of targets from Blake Sims, but was double covered for the majority of the day and saw many of the passes that came his way sail well out of reach. After being force-fed the ball for the opening third of the season, Cooper’s production has fallen off significantly. Lane Kiffin’s top receivers have suffered that kind of fate throughout his time in college football. Could the most talented receiver in the country fall victim as well?
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
