BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
Alabama gives consistent effort against lesser foe.
Read More Here...
Say when.
Alabama scored on six of its first seven possessions, and nine of 11 (not counting the one-play kneeldown at the end of the game), on the way to a 53-7 victory over North Texas on Saturday, the most points the Bryant-Denny scoreboard has put up on the home side since 1991.
The Tide had a 28-7 advantage in first downs, not allowing North Texas to gain the necessary 10 yards until all but 1:20 had elapsed in the first quarter.
Alabama had 352 yards in total offense ā by halftime ā compared to just 187 yards total offense by North Texas for the entire game.
More?
Five different running backs carried the ball for the Tide, for 260 yards, and 11 different receivers caught passes for another 263 yards.
Still not enough?
The Tide defense held North Texas to seven three-and-outs in 11 offensive drives, and shut down the Mean Green on 11 of 14 third-down tries.
Still not enough?
After a first-play fumble recovery gave North Texas the ball at the Alabama 46, the Mean Green wasnāt able to cross midfield again until 3:19 left in the third quarter.
When.
As in, when will this Alabama team face a challenge? Maybe this weekend, against Arkansas?
When asked what he believed he had learned about his team in these past two games, Alabama coach Nick Saban appeared stumped for a minute, starting and pausing and starting again until finally finding the only answer that really mattered.
āI know we have much bigger challenges coming up,ā he said. āThe competition is going to get better.ā
Since the end of the first half against Virginia Tech, the only measuring stick Saban has had for this team has been his own expectations. There is no way either Florida International or North Texas can simulate the size and speed of the rest of the schedule, so what Saban wanted to see was if his players could or would put forth a consistent effort on every play despite knowing they see better competition Sunday through Friday.
We know Alabama is good. We know Alabama is deep.
And we know Saban, despite not being able to articulate what heād really learned about his team during the past two weeks, feels good about this team and the way this team has approached every game.
There have been times in the recent past when Alabama would struggle in games like this, when fans would leave a day like Saturday shaking their heads, privately wondering if their team was as good as they thought.
That hasnāt been the case this year. The Tide has beaten the teams it is supposed to beat, and beaten them the way Alabama is supposed to beat these kinds of teams.
Which means all that is left for fans to wonder about is, when?
As in, when does the challenge begin?
Read More Here...
Say when.
Alabama scored on six of its first seven possessions, and nine of 11 (not counting the one-play kneeldown at the end of the game), on the way to a 53-7 victory over North Texas on Saturday, the most points the Bryant-Denny scoreboard has put up on the home side since 1991.
The Tide had a 28-7 advantage in first downs, not allowing North Texas to gain the necessary 10 yards until all but 1:20 had elapsed in the first quarter.
Alabama had 352 yards in total offense ā by halftime ā compared to just 187 yards total offense by North Texas for the entire game.
More?
Five different running backs carried the ball for the Tide, for 260 yards, and 11 different receivers caught passes for another 263 yards.
Still not enough?
The Tide defense held North Texas to seven three-and-outs in 11 offensive drives, and shut down the Mean Green on 11 of 14 third-down tries.
Still not enough?
After a first-play fumble recovery gave North Texas the ball at the Alabama 46, the Mean Green wasnāt able to cross midfield again until 3:19 left in the third quarter.
When.
As in, when will this Alabama team face a challenge? Maybe this weekend, against Arkansas?
When asked what he believed he had learned about his team in these past two games, Alabama coach Nick Saban appeared stumped for a minute, starting and pausing and starting again until finally finding the only answer that really mattered.
āI know we have much bigger challenges coming up,ā he said. āThe competition is going to get better.ā
Since the end of the first half against Virginia Tech, the only measuring stick Saban has had for this team has been his own expectations. There is no way either Florida International or North Texas can simulate the size and speed of the rest of the schedule, so what Saban wanted to see was if his players could or would put forth a consistent effort on every play despite knowing they see better competition Sunday through Friday.
We know Alabama is good. We know Alabama is deep.
And we know Saban, despite not being able to articulate what heād really learned about his team during the past two weeks, feels good about this team and the way this team has approached every game.
There have been times in the recent past when Alabama would struggle in games like this, when fans would leave a day like Saturday shaking their heads, privately wondering if their team was as good as they thought.
That hasnāt been the case this year. The Tide has beaten the teams it is supposed to beat, and beaten them the way Alabama is supposed to beat these kinds of teams.
Which means all that is left for fans to wonder about is, when?
As in, when does the challenge begin?
