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Just two weeks removed from a home loss to the Ole Miss Rebels that had people questioning if Alabama’s run as a consistent contender atop college football was over, the Crimson Tide provided an answer for any critics with their 38-10 demolition of the Georgia Bulldogs on the road last Saturday.
The Tide aren’t going anywhere. At least not yet.
The win landed Bama (4-1, 1-1) back in the top 10 in both the AP and Coaches polls, and has Nick Saban’s squad back in the hunt for a spot in the College Football Playoff.
As they head into their next challenge, Saturday’s game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Saban said the Tide’s defense is prepared to take on the Hogs (2-3, 1-1) pro style offensive attack.
“We know what we’re going to face throughout the course of the season,” Saban said. “Even when we’re playing the spread teams, we can’t completely get away from the pro style stuff.”
Nonetheless, in typical Saban fashion, he’s not ready to concede Alabama will have it easy against Arkansas.
“This is certainly going to be a challenging game for us,” Saban said. “We’ve got to try and build on, and improve on, some of the things that we’re not doing as well as we need to do. Arkansas’s got a really good team that I think’s playing better and better.”
One thing going the Razorbacks’ way…for the first time in weeks, they have a reason to believe in themselves.
After dropping three straight games to end September, losses that ranged from upsets to humiliations to heartbreaks, Arkansas went into Neyland Stadium and got a 24-20 victory over the Tennessee Volunteers.
The Hogs can also take pride in how tight they played Alabama last season. In the midst of a 13 game losing streak in SEC play, Arkansas went toe-to-toe with the Tide in a 14-13 loss. Head coach Bret Bielema believes his team will benefit from what they learned in last year’s contest.
“There’s going to be some drawing experience from that,” Bielema said. “Especially for our offense against their defense. (Alabama’s defense) has a lot of the same players back.”
Kickoff Saturday between the Hogs and Tide is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, with coverage on ESPN.
Click below to hear sound from both coaches:
