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HURT: Alabama about to find out what it's truly made of
Cecil Hurt | Sports Editor
Alabama linebacker Ryan Anderson (22) strips the ball from Kentucky quarterback Stephen Johnson (15) as he is sacked by Alabama linebacker Christian Miller (47) during the first half of Alabama's homecoming game with Kentucky Saturday, October 1, 2016.
Gary Cosby Kr. | The Tuscaloosa News
This isn't meant to disparage Kentucky's football team, which came into Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday and did what it could. The football Wildcats faced the reverse of what their basketball team usually sees. In this game, nearly all the blue-chip, first-round talent was wearing Crimson, not blue. The game, especially when Alabama came out in the third quarter after a Nick Saban inspirational speech, played out accordingly and predictably.
So this isn't a slight, just a fact: football teams don't forge their identity against Kentucky. Teams don't establish themselves as national contenders, even if they maintain their No. 1 ranking. Credentials of that sort are established in other games.
The next three weeks for Alabama will be those games -- at Arkansas, at Tennessee (which seems, at least thus far, to have flameproof fabric in those orange jerseys, having played with fire almost every week and not once getting burned) and Texas A&M at home. That's where the questions will be answered.
Some things have to be corrected from the Kentucky game. Some of that will depend on healing. The offense, still under construction, clearly misses ArDarius Stewart. He's been steady and dependable in his role as the sideline's in-case-of-emergency lumberjack but Alabama needs him to drop the axe and start catching footballs again as soon as his knee allows. Calvin Ridley remains a potent weapon, but the offense was simply better when defenses had to worry about both, particularly given the ability that Stewart has to take the short passes that Jalen Hurts still relies upon and turn them into big gains. Damien Harris, who only played a couple of snaps, is also missed despite the continued blossoming of Joshua Jacobs at running back.
Getting those playmakers back on the field will help. So will the continued maturation of Hurts. The freshman quarterback has done far more than anyone could have expected, including running the competition at the position out of town. But he's developing at his own pace, and an offense built around him will grow gradually, not explode instantly.
One word that is associated with Alabama football under Nick Saban, perhaps more than any other, is "expectations." Many of those expectations are bred by the unprecedented success -- the more you win, the more you are expected to win. Some come from the demanding head coach himself. The most revealing part of Saban's post-game commentary was when he talked about Alabama "not imposing our will in the first half like we could have, or should have, or however you want to say it." So the coach has expectations, too.
The Crimson Tide reputation, and that pesky No. 1 ranking, create another kind of expectation, too. Alabama is expected to immediately explode on teams, bury them and roll up huge margins of victory. But Alabama isn't built that way, really. Even in the games where UA has blown the opponent out, notably the USC game, the margin was due as much to the opponent's implosion as Alabama's superiority. There's a design to that, too. Alabama squeezes teams, and sometimes when you get squeezed hard, the pipes burst. It eventually happened to Kentucky, too. It's where all the non-offensive touchdowns, for instance, come from.
Not every opponent succumbs, though. Sometimes, you have to win another way. Right now, Alabama's comeback win at Ole Miss is the game that gives hope that UA can win that way, too. Because in the coming stretch, it will almost certainly have to.
TideSports.com - HURT: Alabama about to find out what it's truly made of
Cecil Hurt | Sports Editor
Alabama linebacker Ryan Anderson (22) strips the ball from Kentucky quarterback Stephen Johnson (15) as he is sacked by Alabama linebacker Christian Miller (47) during the first half of Alabama's homecoming game with Kentucky Saturday, October 1, 2016.
Gary Cosby Kr. | The Tuscaloosa News
This isn't meant to disparage Kentucky's football team, which came into Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday and did what it could. The football Wildcats faced the reverse of what their basketball team usually sees. In this game, nearly all the blue-chip, first-round talent was wearing Crimson, not blue. The game, especially when Alabama came out in the third quarter after a Nick Saban inspirational speech, played out accordingly and predictably.
So this isn't a slight, just a fact: football teams don't forge their identity against Kentucky. Teams don't establish themselves as national contenders, even if they maintain their No. 1 ranking. Credentials of that sort are established in other games.
The next three weeks for Alabama will be those games -- at Arkansas, at Tennessee (which seems, at least thus far, to have flameproof fabric in those orange jerseys, having played with fire almost every week and not once getting burned) and Texas A&M at home. That's where the questions will be answered.
Some things have to be corrected from the Kentucky game. Some of that will depend on healing. The offense, still under construction, clearly misses ArDarius Stewart. He's been steady and dependable in his role as the sideline's in-case-of-emergency lumberjack but Alabama needs him to drop the axe and start catching footballs again as soon as his knee allows. Calvin Ridley remains a potent weapon, but the offense was simply better when defenses had to worry about both, particularly given the ability that Stewart has to take the short passes that Jalen Hurts still relies upon and turn them into big gains. Damien Harris, who only played a couple of snaps, is also missed despite the continued blossoming of Joshua Jacobs at running back.
Getting those playmakers back on the field will help. So will the continued maturation of Hurts. The freshman quarterback has done far more than anyone could have expected, including running the competition at the position out of town. But he's developing at his own pace, and an offense built around him will grow gradually, not explode instantly.
One word that is associated with Alabama football under Nick Saban, perhaps more than any other, is "expectations." Many of those expectations are bred by the unprecedented success -- the more you win, the more you are expected to win. Some come from the demanding head coach himself. The most revealing part of Saban's post-game commentary was when he talked about Alabama "not imposing our will in the first half like we could have, or should have, or however you want to say it." So the coach has expectations, too.
The Crimson Tide reputation, and that pesky No. 1 ranking, create another kind of expectation, too. Alabama is expected to immediately explode on teams, bury them and roll up huge margins of victory. But Alabama isn't built that way, really. Even in the games where UA has blown the opponent out, notably the USC game, the margin was due as much to the opponent's implosion as Alabama's superiority. There's a design to that, too. Alabama squeezes teams, and sometimes when you get squeezed hard, the pipes burst. It eventually happened to Kentucky, too. It's where all the non-offensive touchdowns, for instance, come from.
Not every opponent succumbs, though. Sometimes, you have to win another way. Right now, Alabama's comeback win at Ole Miss is the game that gives hope that UA can win that way, too. Because in the coming stretch, it will almost certainly have to.
TideSports.com - HURT: Alabama about to find out what it's truly made of
