Alabama and LSU appear to be on a collision course to settle yet another SEC West title. Both the Crimson Tide and Tigers employ similar weapons – elite run games, top-flight offensive and defensive lines and squads that limit turnovers.

But that doesn’t mean the squads run by Nick Saban and Les Miles aren’t without their flaws. The two programs have until their Week 10 matchup in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 7 to iron out any wrinkles in their game.

SPECIAL TEAMS

It’s the Alabama special teams that keeps Saban awake at night. The unit couldn’t get out of its own way against Texas A&M, allowing the Aggies to stay alive in a game they were clearly overmatched in. The Tide special teams gave up a punt return for a touchdown, had a punt blocked, and fumbled another punt to go along with a delay-of-game penalty that ebbed the Tide out of field goal range. You can’t have too many Saturdays like before it costs you. All told, Alabama gives up around 9 yards per punt return, ranking them No. 73 in the nation.

If woeful special teams play is a powerful sleep repellent for coaches, then Les Miles probably hasn’t slept much since August. The Tigers also struggle with their punt return defense, giving up an NCAA-worst 32.8 yards per punt return — 10 more yards than the next closest team, Bowling Green. At risk of editorializing, that’s insane to be dead last in the country in anything.

The good news is that it comes on just five returns all year. LSU hasn’t had to punt very often. Still, it needs to be fixed quickly. For instance, Northwestern is No. 1 in the country defending punt returns and they’ve only had five punts to cover, too. The Wildcats have allowed minus-8 yards total, LSU 164.

PENALTIES/CLOCK MANAGEMENT

One area where both the Tide and LSU can improve is in the penalty department. Alabama is the most-flagged team in the SEC, being whistled 47 times for 423 yards. That’s 44 more yards than the next closest team, which happens to be LSU. Perhaps there isn’t a correlation between losses and penalties, but Saban and Miles would almost undoubtedly prefer less yellow flags flying on Saturdays.

At his Monday press conference, Saban mentioned that he’d like to see his team shut out the apparent distractions that come with playing at home. He’d like them to play like they do on the road with few distractions. Alabama gets a chance to fine-tune its  Bryant-Denny acumen this weekend against Tennessee before the Tigers come to town on Nov. 7.

For Miles, the game plan is more complex than just turning around and handing the ball to Leonard Fournette, the NCAA’s leading rusher.  The Tigers head coach wants to see his team improve upon its time of possession, especially with less than four minutes to play. The added clock control will allow LSU to suffocate opponents late in contests and not have to rely on fake field goals to pull out wins. Miles can’t be asking too much more from his squad, though. The Tigers, after all, rank No. 21 in the nation in time of possession, averaging 32 minutes per game. The problem is, while the No. 21 sounds good, it still ranks LSU behind four other SEC teams, including Alabama.